Autumn in August
3 August

On a work day, I normally wake up to the 6am news and weather forecast on the radio.

On Wednesday, the forecaster told us that he was looking at the weather chart and that it was October. With prevailing winds from the North and banks of rain in the Atlantic the patterns were most characteristic of October. This is to be contrasted with the hottest July since records began (which is not all that long ago - round about the time of the First World War).

But it's true. Some ten days ago, we were sleeping with windows open, on top of the sheets, duvet cast aside and electric fan blowing across us. Now, we are back under the duvet and cuddling up in the nighttime's cool. Gone are the predictions that August could be even hotter.

My two colleagues, Steve and Ian came round for drinks and food last Friday evening. Mostly this was about Ross giving the lowdown about the practicalities of running your own company - how to deal with the Inland Revenue, how to handle the paperwork for PAYE and NI contributions, what the tax implications are, etc, etc. Steve and Ian are looking to self-employment as their main way out of Connect.

However, the sub-text was that I had been wanting to do some entertaining since I first arrived at Connect some six years ago. And they both were interested to see what Chateau Notorious looked like. I learnt later that both of them had thought that our home would be somewhat minimalist and Ikea catelogue. So they were intrigued to find something a little more homely, cluttered and lived in. Personally, I think that they have both been watching far too much of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. We are not all tag fags.

After both colleagues left, I set the video and retired. I was recording something very special - the last ever episodes of The West Wing. I've followed this series off and on since its inception. It was my award for best media programme in 2001 and was highly commended in 2002.

I liked the way the final episode was full of sentiment without being sentimental. As one president took over from the next, there was a system in place to effect a complete transformation to the symbolic centre of power. Everyone from the old administration was busy looking for what was going to happen next. I imagine that this was not unlike how the actors actually felt.

Two nice moments. The first episode was called POTUS and it was revealed that this stood for President Of The United States. In the final episode there was a shot of a bell pull over which were the letters POTUS. Nice touch. And the final moment. Bartlett was asked what he was thinking about. He answered "Tomorrow". Cut to aircraft flying through a burst of sunlight. Great ending.