Mamma Mia, what a week!

Monday I drove over to Daughter for the day. It was actually nice enough to sit in their garden with a cup of coffee, and then we pottered into Dorking for a look round the shops before collecting Grandson from Nursery. "He ate thirds of lunch today." was our greeting. Apparently Grandson is now really enjoying his lunches there, and well he might since they are all homecooked and look dericious. Then we all went swimming at the local pool, which has a "Toddler Splash" from 1.30 to 3.30. Great fun. Grandson's swimming is very impressive - he jumps in without any swimming aids, apart from goggles, and swims properly underwater. He delights in splashing everyone and is obviously completely at home in the water. I think that's pretty good for a four year old.

Oh, that was a great film. I know it's too late, but I want to be in "Mamma Mia"! The singing and dancing was wonderfully naff on the part of some of the stars - but it didn't matter. And I suppose that's what makes me think I could have done it just as well. They all obviously enjoyed themselves so much, and I would have loved to be there. Pierce Brosnan was particularly brave to do the singing (it's not his strong suit, but who cares?), and Julie Walters really gets stuck into the dancing. It was all most unlikely, truly fantastical, and thoroughly enjoyable. I went with two of my BBFs, and we ate popcorn and laughed a lot. In the end we were all singing along too. It was rather a let down to come out into a normal Brighton evening, and I sat on the bus home longing for a love affair on a Greek Island. And why not?

The plumber came again on Thursday morning. He has been fixing my ailing shower, on and off, for the last couple of weeks, and it still isn't finished. Luckily I have two other showers here, but as the one in my en-suite hasn't been working for about a year, I thought it was time to fix it. If only. Bless him, he's the kind of plumber who has to try every solution to get things right - and he's fixed it, and un-fixed, it several times. He's coming back again tomorrow (Monday) morning, so I'm hoping for a result. Whatever happens, you've got to love him for trying so hard.

I've been absent for a long weekend because I went to see my ABF for a few days. She is still hopping about on crutches, and can't get up the stairs, so progress is slow. She did make me laugh about one of her sisters who knits teddies for deprived children. This sister has, in ABF's words "made bags full of the little blighters" and is now on to knitting jumpers for orphans in Afghanistan. Sadly, though, she has made these jumpers from acrylic yarn. No bloody good . In that climate it has to be wool, cotton or silk - only natural fibres can keep the cold at bay. Her excuse was that wool was too expensive! Bear in mind that this is one of the four "Honourable" sisters who are all immensely rich (and I do mean immensely). Give me strength! Anyway, I spent a lovely few days gardening and watching ABF's latest visitors - a family of rats (R.A.T.S.) that have taken up residence on the terrace outside her downstairs bedroom window. She has been feeding them rat poison, on which they seem to thrive, and says that their antics are much more interesting to watch than television. That I can believe. But I did see the rats, and one of them is HUGE, with a very long tail. Ugh. I did think of recommending my old farmer friend's trick for catching them (see my Post "Run Rat, Run" of 24th January) but on balance I'm not sure she would enjoy the result. I think she's getting quite fond of them!

Imagine my delight on returning home this evening when I spotted two of the tiniest frogs imaginable in my pond - frogs at last! They were so small, smaller than the tadpoles I swear, and were hopping about on top of the duckweed. Little darlings. OK, I'm probably losing it, but I have been waiting for these babies for months and they're much sweeter than rats, that's for sure...