Mark went out to a computer crisis in Ulverston yesterday.
A significantly sized local endeavour was getting terribly upset having somehow managed to lose all of their computing capacity, and worse, been without it since last Thursday. Obviously, especially in the current climate off not being allowed to see anybody face to face, sit next to them at a desk or invite them round for some rumpy-pumpy after a few drinks, the absence of computing power is an utter disaster for anybody. We are no longer able to carry out the simplest of human occupations without the assistance of AI, rather like those horribly overbred Belgian Blue bulls whose knees just buckle at moments of passion.
Mark went gallantly round to try and help, and had the most spectacular instant success when he spotted that somebody had thoughtlessly unplugged it.
Sometimes you just need an engineer.
Today has been Lucy’s last day at home. She goes back tomorrow, and we are all feeling a bit forlorn. Worse, it is Oliver’s birthday, and we are all waiting with bated breath for the telephone to ring, so that we can tell him that we are thinking of him, but so far it hasn’t.
I don’t suppose that it will. He is busy having a party with fourteen other boys, piles of cakes, and an ultra-giant Meat Feast Beast pizza. This is not a bad way to spend a birthday, although we do miss him dreadfully. We have not spent a birthday with him since he was seven.
We decided to spend Lucy’s last evening watching another film, because the novelty of television has still not worn off.
Lucy chose the film. I do not know what it was called, or what it was about, but it was very exciting.
There were lots of tall buildings that people jumped off, and some misfortunate individuals fell off. This is quite spectacularly horrid on a big television screen. Also there was a car chase. It lasted pretty much for the whole film, and made me feel just a bit sick after a while, like being in the back of a speeding taxi going down country lanes when you have drunk fourteen pints of beer and eaten a curry. It metamorphosised into a boat chase, and a helicopter chase, and an exploded swimming pool chase at various times during the film, but mostly it was just a car chase.
I am not quite sure that I liked it. There were some people who were supposed to be baddies. You knew that they were baddies because they killed lots of innocent people. Then there were some people who were supposed to be goodies. You knew that they were goodies even though they killed lots of innocent people as well, because they did it with wry smiles and lots of little jokes to one another, showing that they were humane and could have friends even though they were ruthless murderers.
I had to stop my knitting halfway through because I have made some kind of mistake with the stocking stitch, where you are supposed to cast on some extra stitches, and it was too dark to see what it was. I did not like to ask Mark and Lucy to stop the car chase whilst I looked, so I had to just put it down. It will wait until tomorrow.
LATER NOTE: I am very pleased to tell you that Oliver telephoned in the end. We did not talk to him for very long, because the battery on his telephone went flat, but he was having a nice birthday and had enjoyed his pizza.
It was very hard to talk to him, because I was so happy that he had telephoned but very sorry not to be able to see him on his birthday. All of the children are such a long way away. Number Two Daughter is on the other side of the world. We are sending Lucy back with lots of dinners and home made soap and nice things, but it is very sad to say goodbye.
She was very surprised by how deep Oliver’s voice has become. He is fifteen now.
They have all become so grown up.
Have a picture.
In my head all four children are still this size. 
