No letterbox news today sadly, but it is mine and Lisa's one and a half year anniversary, which is obviously quite momentous. Lisa's taken the day off work, and we're celebrating by spending it 140 miles apart.

But in other news, I'm now dangerously close to completing my Christmas shopping. I went into Ipswich yesterday afternoon, having located the perfect gift for my brother (as if being my brother isn't reward enough) in the Argos Catalogue ("don't shop for it - Argos it" as the advert said in an attempt at brainwashing which clearly worked on me). Being the kind of prepared person that would put a boy scout to shame, I checked the availability of my item on the Argos website, then headed straight to the Suffolk Retail Park, safe in the knowledge that my gift was in stock.

So I was naturally delighted to get there and find I'd entered the code of the batteries, and not the gift itself. It was only slightly embarrassing. But as luck would have it, the actual toy - sorry, I mean grown-up present - was in stock too. And I only had to queue for 15 minutes to get it. Which gave a chance for numerous strangers to chat to me against my will (I obviously look approachable). I plan to keep in touch with the woman who'd been waiting half an hour for two bedspreads, although the ginger lady who was going straight from Argos to pick up her kids (and seemed on the verge of asking me to go with her) was more friendly. Unlike the man who disapproved of the Argos computer system, and wanted to discuss with me his proposals for change. Frankly he seemed a bit grumpy, and refused to share in the wartime spirit the rest of us had built up.

I also managed to get my hands on a present for my Mum, whose birthday is December 17th. I'd like to claim it was from an expensive boutique, but I actually spotted it whilst pushing my trolley around Tescos. It says 'Christmas Gift' on it too, but I'm hoping she won't notice. To be honest I was lucky to get it at all, after encountering a woman who wanted to discuss with me the outrage that is Tesco's failure to stock longjohns. She'd been to Asda too, and they were no better. As it happened, neither of us knew what the world is coming too, nor what's wrong with people these days, but by the time I got away, the store was almost closing. Which is surprising as it's open 24 hours.

While I'm here, I'd just like to do my bit for the community by mentioning a very convincing malicious e-mail I received this morning. It looks like it came from Ebay, seems to be targeting UK residents only, and tries to get you to visit www.EbayChristmas.net. Both the e-mail and the site are actually very impressive copies, and the only thing which gave it away for me, is that it was sent to one of my e-mail addresses which I've never used for Ebay. The scam's mentioned here, but I'm slightly concerned that it was reported two weeks ago, and the site still hasn't been closed down.

So be careful people. And remember, crimes like this are actually very rare. So don't have nightmares, do sleep well.