Flaming Nora

Borough market is a tourist trap after 9.30 on a Saturday morning. But it's still worth a vist for food and drink that's a bit different. This morning I braved the hoardes of tourists to pick up some Belgian beers, a wild mushroom pie (for me); chorizo pie (for blokey); sausages made from animal's parts I didn't even know existed and some farmer's market cheese mixed with ginger. Most wonderfully of all, I bought some Portuguese pastel de nata . It's the first time I've seen them outside of Portugal, where you can scoff them for a half a euro each. Needless to say, Borough Market charges more.

Coming home from work on Friday this week, I saw two bag ladies. One of them was on the tube, taking up three seats with her worldly belongings stuffed into carriers, smelling faintly of wee and harrumphing at everyone around her. The second one I walked past on the way home from the tube station. Two in one day made me realise I hadn't seen any bag ladies for ages, years maybe. Why is that? Weren't they ten a penny when we were kids? Are they all in nursing homes now getting the care they deserve? I do hope so.

Regular readers will know we have a large spider living in our downstairs bathroom. Spotted months ago, it’s still there, living the life of Riley on our toilet roll basket. I lift it up and move it out when I’m cleaning the bathroom and put it back when I’m done. It’s been in the bathroom so long that I thought it was dead but when I touched it the other day, it moved, so it’s still very much alive in its web, not doing much. I suspect it runs amok while we’re out at work.

And now, the anti-dote to the Slebs rant I had earlier. I greatly admire Eileen Derbyshire who plays Emily Bishop in Coronation Street . She deliberately chooses to keep out of the spotlight. It's a shame other 'soap stars' aren't so very brave.

Hugh 'n' Jemima are back together. Pete 'n' Kate are still in lurve. Why do I know this? What's it doing in my head? I deliberately avoid sleb mags and their comments on society's vermin who sluice along underneath everyday life. But slebs are in my head because I looked at an official news website today and saw a billboard for Theeny Stannart on the way home tonight. I don't want to know. I don't care. These people are nothing to me. Why should it be national news? Why inflict them on me? And on other people like me who simply don't care and who want to be left out of the pointlessness of it all?

Easter is one of my favourite times of year. Not only do I get the usual worker’s playtime of a long weekend off work, I’m barely there over the next two weeks, which means plenty of time to spend here and, of course,eating chocolate eggs. I’ll also be visiting family here and there and then returning to London to spend a few days off work being a tourist in the city. Choc on.

The second of my Coronation Street podcasts has now gone live at The Soap Show . The Corrie podcast is called Word on the Street and you can sign up to receive the podcast automatically as it’s updated each month.