Some of you may know that I work in the law. I'm in the middle of a big case at the moment, which involves the Oval Cricket ground (as my last post might have indicated....). This makes it supremely difficult to fit in any really exciting first times - although I do have some crackers lined up. As I came home tonight, I thought long and hard about whether I had done anything for the first time today. I bought a pasteis de nata from the local Portugese café, but I've bought them before (although I envy people who've never had one before. What a treat they have in store). I got the tube to work, which I never do, but I've clearly been on the tube before. And then I realised - I learnt a fascinating new fact today, for the first time, which I'm going to share with you.

• On the pitch at the Oval, there are two small darker patches of grass. One is just in front of the Pavilion and the other close to the wicket. The first (larger) patch is where people who wish to have their ashes scattered at the ground come to rest. The groudndsmen are under strict instructions never to dig up the turf there. And the second (small) patch is where each and every one of the Oval's eleven cats have been buried. Again, they never dig that area up...