I was going to tell you What I Did On My Holidays but I've decided to put it in a song or two instead, so you'll just have to wait.  The weather was glorious, though, most of the time; the company utterly charming and the hosts generous and gracious.

What I can tell you is that I'm now four tracks into the album I'm making with the amazing Mr Epps, and you can hear one of them, "Oh Yeah", on the new KIAC player on my profile page.  The player contains some duplicates of the songs already posted here at MySpace, so I will probably change some of those soon as they've all been up here rather a long time.

For those who might be eaten up with curiosity as to what exactly KIAC is (heaven knows I was), it's the network of playlist channels at iacmusic.com. As opposed to a kayak, which is a small canoe-type vessel.  Except when it is a virtual golden one, in which case it's an independent music award that's been won by people as marvellous as Rachel Fuller & Pete Townshend, Steve Ison, Melody Gardot and now me (Best Electronic Song). Which is all the more satisfying as the song in question, "The Truth Will Set You Free", includes my kitchen bin on kick-drum.  Oh yes, no expense spared.

Interestingly (to me at least), this virtual trophy has an added feature - sporadic invisibility.  So far blame has been thrust on suspects ranging from kayak-burglars to aliens. Personally I'm fairly sure it's the work of string theorists, who have targeted my IAC profile for the front line of their research into parallel universes. So it's a double honour really. With a little bonus that every time it reappears I feel as though I've won all over again.

Not the only recent win, either.  Just before I left for my trip, I received a letter from Dr Antonio Gomez of Madrid informing me that I have been awarded 635,956.25 pounds starlings on the Euromillions.  Anyone who was around the last time we had a starling invasion in my garden will understand the potential seriousness of this. Dr Gomez doesn't mention how many of these giant birds I have won, but I have the RSPB and Edinburgh Zoo on standby in anticipation of their delivery.  I fear a dawn chorus from creatures of such considerable size might interfere with my muse as I busy myself writing up my travels in the new songs.