Back to school

Back to school tomorrow and back to work for me. We've had a great time in August, with a very enjoyable holiday to France. I can't resist a couple of snaps of the boys...

Oakley on the high ropes course.

Oakley and Quentin sharing a joke.

The rest of the time was spent exploring Hertfordshire. Oakley can now cycle several miles at a time and Quent has treated himself to a new bike. "New" being a relative term. A few years ago, Quent had a reasonable, second-hand bike. This was swapped for a worn out, uncomfortable contraption, by the burglars who raided our garage in 2003. This reject getaway bike served Quentin until last weekend when he upgraded to a blue one with excellent gears - £5 from the dump.

The house is progressing. The scaffolding is down and the roof came off the kitchen while we were in France (deliberately removed by builders, not blown off because it was so old). We are very pleased with the work to date. You know you have craftsmen on the job when they take tea with no sugar and listen to radio 4. The outside of the house is looking great, with nearly all the painting and repointing done and most of the old, single glazed Victorian leaded windows replaced with new, single glazed, Victorian leaded windows. (Actually most of them repaired, not replaced, as per the Conservationist's handbook.) You can tell which ones have been done because you can see through them. I know it's a lot of money, but window cleaners are hard to come by these days, so I am delighted.

Quent continues on the road towards recovery and seems to be taking a new drug called ebay. Antique windows for the garage we can't afford to build, floodlights which are too big for the house and even some useful stuff the builders have asked him to source. Another day, another package...