...Mmmm Triple-DES, my favourite.

I scored ~£20 on Saturday morning for writing 5 lines of Perl (to implement some cryptography, hence the title). And that meant I could look the job centre staff in the eye when I signed on for the first time yesterday. It also meant I broke their forms when we tried to declare my earnings. (Are you meant to come out the job centre grinning from ear to ear? )

There's a lot going on here - people moving out, friends who were expected to live months collapsing and dying - so its hard to understate the value of that £20. It means I'm still functional in the eyes of the world. It means there's hope. (It helped, too, that it was a beautiful day with #0000ff skies and an indefatigable breeze; who wants to work on a day like that? Set to be another fine one today.)

But now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and research a friend's favourite hymn by looking through piles of old magazines.