I've got a month to tell you all about, and it goes a little something like this:

I got back from Finland and immediately immersed myself in Bavarian culture by meeting up with my mate Harry for Schnitzel and chips in my local Schnitzel restaurant (where dinner and a tasty beer will set you back a monster €5).

From there on in, it was Bavarian summer living par excellence: visits to beergardens in the city, cycling along the Isar river out to beergardens in the countryside, beers with mates, street festivals with obscene amounts of caipirinha, coffees with friends, dinners with friends, lunches with friends, oh, and the occasional bit of work.

I went to see Massive Attack live with my mate Matthias, and it was actually a whole lot better than I had dared to hope. We were right at the front, and the two support acts were okay too. The sound quality was spot-on, and the light show was mesmerising, including a huge version of one of those screens with arrays of bulbs that they flash messages across in trains and stuff.

*** INTERMISSION: LIFE AT THE EPO ***

I recently spent two hours literally rubber-stamping documents. With a rubber stamp and an ink pad. In the twenty-first century!

*** INTERMISSION OVER, THANK YOU ***

And, globetrotter that I am, I threw another weekend away break into the mix by heading over to Brussels for two nights. And just to keep it interesting, I thought it would be a great idea NOT to sleep the night before my 7am flight, but instead to head to Munich's nightclub zone KunstParkOst and drink cocktails and boogie until 4.30, then have a shower, pack and head to the airport.

Yeesh! I won't be doing that again in a hurry! I conked out on the floor of Brussels airport for an hour after arrival, and I was pretty wrecked the rest of the day. But it was worth it; it was a top night with Sandra, Matthias, and Matthias' sister plus boyfriend down from Hamburg. Mexican food, cocktails, clubbing, cocktails, a spot of table footie, cocktails, boogie boogie. Nice.

So, Belgium: I headed into the city and met up with Thérèse my old PG colleague at Le Pain Quotidien, the breakfast restaurant chain that I find irresistible when in Belgium. Mmm mmm! Bring on the coffees, the breads and the pear syrup! We were joined by Paulina the Brazilian girl too, and had a right old natter over coffees.

Paulina has such a way with words. I hope I never forget her advice that relationships are like yoghurt: you've got to buy the whole four-pack, you can't just snap off your favourite flavour.

*** INTERMISSION: LIFE AT THE EPO ***

The other day, I found that someone had actually glued a post-it note into place. That's just WRONG!

*** INTERMISSION OVER, THANK YOU ***

After a quick snooze at The's place (she'd had a hard night's partying too the night before) I was picked up in their huge car by Geert and Jen, my wonderful hosts in Madagascar in '03 who had the decency to invite me to their wedding in Detroit in '04. We drove out to Ghent, where we marvelled at the "Lamb of God" mediaeval altarpiece by Van Eijck in St Baaf's cathedral, before stuffing our faces first with chocolate, then with bar snacks, and then with racks of ribs, all to the accompaniment of yummy Belgian beers.

On our way back east to their house in Veerle, we stopped in Erembodegen for Jen's workmate Karen's party. They had hired out a whole bar, and the drinks were flowing freely, so even though I was utterly shattered I managed to put a brave face on it and party on.

Sunday was a slow day. It started with a movie (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), then we headed into the charming little town of Diest, where we walked over the remnants of the ramparts of the fortifications from when the House of Orange occupied these lands, before hitting the local Irish pub for beer and crazy skewers of cheese and salami served in a pint glass, where you had to poke your own before dipping in mustard. (Trust me, when you see the pictures it'll make more sense.)

The posh-looking but reasonably priced Plaka Nea Greek restaurant kept us dry for most of that night's huge thunderstorm, but muggins had to dash out to get cash out and consequently got soaked. I felt a whole lot better when back in Veerle my hosts cracked open the champagne and we settled back to watch Zoolander.

*** INTERMISSION: LIFE AT THE EPO ***

We've livened things up in the Personnel Archive room by smuggling in a radio. Now we boogie while we file - in alphabetical order.

*** INTERMISSION OVER, THANK YOU ***

Jen drove me in to Brussels on Monday morning, passing by the beautiful Abbey of Averbode and the splendid Basilica of Scherpenheuvel. We stopped in her office for a bit, then headed out to buy chocolate. I left her to her work and headed to the art gallery, only to discover that it's closed for refurbishment. So the tram driver LIED to me! And I trusted his smiling eyes...

It was quite cool just wandering around the semi-deserted building though. In one huge gallery I found workmen throwing big black plastic sheets down through a skylight; in another I found a looped video of Daniel Barenboim conducting some Beethoven with not a soul in sight. Great building. I must come back.

I just had time in what remained of August to squeeze in some more Schnitzel with Harry (this time in the Hesseloher Strasse out of town), some Thai food with Maggi, Phil and Lorna (in Schwabing), and drinks near my house with Lise, Rich and their friends.

I do hope you enjoyed your visit to Richard World, and I look forward to seeing you here again soon.