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We've been over to Scarborough to see our son Matt and family today; left in bright sunshine-had me scrabbling around trying to find my sunglasses-but by the time we reached York we were driving through a blizzard. Checked the weather on my phone (show-off) and was somewhat disconcerted to discover that the Met Office was advising drivers; 'to carry a spade, warm clothing and hot drinks' if on the road for the next few days. So my pair of shades, packet of lemon bonbons and a Barcelona Hard-Rock cafe t-shirt weren't exactly going to stand me in good stead then. Happily the snow relented and we got to our destination in one piece; still left early though, just in case the weather had turned nasty tonight. All the family were well; grandson Joe was on good form: a complete poser. No idea where he got that from.... Presented him with his first football, a mini Spanish one from the Barca club shop, with the strict instructions that if he ever tried to pick it up, I'd disown him.
Keep it on the deck Joe and pass it.

My ticket for Cardiff arrived last week; plum seat half way up behind the goal. Mind you, for 58 quid it should be. Driving down Saturday night and staying in Bromsgrove; roughly half-way there and means a pleasant drive on the Sunday morning, time for a leisurely breakfast, a few pints then the pleasure of wiping that annoying smug grin off Jose Murinho's face (I hope). Champion's League on Tuesday as well, so all in all an expensive few days.

As I've been on holiday this week, I've managed to do quite a bit of work on the website: finally got round to scanning the past few month's 'Symi Visitor' newspaper front pages and uploading them. I've also updated the Visitors' Photos page, and the Out & About photo diary.

Back to work tomorrow, BUT-only four weeks until Easter!

Hope you're all well,

Mike x

Hard to believe, but it's half-term already! It's been a slightly surreal, very stressful five weeks for several reasons, so I'm more then ready for a week off. No plans to do anything special, just to try to relax and get my head back together.

Was in Barcelona last weekend with twenty kids from school and it was just the best trip we've ever run. Hotel was amazing (we'd been upgraded to a four-star as the original had double-booked us), weather was great and the children were brilliant; they just loved everything about the city and really made an effort to speak Spanish and sample the local food and culture. An English couple came over to our table at breakfast to tell us they'd been watching the children for two days and still couldn't believe that they were a school party because;'They're not running around and shouting'! Highlight of the trip for me was the tour of the Nou Camp; walking down the players' tunnel and out onto the pitch. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get to a game this time but will definitely be back next year and plan the trip round Barcelona's fixture list.

Meanwhile, I've been updating this website regularly, as usual. Just in case you missed anything, here's what's new: I've added a couple of places to our accommodation listings, 2 Fishes, a medieval conversion up by the museum in Chorio, and Despina's, a budget appartment overlooking the boatyard at Harani. Apart from that, I'm always updating the photo diary page and the readers' photos galleries and our two online forums are busy as usual. New visitors can check all those links from our Home page. Adriana Shum is on holiday in South Africa at the moment, so her very popular twice-weekly online diary will recommence at the end of this month.

That's about it really, I'm off to the gym. I'll be at the Millenium stadium two weeks tomorrow, so I'll give you all a wave.