Home

Ooh, it's good to be home. I've had a lovely few days, but I'm so happy to be back.

On Thursday morning I was doing playgroup as usual and by six o'clock I was at the Society of Authors in London for an evening about educational publishing. For a lot of children the books written for schools are the only ones they ever see, so they need to be better than good. I was there with my friend Helen who works with children having a hard time, and knows a lot obout children in need of books. Then we went back to my hotel and sat in the lobby with a drink and something to eat and talked for two hours. And we thought of two teenagers with school uniforms and inky fingers, remembered our lovely English teacher Miss Appleby, and thought she'd be proud of us.

The next day I took a train to Cardiff where I met up with Claire at the station, and in very little time we were with Daughter and Daughter's Chap. Daughter's Chap was allowed to join us that evening, but the next day we were gliding in and out of wedding boutiques where Daughter tried things on and we said 'Ooh!' a lot. All that saying 'ooh' gets quite tiring. The company was wonderful, the weekend was fun and the hotel a delight, but by the time I came home last night I was zombified with exhaustion.

Poor Chap. He didn't stand a chance. Three women who'd been wedding shopping. We talked loudly about whether Daughter should go for the dragon dress with the fireworks, the one on wheels, or the teddy bear outfit. And what does the Mother of the Bride wear these days?