1) Oh, the World Cup. Are we lovers of the football, dear readers, or are we indifferent? I have a bit of a “sports noise” phobia; I can’t stand the sound of football and racing cars and so on when it’s on in the background in my own house. For some reason, I find it depressing. Must be something that happened in my childhood, because I’ve hated the sound of even sports commentators’ voices for as long as I can remember. I don’t mind it if I’m in a pub and it’s on and there’s a great buzzy atmosphere, but at home? Ew. It makes me go funny. There’s something weird about all of that energy going on inside the telly box and then an inert, quiet, lone spectator sat on the couch. Poor old Mr AMR – I must be a nightmare to live with. Ha!

2) Avid followers may have noted that I was in Cornwall for a week – I came back last Sunday. I’m just trying to find the last of my photos (memory card has gone AWOL) and I’ll do you a nice little write-up. I went to Port Isaac because I’m something of a Doc Martin fan. A big fan. So much of a fan that if I had the choice of a week in the Bahamas, for free, with Ryan Gosling as my foot masseur, I’d turn it down if I got an extras part on the next series. Hear that, Martin Clunes? If you haven’t watched Doc Martin, or have no idea what it is, then you can find it on Netflix. Just promise me you’ll start at the very beginning, episode one!

3) I’ve painted a very weird picture of myself, above, haven’t I? Oh dear. A crowd-cheering-o-phobe with a love of chintzy television series! Let me add to the weirdness: my cat has a harness and a lead. Yes, that is my cat on a lead. It’s not actually attached to anything, it just trails so that I can grab it if Mr Bear tries to scale the hedgerows and make off into the unknown. He’s an indoor cat, you see; when we were city-dwellers he remained indoors. Now that we are out in the wilds, I’m trying to get him used to the grass and the birds and the wasps. He has great fun running about after flies – I keep meaning to video him! Anyway, here here’s Mr Bear with Dexter the Cockapoo (above), having a chinwag about the weather and the state of the country, etc etc. There are more pet photos, should you want to see them, over on Instagram.