SHOES

The London son was home for a long weekend, to catch up with his fast-growing nephew. He's moving flat soon so brought a big suitcase of winter clothes here so that he won't clog up his new wardrobe! The trouble is he's a bit of a slave to fashion and as soon as he offloads one case, he's ready to fill another. A pair of trainers was his latest acquisition



I bet Oscar can't wait till he's old enough for a pair of his own, although he put up a brave contest, arriving on Sunday in a pair of tartan sneakers.

I've collected all the passwords from the Times to book a cheap Eurostar trip for the London son and his friend. He was going to let me know his preferred date in time for when booking opens online, this morning. However I just happened to take a sneak preview of the site last night and it was already possible to book - in fact a lot of dates had already gone. This means that by the time I get to know when he wants to travel, there'll be nothing left. What a swizz.

I'm beginning to think that there's more of a north/south divide than I'd ever realised. Our son's girlfriend said she learnt three new expressions over the weekend - bar snack, standard lamp and barm cake. EEE by gum.