SPRING NEWS

After what has seemed like the longest winter yet, our garden is showing signs of spring at last, our magnolia and camelia are blooming (the magnolia starts pink but turns white, in the foreground) and even the girls have ventured out, here they decided to do some brief camping this afternoon. It's back to school for Anna tomorrow and work for Paul, but Abi has another week off and I'm still off, I'll be starting a new placement with the distric nurses (visiting patients in their homes) from the 2nd of May, with an exam and essay due in early June. Abi and I have been running as we are doing a 5km charity run for cancer research on 4th June, no problem for Abs but my legs don't know what's hit them!

Bonjour

Hi everyone.
We have just had a French exchange student staying with us for a week. Her name is Clarisse, she is 13 years old and from the Loire Valley. She arrived on a Saturday evening and stayed with us until the Friday. During the week she went to see some London sights, things like Madame Tussards, the Science Museum, Windsor Castle and even Twickenham Rugby grounds. Abigail will be going to France to spend a week with her the second week in June, and is very excited about it.
What made the week quite difficult for us was that she knew less English than we knew French. It was quite an eye-opener as to just how bad our French is, and we are determined to learn a little more.
The picture is of all the girls on Leith Hill, some of you might remember walking up Leith Hill, it's the one with the tower at the top. As you can see the day was a bit overcast, but we still had fun, and worked up an appetite for a pub lunch before going home.