I'm completely new at this, and don't have any nice pictures or anything like that to post here yet..... so I'll just say a little bit about where I am and what I'm doing.

I'm in Nicosia at the moment, until Thursday, when I fly back to Paris for Christmas. I've got to work today and tomorrow, then it's practically holidays. OK, I have to go to the office in Paris, but that's really to do administrative things, rather than work - although those things are actually worse than work, especially when this time they consist of replacing everything that was in my wallet that got stolen in Debenhams at the weekend. I also have to go to the medicin de travail and get certified to be fit for another year of work, such fun.

Having your wallet stolen is not fun at all, at least I'm lucky the guys I work with have been able to lend me cash to be going on with, as my new cards can't be sent here in the time before I go back to Paris, I have to collect them there. Thank goodness for these guys, I don't know what I would do without them, a special thanks to my lovely Cypriot colleague who helped me cancel my cards and lent me all his spare cash.

The past few days, since the theft, have not been fun at all, so I'm hoping that when I get to Paris, things will improve. There should be a few presents waiting, presents from myself, of course, there's no-one else really to give them to me......... I ordered a heap of stuff from Amazon, also a few things from Traditional Stitch in Canada, and just for fun, some flowers and a scented candle from Au Nom de la Rose. So I can sit in my tiny little apartment in Paris on Christmas Day and stitch to the scent of roses.

I also arranged tickets for a couple of exhibitions, Melancolie at the Grand Palais on 23rd December and the Phillips Collection at Luxembourg on 25 December, so that is something to look forward to.

Then I'm going up to Copenhagen just for two days next week, do a little bit of shopping and looking around, practise my Danish for once - which I don't really get a chance to do these days. I don't know that there will be a huge amount of stitching interest there, although I like to go to Sommerfugl and see if they have anything new. I usually buy a heap of magazines and books, eat some nice Danish food, and just walk around town for a couple of days. It's relaxing, and I'm staying overnight at the Airport Hilton, which is lovely - swimming pool, huge rooms with B&O television, and just a little train ride from the centre.

Should get on to the main subject of this blog, which is embroidery and the stitching I do. At the moment, I haven't done a lot of recent work.......... since I started this job, about a year ago, I've been working so hard, often at nights and weekends too, that it went by the board for weeks at a time. But now I'm here in Nicosia most of the time, I can do more than I have been. I didn't bring much with me, just grabbed a few small kits and put them in my suitcase, it turned out to be some Just Nan filagree fancies and a couple of Shepherds Bush needle rolls which I've had for ages. But now I am getting through these, so I'd better bring some more stuff back from Paris with me in the New Year.

I may even bring back the incredibly long Emie Bishop bellpull I started so long ago, that has been half-finished for a shamefuly long time. And the hardanger table centre that has all the klosters stitched, just waiting for the bars to be cut and woven. But I need some new hardanger scissors to do this properly, I have no idea where mine actually are.

It's funny living in two places, I have this tiny little apartment in Paris, 29 square meters, then I have the two bedroom place in Nicosia, so much larger. The little place in Paris is crammed with stuff, including all my embroidery supplies, magazines etc, while I have virtually nothing in Nicosia, except my summer clothes (mostly, although I do now have a few jackets and scarves for the colder weather) and a few books. I never cook in Nicosia, although I have a huge kitchen, whereas I cook quite a lot in Paris in my tiny kitchen. But Paris is my real home now, while Nicosia is just a temporary measure for this project.

How long will I be in Nicosia? Estimates vary, from another two months to another six months. I'd quite like to stay as long as possible, given the great climate, the great food, and some other nice things that I will talk more about in due course.