He is awake! Just! Jay, Kev, Zach and I went down to Southampton today and after an agonising wait whilst the doctors completed their rounds we finally got to see him in his new pad (Jude has jetted off to NYC on her work jolly today the lucky duck, so we gave him an extra kiss from her!). The doctors warned us that it would be a good 24 hours yet before he was fully round, as there are so many drugs in his system. Still, when we went in to his room and told him that we were there (Jay and I went first whilst Kev looked after Zach in the waiting area) we saw the recognition flicker across his face and he tried moving his mouth around all the tubes. It was fantastic just to feel sure that he could hear that we were there and be reassured by our presence. I swear he was trying to sing along to his Ipod at certain points too! So, we updated him on what we had all been up to and informed him that we had been performing very badly at University Challenge of late - and also that he was missing a great Masterchef.. told him of all the friends who have sent their love and who are desperate to see him up and about again very soon. He does still have a high temperature and the staff aren't wholly sure why so they are still conducting many frequent tests but on the whole there are lots of positives and as soon as he is breathing alone and competently they will do the op on his face. It would be fair to say that the man has some amazing scars - bionic man has nothing on him - and in my eyes he is going to look all the very better for them, the marks of his life saved. The relief emanating from his parents is palpable too, although the whole thing is taking its toll on them immensely. I feel rather overwhelmed tonight and am going to open the fizzy, for the first time since the terrible accident, to toast our lovely friend's road to recovery and his lovely family.

We are also going to install the new fireplace (the one that I was watching, and subsequently won on ebay) and put up the Christmas trees this weekend, and we have Maya's birthday party on Sunday - so all in all we have lots to look forward to and be very thankful for..