Been a weird week. Darrens gran died last night so we've not had much sleep. She was lovely and gave me some posh biscuits just last week. When Darren was a nipper he used to have his tea with her and apparently she made the most sublime salmon sandwich. Thanks for everything you did for Darren, Doris.

Vespa off the road due to gaskets and seals corroding inside a nine month old engine. Good job it's still under warranty. So, I've been using the tube. £2.80 for a single journey!!! Thats how much petrol I buy in just a week. And I have a fifteen minute walk to my underground station which is not how I like to start my day. It's not even an interesting walk past shops or through parks, just a mile and a half of terraced houses and factory units. Dull. Thank god for this and the back-catalogue from here. The minimal electronica and instrumental hip hop from Tokyo Dawn Records keeps me distracted during my journey.

Restructuring at work now complete. I have a new boss and a new remit. I'm off to St Petersburg in March and Santiago later in the year. Which should be nice after slogging round the hell holes of Central Asia for the last eight years.
*googles for rollercoasters in Chile*