We’re still tearing around, exhausted with jet-lag, giving our souls no chance to climb back into our bodies – each time they get close enough to us to make the jump back inside, we’ve dashed off somewhere else.

For anyone out there who missed the beginning of this (which DM explained a few days ago), Tony (Jeanne’s hubby) has this theory that when you fly, your soul gets left behind by the sheer speed of the plane and takes ages to catch up and be reunited with the body again. He says it’s what causes jet-lag. On the basis of a lack of a better theory and on the equally compelling basis that I can’t think of a better explanation for why I feel so shitty then it’s something that I will subscribe to in future.

We were aware that our souls were only getting close to SF, when we confounded them by flying back East before they could get to us. I wouldn’t blame them at all for taking a few days of rest and sunshine in SF before attempting the journey back.

So we’ve run away elsewhere again today and our souls still trail behind. Having lost half a day on Tuesday that we’d expected to use fruitfully getting our act together so we’d be up with the larks yesterday to do some serious sight-seeing, we decided to make sure we grabbed back that time today. So, the crack of sparrows saw us dashing down to the heliport to catch a helicopter flight around Manhattan.

It’s a serious business, this sight-seeing – getting the right mix of the good and the completely crazy. This fell into the latter camp as we rose from a jetty on the bank of the Hudson into the sky in a tiny helicopter with only six seats. It was thrilling and scary as every good ‘fairground attraction’ should be. This was taken from my seat onboard as we rode back towards our helipad towards the end of the journey.

The ‘copter swung around the place, with an Ian Chappell looky-likey at the helm, speaking in the broadest Nyew Yoyk accent. When we got out, I knew it’d been well worth the money to see DMs face. He looked like the cat that had got the cream – a huge grin and sparkling eyes. He flung his arms around me in the street and said ‘that was fantastic’. Cool.

A later dash around B&H then out to upstate NY to visit Barbara and Arthur rounded off another exciting, yet continually exhausting day in the lives of the intrepid explorers. Boy are we ready for bed now……

The only fly in today’s ointment has been the weather forecast. Snow is forecast from here north and so tomorrow’s meeting with Steve Barney (the superb musician that David designed a CD cover for last year) has been cancelled. We were so looking forward to it and now it’s gone. Ah well, perhaps a quiet day with B&A will be better for us and will give our souls something to home in on…..maybe we might be whole people again by the time we head away from here on Saturday to go to Philly for my big day on Sunday? Let’s hope so!

Last year people were getting very excited by vegetables and I found myself 'defending' my shot by having to explain how it was done!!! The year before, I had Louise (my rock) helping me with a sales pitch that turned out to be a wild goose chase of the kind only clients can devise!!! Still looking at my pic today gives me pleasure - then I was using a 1.4 megapixel camera and only gingerly feeling my way around writing - see how much has changed in two years.