Flying the Flag

I was excused house attendance this morning and allowed out while some 'snagging' was done in the Dower House which his Lordship wanted to oversee by himself.
I think he felt he had made the wrong decision when he couldn't get anything done for answering queries and making tea. There's a downside to being a controller.

On the contrary, I had a relaxing morning before having my friend o.m.t's for lunch.
His Lordship declined our invitation to join us, so we had all the time in the world for leisurely lady chat with some gripes about modern day life in general and children's behaviour in particular.

I was overly amused considering the present climate of child admonishment when we remembered that the parental threat in our childhood to a whinging child (one of whom had spoiled a visit last week by my friend to the exhibition of Egyptian Mummies in the Museum), was "if you don't stop that now, I'll give you something to cry about!" How child rearing has changed in a generation.
No naughty steps then!

This being a day of socialising, I had tea this afternoon with two native Gaelic speakers, who amidst much laughter and highland jokes, put me right on the pronunciations of place names which I have been getting wrong. Mea culpa.

However while I have had a very enjoyable day, I think how different it has been for my book group friend whose elder son died yesterday almost 3 months after his catastrophic car accident.
It's tragic and the worst possible scenario for a mother.