Buggerre moi. Six weeks without the PC. Damned thing got infested with bugs encore. So this time, in a fit of pique, I just unplugged it, gave it a darned good thrashing, shoved it in a dusty corner, moved to a different room, plugged in the geriatric old Apple, hit eBay, bought a powerful Apple PowerMac laptop thingy and sat there waiting for it to arrive. I'm still waiting. Apparently the seller's mum's just died so she's all in a dither. Maybe it'll arrive next week, as promised. Or maybe not. Anyway, geriatric Apple in t'other room doesn't have enough megabytes of rammage to kick into blog.co.uk. Hence reason for longish silence. Am currently utilising Georgie's laptop thingy in Putney. Popped over for their 50th (tomorrow). And to see neice's brand new daughter up near Lincoln. Returning to the Limousin backwoods on Wednesday. So there you have it. Mind you, lack of activity on computer front has led to bout of feverish activity on arty-farty painting front. Done five so far. Hardly masterpieces but vaguely reassuring, not to mention surprising, or even encouraging, to realise that a tiny spark of the old creativity is still there (perhaps debatable), even though it's somewhat dormant. Might even decide to load a few of 'em up for all to see. Providing that new Apple arrives. And providing I can work out how to use it. Or maybe I won't. Could be embarrassing. Still, there you go. Contrary to appearances, I'm still alive and well. Many thanks to all those marvellous people (both of you) who sent messages of concern regarding my recent involuntary absence. Much appreciated.