Withdrawal symptoms

After a week away from the keyboard, I have itchy fingers. And so, after the very serious nature of my earlier post, it's time for some trivia.

I enjoyed my holiday. The weather was glorious (I've even gone brown, which is unheard of for this cave-dwelling wordsmith, who prides herself on her porcelain skin) and I had some much-needed RnR. My first full day away, I had to do battle with the temptation to nip into an internet cafe. It was bloody difficult, given that there was one on practically every corner I rounded. I succumbed after 5 days, as I was footsore after trampling over Rome's 7 hills and its ancient ruins. The luxury of an hour in front of a screen and keyboard cannot be overestimated. And it cost me just €3 for the pleasure. Truth be told, I missed writing. Hence today's double blog. I just need to put finger to keypad.

But I digress. Having picked up my mails in the Eternal City, I got back to my beloved P and the hotel room only to discover that my cat had gone AWOL. Once I'd got over the shock, there was only one course of action possible. We got on the phone, changed flights and came home 2 days early. I was dreading returning, in case I never found ma boy, but I found him within 5 minutes, trapped in a neighbour's back yard, a bit thinner and slightly traumatised but otherwise intact. After hauling him back to Wordsmith Towers, there was only one thing to do. Boot up the PC.

I'm still officially on holiday so I'm not contacting clients and all work remains on hold until Monday. I had the added bonus of catching up with EastEnders tonight and an Archers omnibus then I got down to the important business of surfing the web. I had a quick flick through the forums I regularly frequent then discovered I'd been quoted on here. Having moments earlier been looking at my stat counters, I had wondered why this blog's statistics had gone stratospheric, so now I knew.

I'm quite flattered. Ok, very flattered.

That aside, it feels good to be writing again. I'd really missed it, despite the delightful distractions of Italy. I'll be back. I did, after all, chuck €0.10 in the Trevi fountain. And I went to see the Pope (ok, not strictly true - I whizzed through the Vatican museums then took perverse pleasure in sending a postcard of Rome's synagogue through the Vatican post office with a stamp of JP2 on it to my frum sister who lives in a converted church). And sourced a possible story while away.

I'm totally knackered, but happy to be home and welded to my computer again, with ma boy sleeping on my desk as per usual, my beloved P nearby and still 3 free days before the sordid business of earning money beckons once more...

And now - it's time for bed.