The Deep South is very full of people.
I have been pleased to observe, however, on our travels through the epicentre of the developed world, that not a single one of them seems to have a beautiful gold and copper conservatory. I am surprised about this, because they are all very wealthy. You would think that more of them would want their garden to look lovely.
It was early morning when we set off, by our standards anyway, and by which I mean it was about ten o’clock. This was very early, because we had all stayed up late watching the film about the nuclear disaster, and the reduced sleep we all had in consequence was packed with uncomfortable apocalyptic dreams. It was a massively long watch, we watched the whole series in one evening, but that was fine, it saves us bothering to try and find it on Amazon another time. Also all of the apocalyptic dreams are over and done with in one hit.
We were sorry to say goodbye to Number One Daughter and their little family, and toyed briefly with the idea of idling there for a bit longer instead of going back to work, but of course we didn’t. We loaded children and dogs into the camper van and puffed away. You can see this moment on the picture, which Number One Son-In-Law took, probably so that he would have something to remember us by.
Probably so that he would see us coming next time.
There is not much that I can tell you about the journey back really, except that it went on for ages. It is a jolly long way back from Woking to the Lake District. We listened to the story CD and ate jelly babies and looked out of the windows and wished that the Lake District were nearer to London.
When we arrived here we were instantly reminded that of course August is the monsoon season. The sky was an ugly yellowish-grey, and the rain was crashing down enthusiastically.
This did not make unloading a jolly event. The children helped, and we scurried in and out through the rain, with bags of washing and more bags of washing. We stripped all of the bed linen out of it, which will mean a laundry jungle in the living room for the next few days, but we are going to need it to be clean again very soon.
The very next time we use it will be to take Oliver up to Gordonstoun.
We filled the washing machine and the bread maker and got ready for work. By a happy chance I discovered a curry that I had made but forgotten to take with us, and which turned out to be splendid. I was mildly concerned in case it turned out to be poisonous after nearly a week in the fridge, but I have eaten my share now, and so far I am not dead or otherwise unwell, if these pages are blank tomorrow night you will know what to blame.
I am not going to write any more, because most of today has been full of wet motorway. I shall write more tomorrow, when I will be able to tell you about hanging up coats and dripping laundry, so there is something to look forward to.
Until then.
