Local walks with friends are essential before I can get into my work-head, to relish cow-parsley verges and may-blossom bowers. The azaleas at Longleat are already out and in the shady woods there are still dense swathes of bluebells. Great to connect again...

OK, I’m home now – and a wonderful night at the theatre: Diary of a Madman and The Inhabitants of the Moon are Noses, a bizarre and brilliant double bill put on by my mega-talented mate Steve Hennessy. The first play is by Gogol, who was as crazy as his Pooteresque monologue-narrator, and the second is about the comi-tragic life of this 19th century Russian writer who craved immortality through his divine talent and died self-starved, mentally sick, and largely derided. The actors, especially Seb Steiger, were amazing, juxtaposing buffooning humour with stark suffering, and Steve's script showed moving undercurrents to this strangely timeless case-study: "Are there not absurd things everywhere? Not often, but they do happen."

So here's my ditty on
Researching Nikolai Gogol:
I giggled when I googled Gogol,
although his life sounds sad.
Gobbledook seems cool for a kook
absurdly profound and quite mad.