An early Christmas card? Leah with a big pink bow - what were the chances!!!!!! Just seen Skyfall at the local picture house. What is it about Bond movies these days? Far too self-referential and clever for their own good. Too much staring off into the distance and cleverly waxing lyrical, rather than some good old action scenes!!!! DW

Train Tales Well, you win some and you lose some. Dann and I have nice top bunks across the corridor from each other - the larger bottom bunks were all fully booked a few weeks ago already due to it being Divali today. The beds were nicely made up when we got on, with clean, ironed sheets. There is a pleasing distinct lack of wildlife on the train with us, in contrast to India. No screaming kids or loud conversations in our carriage. Not even any smelly dinn...

Only in Asia!!! We are spending the next week or so travelling overland from Singapore to northern Thailand by train, partly to see some of the country, partly to keep costs down and just a little to sate my inner-anorak. The timetables are wishful thinking, the toilets are Elizabethan and the carriages cacophonous, but it still manages to have a big-ass flat screen in each carriage. Well, I say each carriage. What I mean is in the deluxe class. There is no w...