I woke up in time to summon the roofer who remains puzzled about the damp patch in my ceiling. He recommended I hire a de-humidifier, which I did. He also recommended a way of stripping the exterior paintwork on that part of the house so I can easily and effectively renew it.

I fetched my bike and cycled it to my office, where my car was waiting for me. This sounds easier than it was. The office is about 10 miles away. I had to use a route I'm not familiar with to avoid the motorway part of my route to work, and I also had to negotiate a section of road where the cars drive at 70. It wasn't stress or effort free. However, having had a small sandwich at subway, and stowed a bottle of water in my pocket for assistance, I was ready for my voyage.

It didn't feel like it was as much effort as I was expecting. I didn't need to resort to my water, and my legs didn't give out. Maybe the terrain was all in my favour. I don't know. Maybe I'm healthier than I've been in years. I don't know.

I spent a short while in Bracknell. First I was trying to fit my bike into the car, which I made such a poor job of at first that a 10 year old boy came up to offer to help me. Polite, but slightly embarrassing. I told him I'd call on him if I couldn't do it in the next couple of minutes. This spurred me on. I bloody did it. Then I went shopping. I bought a cappuccino. It was very poor.

I took the car back to Reading and went to a tool shop where I bought a number of different attachments for my angle grinder to enable paint strippage. I took them home and tried them out while the de-humidifier ran pointlessly near my damp patches. One of the attachments was a hit and I managed to make a dent in the job. There are many bricks and I need to strip them all. So far, not so bad, though.

After DIY was a shower, a trip to Tesco for food and then back to the bed. A day of effort - hopefully some of this will counter the eating out I've been doing. Hopefully.