10 days in Italy. No computer, no journal, almost no psycholinguistics. My parents were there, one of my brothers and his wife and half their children (the lower half), a friend of ours (sleeping on the couch), a couple of friends from the US (psycholinguists) and all their children (both halves - parents and children sleeping in another apartment), and various other friends and jellyfish. The shiatsu massage on the beach (thank you, Anhui), the ice-cream, the food, the excellent cappuccino, and the fried fish were the other highlights.
What isn't there to like about 10 days' vacation in Sperlonga? I can tell you: getting back to around 70 papers waiting to go out to review or requiring an editorial decision. I've been back a week, and have got the queue down to just under 40... It was almost worth going on holiday just so that I could have the satisfaction of working my rear-end off to process all those papers...
The other major highlight of August: getting back after my travels (Nashville, Sperlonga, Potsdam, Berlin) and feeding the fish. I expected a few baby fish to come up for food; I did not expect a feeding frenzy akin to starving piranha. But that's what I saw - the surface of the pond bubbled with baby fish (each about an inch long). Not the 20 or 30 I thought there were, but at least 100! So given that we have to empty the pond towards the end of the month (to re-line it, and make various changes) it's going to be a challenge to get them all out! Can't wait. A frying pan, some salt, flour, hot oil, and a few of those fish... and so long as the sun's out, it won't be so different from Italy!
