First off I want to say, Bert, I did reply to your email and re-sent it after it didn't arrive the first time - don't know what that was all about - your email? my email? Gah. Lovely to hear from you xxx (I'm a bit rubbish at one to one communication at the moment, sorry)

OK, sorry 'bout that.

Today has been good but left me knackered and I got out of the car awkwardly, twisting my leg/muscle/ligament/godknows so that I am currently walking with a stick indoors, a right pisser.

Some pics:



I didn't go to art but I managed to make a birthday card for Son, still stuck on piers.

YD found this butter dish for him in a charity shop and made the butter pack:



First fire:



I made it onto the ice this afternoon, but it took me nearly the whole hour to push off, even holding on. These two pics are the sum total of my ice manoeuvres:





but it was so lovely



I couldn't fail to have a blast. I may try and paint the pavilion from this angle on Friday:



After that I lurked round the city for a couple of hours, which was a pain as it had rained and all the benches were wet. I did sit for a while, amongst many others, on a bit of wall, to rest up and have a smoke. There is definitely something about me - not one but three different homeless people, carrying their filthy, wet bedding and belongings, came straight to me to ask for a pound to buy a cuppa (yeah, right). I mean, I did give each of them a quid, so they weren't wrong, but how did they know I would? Why didn't they ask anyone else?

Then it was time to meet YD and accompany her to Grandson's first 'parents' evening at college. Ah, the relief - they all said that after his shaky, absence-ridden start he was getting stuck in, producing work that was surprisingly good, given how much he'd missed; that he was a good kid and that he was starting to open up and connect with the other kids. Ah man, so good to hear that. Bless him, and bless YD for being such a good auntie.

Apart from that I am crushed beyond anything I've ever experienced by the current political scene. Lies, more lies and hate-mongering like nothing else. Everywhere I turn there's reports of what Trump is saying - how can he be allowed to spout such vileness? Isn't incitement to racial hatred a crime? Why is it spread so far and wide? We don't need to have it on the radio news and all over the fucking internet - he's not our lunatic, we have our own.

Bed now. I am grateful for: the recovery group for organising the skating trip and paying half the entry fee for each of us; Bloke cooking dinner; those teachers working hard to keep GS in college; my camera; still living near the city, if not in it.

Sleep tight, dear ones xxxx