Ralph

Okay, it's 27 degrees in the flat this evening. I'm putting on the air conditioning.

Pouring with rain again this morning. If you think it was only Britain who had their summer burgled then think again - almost a week into December and we're still going out dressed in raincoats.

This morning we went into the city for an appointment with Ralph the jeweller. Ralph's been into his diamond stash and he'd laid out a selection of stones on his felt table for us to look at, all upside down with the pointy bit facing the ceiling. I hate to admit it but all diamonds look the same in these circumstances, even if I did have a look down the eye piece thing and start fancying myself as a gemmologist.

"Have a look at this" he said, pulling a five carat diamond from his safe. "This diamond costs two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars".

The diamond was huge; grotesque even. He picked it up with a long metal rod and dropped it into the middle of a ring he'd just finished making.

"What colour is it?" I asked, looking down the eye-piece as though I knew what I was doing.

"It's a D colour, VS1 clarity, a very decent stone"

"Blimey" I replied. "I've never seen a D colour before, especially not one this big. But I'm not sure about the ring it's going in. I think you'd have to be a lady of a certian....age. A European lady"

"You're right" he replied. "She's Italian, and she is of a certain age, as you say".

After that he sketched my ring on a bit of A4 paper to check it was what I had in mind. It was perfect. Haven't been this excited about a Christmas present since I got my Rubik's Cube in 1981.