Sunday 26th April

A clear, blue morning at TEOIM. The trees are almost all in leaf now and our lovely green world is back with us; thank goodness. Although we don't have to cope with the semi-permanent darkness of more northerly lattitiudes the dank awfulness of a sodden British winter, where there is no warmth and dead leaves turn gradually to slush, becomes more difficult to stomach as each year passes. Thinking ahead to our upcoming Spanish holiday - sixteen weeks away - underlines just how short is our summertime. We will step off the 'plane at the end of August, when the season will begin to change.

The last few months have involved a great deal of self-discipline. Having gained weight at an alarming - if not surprising - rate it became clear that it was time to do something about it. Twenty-odd pounds later I can once again fit into clothes last worn a couple of years ago and have a fighting chance of not nauseating the world and his senorita when the trunks go on. That is why this moring's fried egg sandwich (on buttered white bread with the yolk heavily salted) was an exquisite, decadent treat. Don't get me wrong: this is by no means a joyless regime, but pushing the boat out once in a while is appreciated for what it is.

Haven't seen much of Phill today. She drove into Leeds to buy a birthday present for a friend and dropped Soph off at the stables on her way, so I was left to my own devices which, inevitably, involved spending time on the internet looking, amongst other things, at the Wikipedia page dealing with tripe, a northern delicacy and one which I haven't tasted for about forty years. Not difficult to understand why once you know what it is...but the Italians in particular seem to have a fondness for it, which surprised me.

Solitude meant that, for once, I was on my own at 1pm. Why is this special? Well, anyone who knows us understands that Phill and I are usually glued to the TV at this time on grand prix weekends, waiting for the lights to go out and the mad dash to the first corner. This year's new rules have injected much-needed excitement into the races and the driver's table has a topsy-turvy look as a result. Britisher Jenson Button managed another win today - his third in four races - but there is plenty of evidence that the other teams are pushing hard to catch up, so the rest of the season should be at least as interesting as it has been so far.

Phill got back in tome for the second half of the race and, afterwards, once we had collected Soph from the stables, we went and sat for an hour in an almost deserted Bar Tat.