Holly was working on Saturday and I was off, so I was pretty much having a lazy day, on the sofa and catching up with my DVDs that I got for Christmas. That and stuffing myself rotten with scotch eggs and chocolate. To date, it was the best day that 2008 has had to offer me.

Anyway, while I was sat there watching Alien Versus Predator (for some reason, I feel slightly ashamed to admit that!) and various episodes of Saxondale. I started thinking about the layout of the living room, about the changes I would like to make to it.

As the day progressed, the fella that lives upstairs to us started playing his new Led Zeppelin CD (I guess he got it Christmas, because it wasn’t Elton John again – he plays that one quite a bit). I had to turn the TV up quite a bit to drown it out and then thought to myself “if I had rear speakers, I probably wouldn’t hear this”.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Led Zeppelin (and I am quite partial to the odd Elton John song every now and then), but I like to listen to them in my own time. And I am not gonna go up there and complain, because:

a) I don’t want to sour relations

b) He did fix a leak that was coming through into our bathroom fairly quickly

c) I am sure that with my electric guitar and my stereo, he can probably hear me at times – so live and let live I say

But yeah, as I sat there, still thinking “if I had rear speakers, I probably wouldn’t hear this”, I started to look round the room again looking for other things to “fix”. The pile of DVDs by the TV (we need another cabinet – where can it go?), the distance between the speakers and the TV (are they far enough apart for us to fully appreciate the surround sound effect, if not, where can I put them?) and is there a practical way I can connect my ipod to the AV receiver, failing that, how about connecting the PC?

So I spent the best part of an hour, listing these problems and writing down a practical solution next to them. Quite proud of my practical assessment, I make a brew and sit on the sofa and watch the top 100 comedy Catchphrases.

Later on that evening, Holly comes home, takes a look round the flat and says some stuff, followed by “you haven't even done the washing up, what have you been doing all day?”

I show her my list…