Eric Simms

I'm am writing this as I sit in a hotel bar - the only place where I can get internet reception and it's because I'm near the bar - and I'm thinking that I should really get to bed as I have to be fit and not tired for tomorrow's shoot. 

The disappointing thing is that the piece will not be aired until January 2010!!!

I arrived in Newcastle at midday and I have basically been on my own until 8.30pm tonight because the crew were coming up from Bristol after their day in the office. I killed time by writing and visiting the Baltic Centre in Gateshead to see Yoko Ono's exhibition. When I got there I was told that Yoko's stint at the gallery had finished last Sunday. The one day I get cultural and I get thwarted.

I decided to wear a pair of black jeans that are to long for me tomorrow. So tonight I will borrow a pair of scissors from reception and will try and hack them shorter.

I heard some sad news tonight. Eric Simms, one of my natural history heroes died a fortnight ago. I remember reading his Birds of Town & Suburb as a teenager and realising that I was indeed an urban birder. He was a major inspiration for me.