For someone who has spent 3 days and nights within 4 lead lined walls, I have found quite a fair sprinkling of news for you. Firstly, a confession. While at the Milchards I noticed a book that I wanted to read while in my hospital prison, and asked Abbi if I could borrow it. It turned out it was already borrowed from Loz, and Abbi intended reading it on her holiday. But she finished it super quick so I could read it while in hospital. Bless her! So far so good. I read it all on the first day. It was as brilliant as I hoped. I stayed up til 1am to finish it. Now, this morning the Physicist came and tested all my belongings for radioactivity, and the book (secret double borrowed) was in the radioactive bin! So, now I have just been on Amazon to buy a copy to give back to Loz which is not going to damage her unborn baby and, if you and Abby keep quiet, SHE WILL NEVER KNOW about this dupliticous (sp) deception. So shut up! If she asks, just look innocent.

Now, the title of the book is actually 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and it is by the same author as The Kite Runner. Khaled Roussin or similar. Sorry. I can't spell Dhal right either. That's the author, not the lentil dish. Phew. It is a fabulously brilliant story, set in Afghanistan, a terrible tale of war and poverty and oppression of women, but brilliant,brilliant, brilliant. However, until just now, I thought it was called 'A Thousand Splendid Sums'. Which I though was an odd title, as it was not at all to do with maths. So, now I am put right and thought I would mention it in case you had made the same mistake. Doubtful.

Hey! On a brighter note, I went to see Mamma Mia and liked it so much I am going again (when I am allowed to enter places of entertainment - Monday 25 August), will ask for the DVD for Christmas - actually, Mary, you can write that down NOW and save asking me! and it goes into my top 3 films with Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge. It is not unnoticed that these are all the film as musical genre, by those of you with an eye for such detail. Mmm. Lots of films are not eligible for my ratings because they are 18s, or even 15s, or because they feature Americans speaking too fast and I have to have the subtitles on to catch the gist of the dialogue. I went to see MM at Esher cinema with the lovely Granny Mary, who is not a frequent cinema goer (last time she was at Esher cinema there was an orchestra and Pathe News). She was among friends, as MM is one of those films that older ladies who don't go to the cinema make an exception for. You know the average age of the audience is retired when people clap at the end. I knew how they felt. It was brilliant, but there is no point clapping because they are not there on stage, its just a film! When I went to see Romeo and Juliet at the cinema, I really, nearly cried out 'No don't do it!' at the point near the end where if I told you it would ruin it for you but you know, the whole thing with the poison). Then I remembered that it was just a film, and however loud I shouted, it would not change things. But I think that is the mark of a good film, if you are so immersed in it you actually want to change the course of events. Does anyone else feel that way?

Between Monday morning and this morning I watched lots of Olympics, did some Sudokus and logic puzzles, prayed, read my bible and read WAY too many celebrity s**t magazines, kindly donated by a couple of friends who had saved them up for a few weeks. So if I am called upon to be a contestant on the Weakest Link ( I guess it works like jury service- surely no one would apply freely?) I will not stumble on the name of Nicole Kidman's new baby - Sunday Velvet or was it Andrex Puppy? Brad and Ang's twins - KNOX AND VIVIENNE??? who do they think they are? Famous? Characters in a Dr Zeuss book? I can tell you when Blake Fielder Civil is due out of gaol (too bloody soon, why not lock up his Missus too, eh?) and what Katie Price thinks of most things in the world, where Colleen went on holiday, and how Mrs Beckham has learnt that the Americans don't understand her and want her to smile more. I know where Catherine Z J went on holiday, the state of Madge's marriage (don't ask) and that Peaches Geldof collapsed in the toilet of her flat in Kings Cross.

The view from my room was a little bleak. I saw a pigeon, once, and some people in an office across the way. The nurses and care people had to shove my food in quick and close the door to avoid being contaminated by the powerful rays of radioactivity shooting from my body. When I was allowed visitors, they came for 20 minutes each and had to sit behind a screen to avoid their ovaries being shrivelled up by the powerful beams emitting from my person. I felt a bit like a baddie from a Star Trek episode. It was quite odd, being the baddie, but I felt very calm and saw it as a blessing in disguise and tried to make the most of the time to be quiet and rest. Having the scan this morning was odd, in that you have to lie so still, but Radio 1 was on and it was making me want to giggle so badly. So I had to really try hard not to listen and to think of anything else. I did a very good job of being scanned, as I have to go back for another go tomorrow, so they must have liked me. When the scanner comes down right on top of your face, it feels a bit like you are Indiana Jones, doing the rolling out just as the door comes clanging down trick.

For just over a fortnight I have been on a really restricted diet, with no dairy or eggs and no salt, so pretty much a vegan with no tastebuds. It was really hard at times, if very virtuous, to watch the girls and R eat fish and chips and ice creams on the beach while munching on a packet of sunflower seeds. Now, I am not really a big cream eater, but the treats I had today were scones with jam and cream and nachos with sour cream. Isn't that weird? Clearly, our bodies NEED cream and mine was crying out for a backlog. Yum yum yum. Eating the restricted diet in hospital was really dull, with boiled potatoes and veg being the main offerings I could have. So I got visitors to sneak up Burger King chips. Well, if you are going to be ill you need a few perks!