Sunday

New thing for the day was going to a pub in Groby called the Stamford Arms.

Saturday

New thing today was wandering around the streets of Aldgate trying to find Brick Lane. We did eventually, but not before we'd done a few laps of the island, and walked past Aldgate station four times.

Friday

New thing for the day was driving a big Master van home from work in order to pick up the rest of my stuff as I'm moving out! Hurrah!

Thursday

New thing today was driving to Cannock for an event in the evening. Since I didn't particularly want to go, I drove to my destination at an average speed of about 30mph, never nudging above 70mph on the motorway!! However, the place I needed to get to was right next to the motorway, and celebs on the night included the brilliant NIcholas Parsons from Just a Minute and Sale of the Century fame, as well as Bully - Steve Bull. Both exceptionally nice - and dapper - people!

Wednesday

Today's new thing was a pub - always the best kind of new thing. After going to Finnegan's Wake in Ealing again to watch the first leg of the Champions League Liverpool v Chelsea game, my colleague and his housemate and I went to O'Neills in Ealing.

Wednesday

I've been to the 60s-tastic experience that is Gerrard's Cross before, but my new thing for today was going into the new Oxfam, and also the bookshop in the town. I still imagine that I'm going to be thrown out of Gerrard's Cross for crimes against sartorial elegance one day.

Tuesday

Went into a newsagents I'd never been to before while waiting for my lift to work. I attribute the uselessness of the new thing to not feeling 100 %, your honour.

Monday

Pain prevented me from doing too many new things today, apart from chundering in the flower beds at work. Zigzagged around a couple of roads in Ealing that I'd never been down before after dropping my colleague home - incidentally, the same colleague who asked me to pick him up at 7.30am this morning, and then overslept.

Sunday

Drove around some new houses in my home town of Sherborne round the back of Tinney's Lane where I used to play football. I say new - I remember them being built about 10 years ago.

Saturday

Beaulieu! I vaguely remember coming here as a child - certainly remember the amphibious Lotus - but I don't think I ever took the back road into the place or went into the restaurant.

Friday

New thing was going into the car park of a church in Harefield, as I couldn't think of anything else to do.

Thursday

New thing today was a day at Cheltenham Races with work. Met the tipster Luke Harvey - an absolutely charming bloke. He and I met at Lambourn a couple of times when I was the Lambourn reporter, and he was either extremely polite or has a wonderful memory as he said he remembered me. Lost a colleague's £2 stake on a horse called Nobelisk...

Wednesday

New thing for today was using the new bathroom that had been installed!

Tuesday

New thing today, was driving round parts of Basildon I'd never been to before. My dad appeared in the pub last night, so the first thing I had to do today was call him to apologise for my raucousness and repetitiveness the night before. My dad appeared in the pub last night, so the first thing I had to do today was call him to apologise for my raucousness and repetitiveness the night before. As I was quite impressively hungover, I nearly forgot to take my sunglasses off in my meeting, and nearly chundered when I had to read something. Went to a petrol station I'd never been to before for Lucozade and post-drinking munchies.

Monday

Not a new thing as such, but we bought a house!

Sunday

New thing today was leaving York and heading for Scarborough. The trouble was, everyone else was too, thanks to the highest temperatures of the year so far....I'm more au fait with Scarborough, Ontario, but this was ok. It's no Weymouth though.

Saturday

More exploring the city of York, after failing to convince Mabel that the river was called the Yorkibar. We walked along the city walls and went into lots of old pubs (for research purposes), and then joined the TRevor Rooney Ghost Walk in the evening, which took us around the city, ending up in a spooky old pub called the Black Swan, Dick Turpin's old haunt. I didn't sleep a wink when I got back to the hotel.

Friday

Viewing a house was the first new thing we did, followed by going to York. I booked a posh hotel for Mabel's birthday treat as the pictures looked so enticing, and because he took me to New York last year for my 30th birthday (thanks to him, Dad, LT, and DG). I had been dropping hints all week, pretending that we were going to the Isle of Wight, but I got so caught up in the deceit, I slipped up, and pretended we were going to York. Oooops. I chose a fairly expensive hotel called the Knavesmire Manor Hotel, as from its pictures, it looked like a really nice manor house. But on arrival, we were told the swimming pool was out of action, and then we were shown to our roomm. It was in a square block of rooms out the back, which may or may not have been where the chalet scenes in Hi De Hi were filmed. Sorry Mabel.

Thursday

My boss asked me earlier in the week if I would drive him to Avebury for the start of his 90mile cycle ride along the Ridgeway. So my new thing today was waiting in Asda car park in Handy Cross before our drive through the beautiful Wiltshire countryside. Also nipped into the post office in Marlborough High Street - never done that before. Also got an evening to celebrate Mabel's birthday planned, but can't say where we're going yet in case he sees.

Wednesday

Great news - my housemates are off on holiday which means I get the house to myself for a week - practically the first time I've been able to watch the TV for a year! The bade news is that my landlord has decided that since it's the only time they'll be out, he's going to redo the bathroom - which means that I had to go swimming after work, in order to get a shower. Couldn't abide the disgusting swimming pool at Highgrove, which is full of toilet paper, so went to the pricey, but clean, Chalfont St Peter swimming pool as my new thing for the day.

Tuesday

Totally uninspiring - went to a beauty salon in Harefield that I'd never been into before. Asked whether my enormous feet would qualify for the "mini feet pedicure".....

Easter Monday

New thing today was cruising down some new streets in Ealing waiting for the Mabel to decide whether I was driving him home or not. Also, my new thing was being nice to a policeman.

