So, here I am at work again after a lovely 4 days off. The weather obviously forgot about the double bank holiday deal, and blessed us with bright sun all weekend. It finally got its act together today though, with a “lights-on” journey to work through the fist and mog.

Couple of things to talk about. First of all my second ever eBay purchase arrived last week. It’s a Line6 Pod, and it’s fantastic. For the unenlightened, it’s a kidney bean shaped guitar effects unit which does an insanely good job of emulating a huge range of well known guitar amps. It has models for everything from clean jazz combos, through to vintage Fenders, Marshalls, and on to modern Mesa Boogies (…rock!). The range of sounds is astounding, and it was a very worthy purchase.

Secondly, the seven-year-old Gran Turismo franchise is now into its fourth version, and quite good it is too, despite its hideous network code (Anyone had any consistent success in getting 2 or more PS2s linked up? If so, can you let me know exactly which voodoo incantation you recite to make it work? Do we need to slaughter a small mammal, too?) Last night I was racing in the Supercar Festival in my oh-so-nice Mercedes McLaren SLR. It was hard work, with all of the races being decided by less than a second. Them’s good races, and that’s not what GT is usually known for. Oh and it’s also nice to see 106s, Corsas, Carltons and Cappuccinos in the game. There’s something slightly surreal about seeing ‘your’ car hurl itself around Laguna Seca )

Bank Holiday Monday saw us visit the establishment formerly known as the Whitbread Hop Farm (now just ‘the Hop Farm‘). A fun day out was had by all, as we saw shire horses being put through their paces (I don’t think they’re really built for slalom courses), a very proud peacock, inquisitive cows and shetland ponies. There is an interesting mix of things to do for all ages, so small people can amuse and be amused with paddling pools, pottery painting and the animals, whilst big people get to wander around a couple of museums, sit in the sun with a beer (or two), and join in with the painting and animal-watching. (No wolves though, more’s the pity).