Gosh - it only takes a few days not blogging and suddenly you feel like a stranger ;-) Actually that's the way with all technology - a few days off work, you don't check your email, the thought of birthday is so depressing you have to stay in bed; then your family turn up and it all really goes to hell.

Anyway if you're not careful; what with being away from work, and avoiding consciousness at all times you're not in active family engagement mode its incredibly easy to spend nearly a whole week without any kind of on-line interaction at all. Weird I know but hey . . . it's not all bad.

Actually my family were pretty good despite making me go to Fortnum's. Why this is bad is hard to explain exactly. Anyone who doesn't live in London will be saying - "Well, a shop that sells tea and marmalade and Christmas pudding - I can understand the torture there!" It's just something no self respecting urbanite would do. Seriously there must be some (even many) Londoners who do go to Fortnum's, it's just something I myself wouldn't do.

Why not? I don't think that saying it's just a fashion thing is enough - it's a tribal thing. Fortnum's feel like . . . enemy territory. Which is crazy cuz I like cinnamon tea and black sugar and little earthenware pots of stilton as much as the next man. I'm still shuddering at the sign : "This way to the Christmas Hamper Department" Ack ack ack! Do not run! We are your friends!

But apart from that it was all pretty cool - I even enjoyed the "Pre-Raphaelite & Other Masters" at the RA (If I added that this is Andrew Lloyd Webbers personal collection you start to get the jist . . . anyway there were a couple of interesting piceces

I hadn't come across before (John Brett) as well as all the usual junk by Rosetti.

Boy did he ever have a one track mind . . . and of course quite a bit of one of the more intersting of the lot : Edward Byrne-Jones.

I think I like his personal style the most and additionally he worked in multi-media (for the day) ie mosaics, furniture and particularly tapestry. As the latter was all done with William Morris I can only assume he must have been some sort of big lefty as well.

So family pretty good all things considered. I think after last weekend's Liverpool Incident it's all a bit kid gloves in case I've got a pump-action secreted about my person ;-) Oh yeah - I should add that every single trip out was accompanied by a non stop deluge of rain. If ever there was a weekend for staying glued to the sofa at home with a Buffy box-set and an urn of hot chocolate this was it. Cold. Wet. Grey. Miserable. Bag of Shite.