David Munns, the chairman and CEO of EMI Recorded Music North America, said digital downloads of Beatles tracks would be made available “soon” but this had already been established back in April.

Caroline knew I’d be pleased to know that researchers from the University of Glasgow believe chemicals in English cider apples can protect against strokes, heart disease and cancer.

One more thing I became reacquainted with while in England: the panel game Have I Got News for You. There’s nothing remotely like it in the USA. We have the most recent DVD, but I still miss watching it. The BBC ought to do a podcast edition like they did with the Doctor Who commentary tracks.

I was saddened by news of the death of Adrienne Shelly, the lead actress in Hal Hartley’s Trust, one of my favourite movies… only 40, mother of a 3 year-old, happily married. The police have quickly determined she had been murdered.

When last in Bolton, Lancashire, I developed a dependency on Polos and Codewords. You can get Polos here if you know where to look (and Canada is a short distance away), but not the spearmint ones. There is a vague cosmetic similarity between the Polo mint and a Life Saver. There is little difference once you taste one. Cheap as chi(m)ps in the UK, but $1.50 a roll here. My supply ran out. A friend is sending more.

See, my needs have gotten more simplistic along with my outlook. Heh.

Codewords… a bit harder to explain… yes, I’ve done the odd crossword puzzle but it never caught on as a habit. The Daily Mail runs Codewords. The grid is similar but the object is to deduce the contents based on one or two letters. I picked up a book at the airport to distract me on the plane (this was, thankfully, before ink became a controlled substance). The book lasted me through the summer. When autumn came I began to panic. Caroline found newly-imported Daily Telegraph paperbacks on amazon. The first volume arrived today, enough to keep me going until Christmas, I hope.

As for older affections for cider and proper chocolates, yeah, I’ve still got those.