Bilaeva

here.

On the telephone this morning...

Auntie Genevieve: "Jonathan, do you know what's happening today?"
Jonathan: "err... it's the winter 'lympics starting today" (in that tone that says why are you asking, i can't believe you don't know, oh good grief)
Auntie Genevieve: "So are you going to be watching skiing all day tomorrow?"
Jonathan: "My head will be next to the tv all day and all night and all day! I'll turn into a zombie." (hmm, where did he hear thatI wonder?!)
Auntie Genevieve: "well, it's only 1 hour and 5 minutes till it starts"

And then after spinning the phone on the table, "are you feeling dizzy and sick?", he ran off to get the kitchen timer so Lucy could set it for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Apparently that's his new thing, setting the timer for absolutely everything. Lucy says it's become obsessional. Oh good, my little boy is a crazy man!

If you're looking to warm up your brains and your funny bones, here are some links to my favourite radio programmes on the Beeb.

The Now Show This is a weekly news/satirical show in the vein of Bremner, Bird and Fortune. The stand-up spots are hilarious, but the songs by Mitch Benn are the best bit. You might have trouble following some of it if you're not up on British news, but you can always catch up here.

In Our Time The history of ideas. There are at least a hundred programmes in their archive. I've learned about everything from the Babylonian alphabet to artificial intelligence.

Excess Baggage Indulge your wanderlust. You can listen to all fifty tales of adventure and exploration in the archive listed on the right side of the page. My favourites are Lost Languages and Michael Palin.

Mark Kermode My film review fellow. Sometimes he gets really worked up about things and goes off on one. I love it.

Aspersions have been cast - you know who you are - on my veracity, or perhaps sanity. A figment of the imagination never mucked up our laptop - you know who you are - or left such a huge indentation in the sofa. So here's the proof, this is he, my enormous little brother.

So after Joanne and I had hours and hours of fun playing with Google Earth (strictly on our lunch break of course), I installed it on the laptop in Luton so we could play with it there. Last Thursday, Lucy and Jonathan discovered it. They looked up Luton, my address in New York and Granny and Grandpa's house in Saudi Arabia, and more importanly, the Surf House and the water slip and slide thingy on the RT beach. Jonathan went mad for it, and when they'd done with familiar places he announces "now, let's look up Australia". He knows about Australia?! So they checked our Sydney, Melbourne, and all points intriguing on the Antipodean isle.

I suggested their next "trip" should be to Rome, they have beautiful, clear pictures of all the best sites - you can see the hole in the Pantheon and the columns in St. Peter's Square. Any recommendations for other closely-photographed destinations?