Friends and family

An interlude back in the UK. Its great to be with family and friends, as well as sleeping in the same bed for consecutive nights.

Brilliant weekend in Paris for a friend's surprise 30th birthday party. A very drunken evening in a bar with some stunning live music ended up in a taxi at 5am being berated by the Ghanaian driver for stealing his county's gold. Think he realised I wasn't personally responsible but I'm not sure. Then had to break into the hotel because the night porter was doing his own thing. It was alright once I had extracted my head that was stuck in the sliding doors. I was bit paranoid when I woke up because I was sure I had broken the doors and my escapade had been recoded.   But they seemed to be working OK .

Paris is stunning I suppose it helps in you capitulate in a world war where the participants think it is OK to bomb each other's city into submission.

Traveling makes you really appreciate home. Otley really is special. There probably hasnt been another time in history when we have had peace, security that a bit of money provided and all the advantages of a village community.

Neither of us are excited by starting on yet another journey but, nice as it is, we are not ready to settle at home yet - we have told the agency to continue the holiday letting until Jan 2009.