I’m a nightmare to buy presents for. If it’s in the “affordable present” price range, and something I’m likely to want, then there’s a pretty good chance that I’ve bought it for myself already. I’m not good at waiting. My mother has been giving me grief about this for years – on the few occaisions when she can both get enough of a handle on my tastes to buy me something I’d like and actually find somewhere she can buy the thing, I’ve almost invariably already got it.

So, today’s my birthday (and many thanks for all the birthday wishes). Naturally, I’ve just bought myself the new West Wing boxed set that’s due out in a couple of weeks. On the one hand, it’s not acutally out yet, so no-one can have got it for me as a present, but it’s kind of symptomatic, you know?