It was a strange and mournful day, first thing this morning. Grey with sea mist and slightly damp. But then I walked past a memorial bench with a sad bunch of flowers marking someones 60th birthday.

How lucky am I to have passed that milestone and to pass this bench every day when the person commemorated never got that far. So out of a strange and mournful day came so many reasons to be cheerful.

Paul Simon drearful v Ian Dury cheerful.

I am somewhat lost in selecting my tracks for a private Desert island Discs event This is a project some years in the making. The list stretches beyond the 8 tracks allowed by the original radio programme.

The list has stayed substantially the same but if I could dictate I would like twenty tracks. I may try to negotiate. Today I made some brief notes for each of the twelve tracks.  Unknown until now I think there is a theme that reflects my glass half full attitude to life.

In my life a fair old bit of rain has fallen and, as for many of us, some days can be dark, but my music choices show that I have always allowed optimism and a certain degree of pretence to be my tools of choice when dealing with the tough stuff.

But 8 tracks to reflect a lifetime. Impossible