A few things that I haven’t had/made time to remark upon here in the last week or so:

• my gorgeous wife had a birthday. The three of us went to London for the day and ambled around Covent Garden, Regent Street, Tate Britain and the South Bank. Tom was particularly impressed with the sculpture at the Tate, remarking that The Three Graces have bottoms “just like Mummy’s”, which is possibly the best compliment a girl could wish for.
• subsequently, my gorgeous wife went on holiday with her mum to Morocco, leaving son and husband to fend for themselves. Thanks to sitting in train stations with poorly-inked cardboard signs, we survived this ordeal and only went to the pub once.
• Hels and I completed the 20km JustWalk on Saturday in blistering (literally) heat. We were accompanied by our brother-in-law Kevin all the way round the circuit and were able to enjoy some lovely views and some splendid wild flowers. But it was bloomin’ hot and we had to work hard to keep hydrated and to avoid heat stroke. The sections of the walk in the open were particularly hard, especially the mile or so down the south-facing slope into Charlton which was on a chalk and flint track in a bit of a dip - no breeze, bright intense sun, no shade and lots of reflected light and heat from the surface. Thanks to some remarkably generous people, we have now passed our original sponsorship target of £500, for the Parkinson’s Disease Society but we still want to raise more money. What do you mean, you haven’t sponsored us yet? Go here and give now, please and thank you.
• Oh, and it’s my birthday today. I’m already enjoying my first present.

• fring – Make free mobile calls, IM with Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk™, SIP & Twitter, AIM® & Yahoo!™
  A Skype client that works on Symbian phones (like my E51) - very useful, as Skype have said that they see “no demand” for a Symbian version of their software (grr).
  (tags: Nokia phone software tools mobile skype voip free)

• Our Local Correspondents: Up and Then Down: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
  Excellent (and very long) article on elevators, sorry, LIFTS. I’m not sure that the door-close button is truly a dummy - experimentation is called for.
  (tags: elevators lifts architecture)

• Defra, UK - Plant Health - Import of Goji berry plants
  Goji berries are the latest fad food (and taste foul in my opinion). You can import the berries to the EU (subject to phytosanitary certification) but don’t be tempted to try and bring in plants which are banned because they carry diseases and pests. Apparently, people have been ordering these things over the internet and have been somewhat disappointed when they have been intercepted and destroyed by PHSI at the airport.
  (tags: plant_health Goji_berries PHSI news)

• BBC NEWS | Health | Playgroups ‘cut leukaemia risk’
  Not only playgroups, but daycare too. I’ve no doubt that going to another home and socializing with other children has done Tom a power of good, both socially and physically.
  (tags: news medicine science childcare health)
• Notes from the copy editor: Because language belongs to the people: Not to be confused with blogversary
  Apparently, I coined the term "blogaversary" way back in September 2001 and may even have spelled it incorrectly in so doing. Sorry.
  (tags: blogging language etymology grayblog)
• Humphrey Lyttelton: irreverent, irrepressible, irreplaceable - Telegraph
  Gillian Reynolds on Clue post-Humph. Nuff said.
  (tags: radio ISIHAC news Humph Lyttelton)