Ginger DJ Rob

In the immortal words of Tony Harrison, "it's an outrage". If you haven't seen the Sugar Puff advert ripping off the Mighty Boosh's crimping then prepare for a sick feeling of commercialism. No wonder Barrett and Fielding are threatening legal action according to the Sun . Not a good start to the day for me. Last night I twisted my ankle at capoeira doing a kick, spin, kick snagging the bottom of my jogging bottoms under my foot (I had to bike 1.5 miles home after that). Woke up later then we should and had a million things going on in the space of 15 minutes with a skip being delivered, cars needing to be moved, cat needing feed and cat litter emptied plus the normal getting ready limboing around dust sheets.

Easter was a family-in-law catch-up 5 hours drive away in Plymouth. Great to see Donna and my niece Morgan playing Picto-chat on her new Nintendo DS. Conversation with a 6 year old wasn't too demanding but it was still fun asking her if chocolate or cake was her favourite. Back home and we had things to move ready for the builders. Our kitchen/dining room/lounge was going to be transformed into an uber open plan cooking machine! We're now washing our dishes in the bath and learning to like microwave and take-aways. I feel the pounds subtracting from my wallet and adding to my waistline. Can't wait to see the back of the dust. Catch up with the day-to-day photo diary on my FlickR website under House Vs. The Builders .

Checked out of the hotel after a very slow, half-awake state then went to check the ferry times for the airport and checked in online for the flight as getting back was high on our minds. After that we didn't have a plan so headed towards the Realto Bridge but saw signs for the Modern Art museum. It was only half open with the more interesting, Oriental arts half closed for renovation. Kerry spotted a Henry Moore (Helmet No. 2) which cheered her up as she'd finally caught my lurgy. Lunch was in a cosy, elevated window seat overlooking the Grand Canal. With time dragging on (can you tell we've had enough of Venice by now), we had our last cappuccino and slice of very average and over-priced tiramiso in the Caffe de Doge. At this point I was able to compile my Likes and Dislikes of Venice:- Dislikes Over-charging - just tourist tax Over-crowded Bag Sellers Souvenir tat everywhere Italian working hours Glassware Likes Tall sized cans of Coke Coffee is generally better We took

Naively thinking they'd be less tourists being a Monday we headed for the Basilica to view the bronze horses and golden frescos. It was the best value yet for entry if you wanted to be bombarded with images of saints, popes, god, Jesus, angels, St. Mark's droopy mouthed lion and all things holy. The downstairs part was shut to the public due to some military memorial so watched the traditional Catholic service from above. The view from the roof was excellent seeing the crowds dicing with the pigeons and we were able to get closer to the infamous bronze horses. Shame I took the 'no cameras and bags' rule seriously and only used my phone to get some shots. Around the corner is the Doge's Palace for a king's ransom entry at €12. We had to wait for 3 huge groups about 50 deep before being let in. The palace is impressive though with each room outdoing the other with grandness of ceiling frescos getting larger, grander and golder. Another highlight for me was seeing

After a crappy nights sleep (not enough pillows and a sniffy cold) and some great breakfast, we ferried over to the glass-blowing island of Murano. It was a bit bumpy and wavy suffering 45 minutes of stomach churning travel. It was a good opportunity to take in the scale of the islands that make up Venice. Muvavoo, sorry Muvano had glass shop after glass shop along the route to the museum, some tacky, others tacky but expensive. We were looking for anywhere with actual glass-blowing but being a Sunday none of them were working. After some impressive glass art sculptures we find the museum. It was cheap to get in and wasn't really expecting much. The simple glass pieces at the start were a quite unimpressive until you realised they were 1st century. But it was the ceiling fresco, chandeliers and mosiac paintings which took our breath away, all uncredited. The centre-pieces for grand ballroom dinners were quite interesting as well. Back on the main island we swapped boats for the Gr

Today we must have used every mode of transport available. We took a taxi to Brighton station for a train to Gatwick. The transfer between terminals was by mono-rail and obviously we flew to Marco Polo airport. The last leg was by motor boat which wiped out €90. Quite expensive compared to the public ferry at €12 but it was fast, comfortable and had a sliding roof so we could stand-up hen night style. It was a dull, overcast grey day which didn't put the floating city in a good light but it was the amount of crappy graffiti that tainted the view. However, the hotel didn't disappoint with our room overlooking a small square and a beautiful church opposite. I kind of expected some street scene ala Stella Artois advert. The shutters looked dark enough for our fussy pitch-black demanding eyes, the curtains were exactly the same pattern as the wallpaper and the hand towels were really posh dish towels – weird. We got a little lost after exploring without a decent map but seeing

Happy Birthday Karol by way! We couldn't make her meal in swanky London town on Saturday with Kerry still suffering but hear that Karol herself had succumb to the same belly troubles. Hope you're better sis-in-law. Watched some frogs get frisky with each other on Sunday as we walked round Stanmer Park (as pictured) trying out my new wide-angle lens. Double-crossing salesman Last night we were subjected to a sales pitch for some double-glazing. "You buy one ye get one free" as the annoying baldy Northerner says from SafeStyle who got in there first. With Kerry's sales training experience and my own marketing background it was almost embarrassing and was amazed that the same shitty, shifty sales tactics are still being used but dressed up for the 21st century. All we wanted was a quote for a kitchen window and it took 100 minutes. The salesman mentioned we could get a discount for using our window as a website case study then rang the 'marketing' department