So I’m in Starbucks at Aree (Phaholyothin); it’s my second visit to this particular branch. I’ve more or less got to the point where I can’t find a different one to go to each day any more, so I’m now concentrating on the key exemplars, the core urban locations with the pithiest crystallised product promise. (i.e. the best ones, the big ones, the ones with the most armchairs and natural wood stained with sustainable forest dyes and enough copies of the Bangkok Post).

Yesterday was memorable for several reasons, not all of which I will report here. My upper right lateral incisor crown was fitted at 5pm (GMT+7), ending a four month hiatus. It looked nice with the other teeth until Dr S. removed their surfaces to prepare for the veneers, which will be complete next Thursday. The Hollywood-minus-two colour is very suitable and it looks so much better than Tom Cruise’s incisor.

I didn’t realise Pluto could arouse such passion. Would you have felt the same had it been Venus, or Saturn? I don’t think so. If I said Mercury was being changed into an asteroid, would you care? And as for the shoes, those who couldn’t quite make out the pattern – did you click on the picture? It enlarges on a new page if you do, and you will be able to appreciate the full bling of them. (Bling for me, as you may know, is anything that is not an old pair of trainers or boots). Anyway, I’m wearing them again today, though I think they’re more night shoes. I feel a bit like a wide boy in them, as if I’m about to have someone killed, or do a drug deal. Actually, I did do a drug deal in them yesterday: I went into Boots and bought some paracetamol tablets. The boy serving, whose badge said he was a pharmacist, didn’t bat an eyelid, but seemed happy to sell them to me and practice his English and his “young person” smile, shade no 2.