I see from the stats of my readers that my Russian and Chinese readers have stopped reading my blog, but that somebody in Germany now is!  Wellkommen!  Also somebody(yes) in Brazil (Richard?), Ireland, the UK and the USA.  Not exactly a massive readership but then I am writing for myself and for the kids to read in the future.  It does rather restrict what you can say, know that your kids will read it - Joey, for your benefit, all the obstacles we have faced with your dyslexia and ADHD etc have been well worth it and I know that you will be able to read this easily and happily one day.  Indeed, what you were reading today - all about the US Civil Rights campaign - is a million miles away from what you were reading only a few months ago - the cat on the mat sort of stuff.  Well done!  As for you, Izzy, the fact that you are not mentioned so much does not mean that we love you any less but you are such a lovely, easy, affectionate child and one tends to write more about the challenges than the easy bits of life.  But I should note here that you are going through a rather unlady-like phase where you think that farting and burping are the funniest things on earth.  And we are going to have to watch your diet, young lady.  Your love for all things 'tasty' is quite worrying!  I know that you like to think of yourself as the Cooky monster' and the 'chip monster' but these are not really part of the healthy diet that you need!  And we shouldn't encourage you by laughing when you come out with this.

Although Anne did exceed even her high culinary standards today by not only producing a delicious lamb stew with chick peas but also fabulous scones.  Not that hard, you might say, but not easy when you cannot use anything containing dairy, gluten and yeast!  We were all bowing down in praise of my wonderful wife after dinner.