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I was wakened very early this morning by Mizzie, who, because she wanted out, had decided to lick my face in order to get my attention. I opened one eye, which she saw. She responded by rolling on to her back whilst purring very loudly. A tactile and audible alarm. She wouldn't take no for an answer, and Linda merely turned over, muttering something along the lines of "your birthday was yesterday, and I'll have a coffee while you're up". As I am on a health kick just now, and trying desperately to lose some weight (I have an agreement with Helena that I will lose 5kg (11lbs) before I go back to Portugal). I did get a bit of a lift this morning when I weighed myself. I am now 15st 10lb (220lb; 99.8kg), which whilst still too much for someone my age and height, is a damn sight better than the 16st 7lb (231lb; 104.8kg) that I was before I went to Portugal. So hooray for me. Anyway, as I am trying to eat more healthily (cutting down on carbs and eating much more fruit), I have made the tomato, oregano and olive oil spread that is delicious on toast (or, in my case, on Ryvita). This 'hearty' feast was interrupted by Mizzie who, not content with licking my face to get me out of bed, decided to bring a live sparrow into the house and deposit it on the dining-room floor, where the petrified creature deposited a pillow full of feathers and some other less pleasant material as it flew under the sofa out of the cat's reach. The bird was duly rescued. I stood with the terrified animal in my hand, trying to get it to eat some milk soaked bread while I inspected it for injury and tried to think about where to put it so that it could at least have some chance of escaping Mizzie's clutches. In the end, it was decided to put it in the elderberry tree, and to let Liam stand guard, armed with a broom handle. Mizzie sat a safe distance away, bemused at our reaction to her gift. I took Liam to the barbershop today... he wanted a short back and sides! At last, I have my short-haired son back, and he did it all without any nagging at all! I took my camera with me to record the momentous event, but, alas, forgot to take a memory card with me, so you'll have to make do with this pair of young lovers that I captured at Lisbon's Docas a couple of weeks ago.

This time last year I was being artsy-fartsy