Spent yesterday with Armand - he put some shelves in and I took him to Carluccio's for lunch. Then we wandered down to Soho to see the Chinese New Year stuff: dragons and lettuces on string. I have no idea what it was about. We then went to Compton's to impersonate gay men. Ha! We weren't convinced. We got bored and came back to mine to play with Armand's new camera software. I showed him blogs for the first time: he doesn't surf or read the paper, so although he's been using computers far longer than me, I usually manage to surprise him. He loved the anagram site we found on someone's blog.

Archive; on Thursday, my sister and nieces were up in London. When I told the three year old that we wouldn't have time to visit my flat, she said 'but we're desperate to see your flat' which was rather sweet. Took them on the DLR (bored - not boys you see), then the Cutty Sark, then bus back to Soho (which they loved), dim sum (Golden Dragon staff great with kids), then the Tate. Yeah OK, that was for my sister, not them, and proved a step too far: afterwards we bundled them into a taxi to Waterloo, as they kept fighting over who was going in the push chair. It's strange how one can spend the whole day with kids not having a single conversation (amongst the adults) which lasts more than a couple of exchanges - I do find it very tiring. It turns my brain to mash. Or do I mean mush.

Am looking forward to being in pub with Dan tomorrow, and having proper conversation. With beer. Just me and him. I do love routine.

Email from team - full of 'stepping through fears' etc. I felt nostalgic for the former days and wondered where my enthusiasm went. Can it be regained ? Breathe !