I'm Back

OK I'm back from my holiday. Actually, I can't remember if I even mentioned that I was going on holiday, but I have been. Today I am back at work - boo!

My sister in law arrived last Friday. She was due two days earlier, but was delayed in the south of Spain. We had to adjust our plans a little, but we still managed to get a lot in. We drove up to the Lake District for a couple of days where we took a cruise on a boat with a jazz band, went to the Beartrix Potter museum, Wordsworth's house, and even found time for a little hiking.

Then we drove to York, went round the Minster, did some shopping, and spent a day at Castle Howard, where Brideshead Revisited was filmed. Then back to Swindon for one night before jetting off again to Devon to stay with Mother for a couple of days. Then yesterday we drove Mei back to Heathrow airport (south West London) so that she could catch her flight home to Taiwan. That was a total of 1250 miles, plus a trip to Luton and back to pick her up.

It was hard work, but it was fun. We had a good time.

While I've been away the Labour Party has lurched from one crisis to the next in alarming fashion. Another shed load of personal data has gone missing, this time a removable hard drive with personal details of prison workers has vanished. The justice department is quick to tell us that the data has not fallen into the wrong hands, but they certainly can't put their fingers on it.

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, has dropped a huge clanger, well several actually, and is beginning to look like he is simply crumbling under the pressure of the job. His interview with Brian Taylor last week, in which he denies saying that his colleague Wendy Alexander was "unlikeable" is a fine example of his current state of mind. The man's loosing it.

I will post some pictures tomorrow if I get time.