School's out for Summer

Unbelievable as it may seem to you in Blighty, my children have been on their summer holidays for almost two weeks now. May 29th was their last day and already they are milling listlessly around the house wondering what to do. Even computer games have become boring.

There is some hope. We have a neighbourhood swimming pool - that's Spencer above - and so far that attracts a visit once or twice a day for a splash around. I suspect - when it is warmer (more of which later) - that it will be a useful meeting place for new friends as well.

We also have acquired a ping pong table, and this is providing daily hilarity (we are all rubbish). My mother moved house last month - hence my lack of posting: I have been helping her sort and pack prior to the move, and am helping her sort and unpack following it. The house she left, the same in which I grew up - held some 46 years of accumulated. Including my father's wonderful eccentric collection of everything imaginably useful ever. It also housed the ping pong table. I remember having great fun playing with my siblings in my youth. Latterly it served as a storage table, mounded with boxes and more boxes. It had to go, but I could not bear to let it go, so now it is in our garage. Who'd've thought?

I can recall only one stretch of sustained summer grey growing up. Seems like it was the year I was 9 or 10, and we felt as if the sun would never come out and it would never warm up. Lasted the entire month of June. And guess what. So far this month has been the same, with another week or ten days forecast to come. Of course, it is precisely what we are used to in Leigh, and daily temperatures reach the high 60s and low 70s, so, while I'm not moaning, it puts a small cramp in the summer activities. Andrew is disappointed not to be able to turn on the house air conditioning, (we will never agree on a suitable internal temperature, and I am glad the issue has not yet arisen - watch this space). I have yet to dip my toe in the pool as it is not yet warm enough. There has been much rain, rather too much hail, and all around us we are warned of tornados - one set down in Aurora a few days ago.