I was going to call this entry Peace on Earth because that's the song that is in my head. But I thought that you'd complain under the trade descriptions act as I have no formula for POE nor am I going to even talk about it (except to say that typing POE reminded me of Dr. Strangelove and that's a good thing).

I'm looking at the book shelves and three books catch my eye. The Time Out guide to Venice, The Rough Guide to Venice and Venice by Jan Morris. It's rare that I'd take a holiday somewhere I'd already been -- there are so many places in the world to visit why waste time retracing your steps. Venice is an exception (and Rome, I don't know what happened there, but it didn't click right with me so I have to give it another chance) aided by exceptional memories. Sally and I went there soon after we were married (it was a wedding present) and it was just lovely. All the bad things people had said about it -- crowded, wet, smelly, expensive -- didn't hold and we had a lovely time.

So back to Venice. And Rome. And maybe Corsica. The latter is even more surprising as we spent three weeks there travelling around the whole island and you'd think that its pleasures would be exhausted in that time. But it's very beautiful and friendly and I proposed to Sally there and we have good memories of it (there seems to be a nuptial theme here -- it isn't intended).

But the south of France is the most likely port of call this year (if we have a holiday this year), mainly because we can get cheap direct flights. Paying for four seats is a costly business. Children -- who'd have 'em.

Which reminds me. Paddy's vocabulary is expanding rapidly. His favourite word at the moment is No, but it's a very polite No. More of a No, thank you. So that's OK. He still says a lot that is impenetrable but another month and I reckon he'll be sorted.

We had a fantastic weekend last. (Grammar?) I took Friday off as we were going to a party Thursday night (and right I was) and while Friday was a bit delicate, Saturday and Sunday were spent in the company of friends in a very relaxed fashion. We goofed off, ignoring the chores and the impending move and really had a good time.

And I'll leave you with a couple of links.  My current wallpaper and Bert is Evil. You've probably seen the Bert one before, but now that Paddy has discovered videos (bidee!), I've re-discovered Sesame Street, so this made me smile.