A special introduction ...

It has been a day of comings and goings. The traveller managed to evade the local traffic chaos caused by RideLondon by parking his car last night a mile away from our house, on the other side of the RideLondon route, and getting a cab home. 

He then set off this morning to drive to Center Parcs, rucksack on his back, holdall in one hand, and walked the mile back to the car, crossing the cycle route on foot at one of the appointed crossing places. Fortunately the car had suffered no damage or loss overnight and he made it safely to Wiltshire, where he was greeted ecstatically by granddaughter #1, his 11 year old niece, whom he hasn’t seen for two and a half years.

Meanwhile, granddaughter#2 and her Mum were winging their way to Poland after their enforced overnight stay at Stansted, and her sister, two-year old granddaughter #3, and our son arrived here for lunch. Little H was on great form and kept us all amused, at one point singing "We wish you a merry Christmas" at the top of her voice, and also dancing enthusiastically to the Moana soundtrack (her current favourite).

There was a quieter spell after lunch when she sat and did some beautiful crayoning, firstly practising her letter Hs, and then drawing – at my suggestion – a picture of Grandpa.

I am not normally prone to posting photographs of myself or my family on the internet, but I have made an exception on this occasion, and am delighted to introduce you to this likeness of my lovely husband, courtesy of our youngest granddaughter. Yes, he really is that handsome …