Manasse loves the smell of new leather. Whereas his sister Clio is adept at opening doors, Manasse has perfected the art of whipping the tops off shoeboxes, then rolling around inside until he smells just like a new shoe himself. I've just found him asleep, his paws wrapped proprietorily around the latest addition to my shoe collection, a pair of sturdy bronze-coloured boots. They went for a song in this last day of the sales, and although they're not exactly 'OMG droolworthy!', they were so comfortable when I tried them on that I just had to have them. I could walk for miles and miles in these babies, I have no doubt.

It's been a slow week, with nothing much happening except for Thursday when I went out with some friends and ended up seeing Dreamgirls at the cinema. Though hardly a masterpiece, it's quite an enjoyable film, and Eddy Murphy steals the show. Jennifer Hudson is amazing -- I had never heard her sing before (actually, I'd never heard of her before), but what a voice!

Less than three weeks now till my holiday...and I can hardly wait. Three more of my immediate colleagues have handed in their notice this last week, and won't be there when I come back from the States. That's five we've lost in the first three months of the year...and still Jobsworth believes it's nothing to do with him.