A third great grandson arrived last night but I do not know his name yet. So I am hotfooting it up to Newcastle tomorrow to see him and his lovely parents, and others of my dear family up north. I always love the journey on the train via exciting St Pancras and Kings Cross and the magic moment when the train crosses the Tyne bridge. I have been watching the programmes on the television with Michael Portillo following Bradshaws train routes and they have made me really relish trains, bridges, Victorian stations and viaducts.
I left my old bike outside the house, unlocked, when I bought my new one in the hope that someone would like it, and yesterday a beautiful Polish woman did just that. She said she made a habit of rescuing battered bicycles and restoring them. She was interested that mine was a Swiss Olympic bike, given to me by a real live Swiss person called Heidi from my writing group many years ago She brought me a delicious vegan chocolate cake as a present. What a happy transaction.