A day of curry, blarney and Nina Simone

Had a wander around Manchester with Mrs. Stan today - ended up having lunch at my all-time favourite curry house "Lal Qila" in Rusholme. Their Chilli Chicken is a taste of heaven and as hot as hell. Washed down with some Indian lager - bliss.

Later on I sat in the sun and read a lot of W.B. Yeats online. It's all very, very good. Except the stuff with pixies, elves and fairies, which is faintly embarrassing.

• Life is a long preparation for something that never happens
• All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions
  
• When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
• Tread softly for you tread on my dreams

Yeats will not put a big grin on your face but packs a huge emotional charge. It's a bit like listening to Portishead on an empty stomach.

My favourite of his poems ? "The Second Coming". I challenge you to read the first eight lines and not think of the Iraq War.

Then listen to some Nina Simone to snap you out of it. Thanks to Mother Stan for letting me run off with a copy of her CD on my memory stick - "Sinnerman" is the ultimate antidote to intense Irish poetry. Ten minutes plus of sheer unbridled musicality that even had this heathen clapping along.

No big points to make today - just wanted to tell you that I had a good day. I hope you did too.