The Collie Dog, the Cathedral and the 17 books.

It's been a little while again hasn't it. This has been for 2 reasons.

a) Last week I booked myself up so much that I frequently found myself praying for both the cloning process and teleportation to be key parts of my life. ( I wished for this in particular on Thursday evening when I got in from work at 12.30am and had to get up again at 5am-there was a moment of 'there's clearly been some horrible mistake' when the alarm went off, but it turned out that the only mistake was me assuming I was some sort of super-human robot when booking in work)

b) The Boy and I went on a little holiday. Yes, an ACTUAL HOLIDAY. To a REAL FOREIGN COUNTRY.

Yes, that's right. We went to Wales.

We last went to Wales after our wedding in April 2009, disappearing for a week to a little cottage with an open fire and dangerously low doorframes to spend time sitting under a blanket eating cheese and watching The West Wing. (because, my friends, we know how to PARTY)

This trip was relatively similar. We rented a little cottage in St David's, Britain's smallest city. It earned this title as it is very small and has a MASSIVE cathedral. Each time we went into the 'city' we were the only 2 people there. We laughed at the man in the surf shop who announced to Tom that the sale had now finished, despite there being approximately 70 enormous red SALE signs hanging over our heads, we sat mesmerised and emotional by the choral rehearsal in the cathedral, and never stopped being bemused by the sandwich shop that closed for lunch. It was a lovely place, the only lowlight being the supermarket, which felt suspiciously like an American supermarket featured in one of those films about serial killers.

The cottage was a little corner of rural heaven- no phone reception, no internet, and lovely plates. There is nothing better than an evening spent in front of an open fire with a book. We had plenty of choice in the book department as, in typical holiday style, we brought an overwhelming amount with us. It was unlikely we'd ever actually get through 17 books in 6 days, but it was good to have the option.

A lovely holiday highlight was the furry black and white visitor who popped her head in every morning to greet us. Don't be alarmed- this wasn't a local, dressed in a panda suit, but a gentle and clever collie dog called Jess. Well, we spent the week calling her Jess- it turned out that her name was entirely different and we'd possibly spent several days massively confusing her. There was a lot of stick throwing involved in our relationship- kindling from the fire was used until chewed to pieces, then one day she turned up with what can only be described as half a tree, and the stakes were really raised.

I returned to London feeling lighter than before (I am obviously speaking metaphorically- the amount of food I consumed during that week is something I wouldn't be happy putting online) and since getting back, I have been searching for that stillness, that silence of having a few hours just being in one place, reading. It's something I strive for but often fail at. Life (and facebook) often get in the way and it's hard to take the time just to do nothing at all.

So this is resolution for 2011. To sometimes do nothing. Nothing at all.

Ooh, and buy some new plates.