Ronald Searle has died at the respectable age of 91. The Molesworth books are among the select group which I enjoyed as a child and still read now. They are among the funniest books ever written, anyone who says different is utterly wet and a weed.

Has anyone else noticed an almost total absence of spam in their inbox over the last week or so? I've just checked my email, and where there would usually be a couple of hundred undesirable items diverted to the spam folder there were only about 20.

I had a look at them, and they were almost entirely from retailers or boards which I had blocked because, having signed up to them initially, I found it impossible to leave. There was not one inviting me to do or buy something relating to my genitals which I found neither necessary nor desirable.

Just curious.

The Light and I will be in London over the weekend for a gig* at the Half Moon in Putney on Saturday. Because we're coming from Essex to Stratford or Liverpool Street we have booked a hotel for the night rather than dash all the way across London for a late night vomit comet home, and plan to do some Christmas shopping too.

We'll avoid the crowds in the very centre of town, at least on Saturday, but neither of us is familiar with the areas further west. Any recommendations for shopping or sights, perhaps around Chelsea or Fulham, or Putney itself?

*Thea Gilmore - tickets still available according to the Half Moon website. If you're at at a loose end in London this Saturday should do yourself a favour and go.

Seen on The X Factor last night: an act announced as 'The Muppets and Olly Murs'. Apparently Olly's new album is out today, but rumours that half of the playing time is made up of a track called Jazz Odyssey are unconfirmed.

Let's hope he got the bigger dressing room.

.. than what better line-up can there be than Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Richard Thompson, Danny Thompson and Dave Mattocks? Love the shot around 1:25 showing Norma and Eliza with almost identical profiles.

Those attending the Bob Dylan/Mark Knopfler gigs could be in for a treat - rumour has it Bob Dylan is learning to play the bagpipes

When I got home this evening I put aside the new issue Word which I found on the doormat and retired to a deep bath with the copy of Humphrey Lyttelton's memoir 'It Just Occurred to Me ...' which I bought at the weekend.

I'm up to Humph's reminiscences of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, in which he tells the story of Willie Rushton giving an after dinner speech where the deadly dull chairman of the company introduced him with the words,

'And I hope he's going to be funny because we're paying him a large amount of money tonight.' As he rose from his chair, Willie roared into the microphone. '...most of which is for sitting next to you for an hour and a half!'

Two hours later, with dinner and the washing up out of the way, I opened the magazine and found myself reading Mark Ellen's diary where he writes about Richard Ingrams telling exactly the same anecdote.

Oh, and Mark - in Touching the Void it's the author Joe Simpson who crawled all that way with a broken leg, haunted by the song Brown Girl in the Ring. Simon Yates is 'the one who cut the rope'.

Or am I the only one who found it on my doormat when I got home yesterday? I might have speed-read the mag to have a go at Mark's quiz if I had known that I was so privileged.

I enjoyed the Queen article, by the way. (There's a sentence I never thought I would write). And the CD contained a nice sequence of soothing tunes at the end of what had been a trying day, so cheers for that.

Well, I know what I'll be listening to as soon as I get home - http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/sep/05/laura-marling-albu...

So the economy is up the spout (again), bits of London are burning, and anyone taking a holiday in Britain is more than likely to have taken a soaking in the last week. It's times like this that we need to remember how heartwarming the ordinary things in life can be. Lets have one thing that is guaranteed to make you smile when you see it, and realise that life is sweet after all.

I'll start: seeing a couple in their 80s walking down the street holding hands.

Erm, on radio. With some repeated stuff ... oh, sorry, that's 'classic performances'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8619922/Old-Grey-Whistle-T...

When the film Paul was in the cinemas earlier this year my girlfriend wanted to see it, and her daughter really wanted to see it. However, her daughter was, and still is, 14 and the film is a 15 (I understand it’s quite sweary). We are not sure how strictly age limits are checked and enforced these days so we didn’t go.

Today is my girlfriend’s birthday and, among other things, I gave her a copy of the DVD. When I was dressing this morning I heard her across the hallway telling her daughter, ‘Guess what! Gatz got me Paul for my birthday!’ There was a pause, then a sleepy and confused sounding voice from below the duvet, ‘He got you porn for your birthday?'

This made me smile. I'm no fan of the royal rigmarole, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw this photo from yesterday at the Palace.

... if you get a copy of Bridge Over Troubled Water and cover up Paul Simon from the eyebrows downwards Art Garfunkel grows a Desperate Dan chin and a impressive Cossak moustache?

There must be plenty of these - album covers with hidden images within them that you only notice after years, possibly in a state of advanced refreshment. I'll own up, and say that I saw this one mentioned in a letter in a Viz annual I was browsing at the weekend, but lets see yours.

[Clearly agitated colleague]

They don't take me seriously! They undermine my intelligence.