Pancakes and bankaches

I love this time of year. The approach of Lent gives me a chance to have a bit of a tidy up and I took three sacks of shit down to the Oxgamp charity shop in nearly gave me a Hernia Hill on Tuesday. It's rather a good little shop but they'd better watch it. My hound, Barkles, was not welcome. They said if I wanted to try and abandon her somewhere (again) I should take her to the Battersea Raining Cats and Dogs Home.

Then it was home for pancakes. I bloody love pancakes. There is no finer feeling then using up all of the stale flour, rotten eggs, curdled milk and rancid butter left lingering in the darker recesses of the kitchen. Much better than cheating and buying a pre-prepared mix from M&S. I even find the lemon my sister bought for my Birthday in November, but it is a little shrivelled.

Unfortunately I was left with 48 pints of batter as I haven't got a frying pan. I gave it up and lent it to Hector Rule for 40 days last year and he hasn't given it back. I think he is using it to bash Dylan Twirley with whenever he gets the opportunity.

I spent the evening struggling to think of something I could forsake for Lent (apart from making empty gestures) but in the end I just gave up.

Yesterday was an early start for a meeting with some sailors at Admiralty House. My excellent head of policy, Geof "two brains, no arse" Sachell revealed that his Great Grandfather worked in the same building. Geof is so intelligent that he took degrees at two different colleges (Oxford, naturally) simultaneously. In fact he is so brainy that he has even figured out what the hell he is doing working for BUBB.

Anyway, turns out his ancestor was Head of Navel Gazing, and somewhat of an intelligence expert having completed his I-Spy Book of Bloody Big Battleships. And he was the very model for M People, whose hymn devoted to introspection (Search for the Hero Inside Yourself) was dedicated to him.

Then it was onto the launch of the Better Berating, Bollocking and Baiting Banking Coalition, a body set up to transform levels of moral indignation and fury at the banking industry. Although it has nothing to do with our core objectives of providing support for our members and campaigning on umbrella issues, I am getting right stuck into this and BUBB will hosting it.

Finally, we haul our Big Arse tour into London and for a gig at the offices of those nice banking and investment types (I will have my cake and eat it - nothing wrong with the City when it suits me) CCLA Confidential. I take a break from lead vocals and that gorgeous diva, and BUBB vice-chair, Hillda Ogden-Newton&Ridley belts out a fantastic version of It's Raining Men.