reading this makes me want to eat chocolat au lait

Oddly, I think this story is set in America. Unless the silly editors at Knopf changed a ten pence piece to a dime... Well, I almost forgive them, but not quite despite their having given Mark Strand to me. It's too tempting to open that book of eulogies now, so I'll go back to reading the dense introduction of "Sex, Law, and Society in Late Imperial China". So much preparation must be made to even confer with those lofty history students...!

But at least I have my little bag of Dove chocolates now for the next time I'm free enough to continue with Charlie's story. Not this week, however; it looks to be a landslide and I'm on the wrong side. Bright coffee opp with A tomorrow, though, and probably a lush heart-rinsing lunch with M on Friday. Buckle up, my girl, things are set in motion and the sky is dark, for the moment's foment.

Oh, and it seems I can no longer cut and paste colour text from Word. Someone must have found the loophole and plugged it up with some soggy stuff.