Counting the days until I go to New York. It's not so much going to the city itself I want, although I get bubbles in my veins just thinking about it - but the fact that no-one will be able to raise their eyebrows at me in that way again and say 'what, you mean to say you've NEVER been before.'
Meanwhile, to keep me out of mischief, I've been persuaded to go on a striptease course with a friend. Actually, although I'd like to cash in on some of Belle de Jour's publicity, all we get to do is to remove a glove which is a relief, especially as the course is being held in Unit 3 of an industrial estate which doesn't really provide the right atmosphere.
Re Belle de Jour - 'she' has to be Michel Faber, doesn't she?

Spring must have taken hold of me - woke up this morning deciding both to go on a diet and not to buy anything for at least a week. And now the lists of all the things I really, really need to buy are knocking at my door, and I can't even eat chocolate to take my mind off them. AND have just spent an hour at the dentist so am dribbling and lopsided around the mouth. THe not buying thing comes from a big clear out I had of my books yesterday - I'm still going through them but I'm horrified to find how many I haven't read. So why am I buying new ones? A friend told me something that stuck with me once - that when we buy a book we're actually buying the time to read it. So, am going to give myself the time this year, preferably lying in the grass by my allotment underneath the cherry tree I planted last year and with the sun shining down. THe cherry tree's just a dry stalk at the moment, but I have faith.