For the last few months I’ve been trying to troubleshoot my sleeping problems. Looking through the archives, it seems I first reported trouble sleeping over a year ago — yikes! — and then a few months ago I alluded to some continuing issues. I think things have been improving, but I’ll be damned if I can attribute that to any one change! I’ve been exercising regularly (cycling for a few miles every day), and of course I’ve travelled quite a lot this year which has given my mind the SPACE it needs. It’s amazing: the moment I leave my room (which is usually only when I travel), my composure completely changes. I don’t think I’m particularly highly-strung at the worst of times, but when I travel I’m positively mellow.

So, anyway, the bedding! First I got a fancy 400-thread Egyptian cotton bed sheet and a nice protector to go under it. That didn’t help much (though it does feel really good to slide up and down against), so I got new pillows and covers. They helped a bit. Then earlier this week my newest (and most expensive, eep!) purchases arrived: a Hungarian goose down duvet, and a 400-thread Egyptian cotton duvet cover. Today I spent a few minutes re-making my bed — and as you can see from the creases, I am yet to lay on it! I’m looking forward to tonight, that’s for sure.

You’re all invited to come and try out my new bedding, incidentally! Come! There’s plenty of space.

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In other news, it looks like I’ll be in San Francisco in the middle of September. Microsoft is flying me out there for a software launch event! From what I can tell, official business will only last for a day, which means I should be able to spend a few days exploring San Francisco. Do any Angelenos want to come up and see me?! I doubt I’ll make it down to LA unless I can squeeze a whole week out of the trip.

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Photography-wise, I’m glad to say that my exhibition of photos from the Faroe Islands went well. I also sold a few photos from Norway! At last!

I updated my Montenegro gallery, so you can now buy those too. The gallery on this site is actually the most complete collection — Flickr is still missing a few, which I will update in the next few days.

I think that’s all for now…!

I just had my first solid poop in four days! To celebrate, here are a handful of pretty photos from all over Montenegro, the  pint-sized jewel of the Adriatic Sea. For a country with 600,000 citizens and an area of just 5,000 square miles — i.e. one of the smallest countries in the world — there sure is a lot to see and do here.

I’ll post a lot more photos once I’m back in England, on Tuesday. If you want to see more, visit Flickr. You can’t buy these photos just yet, but I’ll fix that when I get home.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by someone I’ve never met before via Flickr. He had found my stream by searching for hornets and obviously liked what he saw, because he emailed me to ask if I had any more hornets that I could send him. Really, I was cold-called and asked if I could capture a hornet and send it across the country so that he could have his wicked way with its… antennae… and… mandibles.

He even told me how to deal with the hornet, once I’d caught it. ‘Freeze it’ he said. ‘Just pop it in the freezer for a few hours and then send it over.’

And so I did. Two weeks had passed, but last night a hornet flew into my room — and I flew into action! I cowered behind my door, biding my time, as always (I’ve been bitten by hornets before). Eventually he settled down on the woodwork of my sash windows and KABLAM! I struck, catching it ‘neath a cup. Then I murdered the poor bastard by putting him in the freezer. It was actually the first time I’ve intentionally killed an insect. I felt rotten.

Why though? Why did some guy want one of my hornets?

To draw it! He’s a frickin’ artist and an incredibly talented one at that. He likes insects (and collects and rears insects!) — and who am I to deny him one of my many hornets?

I killed, but it was in the name of art! Worse things have been done for creative ends.

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I fly off to Montenegro on Wednesday. I’m aware that I still haven’t written much about it. It’s very hot and humid in England right now, and typing with sweaty fingers is horrible and laborious. But, yeah, Montenegro is actually a vacation for me. I will take some photos, but the primary purpose for this trip is to relax. It’s hard to describe just how mentally exhausting my current lifestyle is. I need to unplug for just a little while.

For the last few weeks of our 52 Weeks project, I will be putting our collaborations both on the project’s dedicated site, and here on the front page of the blog.

I figured lots of you might not have seen the project, or even heard of it, and the year is almost at an end! Ach, time goes by so quickly…

Also, you will notice the side bar change when you’re looking at a 52 Weeks entry. That’s kind of by design, and kind of because I can’t work out how to disable it gracefully…

P.S. I’m flying to Montenegro next week! I should write some more about that.