SKY

More than 30 people were killed at the Egyptian, Sinai resorts by coordinated car bombs, while Israel's parliament voted for the first time in 37 years of occupation to remove Jewish settlements from the Palestinian territories. A new market in themed tourism would soon be flying 'adventurers' to Norway to shoot baby seals, and Yasser Arafat was allowed to leave his compound to receive medical treatment. Manchester United v Arsenal was being reported as 'the biggest game in English football', while somewhere in Iraq Ken Bigley, from his cage built by Islamic militants, said he only wanted to live 'a simple life', just moments before his murder.

In my living room I looked into a tropical fish tank. Outside I stared at a mushroom and a tree, visited an empty building and contemplated the sky.