19,017

It's 16 February – happy almost birthday, Dad – and I'm stuck at 19017 words, where I've been since Tuesday, which means two full days of no writing. It's good though, as I'm missing the story like crazy and can't wait to get back into it, but after I watch Little Britain on BBC Prime as it's a guilty pleasure. As this is the official KP rambling site, here are some uninteresting tidbits.

Whilst driving to and from airports last weekend and this weekend, I heard the following songs on Italian radio: Every Time You Go Away (You Take A Piece of Me with You) by Paul Young, 3 times on 3 different days; Never Surrender by Corey Hart; Go West by the Village People; 3 Bryan Adams songs that no one knows but me as no one else listens to him; Lucky Star by Madonna, 2 times on 2 different days; everything by Queen. One might think the Italians should evolve their radio.

I have taken more plane rides than car rides in 2007. This is not necessarily a good thing. Good carbon offset programs: http://www.climatecare.org/ and http://www.carbonfootprint.com.

It is disgustingly beautiful here now. The sun bursts from the sky every day, gleaming off the lake, confusing the heating systems and flowers. It was warm enough to have class outside this afternoon. It's a bit odd, as we have had perhaps 6 days worthy of gloves and a scarf – compared with our November 4-through-Easter snow in Slovenia last year, it just doesn't seem right.

I leave Sunday morning at 4am for Sicily with 16 12-year-olds and two colleagues, one of whom is on this writing mission with me. It'll be good to have the banter and see if we can keep up with the word count when dealing with seventh grade drama. We were originally hoping to visit a Mafia museum, show the kids Goodfellas and all the Godfather films and teach them how to whack people and become 'made', but the school vetoed that, so instead we're taking them to random ruins and churches and such. I am looking forward to screaming "Get out of the street!" to them in Palermo as we dodge traffic and try not to lose anyone.

Current favourite things: Sise's album; Jacob's Creek Cabernet Shiraz; vanilla tea; power yoga; my friend Dave's hush-hush website (to be shared as soon as possible!); Italian tutoring from one of my students; goat's cheese; Casal Garcia vinho verde