If it seems like about five minutes since I was last away it's because it was!

This afternoon I'm off to Barcelona, which should be lovely. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, am hoping the weather will be warm enough to get to the beach and am see The Killers whilst I'm there. It should be great!

See you Monday xxx

Yesterday morning I went to the opticians. I wasn't really due a check up but my glasses are falling apart - the other weekend when I was in London the left-hand lens fell out so I had to watch the first half of a play through one eye! Clearly this is a bad thing.

So off I went for an eye test. Which was carried out by an optician I'd previously chatted to on Gaydar! Neither of us acknowledged the fact, although he did say goodbye rather warmly when I left. He had a camp Birmingham accent and wasn't really my type, so I'm glad I'd never gone there!

I ended up buying a pair of glasses that cost more than my new sofa. Don't panic, it's a cheap sofa! I went in with a very clear idea of what I wanted: an oval frame like I have now, but thicker and plastic. Then I spotted something else and left that idea behind! When I put them on they looked exactly the kind of glasses that a fabulous forty year old should be wearing, so I'm very excited about getting them!

Last night I was in Norwich to see some dance - the Richard Alston Dance Company. He usually performs there once a year and most years I've been to see them because they're always interesting.

As ever there were three separate pieces. The first was the best, a really contemporary piece. The music was by Philip Glass, who I always imagined was difficult and impenetrable but it was practically disco!

The second piece had a more folky feel to it but was so steeped in dance history that I didn't quite get the point of it - something about Nijinsky and a puppet, but you'd never know from the way they span round a piano!

The final piece was danced to classical music, and the dancers had some fab little t-shirts that shimmied as they dance, and some very short shorts! I drifted off to sleep daydreaming about a short, beardy French dancer who seemed to be hiding a baguette about his person...

But the highlight of the evening was cars: I followed a beige one like mine up the hill into Norwich, grinning madly, then when I left Tesco in Dereham another one came in - it was like a car rally!

The Pet Shop Boys are back!

This is cause for excitement in my house obviously. But things have changed since the last time they had a single out - I've stopped buying CD singles. So I guessed it was time to embrace modernity and do the download thing. Hmmm, easier said than done!

I remember when a single was a 7" piece of plastic with a song on either side. Thankfully the songs were usually so good you could play them obsessively and not get bored. Then came the 12", with it's extra songs and remixes, which could be fun too. Then the CD single, which was easier to use, until it came in up to three versions and picking the right one became tricky so it was often easier to buy them all! But now we're downloading. Well actually I'm not - who could ever love an MP3 file?!

I knew that if I downloaded their single I'd just burn it onto a CD, so I just did the sensible thing and bought the CD single, which was quite a challenge - there are no records shops left! Thank you HMV Online. But just when I'd decided I was happy to be oldfashioned, they go and release an extra b-side, as part of a download 'bundle', that isn't available anywhere else. So I downloaded that as well. The whole thing is so much more complicated than it needs to be - no wonder people don't care about music anymore!

Anyway, it's a great single, a proper sing-in-the-shower pop song - welcome back PSBs!

Here's the highlights of my trip to Wales:

The Pickwick Papers

After a great meal in a very stylish Indian restaurant accompanied by lots of grown-up conversation Thom and I went to the theatre. We went to see The Pickwick Papers, an adaptation of the Dickens novel. Turns out I know nothing about Dickens: I've never read one of his books - and don't intend to start! - and have always avoided the dramatisations on TV, and haven't even seen Oliver! so it wasn't an obvious night out for me. But it turned out to be one of those nights where the quality of the acting was good enough to make up for any reservations I had about the play. I'd love to see them do something else.

Barry Island

I hope you've seen Gavin & Stacey, it's one of the best things on TV lately. And it's set in Wales! More specifically Barry Island. Which is just round the other side of Cardiff, so not that far from Thom's. So we went on a pilgrimage.

It's a slightly faded seaside town, with a fun fair, arcades and a big beach. One of the arcades is where the Nessa character works in the series, so it made sense to waste some money on the machines then pop next door for chips:

Penarth

Next stop along the coast is Penarth, which coincidentally had been featured in that morning's Guardian in an article illustrated with a picture of a row of houses, in front of which was parked a car just like mine! Talk about synchronicity!

We parked along the cliffs and walked into town, pausing for an ice cream on the pier, where I had a few pleasant moments daydreaming of all the piers I've loved before.

Then through some gardens and into town. As we wandered we discovered an interesting little gallery and popped in to have a look. They had an exhibition of stuff related to the Mass Observation thing that went on before World War 2. There's lots of photographs of files, but most interestingly was a section about Cambridgeshire - they thought people were leaving signals in litter - which sounds like the kind of paranoid nonsense you'd expect from the Fens! It was really interesting.

Big Mountain

On Sunday morning Thom and I climbed a big mountain. Well Thom practically skipped up it, I wheezed my way half way up then stopped to take in the view and get my breath back. I do hate it when your find things out about yourself that you didn't need to know - there I was thinking I was only averagely unfit, whereas the reality is something worse!

So apart from discovering I'm a big fat unfit person Wales was lovely! The weather was gorgeous, as was the company and the food - I can't wait to go back!

That was Wales this morning. Gorgeous isn't it!

I had such a relaxing weekend I feel like a new person! Thank you Thom and husband for being such gorgeous hosts! xxx

Full story tomorrow....