A Parental Visit

Olga and I were back at the Heath yesterday, an outing I managed to squeeze in after cleaning the house, going to my three-hour French class and mowing the lawn.

The home and garden maintenance was required because Dave's parents came for a visit yesterday afternoon. They'll be staying with us until Wednesday. They've been on a cruise that took them across the ocean via the Azores and to Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Last night they told us all about their ship, with its casinos and live theater and cinema and lectures and surf-and-turf meals. It all sounds like hell to me, but maybe when I'm 70-something I'll appreciate it.

They've had a great time, anyway, and today and tomorrow (a bank holiday) we have some plans to take them out in London.

So while Dave went all the way down to Gatwick to pick them up, I was maintaining the home and the dog. Who was overjoyed, as you can see from the photo. Here's a close-up, for full effect:

The French class is going well. I'm remembering more, even after just two classes. All the teaching is in French and the class moves fairly quickly. I had a bit of trouble last week squeezing in the time to do my homework, but that was mostly a matter of procrastination!

Here's something I didn't know -- before Anthony Trollope was a successful novelist, he was a civil servant in the post office, and he introduced the cast-iron pillar mailboxes that are still seen all over London. Originally they were painted green, but not many years later they were repainted red, the color they remain today. The things you can learn from a postmark!