It's Easter! And the good news is that Christ isn't the only one who's risen. Amelie's been up half the night too. Fortunately I was allowed to sleep from 7am until 10am on the grounds that listening to Lisa getting up and down all night had made me quite sleepy, but having crawled out of bed mid-morning and opened a box of Lindt Lindor, I've been forced to take charge of the Easter chick while Lisa sleeps for a few hours. We're planning a hospital visit later, and judging by the way Lisa looked this morning, I think she might stay there. If only Chloe could sing lullabies.

But anyhoo, if you're wondering how to shift those extra pounds after Easter, the answer's simple: fifty press-ups every morning...


It's done wonders for Amelie's bingo wings. Although the only six-pack she's got is of Pampers baby wipes.

So with the family's exercise regime in place, Lisa, Amelie and I went out for a slap-up meal at Strada yesterday...


Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Phil, the long hair suits you, and you've clearly lost some weight, but at the end of the day, haven't you just copied Lisa's fringe? Well as it happens, that's not me. It's actually our friend 'C'. You know, the one who lives in a ghetto. Yes, four months after posting a photo of the back of her head, you can finally see what she looks like.

Anyhoo, C came down to see the sea yesterday, so we took her out for lunch at the marina. I've never been to Strada before, but it was very nice. Well, I say very nice. To be honest, I wouldn't go there again if you paid me, but Lisa seemed to like it. Maybe I just ordered the wrong dishes. Frankly our starter of "hand-stretched pizza bread" had been stretched to breaking point and came out like a giant cream cracker. I could be wrong, but I don't think you should be able to snap a pizza. As for my main course, I put on my best Italian accent and ordered the 'Orecchiette Salsiccia e Broccoli'. It turned out to be ear-shaped pasta with no sauce. Even the dessert was disappointing. And the tragedy is, McDonalds was only a hundred yards further on.

It was well worth going though, because C gave us a box of chocolate seashells which are very nice indeed (I can say that because I've eaten most of them already), before presenting Amelie with a multi-coloured twisty rattly teething thingy. The manufacturers claim that it "Teaches baby cause and effect", which seems a little unnecessary to me. She already knows that if she cries, we come running. And on that subject, I've really gotta go...