To Cambridge...

...with Mother, to visit some young relatives. Something of an adventure to get there: I had stupidly chosen to go via Liverpool St instead of Kings Cross. An unexploded bomb from WWII (I'm not inventing this!) brought delays to the Circle Line...we were late getting to the station, and later still arriving in Cantab. as the train was the slooooooooowest ever known, and went round via every village in Hertfordshire and Cambridegshire...however, it was bliss to arrive, and to sit in the lovely summery garden while E. and F. gave us a delicious meal and chilled wine and we caught up on family news, and it was even more delightful when the children woke from their afternoon rest and came down to play...enchanting toddler H. going merrily round the lawn on his little tricycle with Great-Auntie Joanna , and baby F. gurgling contentedly on the lap of great-grandmother. We loved every moment of our visit.

Travelled back to London and thence to the suburbs - people on trains are v. kind when you are with an elderly person, and young people not only leap up to give Mother a seat but give assistance in other ways: it's a real lift to the heart to see this. Often, you get nice conversations, too - M., who doesn't get up to London much these days, hugely enjoys a chat and it was all rather fun.

Had left my bike at Mother's (cycled there last night following a Catholic Writers' Guild meeting - speaker was A.N. Wilson, most enjoyable). So collected bike and cycled home in the cool evening...

AAAAARGH!! When I arrived home, mild chaos. Infestation of ants in the hall and all round Jamie's desk!! Nightmare. Emitting noises of mild panic, rushed out to Tescos and bought anti-ant stuff, spent an hour spraying and cleaning and coping. Meanwhile, had remembered that I left my mobile phone in Cambridge. Phoned to sort this out: by an extraordinary piece of Providence, I am speaking tomorrow at a school only a few miles away and can get into Cambridge to collect it...having deal with this and other issues, I pottered into the kitchen (it was by now v. late) to tackle things there, and the phone rang again. It was Ave Maria Radio from the USA (see below), ready for a live interview about the Church and adoption societies and the Govt's nasty new laws...