So I'm sitting with my friend at a cafe last night when my mother calls on my mobile. She tells me that she has bought the vanity products I love and cannot find in Israel, and wants to know if she should FedEx them now or wait until I get back from a conference I'll be attending abroad next week, in case the package arrives while I'm away. (it is very, very cool to have a mother who is both uber-generous and an uber-shopper).

"Oh, by the way!" she says. "I saw the 'ex-CIA chief' on the Jon Stewart Show* last night. Do you know who Jon Stewart is?"



I do.

"Well," she said. "Jon could hardly keep up with him! He really has a fantastic sense of humour."

*Top row of video clips, second from left (next to Tom Selleck) - initials E.H.