I’m pretty wiped out now. Tracking the album is almost, almost finished – I’ll be in Oxford for two days next week to lay down one more set of vocals, maybe a touch more balalaika, get my mum to do some harmonies and to put down the cello parts. And then we’re done. With the exception of a few shows here and there I’m going to be taking some time off while Ben gets to grips with mixing. The whole process should be done by the end of the month (hopefully). Then it’s a question of artwork, deciding the tracklisting, mastering and all that jazz.

Bits and pieces: The End Of Days festival in October has been cancelled, so no show there for me I’m afraid to say. The last part of the Europe diary is now up – here. I bought the Armando Iannucci Shows DVD the other day, and it’s total fucking genius, highly recommended. It’s now lunch time, and I’m going to go eat.