I’m back from my trip around the UK. We drove over 850 miles with few hold-ups on the roads. I saw my wonderful Aunty Betty, which was great. She has been very seriously ill in hospital because she stopped eating and couldn’t even walk. Now she is making an excellent recovery. I took her 4 of her favourite cream cakes, a plant and a big box of chocolates. She ate 2 of the cakes when and I was there and she made me have one and on the phone today she told me she had the last one late that night and she has also finished the whole box of chocolates. That’s excellent news.

I went to Abbotsholme for the pre-course meeting I have to have before all courses. This meeting was with the bursar, John, Rachel the head cook and John who I think is the person in charge of all of the buildings. They are all very nice people. The meeting didn’t take too long as most things are repeated each year. I had a quick tour of the building to see the changes that have been made – mainly bathroom upgrades this year. So now I’ve just got to wait for everyone returning their forms and then I can do all the final bookings and planning. The pre-course meetings are important to try and reduce any problems we might have during the course – and sometimes we have problems!

I came home to loads of post, emails and phone messages. I’ve been trying to sort those out today, but I’ve lots left for tomorrow. I’ve also got to do the Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull draw before I go to bed and email Ian the details of the lucky people who will be going along to Cardiff and Birmingham. That’s a nice job making people happy. I talked with Zoe the photographer (Ellie’s Mum) on the phone tonight and I think I made her happy about her taking photos of Ian Anderson in Birmingham.

Talking of Zoe’s photos the magazine is out for all UK members. Europe and the rest of the world will go out on Monday. Have you got yours? What do you think? Do you like the cover? Do you like Zoe’s photos? Do you like the articles? Let me know.