I left a glass on the floor at the top of the stairs to remind me to take it down, thinking that surely I couldn’t miss it. But of course I could. It didn’t smash, but I watched it bounce down the steps two at a time, leaving a big obvious dent (or pair of dents) in the oak of each one it hit.

When we had the house renovated a couple of years ago, we went for engineered wood – it’s about 6 mm of wood on top of a plywood base – rather than some kind of synthetic flooring because it looks nicer, and because our house is so small that even expensive flooring doesn’t cost all that much. But there was another reason: you can repair wood, and when the wood starts off with a slightly rustic look (knots and filled-in cracks) it’s even easier to camouflage further repairs.

I used a clothes iron and a damp cloth to raise the dents, then drop-filled with superglue where the varnish was damaged. When the glue had hardened I scraped it level using a razor and polished it with some very fine sandpaper.

It was only about half an hour of labour in total, but it worked well. The damage is now invisible to all but the most careful of examination, and I don’t have to engage in self-criticism over my own stupidity every time I walk upstairs.

A horse came to Peckham Levels to take part in a musical performance (a reprise of Oliver Leith’s Garland, I believe) but I only saw the back end of the equine disappearing round a corner. I could still smell it all the way through the building for some time afterwards.

I cycled to IKEA on Friday to buy some more rechargeable batteries. They sell cheap, good quality, LSD NiMH batteries that are widely believed to be rebranded Eneloop, and these ones are made in Japan which makes it almost certain that they’re from the same factory.

I had a lunch of plant balls, naturally.

While I was there I also picked up a couple of Knagglig pine crates to organise the two compartments of chaos in our pantry cupboard. Apart from being a bit tall, they’re just the right size. But they’re just pine; with a razor saw and a couple of minutes I was able to modify the flat-packed sections and reduce them from three-slats-high to two before assembly.

I have two weeks of work left on my current contract. I’m looking forward to a couple of months off after that; my plans include Electromagnetic Field in July, and a walk with a friend to Canterbury over several days (mostly following the pilgrimage route, but avoiding the bits that are now the A2) in August. I’d also like to sleep a bit more than I have recently. Even with a three-day weekend, there isn’t nearly enough time to do the things I want.

Before all that, there’s Okinawa Day on Saturday, for which I have to finalise a guitar arrangement for a piece we only decided to add guitar to last Friday. On the day, rather than juggle two instruments myself between pieces, we’ve decided to assign someone as a roadie so I can just hand off my sanshin and get a guitar back, and vice versa. That will be good if it works.