Entropy

C&O are off on their adventure. They text almost every day from another country. Today they climbed the dome in St Peter's which is something I haven't managed in three trips there! In Venice they took a Gondola ride - again, I haven't done this in two visits. It sounds as if they are keeping themselves healthy, and C seems mostly over her meningitus.

Taking the car to London was a mistake. It was an expensive pain to park, we had to pay congestion charges and we got a fine in Oxford. It probably cost about L70 all up for parking 4 days. Then the gearbox played up, we discovered a flat tyre that was supposed to have been fixed already and we went through 2 litres of water there and back. I want my trusty old Toyota Corolla back, or even the CRV... (J usefully points out that for what we've spent on cars we could have shipped it over.)

Oxford was interesting, though the weather didn't help. We had an afternoon there with C&O then went back the next day and did a guided walk. Lots of familiar names - Christchurch, the Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean Museum, etc.

On our return the spare for my laptop that had caused such angst at Ebay was sitting at the door. Of course it didn't fix the problem. If there are two possible causes for a problem it is always the one you try second. Now I need a backlight, which I've just ordered: if I don't break it installing it I'll save L80 on having it done for me. Anyone need a spare Toshiba Satellite A10 inverter?

I got two calls from RM which was nice. He is still keen to come visit Italy but has to get his health right first. Mum is well into planning her trip, and we have booked three flights to Rome for May. She's going to come here to Bristol first for a look around before J and I pack our stuff into a storage shed and say goodbye to our first home. The plan is that when we get back from Italy we move to Edinburgh, so we are trying to save on a month's rent.

On top of the car problems, our borrowed microwave stopped working for no apparent reason. Amazing how two fuses are OK even while something blows. Then the heater burned out as well, so we spent Sunday shopping for replacements. At least we have our health...

JP sent through a copy of his work on Orsogna, the Kiwi's first battle. I'll be getting the photos for this while I'm in Italy. It's a good read. The Cassino stuff is still ticking along, though I need to get back into London to various archives.

I can't think of much else that is new, except perhaps sunny days. Yes, folks, we saw the sun on the weekend. Still not much heat in it, but it's a start.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Italythenandnow/Oxford

http://picasaweb.google.com/Italythenandnow/London02

See y'all

PS. Phil, I got your email, but you don't seem to be getting any of mine. Do you have a home address?