Mat and Tess went home last night.
This morning normal family life was resumed.
After lunch Becky had us all screaming with laughter as she continued ‘The Young Visiters’ reading. For those unfamiliar with nine-year-old Daisy Ashford’s 1919 masterpiece it is highly recommended for its juvenile spelling, observation, and hilarious gleanings from adult conversation. It is regarded by many as one of the most humorous works in literature.
From her perusal of older blog posts our daughter recognised that Jackie’s pose in Helen’s rugbyfest photograph of 9th March was almost identical to the one in my drawing of her made in 1965.
After I’d had an uneventful walk on this comparatively mild afternoon down to the postbox and back, 
I accompanied Becky, Ian and Scooby on the Seamans Lane/Bull Lane loop. This was to be more eventful for Flo’s little dog, who was to receive his own young visiters (sic). A particularly frisky foal on the road took an interest in Ian, whose sleeve it kept nipping. 
Ian sought Scooby’s protection. Scooby opted for discretion and conducted the face-off from the safety of the far side of Becky’s legs. These larger animals can really be quite frightening as they quite silently advance upon you. Small dogs obviously feel the same.
Earlier, a much larger puppy had rushed out of its garden and attempted to frolic with Scooby, who gave the younger creature a piece of his mind. This was administered with a suitable amount of heroic yapping and snarling. The puppy’s owner had explained that the reason their gate was open was that it was electrically operated and there had been so many power cuts recently they had disconnected it for fear of being unable to get out if the power went down when it was closed. With the pony our hero remained as quiet as that particular young visiter.
Our dinner this evening was the symphony in white and cream. Rose and red wines and elderflower cordial were the accompanying drinks.
We are now about to settle down to watch The Matrix on TV.