If there's a field, I want to play in it.

Here's a glimpse of the Tuscan villa where I spent Christmas and New Year. It is as fabulous and awesome as it looks. There were twelve of us, mostly close friends from school days in Wanganui, and a few extended whanau to complete the party. We had wonderful weather for the most part and did a lot of day trips around the region - San Gimignano, Firenze, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Certaldo. It's all true what they say about Tuscany.

Back in London now, and unusually for me this week has passed quite quickly. For the sake of including a list, here's my top ten bands of the past 3 months, according to last.fm's rolling chart feature:

1 The Phoenix Foundation 346 plays
2 Calexico 246 plays
3 Iron & Wine 207 plays
4 SJD 129 plays
5 Jakob 122 plays
6 Elliott Smith 83 plays
7 The Decemberists 79 plays
7 Jeff Buckley 79 plays
9 The White Stripes 76 plays
9 Ray LaMontagne 76 plays

Today it's raining, and my left boot is leaking. I'm unhappy about this. However, in eleven days I will fly to Istanbul to meet Libby and Guy, and that is a very good thing. And if I was in NZ today, I would be dashing about the Big Day Out flapping my triple A self-importantly and maintaining nonchalance in close proximity to rock stars. How was it?