Short stays

Well, it was lovely to see the two teenagers again albeit only for just 48 hours.

It was 'Concentrated Offspring'  And as with concentrated washing up liquid, a little goes a long way.

The Boy was in a grump for the entire time, except when he could flash his smile and charm momentarily when it suited.  He didn't want to be back and who can blame him?  I wouldn't have come back for the wedding of people I barely knew.  But he did it, if only he had done it with good grace.  His journey had been a long one...Vienna (where he flew from) was more difficult to get to than he thought, and he'd spent a good part of the day getting his phone fixed before flying.  He certainly wasn't looking forward to the long haul back to Kitzbuhel.

The Cat had been less than communicative about when she'd be arriving than expected, and The Cat's Mother didn't want to chase her...meaning we spent an evening in limbo. Then the next day, a hair appointment took an hour longer than expected, meaning we left later than we had planned.  The Cat and Cat's Mother are hopeless timekeepers, where as I like to know when I'm leaving and when I'm arriving.  I buried my head.  Apart from that The Cat was on top form which was lovely.

Love them both, but I suspect they found coming home as challenging as we (or maybe just I) found it. Can't wait for their return though....I suspect a longer run at it will give everyone more time to adjust to their surroundings.  I suspect I'm not being fair to either of them...

As for the wedding they'd returned for, it was in Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh's former home. Splendid. But more and more I don't enjoy weddings, which seem to be signifiers of another stage in our lifecycle. Now that I've moved from being part of the younger generation, I find them depressing.  Conversation with mainly strangers over several hours is hard work, and the father of the bride gave a problematic speech which lasted almost 45 minutes.

So thank heavens on Sunday, The Cat's Mother and I went to see The Grand Hotel Budapest which was a spritely tale, lightly told with as much depth as a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  I dozed off a couple of times...I'm not sure why as I was quite enjoying it

Picture post

Some recent pictures of the London skyline...I was lucky enough to have been given access to the building site that is London Bridge station, so was able to take advantage of the views

And a few (I managed to take 1200 in three days, so whittling them down has been quite a challenge!) from the bobsleigh track at Igls