(Don’t get your hopes up )

• Monday.

With the winter sun blinding me as I cross the city I settle on 200 Degrees coffee on Bridge street for a morning coffee break. Looking for an improvement on last weeks “worst ever cup of coffee” at Watergate Costa, I settle down with a magazine and a cappuccino. Patisserie Valerie this used to be didn’t it ? 5 for a coffee and cake seems highly reasonable. Alright buddy you ok! says the friendly server. Very positive, with lots planned in the diary this should be a good week off work! Christmas stockings hang above the fake fireplace and 2 people sit knitting next to it.

Decided on the new diary format after experimenting with Opinion blogs this year. Some have been better read but in general they’ve not been massive hits probably because the topics weren’t clickbait-y enough, or I don’t have enough charisma or interest as a writer. Is there anyone writing anything about Chester in any detail? Most opinion is expressed by Facebook comment these days, its a superficial age as I may have said before. The dying Chester Chronicle used to have an opinion section and a letters page, now its all detritus floating on an online sea.

200 Degrees is pleasantly set aside from the street. Sitting in the lower area with no view of the street, you can imagine you’re in a different town, a different country (if you want). You can imagine that the world you step back out into is a better one. I post a press release from the University of Chester, they send me a lot of good content ever since I reached out to their communications department.

I walk by the River, the water high and vaguely post apocalyptic. Perhaps if the sea rises we’ll all be forced to live on the rooftops, which is where I go for the next stop on my tour. I drink one Christmas cocktail in Rooftop Social, the grand new venue. It isn’t at its most atmospheric at 12pm on a Monday afternoon but I’m sure it will thrive in the months to come.

• Tuesday

I wake up at some point with a fever , not knowing what day it is. I sleep for most of the day losing all track of time and space. Events missed : Upton High school redevelopment drop in/ trip to Blacon library to donate some Lego, and press night for Sleeping Beauty at Storyhouse.

• Wednesday

Fever dreams of a not specified Chester choir performing at a right wing rally, inspired by a Louis Theroux documentary I half watched. In another dream, a flying lift takes me from the city centre to Bache ( I didn’t want to go there). Cough, headaches and aching limbs and sleep yet still too much time to think about things. Events missed: A shift working with Pastry Pedaleur in the Market- was even going to change the twitter handle to Sweet Chester. Also, Chester Spiritualist Church

• Thursday

Trip to the Doctor who tells me to rest until the weekend. The 10 minute walk feels a lot harder than it should be. Back to bed, noticing how the majority of the films on Amazon seem to be lowly rated. Event missed: The Saturnalia and Winter Watch parades. I always make the effort to go out and see the Romans and their flaming torches, the light reflecting on their armour, the hushed crowds listening to their Emperor. But yeah missed it. Always an iconic view as the Legion march under the Clock before joining with the Watch parade. After taking part in the Watch the week before, I’d reserved this week to enjoy and photograph the event, but now its gone for another yea. Work on a blog documenting the parade experience is also stalled. Maybe one of the other numerous Chester news sites will write an article about it. Tidy of the Lego display / addition of the old man of Rosies Lego figure also dropped.

• Friday

An inbox tip off from a loyal follower alerts me that the planning application from Harrods Beauty is now live on the council website. I am pleased to get the news out before anyone else, other publications follow shortly. The rise in website traffic is a brief medicine but then I go back to feeling trapped and morose.

• Saturday

Christmas is here with the Grosvenor Round Table Santa float passing through Upton. Sorting through a box of mixed up Lego helps to clear my head, slightly. I’ve had 3 requests from businesses to be depicted in Lego in the last week….