Package arrived today. Also, one at the Old Post Office. Dunno where we will be at Christmas time, yet!

I’ve been calling in at Ebony for months now to collect your watch, but it’s always been: “We’ll call you when it’s ready.”

Well, finally, they did. So I turned up, handed over the plastic, and signed £25 away. As the lady was checking my signature, I picked the watch up and noticed it wasn’t working. I mentioned this, and she looked at the face and said she thought it was automatic and required a bit of a shake.

As she shook the watch, the glass fell out! Apparently, it’s supposed to be held in by pressure …

She assured me it would be put right, and scrawled “paid” across the numbered slip. I started thinking that maybe all those other watch places that had said the watch required a £140+ service after a cracked glass, to get out all the tiny fragments which might interfere with the delicate workings, were right.

So, is your watch automatic; or does it have a battery?

Anyway, I’m waiting for another phone call from them to say it’s ready! However, you may end up with a mended glass covering a watch that doesn’t work

Your second Singapore package arrived the day before Jul; so now we have heaps and heaps of DVDs to wile away the long evenings. After a day or two of having him back here, it is as if Jul had never left! Tranquil mealtimes were already a thing of the past, with Liv spearing the largest portion of meat and yes-manning left, right and centre; and now we have a fourth point of view, most forcefully put, in round table discussions, by someone who’s clearly honed his debating skills during late night hostel badinage. For self preservation, I’ve clearly got to learn to take a back seat and not insist on the last word.

Mama started drinking marigold tea for ‘eyesight acuity’, as per your Chinese herbal instructions; and, lo and behold, this morning, she claimed a major transformation had occurred, and she was able to see more clearly than for a decade.

More coffee! We can’t handle this much. We only have a thimblefull after lunch each day. In fact, we’ve just had it. One of lifes all too brief pleasures.

We’ll be there; but text us just before boarding the plane so we know whether it’s on time.

A large package containing boot-polish encrusted coffee beans arrived through the post, necessitating a return to daily latte drinking for the forseable future. Needs must.