Apologies to all for the hiatus in posting. A number of reasons, the first and most important being that our elderly PC finally turned up its toes and went to the great memory cloud in the sky. We'd been aware for a while that we were going to need to replace it, but of course as is usual it was working on its own timetable. It was about five and a half years old so it had lasted well.

The new one seems super fast by comparison although we are still struggling with slow broadband speeds due to our distance from the exchange. Or the pixies who power it haven't taken their vitamins, or something. The main difference is that we now have a lovely big screen - the monitor is a 24" one which allows masses of space for tiling documents when working so I'm delighted. There's also some great speakers for when I am listening to Spotify or iTunes.

The other delay in posting is of course due to the commencement of the Tour which means for three weeks I am glued to the TV and am utterly absorbed in the glorious spectacle and intricacies of this peerless display of athleticism.

Since I last wrote, we went to the Millennium Centre to see Wagner's Die Meistersingers auf Nuremberg with Bryn Terfel. It was a completely full house and it was amazing. I really couldn't get into the first act, but the second act improved hugely and the third act was astounding with a glorious choral finale that completely blew me away. Staging was excellent, being intelligent without being too clever, with gorgeous, sumptuous costumes, great lighting and sets. BT is made for Wagner - we've been lucky enough to see him sing now a number of times and I am always impressed by his voice and by his sheer physical presence - he is very tall and broad, and effortlessly dominates the space on stage. Like most Wagner operas you come out the other side feeling that both audience and cast have shared something very wonderful and memorable. We were very fortunate in that Andrew's parents kindly agreed to come and dog sit for us while we were at the theatre (the production ran from 4 pm to about 10.30 pm with two intervals).

Today we've been busy setting up the new PC, doing all the boring and necessary things like sorting out anti virus software and so on but it's pretty much there now. After a few days without the computer, it's surprising how much I had come to depend on it for all sorts of things, from music while doing the ironing to checking on news headlines and of course keeping in touch with people. It's good to be back.