Surf's Up

Today might be the longest day here in London, but tomorrow will surely feel longer: 5452 airmiles await.

I had sworn I'd never take the AA route via Miami again after the engine fire in 2000, but the Iberia return leg on the 8th of June would involve missing the World Cup Final the next day and the Houston route is prohibitively expensive at this time of year.

There's always one thing on the list of things V gives me to take over that proves to be a bit of a challenge. I have now found and purchased a suitable lemon squeezer, but the canine nail-cutter is still eluding me! One final schlep to Selfridges at lunchtime...

It's the wet season right now in Guatemala, and so far it has been very wet. It was reported yesterday that a storm 2000 miles away has been pulsing 15 foot waves towards Central America's Pacific littoral. In Guatemala dozens of homes have been destroyed by these surges and in Sipacate the waves wrecked the 10-room Rancho Carrillo hotel...now the 2-room Rancho Carrillo hotel. "The sea took away eight rooms and part of the restaurant, which was made of wood," manager Brigido de Paz was quoted as saying.

Weather experts have warned that Guatemala could face an on-going battering this year from natural phenomena. The current season has a scheduled line-up of 18 storms. Hugo Hernandez, executive secretary of the National Disaster Reduction Coordination (CONRED), thinks hurricanes could be lo peor....followed by quakes, volcanoes, freezing temperatures and drought. He reckons that 25,000 people reside in high risk areas: 3,000-6,000 in mudslide zones and up to 400,000 in flood-risk areas.