Husband's 65th birthday

We both took the day off yesterday for a walk in the Malverns and a climb to the beacon.

We ended the day sharing a meal out with 3/4 children plus assorted spouses and grandchildren and step son. Everyone was merry and happy - a pleasant celebration.

Daughter gone

Took daughter to university today. She was as high as a kite, excited and cheerful. She left us happily - almost dashed away, after new friends.

This is her room but she's blanked out because she doesn't want me to photo her.

Taekwondo and daughter

Daughter is really fit and well. On Wednesday for the first time in months she came to tae kwondo and we made it through two sessions. On Friday she came back for more, and was so well, that the subum used her fitness as criteria for the rest of us!

"You're not working hard enough! No one in here is panting yet! Who's worked up a sweat? You can't be working - Grace hasn't fainted yet!"

Sad news

Daughter and I are really sad to see news here about our old parish priest. It doesn't make sense. It's not the priest we knew and were fond of.

Daughter home

Both son and daughter home again.

Daughter gave me a full debriefing on all the things she did, ate, saw and heard in Austria and is now excited about packing for uni.

Step daughter #3 has already left for the start of her master's course and Loughborough, which I think is in engineering design.

Son leaves in ten days or so.

Husband retires down to three days a week work the day after daughter goes to uni.

All change!

Son home

Son is safely home, happy with his experience in Venice. You can see some pictures of him and friends if you're on Facebook.

Daughter's Austrian work experience

Daughter is coping with getting up early. Remember that Austrian time is an hour ahead of UK, and daughter has been sleeping in late for the last month.

As Elly was teaching this morning, and she wanted me to go into school with her, I woke up at 6.30am. Local time. Following a normal morning routine, with toast and honey for breakfast. We got to the school at about 8, and Elly was desperate to introduce me to the headmaster.

Daughter was very pleased to see a couple of the girls who'd stayed with us but then discovered that Elly expected her to teach -

rather daunting when I've never done it before, nor been given any warning. I taught some nursery rhymes, remembering what you said about learning poems and songs in foreign languages. For two of the three classes, I also explained something of the English secondary school system.

Later Elly and daughter walked to the Rathaus (town hall) to see the director and meet the people that she will be working with. Quite daunting, but so many of them speak English so well -

all better than my standard of French.

Outside, in the plaza, they met Angelica and her father. Angelica, her mother and daughter went for an ice cream. They considered that quality normal, but it far exceeded what daughter might expect in England.

We then rushed off to the opening of an art gallery. One of the exhibitionists was a friend of Elly's - everyone seems to know her here. There was a jewellery stand as well, which I really admired. Afterwards, Elly drove to a Shooting Club. Yes, as in guns. I'm told that Ferlach, where Angelica lives, is famous for making rifles. So after chatting to a few people, and some more introductions - everyone shakes hands, and there have been maybe five who haven't been bone-crunchers, so my hand feels bruised and battered now - Elly took a turn shooting this really old rifle. She had some trouble, as her hands were quivering. Next was my turn. Me, holding a gun. I was nervous to say the least. However, I did quite well, and have the card to show for it.

Your mother would have been nervous as well.

Daughter's impressions of Austria

Daughter has found the first experience somewhat overwhelming.

She was bemused to find blue skies - a welcome change after the English rain. As soon as she walked through the door from Arrivals, she found Elly, dressed in her usual fishnet socks and heels, and a yellow dress. She has a small girl with her, dressed in a more demure purple,
whom I later find out to be Elly's granddaughter, Letitia. Both hold brightly coloured posters welcoming her.

Daughter emails:

After taking photos, Elly asks me if I would like to go swimming in the lake, and I, somewhat flustered, agree. We make for the car, which is rather like a Landrover, and after some persuasion from Elly, I sit in the front. We go to Elly's daughter's house, but Sylvia, Letitia's mother is not there. I am served a drink that tastes rather like elderflower cordial, and phone you on Elly's mobile.

