There's a Matlock in Manitoba! (dispatches from Toronto)

Me and Mark, Mark and I, have never spent as much time together as we have this past 6 months since we started going out. He rides the wave smoothly, I splutter and wave my arms about. Not all the time of course. Sometimes we're at our best when it's just us, wandering the city, trying to take in everything that is different and new to us. We're both aware of how quickly the time is passing, and its time to start to appreciate just how unlikely it is that this situation will arise again. Suffice to say we're not going to settle here, and we've pressed a giant 'pause' button on our lives at home. We know as soon as our feet hit damp Irish tarmac, it will once again be a fight for time; for Mark - bands and gigs, nixers, further education; for me - sitting round govindas and the long hall, calling over to friends, being Ella's personal stylish, getting to Wexford, trying to get the gym as often as relieves the guilt...

I think that it's good for us to spend some a few days apart now, just to remind us that we're lucky to have this year to spend together.