Others doing this too and it seems like fun.

0830 – wake up. Unusual weekday lie-in as I have medical appointment first thing. Fried egg on toast for breakfast (as opposed to usual poached egg). Write half of today’s LJ post about Second Doctor before going to local doctor.

0915 – Doctor sees me immediately, with young student doctor in attendance. Diagnoses small but annoying lump on arm as granuloma, of which I have not previously heard but does not sound dangerous. Refers me to local dermatologist and charges me standard €23 consultation fee, of which 80% will get repaid by the bureaucracy. Both doctor and student speak excellent English.

0945 – Call phone company to fix wi-fi router at home, staggering through conversation in Dutch. They claim it will now work once it has been rebooted. We will see.

1000 – Set off to work by car (unusually, normally commute by train), taking the opportunity to get started listening to Caroline John’s audiobook reading of Elisabeth Sladen’s autobiography. Moving preface written and read by David Tennant. By end of drive, young Sladen has vomited on the future cabinet minister Edwina Currie and is engaged in youthful drama school.

Traffic almost at standstill for last leg of commute; suddenly ambulance and fire engine rush past, horns blaring, and after a few mins I draw level with group of paramedics clustered around prone body on Avenue de Cortenbergh opposite post office. Does not look good. In work by 1100. Embarrassed to realise that old friend from Bosnia thinks we have scheduled lunch for today, when I thought it was next week and have made other arrangements. He agrees on 1 December lunch with good grace.

1130 – Meeting with EU ambassador of small non-EU country. He is newly appointed – arrived on Saturday! – but I knew him from his previous job (and he knows me by reputation). I am pitching for meeting with foreign minister who is due in town next week. He offers me European minister who will certainly be coming to Brussels. I pitch for foreign minister on next Brussels visit as well. Ambassador will see what he can do. Much gossip about mutual acquaintances back in his capital city. Ambassador mentions that his wife is expecting, and I refer him to Brussels Childbirth Trust.

1300 – Ambassadorial meeting was so cordial that it finishes only at 1240 and by the time I have got metro back there is no time to return to office before lunch with English journalist friend at Irish pub (one of at least four within a stone’s throw of the office). Journalist friend appalled by state of EU, forecasts doom unless Merkel decides on firm action; appalled by state of Greece with nutcase Samaras likely to be next Prime Minister; also appalled by right-wing British press, which he assures me is under direct orders to write anti-EU stories, to the point of having copy rejected if not Eurosceptic enough. (His own paper is Brussels-based but international.)

1415 – Back in office, finally chance to clear backlog of email. Fortunately US colleagues will not bother me today as it is Thanksgiving. Take a few moments to fill this entry out. Then back to work (interview job candidate, write meeting reports, then later policy brainstorming).