Life has been on hold for a couple of weeks due to Molly's illness & death. We passed the time visiting good friends and trying not to be miserable. It's all change now though, as we collected Alice - a nearly 8 week old Bedlington - yesterday. She's a gorgeous bundle of fluff, very loving and playful. She's not too impressed with the pen I built in the bedroom and cried a lot each time she woke in the night. You can guess where she ended up.

Is all modern art rubbish? Maybe not, but this is. A whole loaf of broken china. What a load of tosh.

Time is flying by in Bath. However did we manage to fit in 40 hours working each week? This is the view from the tea rooms on the bridge over the Avon. Poppy is about half a mile down the river. Coming up is a couple of weeks of parent-sitting, then we'll be slowly making our way back towards Devizes, where we'll take refuge in the marina fir the coldest months.

Poppy is now just outside Bath, at the village of Bathampton. The picture is of a pedestrian bridge over the canal on the way in to Bath. It's lovely. See the rows of circles, smaller and smaller towards the middle. J is having a brilliant time unwinding. Not a day goes by without feeding ducks and swans, and most days we walk 6 or 7 miles. Linda has finished the repainting of the roof of the boat so everything is bright and sparkling.

We're now near Trowbridge, moored on the tow path, in the middle of the countryside. Bank holiday Monday was, as predicted, wet, but today is lovely and sunny. I've just bbq'd some turkey steaks and am settling down to an afternoon of reading. Mmmm...