Get your mind out of the gutter now.

I am acting as valet today. My husband is going on the Grand Tour–to Italy, at any rate–and I am helping him put a huge amount of t-shirts etc into a suitcase and urging him to do all the things you have to do before a trip. We leave the house in less than two hours when I will assume the roles of coachman and porter.

Eek.

So I think I can safely offer my services as a gentleman’s uh gentleman. I haven’t used an iron in years, can’t get out stains or tie a cravat, and wouldn’t know a clothesbrush if it hit me around the head, but I can sure stuff things into a suitcase.

And this is where he’s going:loro-ciuffenna_1437_smallOther than continual recorder playing it sounds fab (well, that’s why he’s going and why I’m not). And he’s the only person I know who’s going to Tuscany to eat vegan food.

Have you been on vacation this summer? Tell us about it.

And PS, in really important news, Dedication is now available as a paperback, first time in print (this edition)!