Sunday...2nd. November

I'd like to start this evening by talking about genes...and those transmitted to my male offspring. Daniel obviously has my boat handling ability, Jack has inherited my agricultural common sense, and Tom, whether he likes it or not, has clearly been left with my mathematical capability. This can clearly be seen in this week's Saturday Telegraph sudoku....a photo of which will hopefully appear under these words.

So there we have it... yet another victory for the 'rents in the house....and our reader will note that one puzzle is rated "moderate" and the other "tough". Let's have no more complaints about Luce family genetics please.....our family tree states that we've been here in Jersey since the 1470's, so it's a little late to change now.

Dan has arrived in Phuket (regardless of how the word is pronounced) and has a hotel with air conditioning, which (as the night temperature is apparently 27 degrees) is just as well. We had a quick message from him last night that read "37,000 feet, 550 mph and the wifi still works".... so much for switching off your phones in case they interfere with the controls of the plane. Who knows when we'll hear from him again, but the food bill has already been halved and things seem a lot quieter.

It's been the Young Farmers Black Butter making over the weekend. Jack, Bex and Tom all involved, although they came home at very different times (Bex at 10p.m.ish, Tom at 3a.m.ish and Jack not at all)...well actually, Jack was at home early last evening complaining of stomach ache, so bad that he went to bed mid-evening. As I was making the usual ginger/lemon concoction for the sleepy wife, Jill's mobile rang...it was Jack. My initial reaction was that he was still in bed, and really quite ill, and that he was calling to ask us to ring for a doctor. How wrong could I be. He had apparently "felt a lot better" during the night and had got up and returned to Les Pres Manor to carry on Blackbuttering. The phone call went like this..."can someone get Bex up and ask her to bring some bacon, ketchup and rolls down here please?" It appeared that he was feeling quite a bit better.  

I had Chapel this morning (I usually play the organ on the first Sunday of each month) and Jill walked the dog in the rain. This afternoon we took the opportunity to do a second dog walk on the beach before the weather broke.... it was good to get out....

....we've just remembered that, as usual, Jill and I have forgotten the highlight of the evening...Jill's daily injection. It's unbelievable that, after SO long, it just doesn't get any easier....

...right, all done. Our reader may be interested to know that, over the weeks, I have modified my technique. An early change to the instructions was to angle the needle ....and more recently I have taken to pinching a little more skin than normal and making sure to give a jolly good squeeze as I push the needle in and administer the drug.....i seems to work quite well.....Jill can't feel the needle if a pinch hard enough. I just hope that in the future I don't need her to give ME injections......there will be quite a bit of painful payback to cope with.

I'm going to hand over for the last few words.....here she is ....(and who's she? the cat's mother?)


Eaten well over the last few days, thank you to our friends pies/ veg and cake (AH and JS) . Steve omitted to tell you that we played petanque on Saturday afternoon, I really enjoyed myself, he said he would have enjoyed it more if i hadn't beaten him 2-1..... I was going to watch Team Jets (netball) play at Les Ormes, but the weather was just too lovely to be indoors, so I had a change of plan.

This was taken before he lost.....

This morning I had my aerobic workout with the twins, it was great fun, and lovely to see a full class of people enjoying themselves. That, and two dog walks I think is enough exercise for me today.

Early start tomorrow as D duties in town, plus a blood test at 12 at the hospital, fingers crossed 'they' have improved enough for Chemo Thursday .....