Having a laptop and cable internet makes life easier, because apart from all the obvious stuff like being always on and being able to cart my whole life around with me, I can work from home when I need to write (that is, if I don’t have to teach or go to meetings). One of the many good things about it is that I can work away to whatever music takes my fancy, at the same time as cooking soup because it isn’t summer any more, and on breaks, pat the dogs and wander down to the back fence to see if the jasmine vine has anything left on it (sadly, not really).

Oh, and the answer to question no. 1 is pea & ham (retro!); question no. 2 – Damien Rice (again)