Today I've mostly bin...

[chazzie]

Makes sense to me!

[eirian]

... travelling home after a fab two weeks visiting my favourite parents!

Thomas had a wonderful time and I suspect Grandad especially is very, very tired!

[LAT]

Loved the story SparkOut.

I am now wondering what else is going to befall us. N's laptop has died after being somewhat unreliable as to whether it would switch on for the last week. August is turning out to be rather an expensive month in our house.

I am also now a bit worried that we have a leak somewhere in the bathroom. I'm hoping we won't need to have the floor taken up again.

[Bunnylump]

Oh dear, LAT, you certainly are having a bit of a run of bad luck. So now it's your turn to get something good happen for sure.

SparkOut, I can't believe you predicted the turn of events EXACTLY as they occurred.

Eirian, glad you and Thomas enjoyed your visit (and the break!) I expect Granddad and Grandma are both worn out, but that's the brilliant thing about Grandparent status, you get all the good bits and THEN you get to give them back. Neither of my two are showing any signs whatsoever of wanting to reproduce, so I'm quite jealous of all you Grandmas!

I expect Uncle Scurra enjoyed catching back up with you and his nephew too (and was no doubt amazed at how much he's grown!)

Chazzie - great idea re the marrow, however now it's here in the public domain I could probably be traced as the culprit...

Giraffe / Scurra - that's the problem, isn't it? I was seriously struggling to convey "there is some unidentified creature underneath the wood panelling in the ceiling of the ensuite which is digging out the insulation." They certainly didn't teach me that at school. I might have managed "Le singe est dans l'arbre" but somehow it wouldn't have been as funny if I'd said it (well, or as relevant!)

I am now back in the county. Wow, an amazing holiday (well, despite the 6 days of unset stomach-ness and 4 hours of waiting in Calais to be loaded onto the train while they fished out all the migrants from the tunnel... )

This was the view from where we were staying, which wasn't bad, I thought!

[Bunnylump]

Oh my word. I got married THIRTY years ago!

[maisie ladybird]

Happy Anniversary!

[giraffe]

Happy anniversary

[Bunnylump]

Thank you, ladies!

[LAT]

Happy anniversary!
It's nearly 37 years for me.

PS, loved the picture of your view. How nice to wake up to that every day!

[chazzie]

Happy anniversary Bunnylump

[eirian]

Happy Anniversary! Quite the season for them!

[SparkOut]

Happy anniversary BungeeJump.
It's our 25th next year.

What part of France is that? It looks like you picked a great place.

[Bunnylump]

Thank you all. K paid for us to go out for a nice meal last night at Luton Hoo, and also delivered us a home made cake and hand painted plate.

We were staying near Quaix-en-Chartreuse (about 10 miles north of Grenoble, part way up a mountain!) We got the house through a site we hadn't used before - Holiday Lettings from Trip Advisor.

[Wulfruna]

Happy anniversary BungeeJump.
It's our 25th next year.

..... that's worth a celebration! Congratulations to Bunny too - there is something so special about rounded figures, and I hope you got some pearls???? For us it was quite dramatic to reach 50 this year - it suddenly hit me that this is actually an awfully long time to be with just the right person, although admittedly it has sometimes taken quite a bit of working at for both of us (well it has to....there are the occasional blips!!). And no, we weren't expecting Golden gifts - a golden honeysuckle was one much appreciated, and a "golden pear" tree was the other..... ideal for this gardener!

[Bunnylump]

What a lovely thought! I actually can't quite believe it is 30 years ago!

Spot the scary Lady Di haircut and the 1980s moustache!

[LAT]

I don't think I've ever had any presents on my wedding anniversary but at least N does give me a card each year - as he did this year. I got him one with two cats on it and he got me one with two owls! We might need their pea-green boat when we go up to London today!

[chazzie]

So is today your anniversary LAT - if so Happy Anniversary - enjoy your trip to London

[Bunnylump]

Have a good day LAT. Hope the weather improves for you!

[giraffe]

Happy anniversary.

[LAT]

Thanks all!

We had tickets for a tour of the state apartments at Buckingham Palace. It was really interesting, they (obviously) have some amazing art works and wonderful ceilings etc.
And beforehand we had lunch at Brasserie Blanc near Waterloo. A delicious and very good value Prix Fixe menu.

Just a shame about the weather although the sun did try to peep out between the showers when we were on our way out through the gardens. I felt rather sorry for all the guides who were on duty outside.