Holiday Catch-Up

The jet-lag's finally over with, and with my head back on straight it's time to write about the last week of the trip.

Highlights included:

• Finally getting to meet my Old Friends co-writers Marc Platt and Jonathan Clements. We'd arranged to meet in London for the launch of Rob Shearman's short story collection, Tiny Deaths, and arrived well in advance to grab some drinks before the main event. I can't speak highly enough of these two, who made writing the book a complete pleasure and who were great company over the course of the evening. Cheers, chaps!
  
  
• Spotting Steven Moffat at the same event, and ingloriously bottling out of approaching him. Perhaps what stopped me was finding myself unable to think of anything to say that wouldn't be gushing flattery. Then again, perhaps it was the memory of meeting Michael Palin about ten years ago at an event my wife had organised for the BBC (I'd been looking forward to it for a while - my wife introduced me and I promptly fell over a chair as I went to shake hands. Scarred for life). Either way, couldn't do it.
  
  
• Meeting up with my old mate Diane again, this time with my wife in tow, and sinking a few pints at a pub opposite St Paul's. Four weeks was just enough time to get used to the larger glasses again - then it's back here to teeny-tiny measures. Bah.
  
  
• Spending the afternoon in Horsham with two more old friends, Katie and her husband Dave, and goggling at the eye-gouging ugliness of the town's fountain:

Add to that all the time spent with relatives I've not seen in three years, plus a day in my parents' loft sorting out boxes to ship to Australia and it was a packed trip, all up. Back to regular posts now, but I'll leave you with some of the pictures I finally managed to download, including that one with the sonic screwdrivers ...

Lauren and Sean at the House of Mouse.

And again, with Caroline.

Getting my geek on outside the entrance to Torchwood

(L to R: Me, Paul, Rach, Dan. Thanks again for the tour, chaps!)