I must say I would rather be outside at present, the sun is shining brightly, and I would like to go and sit in the garden with the cat and do some stitching! We have a garden at the hotel, sort of, in that we can sit in the area next to the pool, which has some trees and flower pots and even in winter, they leave out some chairs and loungers for the mad Northern Europeans who come to stay. The pool is officially closed, but some of us still use it if it's sunny enough (it's not heated).

There's a new heading in my sidebar for 2008 finishes, and I hope it will have some there soon - I have to assemble my pink biscornu set this week, and also sew in 64 ends of a striped La Droguerie scarf, and sew up my Elle Tricote Noro Silk Garden mittens. Then I can think about finishing a couple of other things and maybe start a new sampler....

Today I am the only one here, I am expecting Alec back next week, but until then, I am alone, apart from the clients, who are very much preoccupied with the change to the euro. Yesterday I did go out to get newspapers and food, but I still had Cyprus pounds. I paid for my dinner in pounds, and the waitress came running out of the restaurant after me, because she thought I hadn't left enough - she was looking at the euro amount! Which was something like 18 euros, but I had paid in Cyprus pounds, which was about £11. I guess they will get used to it soon. I like the euro myself, having used it already since it came in in France, and never having had any attachment to the currency it replaced (I only used francs for about a year), but I guess it can be slightly traumatic for those who have used the old currency all their lives. But there are people here who still think in piastres, which haven't been used since the 1950's, and this is really silly. It will make it a lot easier for me to do my expenses, that's for sure, I won't have to worry about the exchange rate, or at least, I hope I won't. Amex seem to do some strange things sometimes with rates.

Ah, I just noticed a package on the other desk, it is from SBB, and I opened it to find the latest SANQ and two Little By Little charts, "Mecklenburg" and "Counting Book Samplar". This has reminded me also to download the latest "Gift of Stitching", and there is a silk sampler pocketbook and an Elizabethan biscornu that I like, also two parts of the mystery sampler. I still haven't decided about that, it's big!