Has anyone else been beguiled into watching those awful side-trips on Google inviting you to look at the Hollywood stars with surprising high IQs, or to shudder at the botched plastic surgeries or the ravages of age and or obesity or to find out whatever happened to so-an-so? Quite apart from the voyeuristic “thrill” (?) – more like a frisson – the morbid curiosity that lures one into these divergent explorations can be damaging. Suddenly, you have spent an hour cruising gossipy horror stories, wasting time you cannot afford to lose. At least, I can’t. You are teetering on the edge of addiction. I mean, I am.

Deal with it.

When I bought my newest computer (not my last, I’m sure) I forswore Games. I pretended that the new machine did not provide such distractions and I never looked. I had been spending more and more time with Free Cell and someone had just introduced me to the Spider series. Best to leave them alone. Best to shut my eyes to something before it gets a grip on one’s soul.

You think I’m being over-dramatic?

The theory is that it takes 28 days to make a habit, but that’s a good habit. I think it takes about a day to acquire a bad one and then 28 days to lose it, if ever. I don’t want to risk it. I have to be careful now.

I was going to make a joke: be careful not to check on celebrities’ bad habits. But it wasn’t a joke. I looked to see if such a lead existed, and of course, it did, so I looked at a series of not necessarily bad habits but peculiar ones. Did you know that Mariah Carey eats purple food three days a week: eggplant, plums, grapes…. Do you believe that?

Be careful!

Here I am. My return trip was delayed by several hours because my flight was cancelled and I had to fly home later than I planned. That was okay as it gave us more time to talk.

I was visiting a dear friend from my Stratford days. I still think of her as a new friend though I have known her now for 48 years! Wow. We actually overlapped in one place (we lived in duplicate houses 3 or was it 4 lots apart) for only five years but she came back to visit and her husband was one of my husband’s pallbearers. (Does that make us related?) And I stick like Velcro.

But those five years were packed and fraught, and we lived through a lot. I mean, I lived through a lot and she was a wonderful. loyal, supportive friend – also fun to be with. She still is. She was my first present to myself in this milestone year of mine and what a wonderful present! Not without its trauma: nostalgia is always accompanied by pain, I guess. But we managed to tell each other things and to recall events and people that affected us profoundly. How incredibly precious it is to be open with another person. Lacking a husband I don’t often have that luxury or comfort. Of course, there were side effects, like more and deeper memories that kept me awake at night, but they were cleansing. I wish you that experience.

I’m home now and on a countdown for my next big trip. I’m walking pretty well. I have to keep my leg up when I can, but I also have to shop and cook for a few people before I leave, and plan and pack and tweak the screenplay for a second draft and

…. do my income tax. :-(

The tramlines are getting loaded.