Oliver and Amy on the slopes of Dunstable Downs, where we all went kite-flying last Saturday afternoon. It was a warm day with intermittent wind, and we managed to get both kites up high at one point. There was a lot of glider activity from the field below the downs, so plenty of entertainment all round. In the evening we looked after the children while David and Vicky celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary with Philip and Jane (20th) at Bishop’s Stortford. Oliver had plenty of presents and was consumed by his Nintendo DS, for which we got him an extra game.

On the Sunday afternoon we went to Stockwood Park, two miles away, which is now even better since the creation of a Discovery section: lots of play areas and gardens. We all had an ice cream, and I watched a mother patiently teaching her son how to play chess on the open air board while Vicky took a conference call from work and the others explored their surroundings. Afterwards we all had a look round the motor museum, which is also very interesting. And no charge for any of this (except the ice cream). Even the weather was excellent again. We stayed at Caddington till the children had gone to bed, then had a cup of tea and left just after nine, getting home just after 11pm. Dot drove both ways.

Annette came round yesterday to deliver leaflets and invitations for the Paston Private View. She stayed for tea, and we discussed the arrangements for exhibiting in the church, which seemed at best obscure. We sent a joint e-mail to Lucy, who replied later with quite detailed plans, so that seems to be all right. I’ve finished off my poems leaflet and have sent some notes on the origins of the poems to Lucy: I’m not sure what she’s going to do with them.

In the evening I played chess against Colin Payne and lost convincingly, never getting a halfway decent position. He is someone I have normally beaten in the past, so I could be going down the tubes. But we’ll see.

I now have 14 friends on Facebook, including, astonishingly, Monica Estruch from Spain, who we haven’t been in contact with for many, many years. We stayed in her family’s house on Menorca in the 90s, after her brother had stayed with us in York.

Barbara is here at the moment, working on Philosophy 4 Children with Dot. They now have a domain name registered, thanks to David, and I think are well on the way to a website. From what I can hear in the distance, I think they have been consulting with David today. Dot has produced a nice draft for an introductory leaflet.