Last October I spent 30 days on a freighter ship as a passenger travelling from Melbourne, Australia to La Spezia in Italy. One whole month without Internet, with only the most fundamental of financial headlines via a copy of the ship’s faxed daily world news summary from its head office. Despite 48 hours of fearing for my life rounding the Gulf of Aden, that trip was one of the best financial decisions I’ve made. Why? Because in September I took my trading account flat. By the time I arrived on the Italian coast my portfolio – had it been up and running – would have halved in a month.

So it was with a little trepidation that I left for 10 days in Lapland (in a log cabin sans Internet), all investments intact.

Thankfully, despite a generally sombre mood in the markets, our little portfolio had some winners (and losers) over the week and a half I’ve been away. No harm, no foul!

Climate Exchange led the list of winners with a dramatic rise from the 650 pence mark to today’s closing high at 918.50 on the back of takeover rumours based on a U.S. Climate bill which may eventually stoke major investment in the environmental sector. The kind of news that makes me smile for so many reasons

Eros International – our Indian film producer and distributor – has continued its ascent, though at a slowing rate over the past week and a half. Since our initial purchase four weeks back, Eros has returned an all signing and dancing 25% on our initial investment.

Renesola has fallen off a little over 10% in the past week and a half but after it’s meteoric rise early in the month, it was almost to be expected. The slide justifies my profit taking at points north of two quid a couple of weeks back. I’ll be looking to top up on Renesola again if it falls back to around the 150 pence mark.

Clipper Windpower has been on a slow slip since doubling its price in May. No big concern here, no news, small volumes and AIM shares will tend to do this from time to time.

Lloyds seems to bouncing along sideways in a range of between 65 and 75 pence as it continues its restructuring plans.

Low Carbon Accelerator, Ceramic Fuel Cells and Cosalt have all drifted south on little volume and no news.

So all in all nothing too unexpected although I’ve got to admit to just a handful of nerves when I logged on earlier today.

Thanks again for stopping by. As always, your comments are appreciated.