I have been to Florence, and returned with not a whole great deal more knowledge than before, except that I now fully realise that I really never want to go on holiday solely with my parents ever, ever again. Unfortunately I do not get a choice in the matter, so we will see how sane I am after our supposed two-week jaunt in Cuba next year to attend my brother's wedding.

The wedding itself I am really looking forward to. I have never been to a wedding before, so my only experiences of them are from sugar-coated Richard Curtis films, and from my friends' accounts which feature excruciatingly embarrasing incidents involving drunken relatives. And as a bridesmaid, I will be ideally placed to witness any such occurences. I cannot wait. While I know both the former and the latter wedding ideals will be unlikely due to the exotic location, I know it will still be pretty amazing- at least if the dear couple have not been driven to murder by his mother-in-law's attempts to hijack it and make it her wedding. Aren't families fun?

We (my brother, bride-to-be and I) went on a mission to London to uncover what kind of styles and prices we could expect from wedding attire. We did all the department stores on Oxford St (John Lewis wins the prize for being the worst designed store ever), with mixed results. Wedding dress designers, it seems, currently have a predilection for huge amounts of diamante and/or ruffles, neither of which Fliss and I are great fans of. While this was rather disheartening, we also trekked out to Oriental City- a giant warehouse filled with various shops selling Asian stuff- to check out the cheongsams which Fliss had spotted online and was rather fond of. Though dubious at first, I soon fell in sweet, cheongsam love.


LOOK, LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS. And, very rarely for a dress, it actually fits me as well as it does the mannequin. I want it. Even if Fliss's mother forbids something as horribly untraditional as a cheongsam to be worn at a wedding, I may well be forced to buy it for myself anyway. Such is the way with pretty things.

Speaking of, only a month 'til I see Patrick Wolf live!


In no way am I excited for any reason other than the brilliant and extraordinary music he creates. No way at all.