Had to do it. Couldn't resist. If I'm not around much for the next few days you will know why.

Starting to think about my holiday. Specifically about what I am going to read whilst lazing by the pool for two weeks. Any recommendations?

Just to let you know the sort of stuff I like, I have just finished 'The DaVinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown. However I have been told that his others are not so good so don't know whether to stop there or not.

The book of the holiday last year was 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'...just perfect. I have also read, or attempted to read, quite a lot of shite in between and now totally subscribe to Pariah's viewpoint, that there is no point in finishing a book if it really isn't doing anything for you. I too used to live by the philosophy that 'I have started therefore I must finish' but there just isn't time for that anymore.

Just a note for Old Time Spacers, I had a comment yesterday from 'Hayden' that he sneaked into a post from last month. Good to hear that he is alive and kicking.

And....whoa...just noticed the new toolbar available for use with Firefox. No more having to revert to IE for hyperlinks, etc. That combined with MCPs post for me of 'Men in Uniform' can mean only one thing...it is going to be a great day! (well, relatively speaking).

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Been out running again at lunchtime, over 70 degrees, madness. However, I have a problem. I was bought a running watch for Christmas but I have only started to use it. Unfortunately the instructions have become mislaid (well who reads them anyway). It is really a bit complicated for me but if I press enough buttons it eventually comes up with a row of zeros and off we go.

So the problem is that I am so damn competitive that it is impossible for me to do the same route and not push myself to get a better time (and I wonder where Jack gets it from!). So the solutions are:

• never run the same route twice

• don't wear the watch

Today, on the same route as yesterday, I was 1 min 15 sec faster than yesterday over 4 miles. Although that could have been down to the music driving me on.

On MP3 player whilst running: The Chemical Brothers - Push the Button

Just finished reading 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. Well, when I said read, I mean I skimmed over the second half after I decided that the first was shite and quite frankly a quick skim was as much as it deserved.

This is one of those books that the title is constantly banded about. How many times have I heard 'that' phrase; yet I had never actually read the book. So, it’s done now.. and I'm so glad I only paid a pound for it second-hand.

Maybe it because as I read it I couldn't identify with any thoughts or actions of your common or garden Venetian. Women like to talk. Like blood out of a stone my husband would say. I also assumed that as I am in possession of more than one X-chromosomes (unless I am really weird) that I shouldn't speak Martian very well. But according to the author, that language does seem to roll of my tongue with more ease.

So I shall file it away in the self-helpless section of the bookcase and have a re-think.

As a child I loved Enid Blyton. Malory Towers, Secret Seven, The Adventure Series..I read them all. However the Famous Five was my all time favourite. I read and re-read all 21 books many times. Infact I so wanted to be George that I had my long blonde hair cut short. I was amazed at the adventures they got up to..EVERY holiday. Kirrin Castle on Kirrin Island just seemed so exciting and I wanted to find my own castle so that I too could look for hidden treasures. 

I'm reading them again, to my wee boy Jack. Now I realise that maybe Enid wasn't the best of writers, that the girls got all the shite jobs to do, like making cups of tea and cleaning the caravans. The boys got to do all the real adventuring.  And what kind of parents did they have? They sent their children to boarding school and then packed them off to relatives in the country during the holidays..every holiday. They must have seen their children for no more than 3 days per year.

Well, Jack loves them..and they bring back memories of many a night under the blankets with a torch secretly reading so what the hell..