This is my cousin once removed: Catherine – daughter of my cousin Patricia, who is Paul’s daughter. We met her at Pat’s 60th birthday party on Saturday, held at Mersham Road Elim Church in the heart of South London. I think it was South Norwood, but everything merges into each other down there. We got there thanks to some thorough planning by me – a number of print-out maps featured – and some excellent navigation by Dot. So excellent, in fact, that we were three-quarters of an hour earlier than we thought we had to be there (5pm), and over an hour and a half before the guest of honour arrived (5.45pm). But as we met Catherine at an early stage – and we were given a cup of tea by helpers – this was not a problem. Catherine had her two daughters, Abby and Ruby, with her, and later I also met her two brothers. So a good day for catching up on family matters. A delightful party with plenty of hot food and some cake and cabaret.

Afterwards we drove to the Hendersons in Eltham, about half an hour away: some more excellent navigation by Dot got us there precisely at 9pm, when we had predicted we would arrive. Maryta was so astonished that she woke up. Stayed overnight and had a great time: superb lunch on Sunday. The weather throughout the weekend was awful – rain and wind, and pretty cold, as it has been for some time. Today there is some improvement, and we are promised a dry spell, albeit a short one. It is still very cold.

On Sunday evening we had a call from another family member who I had never met – Bev, who is Howard’s daughter, so another cousin once removed. I thought it was second cousin, but apparently, a second cousin is the child of your parent’s cousin. So Catherine and Bev are David’s second cousins. Glad we’ve cleared that up.

Bev was calling from South Africa: she’s coming to England in January and wants to meet some relatives, so I’ve invited her to stay with us. But it sounds as if she might be trying to cover the whole country in about a week, so I don’t think she’ll be with us long. I’ve given her directions from Gatwick…

I have now won my last two chess games, the latter one against quite a strong player, so things are looking up. I don’t know how long it will last. What with writing Christmas cards and various other things (I was trying to put together a few poems to sell tomorrow – see next blog – but I don’t think that’s going to happen), I hardly seem to have time to do anything. It must be an illusion. We’re busy every evening till Sunday and most of the days too. Yesterday I went to the chiropractor; today Dot and I had lunch at Park Farm. Not doing enough walking because it’s so unpleasant out.

I almost forgot – on the way down to London we stopped for lunch at Swynford Paddocks Hotel, just outside Newmarket at a place called Six Mile Bottom (ho, ho). Very pleasant toasted sandwiches and curly chips with garlic dip. I shouldn’t, but I did. And I’ve still lost over half a stone in the last three weeks. SPH was very big on Brigadier Gerard, a famous racehorse, so I expect that’s where he came from. The Paddocks, not the hotel. Presumably. We also checked on the hotel Dot is staying at later this week when she does her school inspection at Newmarket. Looks very acceptable.