Our old neighbours visit

I was up at midnight watching continuous lightening. It was quite a show. The rain made little impression on the garden though.

I made a nice lunch, simple but much appreciated by our guests Chris and Jenny. They were our neighbours in Suffolk. Both they and their children are 10 years younger than we and our girls are, but we really got on. She is an amazing baker, piano teacher and was a 3 day eventer of Olympic standard till she got pancreatic cancer 8 years ago. Now without a pancreas she has had to adapt to being a Type 1 diabetic. So I was careful with the lunch. Smoked mackerel pate, followed by potatoes in a lemon garlic dressing, roast red peppers stuffed with couscous which had feta, pine nuts, spring onions mixed in, plus a green salad, and tomato, onion, walnut and radish salad with pomegranate molasses. We had a few strawberries then different cheeses.

They are staying near Hexham and will call on other old neighbours, now in Yorkshire, on their way home. We had a good old gossip about our little backwater hamlet and some of the eccentric inhabitants - not us of course. It was good to hear news of their 3 children, all musical, one who wrote an anthem for the recent retirement of his old music teacher. Ed Sheeran, another former pupil, sang but no photos were allowed. Their other son, now the owner of a successful English tea and cake cafe in Paris, was at Ed’s wedding, having been in a boy band with him. It was lovely to hear news of their family - they were saying how they have to zip the lip regarding the bringing up of the grandchildren - things are so much more child-centred now! Fortunately my girls were 10 years ahead of their boys so did super nanny controlled crying instead of having to sit (or sleep with) their children. Oddly, it doesn’t seem to matter, as despite it all, they are all lovely children.

Ella enjoyed scout camp on Holy Island though some of them got scared of the storm, and others had blisters. (She didn’t). Thomas’s school sent the parents photos of their children at the goat farm where they are staying in France, and then “helping” with cheese making. More like tasting the product. They all look happy.