So last weekend was TOP BANANA! We did (almost) nothing. I spent the whole of Sunday on Christian's balcony, soaking up the sun and snacking on yummy, erm, snacks. And this day of utter laziness was a little present to myself after a day of getting crap things done on Saturday, including buying Speedos (no, really!) in preparation for my diving holiday in the Philippines in a couple of weeks' time and putting up a cupboard in my kitchen and doing a load of washing and eating Thai food in town (okay, this last item wasn't so much a chore as a little prize for myself in between times).

And the weather today is even hotter and bluer and sunnier, but sadly, this being a Monday, I'm stuck in the office, with thick sheets of glass between me and possibly the last hot sunny day of the summer here in Munich. Becuase the forecast is poo for the next few days, and then I'm not here, and then it's September. Which might turn out hot like last year, but then again it might be damp and generally pants.

So, gentle readers, you're asking yourselves "why is Richard spraying all this verbal diarrhoeia in my direction"? And, to be frank, I'm wondering what my motives are too! Perhaps it's all a reaction against my brutally succinct last blog entry. Because, I realised after uploading it, there's like totally no fascinating minutiae in it.

For example, I absolutely didn't mention the fact that ten days or so ago the clouds were shooting past my window at work as if they were on a conveyor belt. You don't often get such an intense sense of motion from the skies, but on that day I did. But NO! it didn't get a mention, because I was being too damn brief!

Or that, quite a few weeks ago now, I came home to my flat and made my way up the three flights of wonderful old parquet steps, only to notice that there was a pigeon sitting on the floor on one of the landings. I spent a good five minutes inching past it, opening various windows, and eventually managing to encourage it to fly out to freedom - but not before becoming quite exasperated at its pointless attempts to fly AWAY from the window. Unless of course it had learned from a few sore heads that day that windows are solid, and was just being cautious. Clever little thing!

And I'm certain I didn't say nearly enough about the fab time I had in Venice with my nephews, including squashing them to within an inch of their lives between my and Oliver's voluminous guts during one of our numerous canal bus trips. Or the big cruise all round the lagoon one afternoon, where I managed to get some serious sunburn on one side of my face. And the outrageously long but entertaining walk all the way across town from the firework display in the south to Michaela's flat in the north.

But hey, it's not feasible to record my whole life here in these few words. A certain amount of focus and editing is necessary I guess.

Which leaves me just enough space (and energy in my fingers) to mention a quick visit to London and the South-East of England a week ago with Christian. We drove down to Salzburg on the Friday night and had dinner at Christian's friend Christian's house (proper Wiener Schnitzel - yum!) before stopping at an almost deserted conference type hotel near the airport, which had a stupendous breakfast buffet. Then we flew on Saturday morning to Stansted, picked up a hire car, and promptly stewed on the M25 for a good few hours on our way round to Guildford.

But it was all worth it, because it lit up my heart to see my nieces Sophie and Livi again for the first time since the New Year! The nephews (& their mother) were there too, so I was on kiddie games duty for the remainder of the afternoon on the green in front of Chris & Kate's new house. Okay, so Selena did a good stint with them too, which gave me time to stuff my face with yummy barcbecue fare. And that evening, when the kids had finally buggered off to bed, we adults indulged in some spirits - with most amusing consequences for Michaela, who had uncontrollable spasms every but EVERY time she had a sip of vodka!!

On Sunday, Christian went into London to the British Museum. The rest of us drove up to Welwyn Garden City to visit our Aunty Mary, the last living sibling of our dad, who at 93 is remarkably sprightly but is definitely showing her age now. That evening, back in Guildford, we ate Japanese food at Wagamama (there are a few things I REALLY miss about the UK...) and then gorged ourselves on a chocolate fondue at Chris & Kate's.

Then the Monday was super busy, because I had to be in town really early to apply for a new passport (mine is a. running out and b. full). Christian & I then caught the Dalí exhibition at the Tate Modern - go! it's great! - before meeting up with Hugh for a quick bite to eat, before dashing back to Victoria to pick up my passport, then catching a train from Waterloo to Guildford, a taxi to Chris' house, then our hire car all the way round the M25 back to Stansted - thankfully this time with far less hellish traffic.

It was an exhausting day; it was an exhausting weekend to be honest. So even though I had a marvellous time seeing loved ones, I heaved a sigh of relief when we had touched down at Salzburg on Monday evening and the fresh country air of the Alpine summer caressed my nose once more (yup, Salzburg smells of cow shit - but that's okay). Drive me home, Christian!