Things may be coming to life again after a typically quite August

Now the bank holiday weekend is over again it does seem that the jobs market is waking up again a bit.

For the last few weeks I have been struggling to find things to apply to but I did get a couple of calls from agents today so perhaps that's a good harbinger of things to come. 

I'm still trying to make up my mind what I should be asking for salary-wise.  I'm not over centred on cash (I hope) and would be willing to go down from my last salary a bit if that is what the market demands.  But how much?  If any?  I don't want to sound desperate and make it seem as though I would accept any wage offered. 

Given these straightened times,  or despite of them,  what do people think about salary downsizing?