Easter Sunday

New thing today was going to a pub called Finnegan's Wake in Ealing, which I'd always wanted to go into, cos the idea of an Irish pub in Ealing intrigued me. It wasn't Irish at all. We sat outside, me rushing to finish my drink as quickly as possible to go somewhere more salubrious. But wait! Who's that guy staring at me? It was Ben - an old friend from my home town that I hadn't seen for about four years. We stayed for another four hours, before I went home, watched Office Space and threw up. All the signs of a quality night.

Saturday

New thing today was going to the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane - arranged to meet our friends Kate and Simon there, except I got my Aldgate and Aldgate East stations mixed up, causing mayhem. - not helped by the fact that I called the wrong Simon with directions!

Good Friday - Horsing around

It certainly was a Good Friday for me! First new thing of the day was swinging by Tesco in Osterley (the one that appears in one of their adverts). Actually managed to miss the turning and ended up in Harrods' distribution warehouse first though. Then onto Lambourn, where I used to be the reporter for the area, in time for the famous Lambourn Open Day. Good Friday is the only day off that jockeys and trainers get, yet they give their time to open their doors to the public, raising money for injured jockeys charities along the way. This the third year running that I've been, so this time went to stables I'd never been to before; Charlie Mann, Carl Llewellyn's, as well as Harry Dunlop's where we missed the swimming horses display, and Nicky Henderson's - which I have been to before. Other amusing things included one of the stuntsmen landing on his face, me making an arse of myself asking people why two horses had the same name "Unamed", John Francome, Richard Dunwoody and AP McCoy showjumping, and Charlie Brooks, Sylvester Kirk, Dominic Ffrench Davies and Charlie Mann battling it out with jockeys in a tug-o-war competition. Can't wait for next year's event...

Wednesday - Marge's post last ever episode of Due South run

Was fairly bursting with pent-up energy after work and dropping my colleague off (he wasn't - he slept all the way home - until I nearly drove into the back of someone that is...), so I went for a run. I took a route out of my road, left at the top, past the new roundabout, up to the lights, turned right, went down there for a bit, past the shops, past the park and right into Grosvenor Road, along there - oops nearly hit by a Prius - didn't hear it, dead end, turn back on myself, cross road, run along there, back onto Boston Manor Road, and back to my house. Round the block in other words, but a lot of the streets were new to me....

Tuesday - Marge's health kick

Yesterday's new thing was going to Gold's Gym after my colleague dropped me off there after work. I only went into the reception area and got a leaflet about sport injuries, as it was clear from the lobby that this was not a gym I could afford. On the way home, I noticed that a new CostCutters store had opened up, so I went in there to get something for my dinner. Nothing inspired me at all except the Bulmers, so I had pasta for dinner.

Monday's child is in a posh place

Yesterday's new thing was going to M&S in Gerrard's Cross, a town which seems to serve no other purpose than to make me realise how poor and scruffy I am. Bought office milk and teabags, and then treated myself to a M&S expensive salad. The other new thing I did was drive around some of the streets of Earl's Court while waiting to pick my dad up from his hotel, again looking at posh houses and imagining how many times my abode would fit into some of these houses' living rooms. He must have been doing the same thing, because he said to me three times: "You want to make money while you're young". I didn't challenge him to pitch and toss this time though.

Sunday

New thing today was walking around hidden Ealing. Had a look at the Studios, and revelled in the wonderful weather. Then went into a health food shop, and was a little bit concerned about how much pleasure I derived from looking at organic tea. Then went to a pub called the Grange, wondering why it had taken a year to find this place - I was stupid enough to let four people join us at our table, and they expanded and grew until we were sitting on the very end of the bench. At least they didn't start smoking and shouting like the people who gatecrashed our table the night before, but a bit of appreciation would have been nice. We left the Grange and crossed the Common, past all the cars which had had their windows broken and stereos stolen, and went to the Common Room - that's not new, but the desire to spend £2.75 on a tiny portion of tapas was. And there was no toilet paper.

Saturday

New thing today was going to Kensington Olympia Station to the exhibition halls there for the Vitality show. A cracking idea for a show, and it almost made me give up drinking and all the unhealthy stuff I do. Almost. Saw the health and life coaching equivalent of moneysavingexpert Martin Lewis at the show - a guy called Pete Cohen whose book I have - smiled at him, and he smiled back, but couldn't think of anything to say to him - speechlessness is not a problem I have very often. While I did manage to help myself to free samples of yogurt and muesli, I was appalled at the actual elbowing and general thugishness that descends on people at events like this. Every second woman appeared to be pulling a suitcase full of things they'd purloined - and while waiting for Mabel to get himself kinesiogised, I went to get some samples fo cheese. There were two left on the plate, so I reached for one, and a fairly elderly woman grabbed both of them. I laughed at her, walked around to the other side of the desk where there were another two slices, and she did it again! It was time to go then. The other new thing I did today was meet my Pa in a pub called the Skarsdale Tavern in Earl's Court. We had a great meal, and there were some very friendly people in there. My Dad told me three times during the meal that I needed to earn more money, so I tried to beat him at pitch and toss on the way home - but Mabel muscled in and scooped all the cash.

Friday

My pal Deev tells me that the Ace Cafe was used in a 50's Biker movie The Leather Boys "(starring Dudley'Tinker from Lovejoy'Sutton and directed by Sidney J Furie of Ipcress File Fame) it was one of the locations and I've always wanted to go and get a egg sandwich there."
Friday's new thing was heading towards Brentford by accident when trying to take a short cut through Hanwell to get to Boston Manor station to pick up my boyfriend. When I realised I'd done this it meant I didn't have to drag Mabel through the pouring rain to Ealing to find a pub I'd never been to before.