In the meantime, monster repellent suggestions would be most welcome!

Yarmouth woman killed in Guatemala crash

A woman from Yarmouth who started an organization to help destitute children living in the dumps of Guatemala City has died in car accident.

It also reminds me uncannily of a few years ago when I came back to Guatemala, checked the news the next day, and Saddam Hussein'd been captured. What? Do I alert press agencies each time I book a flight back here?!

Now I'll go have a cigarette to try and wipe this dazed expression off my face, then start unpacking. It's good to be home.

It's 3am and I need sleep so in the meantime, I'll just point you at www.cloud-dance.org.uk

Normally after class, I stretch for about 15 minutes, chatting with Maria if she’s there. But as rehearsal now starts as soon as class finishes, I either stretch with Maria in the corridor (if she’s there), and chat with her and others at length, have a cigarette, and miss the first 20 mins or so of rehearsal.

Today, the plan was to have a quick cig, make a quick phone call, and dash back into the studio. Not including quick hellos with people from my dance group, I chatted with about seven people while I was outside, texting Laura a few times before she turned up out of the blue, and – cough – accompanied me to the pub (an hour and a half before the end of rehearsal, cough cough).

That in itself wouldn’t have been so bad, except that I was still at the pub at 10pm when one of the guys from rehearsal turned up.

Worse still, however, was when the dance teacher friend and I went to O’Neills after the pub closed, and standing outside the window… were another two people from rehearsal.

I smiled, waved, and raised my glass to them.

After about half an hour of checking every news site I could think of to find out where this had happened... it turned out to be Jucanyá, the Indian barrio of Panajachel, which is where my mother has her lake house - and where she was at the time!!

Thankfully she didn't go out all day, and didn't hear a thing, but damn this world gets a little too small at times!!!

God I hate packing.

Preferably once I finally have a replacement laptop!

In nearly 11 weeks, I’ve not paused long enough to stop and think, or so it seems. I’ve been working hard at enjoying my time in London, however temporary it might be, but then something shitty like yesterday comes along and blows it all.

I don’t know why I’m thinking of Mexico instead of Guatemala; although life in Guatemala was far from enriched, at least it was mostly predictable: the sun would shine, I would avoid my old office, and I’d go out once or twice a week and see the same faces. When I found that Dikla’d left, I was devastated.

Probably the reason that life seems more complicated in London is that I have more friends here, each with their own schedule and agenda, and juggling those can be exhausting. Or frustrating or depressing, but that depends on the day. And person.

Saturday morning routine: wander downstairs for a cigarette, maybe clean kitchen in the process, wander into the living room for my laptop, bring it to the bedroom and spend the next few hours online.

This morning: wander downstairs for a cigarette, (idly noticing that the back door is unlocked), get heavily rained on in the process, wander into living for my snazzy brand-new laptop - and it's not there. Its predecessor, however, has been moved from its dusty corner of the last month or so to the arm of the sofa, and it's sitting open, as though someone's turned it on and lost interest.

Fume for a while, decide to go to an IT job fair, chat with Max for a bit, then head off - only to notice that my keys and Oyster card are missing. A short witch hunt later, and we realise we've been broken into - the only other missing item is Trevor's Oyster card, admittedly with all his credit cards.

I've been kicking myself over not having taken my laptop to the bedroom last night, or even yesterday when I had a strong urge to do so; I'm now mentally blaming Friend for inviting me to stay in a house where out of all of us, I'll get the most stuff stolen.

Roll on large quantities of rum - and maybe a flight back home...

This week has turned out to be an unexpectedly sociable week. When I’m home, I have websites to work on. When I’m out, I have websites to work on when I get home. I’ve been knackered for a week, and I’m starting to forget how it feels to be otherwise.

On the plus side, not only have I regained all my former flexibility from dance and yoga classes past, but surpassed it.

On which note, I need to find some bizarre stretches for my lower back so that I don’t spend tomorrow in agony. (If I could count on a seat on the Piccadilly Line, I could at least bring some ice with me to ice away the worst of the aches on my way into work).

Sleep well.