I’m sitting in the dark of the junk room at home, sipping a celebratory cup of coffee and listening to a largely forgettable “jazz café” playlist after climbing something of a mountain today.

A few thoughts have been rattling around my head recently.

We went out for breakfast this morning at the café where my middle daughter works (or rather, one of the places she works – she now has two jobs).

At five fifty five this morning my body woke me up, and I switched off the alarm I had carefully set the previous night.

I just finished watching the movie “Her”.

We saw the movie “The Brutalist” at the cinema last night.

I went for a walk into town at lunchtime today, purely to escape the house for a little while – to escape the computer, the washing machine, the dishwasher, and the endless rounds of picking up and putting away.

The clock is ticking towards midnight once more.

My eldest daughter sat in the junk room with me this evening – at my work desk – and helped me build a LEGO kit I got for Christmas – of “Groot” from Guardians of the Galaxy.

After wandering into the living room this evening I caught the second half of the wonderful movie “Free Guy” – where Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer and Joe Keery explore what might happen in a virtual world such as “Second Life”, or “Grand Theft Auto” if the non-player-characters develop sentience through artificial intelligence.