Little Black Book

On Monday I went for a routine visit to the Doc. There is now a DIY Blood Pressure Machine in the waiting room. Whatever next! Do It Yourself heart transplants?

I have just found an old address book for 1941/2 During the war we were encouraged to write letters to any young men of our acquaintance who had joined the Forces. Ernie, my boyfriend, must have been through the book with a fine tooth comb because there are 3 addresses of young men from my office who had joined up and across each one in Ernie's handwriting is written "censored".

Bike Ride

Last Sunday my son's friend, Nicholas, was one of 29,000 cyclists who took part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. He arrived in fine fettle and had lunch with us afterwards.

There has been a spate of letters in the Daily Telegraph about whether bicycles should have bells. My husband, Don, was taking a short cut to the station one morning along a narrow path with notices saying "No Cycling". He heard an agitated ringing of a bicycle bell behind him which he ignored. When the path grew a little wider the cyclist managed to squeeze past. As he did so Don's elbow "accidently" came into collision with him and knocked him into the holly hedge. The man regained his balance and as he rode off shouted "If I wasn't in a hurry I'd come back and thump you". Don went the long way round for a while after that.

Pictures of a Beeman

Today I sent some lovely pictures to my friend David Ashton in Denmark. David is English and is a beekeeper. He lives in Denmark with his Danish wife, close to the crash site at Stadil and often emails me to tell me what the crash site looks like at various times of the year. Although we have been corresponding by email and letter for nearly 2 years, I hadn't met him until we went to Stadil in May this year. In the first picture, I am meeting him for the first time - at the site.

The Bee

Last Sunday Cousin Madeline and friend Doug came to lunch. Madeline is a horticulturalist and Editor of the Ashdown Forest magazine and regarded in the family as an authority on gardening and wild life. I, alas, am no fan of creepy-crawlies. Once in Sri Lanka having reluctantly shared my shower with a cockroach I was chased in from the garden by a hornet only to find a 12 inch lizard in the kitchen. I chased it out with a newspaper , flapping at it like thge old parlour game of Flip the Kipper. These days I think snow and wild life are best viewed through a window. As Kathy Lette says the great outdoors is that bit between the back seat of a taxi and the front door of Selfridges. But I digress.

To get back to Sunday. We five sat in the conservatory in the warm spring sunshine with the door ajar when a large bumble bee came blundering in. It buzzed loudly against the glass trying desperately to find a way out. Suddenly its tone changed almost to a shriek. Consternation!! It was caught high up in a spider’s web. Amanda prevailed upon Mike to rescue it with the aid of a long-handled dusting brush. He put it on a low wall just outside. Madeline told Amanda to get a small amount of honey and water and put it beside the bee. Then Madeline took two twigs and patiently unwound the sticky strands of spider’s web from the poor bee. It reached out for the honey and was last seen walking along the terrace, then disappeared. Such excitement on a quiet Sunday afternoon!