I may be on the brink of a major breakthrough. Tony Payne at PCHut has half a laptop. So together with my half a laptop...the one that collapsed on me a year ago...perhaps...Eureka! On disconnecting the random symbol generator...previously flaunting its latent power behind the false identity of a keyboard...we got an external keyboard to start working properly. Voila. My daughter doesn't know it yet but she will be over the moon if this works because I will then have a Dell PC laptop and an Apple Mac Mini at my disposal and I won't be needing both.

I had another idea about working space in Rye and asked Malcolm Wallace whether I could pay his mooring fees and electricity bills for the next two months and work on Gulliver during the day. Gulliver has splendid lines, two masts and a classic wooden boat feel about her. She has been moored on The Strand for the past several years. Malcolm thought about it but decided that he and Claire had too many trips planned to Eastbourne and points west over the next few months to want to navigate around onboard encumbrances. Tant pis!

My immediate cash flow problem was solved in classic style by selling five copies of Rye From the Waters Edge by John Seymour and Connie Lindqvist to Martello Books . This book has been a nice little earner since its publication ten years ago and will eventually show a profit on the first edition of around eight thousand pounds. Sales began to slow last year but before that I could reckon on £66 a month from Martello for ten copies and about the same each quarter from Meads Books. The books retail at £9.95 and the bookshops give it a 50% mark-up. My plan has always been to have several of these tiny publishing properties. It may happen yet...once the ownership issues around Connie's estate have been sorted.

I have been working on the question of settlement. The way trusts work is that a Settlor...me...puts money or assets or properties into the trust. Trustees are then appointed...usually four...and charged with carrying out the trust purpose in accordance with the terms and conditions of the trust. The trust is usually given a secretary who manages the affairs of the trust and the trust documents specify the beneficiaries of the trust income. Where the trust is destined to be wound up on a particular date there are also beneficiaries for the assets of the trust. These need not be the same as the income beneficiaries. So far so good.

In our ten years in partnership together Connie worked with me on nine projects. The plan is for her share of the three Rye-related projects to be placed in the Connie Lindqvist Trust. This means Rye From the Water's Edge and The Maritime History of Rye...completed just before Connie's death and poised for a Christmas 2006 publication. Shares in the partnership were allocated to John Seymour (25%), Connie (25%), Academic Inn Books (25%) and William Franklin & Sons Limited (25%).

John Seymour died last year shortly after his 90th birthday and he told me when last I met him that his literary executor would be his daughter Jane. I will need to talk to her about how we deal with John's share. As I have the controlling interest in Academic Inn Books and William Franklin & Sons Limited I should be able to reach agreement with myself...but an agreement is still needed. Finally there is the work Connie and I did for the Rye Harbour Boat Owners Association. This could be set up in the Connie Lindqvist Trust in such a way as to provide a small income for the association. The magazines we produced for RHBOA between 2000 and 2002 get a lot of downloads from the cesc website.

I spent an unusual afternoon watching Francoise de Naillat splashing paint onto canvases over at Rock Channel Quay. Her son has been going around Europe over the past few years buying up properties and converting them into young person hostels. Mum got taken on as Vice President for Interior Design a year ago and has been off to Italy and Estonia on company business in the past few months. This latest acquisition was a little closer to home in New Cross and the budget was tight. So, game as ever, off Francoise went to B & Q. Her Jackson Pollocks were quite good. And the Buttercup Meadow would also have passed muster before she ploughed it over. As for the rest. Colourful. Unusual. And innovative. What her boss will think is another matter.

I was treated to a toasted sandwich after helping her to clear up and then rushed off to get made up for Iolanthe. Lesley Brownbill...our sternest critic...was pleased with our performance. Her biggest complaint was that the chorus disappeared while the audience were clamouring for a few more curtain calls. We never thought about them. We were just relieved on the first night to have made it through to the end. Second and final performance tonight.

A Mr Stephen Gough and his girlfriend Melanie Roberts have arrived at John O'Groats after taking nine months to walk the 874 mile stretch from Land's End. Their trek irritated and shocked a few people, amused many more and achieved...well...they got some exercise and more fresh air than most of us will experience when we are out for a saunter. Perhaps nude rambling will catch on.