NOT long to wait now for Michael Palin’s new TV series.
Michael Palin’s New Europe begins on BBC1 at 9pm a week on Sunday.
I’ll be spending part of this coming weekend watching preview DVDs of his latest journey.
There’ll be a feature in next week’s MEN.
He’s also booked to chat about the series when Parkinson returns to ITV1 a week tomorrow.
Michael says there were many highlights during his latest trip.
One – in northern Romania – brought back memories of Monty Python’s classic Lumberjack Song.
“On Mondays, these Romanian lumberjacks go up the valley and chop trees up there.
“We filmed on the train that takes them up on Monday morning.

“It’s not glamorous, and they’re not the sort of lumberjacks who wear plaid shirts.
“These are people who are really bottom of the pile and haven’t got many other jobs to do, and they start drinking the brandy as soon as they get on the train.
“But it was just the most beautiful valley to go up, and this rocking little train is just there for the lumberjacks.
“The sun was coming up and it was going to be a beautiful day, a cold day, and the sun was creeping through one side of the valley.
“Finally, the sun moved on to our side and we got up to the upper slope and I just thought, ‘This is wonderful.’
“I was with these crazy guys who were all completely drunk, playing cards and about to chop trees down!
“It was just Python completely.”
Palin’s Travels