Tommy & Inca

Last night we had a wonderful evening at school - the dinner was delicious, my dinner companions were entertaining, and Gavin's speech which included thanking all the teachers who were retiring, went down very well. I however got there late due to horrible traffic on the motorway, but the leaving musicians concert was sublime and helped to calm me down after my awful journey to get there. One memorable boy sang a Gluck aria in a contralto voice, it was absolutely incredible - he had such control of his voice and he never missed a note. After the concert and then the dinner, we walked to the nearby hotel in the rain. The hotel is truly awful, I hardly slept as I was worried about bed bugs and could not wait to leave it this morning, It is conveniently close to the school but no one is happy with it, some governors staying there had no running water, some had no lights, it was not clean and the breakfast this morning was dire. Another plan for next year is necessary!

Today the weather was worse than expected. It was a mixture of sunshine and rain with a very strong gusty wind. We attended the final chapel service which is always emotional, and this was followed by the prize giving. Oh my word, some very talented boys there...the school has some of the world's best mathematicians - yes in the world, as they compete in national and international maths competitions where they have won gold medals - and fortunate to be heading off to Trinity College, Cambridge. So inspiring to see so much talent at such a young age. After the prize giving I caught up with one of Tommy's best friends who is now teaching at the school, and loving it. 

Back home we were so pleased to see Inca again as we have not seen her for a while as she is busy, now in her final year of vet medicine. Later Luke and Meriel arrived so it is lovely to have an almost full house again (Adam is away in Norway this weekend at a wedding). Tommy and Inca kindly let me take their photo today, as seen here.

Gavin watched the South Africa vs Ireland rugby match, two of the  greatest rugby teams battling it out and SA luckily won. I gather the England vs Switzerland football match was as boring as the other matches have been.

We heard some sad news today, a very close friend of my niece's husband died last night choking on a piece of steak. What an awful way to go, so tragic and so sudden. He was their best man at their wedding where we met him.