Hello from the land of burning sheep.

We've got terrorist bombs, a collapsed NHS, persistent Tube strikes, a farm animal epidemic, a tumbling economy, terrible weather, exorbitant rent, and oh nonstop Big Brother on the tele.

Yet, for some reason I'm agreeing to another two years here!

More of the same. More work, more stress, more weight, more hairloss, more no sex, more exhaustion, more drinking too much, more dull client meetings, more soppy rainshoes, more black phlegm, more tourist madness.

Yet today, in a mad dash in a taxi we rounded the Trafalgar Square roundabout and the sight of Nelson's Column, the National Gallery, and St. Martin's in the Fields, made my heart leap and I couldn't help but smile.

I still love it here, fool that I am.

Bombs and Chocolat. Sunday morning a car bomb exploded in front of the BBC building in West London. The explosion injured one, caused damage to the buildings in the area and reawoke the possbilities of bombings in everyone's mind. The Real IRA (an IRA faction group) was blamed for either trying to damage the suffering peace process or for retaliating for a stinging Panaroma exposé. I was unaware of the explosion until I was attempting to get home from shopping at Habitat on the Tube and many of the lines were closed for safety concerns. It seems impossible in this day and age and in this country that terrorism be a factor of daily life. And we return to days of security alerts at tube stations and panicking at the sight of empty bags on the sidewalks.

Last night a group of us ate dined at a rather informal Thai restaurant in Clapham Common, then went to see Chocolat. The movie has gotten mediocre reviews and we had low expectations, but I found is absolutely delightful. Juliette Binoche , one of my favourite actresses since I saw Blue, is one of the most radiantly beautiful women. It's a story set in a small town in 1950's France of a wandering chocolatière, Binoche, who sets up shop in a small town stifled by its "tranquilité" whose desires are awoken by this mysterious Mayan chocolate. There is a shop in the Parisian left bank that sells mayan chocolate and it's magical. Judi Dench deserved her nomination for her role. Johnny Depp is lovely to look at, but didn't quite manage his Irish accent which only appeared once he said he was Irish. Go see it. There's no sex, only a little violence, and few special effects. But there is Binoche.