A bit of downtime while most of my stories hinge on people getting back to me.

Last night, I was up until 1am just drawing. I don't know if anyone remembers this but I mentioned a while back that I'd be designing a garden for Broad Oak Manor Nursing Home in St Helens. Well, the plan was that I'd have that design ready for today so I could meet Vicky in Cafe Nero during my lunch break and present it to her. I stayed up for hours sketching and inking and erasing and hating what I'd drawn but knowing that if I threw it away I'd only be taking steps back.

By the time I was too tired to go on, I had four pages of uncoloured drawings. At that point I thought 'sod it'; the caffeine failed to work its magic so I went to bed. I decided that a few notes here and there plus a verbal explanation of my intended colour scheme would make up for the unfinished drawings.

Fast-forward to today. I had two double-strength cups of tea in the morning and a further two normal ones in work. By lunch time I was trembling with caffeine; in some weird place between falling asleep and being wide awake. The time came to meet Vicky, so off I trotted to Cafe Nero with my sketchbook and its half-completed drawings. Ten past twelve - no sign of Vicky, so I ordered myself a large caffe mocha and a triple Belgian chocolate muffin, found a table and sat quietly, prepared to people-watch for the duration.

( Did anything happen...?! )