Happy Birthday, Darkomen. May the force be with you.

Last day in July. It turned out to be eventful, in spite of everything. The first thing that happened was that the doorbell rang as I was finishing up a game of literati (which I won, by the way), still in my pyjamas and bathrobe, and I heard Buddy Boy call out, �Jenn and Mark are here!� I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs where they were ensconced in the living room and being served lattes by the man. They stayed for about an hour and then it was time for lunch, followed by afternoon delight and then conversations with friends in far-flung time zones.

Little Princess informed me at one point that her BF, the singer in the band and our houseguest were here for supper, but that they were going to order take-out, probably Chinese, so I wouldn't have to cook. And that is what happened. We had a veritable feast. I made a huge pot of jasmine tea and supplied chop sticks, so it felt almost as though we were in a Chinese restaurant.

Afterwards I taught the singer, whom I shall call Steve because I can�t keep calling him �the singer�, how to play backgammon while the other young people went downstairs to mix more drinks. They had been working their way through the cocktail alphabet and were at the letter q, but couldn�t find a mixed drink that started with q, so had to invent one. I talked Steve through the first game, which I won shamelessly, and then left him on his own for the second, only helping him a couple of times, and winning shamelessly again. But before he left he did say that he would be pleased to play with me anytime.

I have a beautiful backgammon board which I bought in Nafplio when we were there in 1999, at the store in the main square at the corner of the lane which goes by the internet caf�. It�s inlaid with all sorts of different woods, all natural finish and I fell in love with it at first sight.

I finished The Fall of Hyperi0n last night, and Buddy Boy finished the latest Harry P0tter, so I can begin that one post haste. I�m looking forward to it.

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