This is Jeanette and Graham, her husband, who are staying with us at the moment. Jeanette is my second cousin, from South Africa (near Pietermaritzberg) – the first daughter of my cousin Howard, my uncle Leonard’s son. They are coming to live in England – possibly in Cornwall, where they have a arranged a three-month rental of a holiday cottage near Tintagel while they sort themselves out. The rental doesn’t start till after Christmas, however. They arrived on Tuesday and are leaving by train tomorrow for Liverpool, where Jeanette’s aunt Ann (my cousin) lives. Yesterday I gave them the tour of Norwich, including lunch at Caffe Italia. It was a bright day but got colder and colder, and we were glad to get home in the end. Dot cooked lamb steaks. The previous day we directed them to Prezzo’s while we had our usual Tuesday gathering, and they also had a walk round. They are very easy to get on with and have plenty to tell us about the family in Africa, which has been fascinating.

Today is quite different: dull and wet. Dot has just taken her car to fill it with petrol prior to a trip to Ipswich this afternoon for a meeting to do with her Philosophy4Children project. She’s also showing Graham how you get petrol in England! Later I’ll take J & G round for a drive round a few significant spots, such as Howard’s birthplace in Queen’s Road.

At the weekend David and Vicky and the children came up, and we bought Oliver a Norwich City football kit for Christmas. Technically I didn’t, because I was cooking roast chicken at the time, but I was there in spirit. In the evening we all watched Hot Fuzz after the children had gone to bed. On Sunday I had to go to church owing to a shortfall in the music group, and all went well. We all went out to lunch at Prezzos, and when we got home Eddie, my cousin from Ilford, called in with his wife Christine and saw the grandchildren for the first time. Might also have seen David for the first time, come to think of it. Oliver became rather unwell during the day, with asthma affecting his chest. He was away from school a couple of days but is back today and improving. Hate to see him unwell. Amy showed us a few of her ballet moves and was generally adorable.