THE BEARD STAYS - YOU GO!

Ben has been on holiday this week and he has decided not to shave. He'll be on holiday next week, too. I wonder if I can convince Grizzly Adams to shave once his holiday is over ... maybe his beard will get too tight.

This weekend just exemplifies why I love living in Britain. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so in the U.S., I would have had to go to work. Might be let out at 3pm as a bit of a break for the holiday, but then right back to work on Monday morning. Not here in Britain. Good Friday and Easter Monday are public "bank" holidays which means everyone gets a 4 day weekend. It totally rocks!

I've realised how lame it is that Ben and I didn't go back to California for Easter. Considering he's on his holiday during the time and I could have got some time off, too. But we just saw the fam in late November, and also, if we went now it might make it impossible to go for Christmas, and I really want to be there for Christmas. I am feeling very homesick lately, though. I think because the weather has improved over the last week, and it reminds me of home. We've actually had some lovely sunshine. Also, I've been feeling really depressed lately cos Ben was working nights so I hardly saw him, I had a cold, and my job has been pretty sucky. It's enough to make anyone depressed. I'm looking for a new one now, but not desperately. Any design job in my area that seems good, preferably at a design firm.

Since I last posted, Ben and I went to see The Tears, Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler of Suede's new band. You know what, seeing them was fun, we stood in the front and got sweaty and squashed. They sounded pretty good, too. But there were the same old themes in the lyrics; Brett even made fun of himself saying so. He even did the same old stage moves. It was a bit sad. I stood there thinking "you're old - I'M old!!!" Ben got some photos on his phone and they looked like a million other live Suede photos I've taken, except they were older. I'll probably buy their single, but as far as hanging around after the show to talk to them went, I had no desire to. I actually don't really care if I never speak to them again now, so I guess seeing that performance was as much closure as I needed.

We also went to Manchester and saw Manchester United v. A.C. Milan at Old Trafford. Milan beat us by 1, and then in the second leg ofthe tie, beat us again by 1, so United are out of the Champion's League this season. It was a fun trip, though.

I recently saw the films "The Life Aquatic" and "SIdeways" and both are very good. I was glad to go to the cinema. The next films I'll probably see will be "Robots" and "Miss Congeniality 2."

My friend and Maid of Honour at my wedding, Andrea, will be coming to visit me and Ben soon. Probably at the end of June. It will be really great to do some sight-seeing with her; she's never been to London before. We're also planning to go to Paris for the weekend, so that should be really good fun. Hopefully my brother Tony and sister-in-law Tiffany will visit in July. it would be great to show them around London, too.