Purely for your interest and enjoyment . . . ! Journey Round a Book Frances & I seldom leave our sustaining valley and it is a considerable event for us to launch out on a holiday abroad. In May, this year (2005), we took ourselves to Prague. We had long wanted to see the city and the clinching factor was a cycle of the Ring being performed at the Narodni Divadlo. We had a marvellous time. The Wagner was superb and we lost our hearts to the city. At first we were appalled at the sight of armies of tourist ants swarming over the Charles Bridge and the Castle but we soon discovered that just away from these 'themepark attractions' one could find peace, solitude and fascinating aspects of the real Prague. Amazingly, another way to find oneself almost alone was to visit one of the many wonderful art galleries around which the National Collection is divided. At the Modern Art Gallery we 'discovered' the Czech Cubist painters (but that is another story altogether) but had the place more or less to ourselves, even though it was the day of the week when entrance to all museums is free. On one afternoon it began to rain after lunch and we were happy to find ourselves beside the shop of an antiquarian bookseller. Happy reminiscences of the days when I used to spend hours in such shops whenever possible. . . but all that had stopped when I began to add to the store of available books myself!