Elly insists on showing her all compass points of Klagenfurt:

• the lake,
• the pier where she paddles on the steps
• Elly's apartment,

Elly insists that her whole family speak English, so she had very few language barriers to overcome.

They went to a restaurant:

I had this sauce with seasonal mushrooms and a ball of something like stuffing. For pudding, Elly wanted an "Indiana", which is a massive amount of whipped cream, covered with chocolate sauce, and hiding these sponge biscuits. She insisted that I tried it, and then I decided to have one too.

Finally they got back to the apartment and unloaded her bag. Then went haring off to the late-opening supermarket to get some bread for breakfast.
I then asked for a bit of peace and quiet, and did some maths that Bristol uni had sent -

it's something that I know how to deal with, so is actually rather relaxing. Falling asleep was easy after all that.

Son's gone to Venice

Son seems to be safely landed in Italy and I hope he's now in Venice with his friends. It's the first time he's gone off somewhere abroad where he doesn't speak the language and parents are there any more. Like his sister, now in Austria, he's arranged it all for himself.

Husband and I are on our own for for days, well apart from youngest step daughter, but we hardly see her. In fact, yesterday evening, the phone rang, and it was her, phoning us from her bedroom because she couldn't be bothered to get up and come downstairs to see us to give us a message.

Daughter safely arrived

Daughter has got herself safely to Austria, and is with Elly. She rang me around four o'clock on Elly's mobile. So I can relax about her. She's safely in Klagenfurt. You can look the town up here.

Soliciting

"Don’t let any strange man offer you sex tomorrow", admonished husband as we phoned each other tonight.

What had elicited this comment was telling him my first impressions of Harrogate. I was homing on the booked guest house on the Ripon Road, passed it, found myself in town, so turned left, left, left again in an attempt to get back to it. I stopped to get my bearings and saw a woman walking up past my car, so I opened the nearside window, and called out to her. She pointed up the road I was on, assured me I was gong the right direction but that she wasn’t sure if I should turn right or left at the top. I thanked her and was about to move off when a young man approached the car. He was about five foot eleven, white, clean around 20, casually dressed and quite pleasant looking. I thought perhaps he’d over heard and was going to offer additional advice. He leant right into the passenger window, and said,

“Do you fancy a bit of sex for fifty quid?”

Now, the last time I had a similar proposition was some decades ago outside my girls convent school, in a much less salubrious area, and the offer was then for three quid. So I’m debating

• The surprise of the offer,
• The going rate,
• Inflation
• Who I am and my age
• Who is paying whom
• And why..

I don’t get any further in my thoughts because my mouth splutters
“What!” and then “Are you talking about?”

I already have the car in gear and move away. Some other young men of similar height and age walk up as if to join him. But they don’t look as if they knew what he was saying, or as if they’d been daring each other to do silly things. It’s only later that I think perhaps it was a ruse to get his head in my car and nick my handbag, but I never keep that on the passenger seat. Perhaps he needs money for drugs, but he looked too fit and healthy to be doing drugs.

When I recount the incident to my business colleagues later they remark that perhaps he was seeking a Mrs Robinson, or perhaps I should’ve asked him for a hundred quid.

Visiting parents

I've dropped in to see parents before going to a symposium & a conference in Harrogate. It's nice to see parents' new flat, right next to the church, which makes it really easy for them to nip out to pray. But I shall miss my youngest who is flying out to Austria while I'm away on the conference.

Poor old cleaner

Our cleaner's really hurt herself. She sent me a really long text message:

Really sorry not going 2 b able 2 clean 4 u at all next wk would hv phnd but u wdnt understnd mouth swollen i know bill spoke 2 adrian but wntd 2 put u in picture going tue 2 hv stiches out thn going hosp 2 c if nose broken hv bn in touch wid nat accidnt helpline solicitor phning me mon good samaritan who stopped and took us 2 hosp was head of the floyd anyway will keep u informed apologies again yr brusf and battered cleaner

Bill told husband that she'd fallen in the High Street.