THE HERO RETURNS

This afternoon my son returned from his holiday in Derbyshire, I was so glad to see him, I missed him very much, he is such fun to be with. It's good for him to get away from us old fogies for a while and I wish he would go more often, he needs more time to himself. I know how he feels because I am exactly the same, much as I love people I get quite stressed if I have no time to be by myself, time to unwind, to unravel the knots.

Of course he is full of travellers' tales, it sounds as if he had quite a time. He is however a very odd shade of mahogany in places, so aloe vera was applied at once with good effect. You do not feel your self burning up in the hills as the breeze makes it feel cooler than it is.

Dinner went down very well I am glad to say, it sounds as if he was rather spoiled at his hotel, I don't know how he managed it but they knocked thirty pounds a night off his bill, he is always lucky like that, he almost always gets a room upgrade for no extra charge, if must be his fatal charm.

I baked three wholemeal loaves this morning and took one round to my neighbours, along with some jam (I made another ten jars today), they are such kind boys. Our fortnightly grocery delivery arrived this morning and straight away they came to help. You see they knew my son was away and thought we might have a problem with the heavy things. I am sure we would have been fine but it's so nice to know that help is there if you need it. In a way you might say that we look after each other, it's quite a little commune in fact. We share with each other and also exchange things, for instance an unwanted lawn mower for a chest of drawers or some gardening tools for a DVD player, it's the best form of recycling there is.

Later this year we hope to have a joint garden sale, I have so many books that I need to find homes for and our neighbours have lots of bric-brac to sell. If I can persuade my son to part with a few of the items that currently fill his room it would be a bonus indeed. I put an armchair in there two days ago and I still have not managed to find it!