NATUREWATCH

WEIRDEST BERRIES I'VE EVER SEEN: these Easter egg berries in Dumbarton Oaks Park - they were pink and purple and blue and green...

On Sunday, it was my first proper shift as a Sunday School assistant and it went really well. Though I couldn't help thinking that the teacher could've found slightly more creative ways to get his point across, which got me to thinking that maybe I'd like to be a primary school teacher.

I really want a different job to TV and figure primary school teacher would be great - it's really creative, because you've got to find different and fun ways to get information across to young children, I love spending time with kids and wouldn't have to know much more than basic maths and reading, which is about the extent of my knowledge! Plus, I'd get long summer holidays, get to be at home in the afternoon, which'd be good if we have children, and wouldn't have to live in London. Perfecto!

Continuing the cute kids theme, we had a webcam chat with my friend George and her gorgeous girls Angelina and Ava (my goddaughter) when I got home. Unfortunately we were blighted by pesky technical failings, so couldn't talk on webcam for long and had to resort to the regular phone, but it was amazing to see how much both girls have changed in the past 6 months and it was lovely to have a chat with Angelina, whose vocabulary is amazing and who's happy to chat away happily on the phone, despite only having just turned 4. Awwww.

It rained for most of the afternoon, but after our noodley day the day before, we were determined to get outside and went exploring to Dumbarton Oaks Park.

It's a rambling National Park which we got to by walking through the backstreets of embassy residences, which were very fancy.

The park was amazing and made us forget that we were in DC. It's all little trails through woods, which some times open out into these open areas of undulating ivy. Everything's covered in ivy. It's a bit like the bottom of the sea, when all the rocks are covered in seaweed - you can only see the outlines of what is there.

It was a gorgeous walk, over little bridges and next to a little stream, before we joined a path that ran parallel with the road through Rock Creek Park (not sure how the two parks are connected).

It was at that point that we realised we were a little lost and, having enjoyed not meeting a soul so far, were grateful when we started to encounter other walkers, as we could find out where to go.

Ooh! And that morning, Max had been included on a mass email from the head of online news, praising the coverage of the debate last week and singling out Max's FactCheck for special mention!

Most of this week has been spent working on development work. But I decided to run my three days this week from Tues-Thurs, so Monday was a blissful day off. It made such a difference to have a day at the beginning of the week doing my own thing, running errands, catching up on emails and all that stuff I don't get done at the weekend so which interferes with my work.

I had to call Max at one point to be reminded of the name of that chidren's bubble bath shaped like a sailor (I now know it to be Mr Matey, but no thanks to Max), but was told that he didn't have time to help me as he was writing a news story about the failing economy. Huh.

That night we had a fun dinner with Oliver at a French restaurant up in Adams Morgan (Oliver lives about three streets away from us...). It was a lovely laid-back evening, though we were all taken aback by how massively expensive the restaurant turned out to be, so that was a bit of a blow.

But otherwise it was fun and Oliver's really good company. He told me that the thing I'd been worrying about in the election - the idea of white voters telling pollsters that they'll vote for Obama, then going into the booth and not bringing themselves to vote for a black man - is called The Bradley Effect. So now I know.

Tuesday was a day of good and bad news. In bad news, the greatest book/record/video store in DC - Olssons - closed down. I'm sad. In good news, Max found out he wasn't going to St Louis to cover the VP debate, as we'd thought.

Yesterday was a hellish day of hard work, so it was really stressful that Alison and Brewster came over for dinner. We'd long had plans to meet up, but when we agreed it had to be something cheap because we're all broke, I stupidly suggested they come to us for supper.

My dash to the supermarket at lunchtime was made all the more stressful by all the things I needed (creme fraiche, cream crackers, double cream) having different names over here, so I had to call Max to decipher. Then it started pelting down with rain on my way home, so I was absolutely soaked to the skin by the time I poured myself through the door ready for an afternoon of work.

I was nowhere near finished with my work when they got here, so was really uptight and stressed for the whole evening, which was a real shame, because it would've been nice to chat properly in a relaxed atmosphere. I just knew I'd have to go back to work once they were gone, so was always slightly rushing things along.

It was nice to get to know Brewster a little better though - he's a very nice and polite chap. He still doesn't have me keeling over in hysterics, but he makes people feel really good about themselves, is very complimentary, and is a good solid fellow.

Brewster explained that he is a Republican, but that the way that McCain is handling the economy is making him consider voting for Obama. Added to which, Brewster is familiar with the economic advisers Obama has surrounded himself with, so is very impressed with him.

The weirdest thing throughout the conversation was how Brewster and Alison made frequent references to 'when' they get married, 'when' they have children and 'when' they live together, etc. They only started dating back in May, so it's extraordinary to me that four months later, they're talking like that. But that seems to be the American way - I know some of the girls here think Max and I waited ages in not getting engaged until our third anniversary, but back home it felt kind of fast.

Sure enough, once they left I had to get on with work, and then slaved away again today. But it's nice because a couple of birds have started visiting the tree right in front of the window I look out of from my desk, so I spend quite some time hypnotised by their efforts to get the berries off the tree and then hop away.

Fortunately I was finished tonight in time to watch the debate properly. Once again, Max was doing the live blogging with Justin Webb, followed by the FactCheck.

I have to say, it kind of scared me, how good Palin was. I mean, if you actually listened to what she was saying, it was all nonsense and confused and didn't answer the question (something of which she was apparently proud), but the fluency and confidence with which she spoke was such a world away from the astonishing Katie Couric interview this week that she sounded kind of impressive.

Fortunately Joe Biden was terrific - he's so awesome and I felt he was in a league of his own when it came to projecting confidence and political experience. Not to mention just as much hokey 'Main St' credentials as Palin kept banging on about. It was amazing to see him choke up when he talked about his family.

I wish Palin hadn't been looking right at the camera all the time. Once a local news reporter, always a local news reporter, I guess. And she got the name of the commanding officer in Afghanistan wrong. But expectations had been so low, that just because she managed to not fall over during her entrance, or dribble down her chin while stumbling through an answer, it made it feel like she was kicking ass. Just like with Leo in 'The West Wing' season 7! The difference is that he actually was good - she just appeared to be good.

Anne and Hugh came over to watch the analysis afterwards, which was nice and neighbourly. It annoyed me a little bit in MSNBC's analysis that because Biden's approvals were higher than Palin's after the debate, he won. I mean, he obviously won, so that's fine, but Palin's approval rating actually increased by more than Biden's (despite ending up lower than his still), and I know that if the roles had been reversed, MSNBC would've been hailing it as a big triumph for Biden the underdog.