I'm back from Thailand, where I rode an elephant, swam naked and unwittingly participated in a red-shirt protest, not necessarily in that order and definitely not all at the same time. Somewhere in between all that I also managed to shop, rather notably less fiendishly than I have in the past despite a one-year hiatus since my last visit. Maybe it's to do with moving and the fact that I threw out ten million bags of trash before the trip... it makes you less inclined to collect meaningless crap on your travels. One thing I did stock up on is jewellery, including crazy chunky rings and bangles and a gold miniature dictionary that hangs as a pendant and actually contains teensy dictionary pages which you can read with an attached magnifying glass.

And my feet have barely touched the ground before I'm coveting yet again. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's retainer. And yet I am, despite the fact that I never ever wore my retainer after having braces. I'm so materialistic.