Devised by Royal Plomley

I was impressed when I arrived here to see that #1 son had on his book shelves BOTH 'The Bible' (presented to hiom in 1992 by St Andrew's Church, Inverurie Sunday School) and 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare'. (Note for you non BBC Radio4 philes - "Desert Island Discs is the world's longest running radio factual programme. Devised by roy plomley in 1942 and now hosted by Kitsy Young, guests are invited to discuss their lives, punctuated by the 8 pieces of music they'd take to a desert island. They are also allowed 'The Bible (or now another appropriate religious or philosophical work) and the Complete Works of Shakespeare' and they can choose a luxury.)

I've now been in Malaysia over 4 weeks and I'm running out of steam. I could take a taxi to the city centre and visit Chinatown, Little India, the Kampung the War Memorial (based on Iwo Jima) and the park behind the Twin Towers I contrived to miss at the start but #1 son says they are not a patch on George Town, Penang and Melaka and I've seen these and the taxis here are very frustrating. I could take a taxi to Bangsor Shopping Cetre which looked pretty good last night but I don't need anything and what's the point of spending time walking round yet another air-conditioned mall? I could walk down to Mont Kiara Plaza and have some lunch and perhaps buy the ear-rings and Chinese tea set I flirted with yesterday but I don't need any more ear-rings, the tea set would just gather dust in the kitchen, and after last night's meal, I'm not hungry AND we're going out with the Foos to-night. Anyway I will be back in KL, definitely next June for the wedding wedding, if not before, and I can catch up then.

So I'll just make the most of the heat (bit cloudy) and go down to the pool and continue with my book. Since I've been here I've been listening to the Stieg Larsson trilogy on my MP3 and I'm down to the last 6 hours of 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'. Something surreal about lying in the heat in the Tropics listening to the detail of Stockholm's geography, a place I've never been.

I'm not looking forward to going home, back to a Scottish summer and all the unresolved issues that are waiting for me there and knowing I can't escape 'home' like last year to the sun at La G, la belle France. But maybe I've had too much peace and quiet anyway. Maybe time to re-engage with the world.

And my 8 pieces of music and my luxury? I'll have to think about that. Definitely ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' (I want that at my funeral) and when I was asked by VSO what I couldn't do without in 2 years overseas I said 'hair dye' - so perhaps a lifetime's supply? Need to get back to you on that. Perhaps this could be a new theme?