The Lull after the Storm!

Well, we delivered the Toronto family safely to Edinburgh airport at sparrow's fart this morning (then went back to the hotel for another hour's sleep!). Then it was time to drive home to Newcastle , with lovely memories of the super family time we've had over the last 3 weeks with the Toronto folk here and visits from our other sons etc too. The house is certainly very quiet! (As I write this I've just checked the flight status to Toronto and they've landed safely.)

We now need to begin sorting the house back to something like its normal state. (Actually it normally looks rather as if a bomb has hit it but we resolved recently that we should stop living like students having ceased to be such almost 50 years ago!)

One of my jobs is to remove the stair gate now that we don't have a resident toddler. As you will see it required a bit of thought as to how to fit it to an old (1904) staircase with a decorative newel post, without causing any damage (although at the other side, on the right of the photo, there's one screwhole in the dado rail and one in the skirting below it - these can be filled eventually when they're re-painted on a future date). I'll keep the fittings though for Grandson#1's next visit and for our Newcastle-based Grandson(#2)'s visits once he's started toddling - that'll be several months yet though.