Tuesday 8th December

It's seven o'clock in the morning... and it's still night time outside.

We had Pete (remember the wedding in Rome that Ross went to) staying with us for a couple of nights.

He was back in Scotland to sort out his finances - he's buying a small private school in Tuscany for adults who want to learn English so being here, he took the opportunity to meet up with his old school buddies.

We got to see the photos of Leo, his wee baby who is just a wee doll and Pete says next time he comes he'll try and bring his wife and baby too - so that'll be lovely.

I said they could stay with us - we've got plenty room.

Thought - I should hang onto that pram we bought for Luca.

Talking of whom - Gary skyped us last night!

There they were, the pair of them, not exactly as clear as day but once I turned the speakers back on (!!??) as loud and distinct as you could want!

The image was more akin to a cubist impression of life - a little bit of work needed there.

Here's a better picture of Luca taken a couple of weeks ago

Luca was delighted - at first - to talk to us but eventually the novelty wore off and there were other more pressing and interesting things for a two year old to do so he was keen to take off.

But not for Granny and Granda to go - ooh no,
"Granny not go!"
"Granda not go!"

I said to Ian later, I think he thought we were the television and that we should simply be there whenever he wanted to watch us.

Changing the subject completely, I manged to swim 26 lengths yesterday - not bad for an old fogie, even if I do say so, myself!
Not all in a oner, I hasten to add.
But I only stopped every so often to get my breath back.

Jill (her children are Howard and Janean King - not sure if any of you were ages with them) managed to do 24, but she was making up for having had a buttery at a friends house in the morning.
Actually, not just a buttery but a warm buttery dripping with melted butter. Ooh no - horror of horrors - don't listen little arteries!!

Anne's making good progress, I popped in to see her on Sunday on my way back from coffee with the girls. Her colour was much better and she had straightened her hair!

For those of you who don't know her, Anne has curly hair which like mine becomes a fuzzy wuzzy entity with a mind of it's own if not battled into submission on a daily basis.
Well you can imagine how she looked after a week of not caring - so it was a relief to see it calmed and submissive again!!

And how much better we all feel when our hair has been brushed and combed.

I used to love when I was ill as a wee girl.
I don't remember ever feeling ill - you know actually having any symptoms, I just remember feeling very tired all the time.
Well my Granny Bananghan always seemed to be around at these times and I remember she would say to me (very sympathetically), "Sit up a wee bit, hen, and I'll brush your hair, you'll feel all the better for it."
And you know what?
She was right!