Well good Lord, so much has happened recently. London came under attack and we at Charlotte's were put on 'high alert' for unplanned homebirths with people who couldn't make it into London hospitals, although we didn't have any. Well, I didn't anyway. And then David and I went to my dad's villa in Lanzarote, Blue Marlin, for a week, which was very nice indeed. The weather was fabulous and I managed to get the best tan I've ever had. Shall post one or two pictures as soon as I get round to downloading them from my camera... The week was however slightly marred by me being ill, as is always the way when you get some time off work, isn't it? It was a real pain actually, as it was just one thing after another. Started with a cold developing the day before we left (just on its way out now), had one night of indescribably painful heartburn (for the fourth time this year, despite never having had it before. Why? Is it just something that goes with being over 30?) then culminated with a lovely stomach bug, which hit me hard on the plane on the way back - not really the place you want it to happen, as I'm sure you'll agree. It was definitely a bug rather than a foody thing, as David developed it two days later. Then, to top it all off, they lost my suitcase on the way home. My own fault of course, as I was standing by the carousel explaining that I'd never had any baggage go missing at the time... Anyway, it turns out they'd sent it to Amsterdam by mistake and, although they know that, they still haven't managed to get it sent back to me, despite reassuring me daily that it's now at Heathrow and should be with me by the afternoon... Beginning to get a bit desperate now as it contained all my pants (so I'm having to do a nightly wash, which is pretty irritating) and, far more importantly, all my make-up. For those of you who know me well, you can imagine what distress this is causing me. Thank God I've got a good tan and an emergency mascara but still... Amazingly though, despite all that, the holiday was still pretty good.

While we were away, the survey was done on the flat I'm buying, which came back all good, so it's still full steam ahead, thank goodness. And the mortgage has officially been approved too, talk is for a completion date sometime mid-September so fingers crossed everyone!

Finally of course, the big news of the week. The release of the sixth Harry Potter book. We were away when it came out and scoured the whole island to try to find it but no luck, so on our return on Friday morning we ran out to buy two copies. I finished mine a day and a half later. Now, obviously, for those of you who have yet to read/finish yours, I shan't post any spoilers but SWEET BABY JESUS AND THE ORPHANS. I laughed, I cried, I cried again. Worth waiting for, but the resultant wait for book seven, which will undoubtedly be very different to all the others, given the ending of book six, will be AGONY! Please email any theories/insights to me direct, in order to avoid giving anything away here...