Sunshine and Carols

Tomorrow we return to Britain. We've had a fantastic time here and I'll write more when I get back.

Silverback tells me - with, I felt, a certain relish as he's got several more months in Florida before returning to Britain - that about two hundred schools in the Yorkshire region were closed because of snow.

Today we went on two tours in the Everglades, both fascinating. The temperature reached eighty degrees Fahrenheit and the sun blazed down.

As we saw alligators, deer, wild pigs, bison, turtles and many different kinds of birds, the gift shop played "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night." I have never been abroad in the winter before and this kind of thing never ceases to amaze me.

Here's a photo of me, taken a few days ago, on a beach on the Gulf of Mexico. I am taking a photo of one of the many glorious sunsets that we have seen.

The Communist has been sitting out in a chair today, back in hospital in Leeds. He's by no means out of the woods yet but is certainly considerably better.

I'll tell you more when I'm back home, on Saturday. It's very hard to imagine snow and ice. but soon I won't need to imagine it; I'll be there.