So its a week since the last blog and 1,ooo miles have passed along the way (Stirling, London Rotherham & Milton Keynes, and I'm writing this on the train out of London after a two meeting day.

The trip to Scotland last week was the first this year where the sky was light enough (its always an early start) to see the scenery on the drive up: the M6 winds along the Lune Gorge and through the Southern Uplands, both of which are magnificent in any light, but in the flat early-morning spring light they look superb.


London no longer has the buzz it once did: going there once every few weeks has made normal the travelling on the tube and all the other things that we don't see at TEOIM, however it was nice to have a few minutes in hand before my appointment, which were spent Blackberrying from the Thames embankment at Temple.


The journey home that day was unexpectedly straightforward: emerging from the rabbit hole at King's Cross I saw that a Leeds train would leave in a couple of minutes, so a swift walk (I don't run in public if it can possibly be avoided) got me on board, where I easily found a seat. No vertically swaying tedium at the carriage-end.


Phill and I decided that we deserved a night in the pub on Friday, so we ate pizza with Soph and then drove down into town, parking the car on the Grove. Once in Bat Tat (where the walls have been painted and no longer bear lines from Yorkshire's unofficial anthem) we realised that we were both exhausted so, after only three-quarters of an hour, decided to head home where we hit the sack and watched TV until we fell asleep, which didn't take long.


On Saturday I started on the garden and managed to clear about three feet of border in a couple of hours, at one point using the land-rover to tow out a stubborn stump. We had another trip into town in the afternoon, where I bought some clothes for the holiday in August, briefly visited Bar Tat (again) and received a call from Soph asking that we pick her up from the stables (sooner than expected). Unusually, I was unable to sleep so spent a couple of hours on the internet once Phill had gone to bed. The usual diet of I-M.com and Facebook was enlivened with an unexpected and welcome exchange with Chantal from St Louis; an anglophile with roots in the English aristocracy.

C is highly intelligent, articulate and has a love (alright, obsession) with French and Saunders, all of which are evident from her Facebook homepage. Her love of all things British prompted the posting of a union flag on her page, to which I said that she really must scrape together the air-fare and come over to stay with us, if possible with her son, Ethan. A brief exchange of messages later and the intent was agreed, so hopefully next year we will have the pleasure of her extrovert, wonderful company. It will be interesting to see what a US Parole Officer makes of TEOIM!

We started Sunday with an indulgent breakfast at Booth's supermarket in Ilkley: their food is good but the atmos, although OK, is not what one usually associates with the full English. Phill's toast and marmalade looked good and, as always, the tea was of peerless quality. Once done, we took Phez out for a confidence-building ride in the trailer, which succeeded in shredding his nerves, mine, Sophie's and those of the other drivers forced to follow our snail's pace - at least they remained patient, unlike the loon that overtook us in the face of oncoming traffic and almost precipitated a horrendous accident last time out. I think a line in the letters page of the local rag might be in order.

Sophie, bless her, spent most of the afternoon revising for a science test and I kicked back and watched the Spanish GP (Button, Barrichello, Webber). Phill drew the short straw: practising plaiting his lordship's mane is not my idea of an afternoon's relaxation. The tables were turned, however, when she was able to do nowt while I cooked Sunday dinner - a piece of beef from Booths which was spot-on: we'll be going back there for sure.

It was the usual early start for today's trip to London: drive into Leeds and park near the station to avoid the mind-sapping train ride from Ilkley. I'd commute like that if there was no reasonable alternative, but being trapped among the silent masses listening to the one talkative bloke regaling has pals with tales of last night's squash game just sucks the life out of you.

Having got the tickets for today's odyssey I stopped for a coffee (£2.39) and attempted to pay by card, only to be told that there was a £5 minimum for card transactions. No change. Long queue at the cash point. Imminent departure time. Need caffeine!!! Rats. Creativity to the rescue: the Italian lady serving said, after consulting her colleague in that beautiful language, that she would put the transaction through at £5 and give me change. I hope that my smile and quite genuine thanks were sufficient - good old customer service: it can't be beat.