I had a lovely time at Tamara's party last night, playing Taboo with a bunch of actors who gave consistently clever and entertaining answers, as well as a girl named Jessie, whose Taboo game needs to be seen to be believed. By contrast, I looked, and felt, like a model of grim efficiency. (I take my Taboo seriously...) I also made the mistake of trying to convey the word hobo by shouting, "Um, these people carry bindles! Bindles!", forgetting that most people don't love hoboes as much as I do, and don't know that bindle is the technical term for the kerchief that hoboes carry at the end of a stick. (I owe this piece of information to The Simpsons, whose legendary writer John Schwarzwelder loves hoboes even more than I do.)

Anyway, many thanks and happy birthday to Tamara, who starts her new job tomorrow.