At 5am I was woken by Sister One. We said goodbye and off she went to Canada. Right now she is somewhere mid-Atlantic eating something vaguely distinguishable as reheated rice and meat from a little polythene tray. Lovely.

This is the start of her five week trek around the best bits of the Canadian provinces. It's not quite as adventurous as James and my trip a couple of years ago - most of it has been preplanned - but it should be a really good experience for her and her friend (Hannah). I think their general plan is something along the lines of flying into Toronto, staying with Auntie Kiki for a week or so and exploring the city, then flying internally to Alberta. Here they will land in Calgary and then travel down into B.C. eventually coming out of the Rockies into Vancouver and then Vancouver Island. Sounds splendid.

From my time I was out there the best bits were mostly at either end, but one place I loved that all the guide books said we shouldn't was Winnipeg. I think it was mostly due to the Fringe Festival and the amount of entertainment we drained from that, but it was the only place that we stayed two nights in a major city anywhere between Ontario and Alberta. They won't be seeing that, but I think they may be getting a better deal on Vancouver Island. We only got as far as Victoria (we were only on the island for a day), but they are staying for around a week taking part in various activities, mostly water based I think. Something I've never done, but would love to do. Sometime I will.

I could have written a blog entry yesterday; I was sitting in front of the WDM all day. However, when it came to spending another minute sat in front of the damn screen I simply couldn't take it any longer. I spent most of the day trying to sort out a new payment system for the StudentXtra site. It drove me mad. It's mostly in place now but there are still a few holes I need to patch before I can set it live.

This is my first true e-commerce site - the concept being that people will be able to buy their cards and renewals online, but you try to get the damn thing to work. Oh well. I really need to start earning some hard cash as there still has been little in the way of money progress. Even going down the pub is going to be a struggle at this rate. Grrr. It's not even like their aren't any projects lined up, it's just getting around to finding the list which I wrote down, or tracking down elusive clients. It'll all fall into place soon. I hope.

The night before last I indulged myself in one of my great passions when I am at home. Most people would rather stick pins in their own eyes than actually have this passion themselves, but I do get a bit addicted to spectating on politics and things, so sat down to watch QuestionTime and This Week for the first time in ages. Everything seems in check, so thats me done.

One thing that did catch me by surprise this week was the death of Richard Whiteley. Not that I'm a Countdown viewer or anything, just I thought if there was any man with true stamina and who would outlive us all it was him. The guy seemed to have persevered for decades and the only thing that had changed was his tie. I think I heard an audible gasp of air when they said they might not be making any more episodes of Countdown, which unfortunately due to the age of the audience might be the last thing most of them did. R.I.P. Richard. You truly left a legacy, even if it's the best part of Britain's (remaining) elderly population kicking cans around in the streets and spraying vowels on public toilet walls for a lack of anything else to do.

State of the Room: Still a state. The mother has just come in and berated me about it. Something has to be done. I still can't see the floor and I was informed yesterday I'm having the carpets changed. Ok.

Right, I need some lunch.