Sam Southgate

IN A gloomy corridor behind the kitchen of the Capanna coffee shop, in downtown Iowa City, presidential candidate John Edwards leans against a wall.

Iowa only surfaces in American life every four years when voters decide who they would like to be president. Sam Southgate discovers that there are many more reasons to visit the Midwestern state.

SAM SOUTHGATE keeps Jack Frost at bay by paying a visit to a popular Indian restuarant.

Plunkets has much to offer, although not for the impulsive romantic, as Sam Southgate discovers

SMALL hands might not seem much of an impediment in today's world. But having diminutive digits has played its part for me, leading to what is now one of my greatest regrets.

LATELY, I've been feeling like an unwilling soldier in a war of attrition.

He'd walked passed countless time, so now it was time to venture inside. Sam Southgate thinks he might just stroll on by another time.

GREEN-FINGERED folk seem to be in abundance these days. Recently, when I was in my home town, I picked up a copy of the local weekly newspaper and counted three separate stories of people with peculiar-coloured digits. There were old horticulturists, a toddlers' playgroup and some do-goody teenagers.

I HAVE been meaning to write this column for some time. That is to say, this article's entry on my list of things to do has been nagging me for days.

I HAVE never been part of large-scale social experiment. Or, at least, not to my knowledge. (Who knows what all those CCTV cameras are really for?) But, after a week away from the office, I feel I might as well have been in the Big Brother house. The reason? Multiple stays in a variety youth hostels, both here, in North Yorkshire, and in Snowdonia.