No I haven't wedged in another holiday, I am sat on a train at Paddington waiting to go to Reading - no sign of a lost bear.
Decided to let the train take the strain today to get to my lunch meeting, so get a day off from the M25. Am in London tomorrow morning as well but will need to drive to Gatwick and get the train from there as I have another meeting near the office in the afternoon. Still, at least it means that I will be able to jump in the car and be back in time for the end of term treat - the much anticipated and eagerly awaited Toy Story 3. Not sure who is most excited, probably me!
On my way through St Pancras this morning I took a picture of the tallest model railway in the world - as featured on this morning's GMTV. If I was cleverer I would send the picture straight from phone to blog - maybe I'll attach it via flickr later. (By the way, St Pancras continues to be a good place for occasional celeb spotting - shared the Ebbsfleet flyer with Vic Reeves today!)
I am reading A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin at the moment and am gradually getting sucked into the story. Had the book sat on the shelves at home for 10+ years but only just picked it up. The last time I got really stuck into an epic fantasy saga was 15+ years ago when I read Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow and Thorn trilogy.
Two observations so far - firstly it's great knowing that if I really get stuck into it there are several thousand more pages to go (sometimes with an author I really like I have to ration them out for fear of discovering that I've read everything and have to wait for their next publication). The other thing is time - when I last got stuck into a dense saga like this I had the luxury of time. Now it is far more of a rare and precious commodity. Still, only three and a half weeks to holiday and I plan to pack a few books in my case.