I came home this evening to a collection of boarders filling the sitting room.  This is the second Tuesday they have come around as Claire has invited anyone who wanted to do some sewing: they are working on making a fabric flower, as it happens, but the idea is to give them a new skill and have a chat as they go along.

It is not just the girls who have taken up the offer and I noticed a county cricketer and a 1st XV rugby player amongst them all: eyes narrowing as they thread the needle and then set about cutting out as neat a shape as possible.  In general, the girls seem to naturally take more care over the tension of their stitching but there is no mistaking that the boys are keen to complete the job properly.

I just went about making sure there were enough logs in and rekindled a fading fire before engaging in conversations ranging from whether the captain of the Concordia was as much at fault as the media portray to whether the snow will fall in earnest on to plans for half term coming up at the end of next week.

Claire and I (and Eliza, Joss and Hettie) are also in the throes of welcoming boarders round for supper.  We have six nights booked and so far we have had (very good) sausages and then sticky toffee pudding, a creamy carbonara followed by banana splits with ‘the works’ sprinkled or squirted all over for toppings - of course, the children had to have a little bit of everything leaving the poor banana easily the smallest proportion of the dish - and tomorrow we will be having a Mexican evening.

It’s wonderful to see the children ‘out of school’ and they are without exception good company and entertaining as well as polite and helpful. I am very much looking forward to the next four.