Bouncy Max and the French Bloke and had a baby girl this afternoon, weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz. The baby was at least two weeks overdue. Spoke to the FB briefly this evening and he was sounding very cheery, saying that Max and the baby were fine.

Work quite quiet today. The Gnome away at a shoot and me fractiously dealing with pesky bits of boring stuff. Felt rather twitchy for some reason but went for a lunch with Trace in the cheap Thai place. She was on excellent form and she nicely reframed things for me.

She had the best definition of stress I'd ever heard: responsibility without control. We had a long talk ranging from the CS Lewis books from a pyschological and postcolonial standpoints, and her time living in Colorado.

Afternoon... more pesky bits. Then went for a swim, happily finding the trunks -- untouched by human hand -- that I'd left there yesterday. Then went on to meet Shaila for a tasty vegetarian meal at the Gate as it was her birthday two days ago. She is off to France shortly with her husband and sons. Nice to see her too. She gave me a christmas newsletter of what the family had been up to over the year.

Then the long ride home to Brighton, reading my Recent Continental Philosophy book and dozing despite the persistent blaring of a silver haired man sitting next to me.