A hoar frost

Last night it was lovely to all be together again to wish Adam goodbye. I don't think all eight of us have been together since August last year. The meal was very tasty but was such small portions we all left feeling a bit hungry - plus I hate it when a restaurant removes any food item containing gluten from my plate to accommodate my dietary requirements but does not replace it with anything else, so you end up eating half a meal! It was sad saying goodbye to Adam but he left quickly without any lingering goodbyes as I am sure he knew his mother would not be able to hold it together. He and Anna went back to Cambridge on an early-ish  train as he still had to finish packing. This morning - due to problems with the train - he had to get a taxi to Royston then a train to London and then tubes to Heathrow Airport - with all his suitcases - see extra! Poor Anna will also miss him very much.

Luke is really struggling with his shoulder, it has popped out about 4 times now and is very painful and he is having difficulty sleeping due to it. He cannot do anything and has to cycle through London traffic to work using one arm which is not ideal. I am sure that when he sees the the surgeon on Monday he will recommend surgery fairly soon. And this all happened because he slipped when skiing, he was only pootling along slowly and not doing anything fast or crazy (it probably was weak from an old rugby injury).

Today was very cold with a hoar frost, I think last night was the coldest night we have had so far. This morning everything was white and much of it has not melted at all during the day. When we got to the woods for a walk in the late morning many trees were still frozen. The pond was also frozen and as it is deep that does not happen very often - see extra.

Inca and Tommy are with us for the weekend so dinner will be a quiet one at home tonight. 

I finished my book today, By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. I really enjoyed it - the story that Shakespeare’s works were not written by him, with some very convincing facts. It seems Shakespeare was a bit of a charlatan.