It's been raining heavily all day, I am still all wet as a result of walking around in said rain, I have shitloads of work to do which depends on my ability to locate various Irish theatre types who never seem to be in their offices, and I am still suffering from post-ladyfest-depression/anti-climatic weirdness. So! Here are some cheerful thoughts - think of them as the antidote to all the things I was ranting about last week.

1. I got All About Eve, one of my favourite films, on DVD for just a tenner in the HMV sale. I was actually looking for Brief Encounter, which they didn't have, but hey, it's a good consolation prize.

2. The latest episode of Gilmore Girls is just sitting in my laptop waiting to be watched. Hurrah! I love you, internet!

3. Red Bertie the Socialist's Friend's reference to "the Bots" has put me in the mood for re-reading the mighty works of barsine's and my favourite fellow northsider P atricia Scan lan, whose books are filled with pointless references to northside suburban landmarks (like the aforementioned "Bots"). Patricia actually went to the same secondary school as me, so I am all too familiar with the places she so lovingly describes. Although, perhaps because she's from the neighbouring district of Glasnevin, she seems to have a remarkable bias against Drumcondra (my native suburb). Her characters keep moving from dingy Edwardian villas in gloomy Drumcondra to glitzy penthouse apartments in (snerk) glamorous Glasnevin, where they can gaze out at local beauty spots like the Met Office and the Bon Secours hospital all day. Anyway, her books are (unintentionally) hilarious, and are cheering me up no end.

4. The wooly headband/hat yoke and wristlet I bought at the Ladyfest Craft Fair. Red! Wooly! Appliqued flowers! What's not to love?

5. I have two shopping-bags worth of delicious Marks and Spencers food in the fridge, on which I shall later feast.

6. The new Gwen Stefani album. Seriously, I'm doing it for work, and it got sent to me last night, and while there are one or two Linda Perry (urgh) ballads, the rest of it is fantastic. I just took a break from writing this and spent about half an hour dancing around the sitting room to it. Andre 3000! New Order! Wendy and Lisa! Crazy '80s-esque synth-pop! I love it. And I am kind of dancing around in my seat to it RIGHT NOW.

7. Coronation Street. That programme is comedy gold these days. And when it's not, it's top-notch melodrama. I love Karen! I wish she got to punch more annoying characters in the face. Decking Tracy was good, but Charlie needs a good kicking too. I think I need a Karen icon...

8. The fact that I spent last night hanging out in the sitting room with P alternately laughing at really bad superhero comics, discussing the nature of socialism, playing with Ju Ju and popping bubble wrap.

Hmmm. Life isn't so bad after all.