LYS

Bit of a sad day, but a good one too, in the Sunny House of Stories.

The July weather continues. Today I needed the summer clothes and sun block that barely saw daylight in August. I'm not complaining, but it is strange.

Today was the day our Lovely Younger Son went back to university. He graduated in Law four years ago, spent those years at the Civil Service, and wasn't satisfied. So today he returned to spend a year doing an MA in Human Rights. Pardon me, but I'm a bit proud of him, really. He wants to make a difference. He's made one to me, just being around for the last few years.

But what a difference from the days when he started uni for the first time, when I trailed round the shops with a reluctant son in tow, buying mugs and plates and cutlery, trying to instill first principles of laundry. Four years later, he's so sorted. All this week, I've found his washing on the line, his crockery packed, and bales of new bed linen. Today, he and Tony loaded up the car with several tons of law books (have you seen the size of those books?), his fencing kit, and his sword.

Just before leaving, he came to me with three Terry Pratchett books in his hand. These, he said, were the ones I had to read next, and he told me the right order.

So they crammed everything into the car, fitted themselves into the only remaining spaces, and set off. I went to join my friends from the vicarage to decorate the church for harvest - a lovely, traditional thing to do. When the altar and the chancel had enough fruit and flowers to look like an Gold Medal Winner at the Chelsea Flower Show, we put some greenery on the window sills.

Now, in order to reach one of the windowsills I had to wriggle past a music stand. It just had to be THAT music stand, the one with a row of gleaming metal chime bars on it. The chime bars made it badly balanced, and the tinkle-jingle-wallop as it hit the stone floor brought everyone to a standstill. The vicar's son beamed.

"That sounded like a crash-landing fairy!" he said.

Must tell that to LYS - oh, I can't. But he's only a phone call away. Anyway, even at the far end of the next county, he could have heard the crash landing fairy.