The house interior seems to grind on with the speed of land formation. Other jobs seem to take priority and little jobs never seem to get done. Anyway the kitchen tiling was finished long ago and the Bathroom is three quarter tiled. So I though I'd just show a quick update this week.

We've just come back from a week in Holland. We stayed in Leiden with my mate Steve, Andrea - his other half - and queen-of-chill sproglette, Ros. We were fed and pampered and had a very indulged time. In between that we went to Amsterdam.

Saturday was the main day of Pride Weekend in Amsterdam and, as is our tradition, Steve and the Leiden massive drive over to Amsterdam and we spend Saturday watching the Canal Parade, drink a lot of beer and go for a curry. As close to perfection as is possible on this earthly plane. The Parade lasts about three hours and normally consists of lots of barges decked out with corporate or muncipal colours containing lots of willing employees doing an imitiation of the Halifax ad and trying to show how un-selfconcious and limber they can all be. Every now and then a barge would go past full of very elegant men in women's clothes showing everyone else how it really should be done - all in the best possible taste, of course. All of Amsterdam comes out to watch the Parade, either from their boat perches at the water's edge or from the bridges and streets overlooking the canal. The effect is electric and everybody is up for a party. Picture one is not what you're thinking - the barge is carrying a facsimile of the street bollards of amsterdam. Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Incidentally we met up with our mate John in Amsterdam and he features in the latest series of 'Why We Love Each Other - misfits in love': pic 14. Sorry John but I couldn't resist. At the very end of the Parade all the audience boats coverge behind the barges and totally clog up the canal, no pun intended, it all adds to the mayhem and fun.

The guy in the last picture is a street artist who strips down to a very unflattering thong and performs gyrations 15 feet up a length of rope, well it is Amsterdam and I think he must be of pensionable age. There's hope for us all.

The garden was bone dry when we returned, but after a good hosing and weed session it's back to it's verdant self. Shame we're not particularly partial to courgettes because we're growing them in industrial size and quantity.

Ray and Ann, who get frequent mentions on this page, recently came back from a trip to Versailles and contributed some pics. Bleak but magnificent - Versailles, that is. So get your goggle boxes round these.