Daughter and I went and stood on the highest hill in town to see if we could see the local town fireworks display. Unfortunately they were on last weekend so it was something of a disappointment. Less disappointing was that she saw her first shooting star and made a wish. Even better, she saw another one, and maybe another!

Last night I had one of my oldest friends over for dinner, beer and chat. It's the first time we've spent time alone together in years and I really enjoyed myself. His life is particularly difficult at the moment so hopefully I was a handy ear to bend. We talked and drank beer - not to excess - played chess and PlayStation and I finally kicked him off to bed at midnight as he was falling asleep on the sofa and is notoriously difficult to shift when he does that!

I cooked toad in the hole with home-made roasted mixed onion gravy which was just superb. The batter rose perfectly and had some soft bits and some crunchy bits, the sausages were ok (although I'd use butcher-bought sausages next time) and the gravy was sublime.