There was a rather lovely moment yesterday at a North London rehearsal complex. We were chuckling away at the dismal sound of some Manic Street Preachers tribute band who were hacking away in the adjoining room, before someone looked through the window and pointed out to us that James Dean Bradfield appeared to be in the band. Ah, that would explain it then. In the other adjoining room Carl Barat was getting up to something or other, while a high-powered manager paced around in the corridor, barking into a mobile phone and ferrying bottles of water and packets of Wheat Crunchies backwards and forwards, although mainly forwards. Me, I prefer to source my own Wheat Crunchies, make sure they have come from a sustainable source and so on, because what with Golden Wonder going bust, surely they can’t be around for long.

I’ve just received an iPod case that I bought off eBay for 99p plus £4.99 postage and packing, which immediately looks suspicious, doesn’t it. The location of the vendor was “United Kingdom”, but when the thing hadn’t arrived after 7 days, I emailed them to find out where it was. They informed me that it had been sent a number of days ago, but the transit time was within 7-10 working days. 7-10 days? How were they bringing it to me, Sedan chair? Anyway, it arrived today, postmarked Hong Kong. I ripped the bag open in feverish excitement, and put my iPod in it, but the case wouldn’t shut. It nearly closed, but “nearly” isn’t good enough with a case, is it. If your suitcase won’t close properly at the airport, you don’t just leave it hanging open so that your sandals and items of beachwear making their way individually down the conveyor belt. No, cases need to shut. This case is not closed. I will be seeking a refund.

I had my first couchsurfing encounter yesterday night, for a thing I’m writing for The Independent. My profile is coming along nicely. I’ve uploaded the usual photo of me with the speech bubble, and when I did so the website suggested using “a caption – e.g. “This Is Me On Mount Everest”. It amused me to a pathetic degree to leave the caption as “This is Me On Mount Everest”. If any readers have unsuitable pictures of themselves that they could post here, captioned with “This Is Me On Mount Everest”, it would bring immense joy and fun to my otherwise grey Thursday morning.

EDIT: Interesting to note that the one other couchsurfer who has already used the joke is an extremely attractive woman whose couch I would be more than happy to surf on.