It was so good to see everyone after two long years. There were fourteen of us, I think, in the end. Rose wasn’t well enough to come, sadly, as a bad cold went to her sinuses. My sister suffers similarly and has said that the one good thing about lockdown is that she hasn’t had a cold in a year and a half. Rose’s other half has small children and they pass on everything, as little ones do.

The weather forecast got worse and worse but we were lucky in the end. The rain held off until just as people were leaving. Seeing black clouds at quarter to five, we hurried the last cushions and glasses indoors and it was just the Bears (Steve and Liz) and Fiona (Cottage Smallholder) who got wet on their way to their cars. Scout the dog insisted on going out in the rain, but that was just for fun.

Not having slept more than a couple of hours on Friday night, I made up for it last night and we’ve had a relaxing day. It’s a quiet week, too, so perhaps I’ll weed the flower beds at last.

Only joking.