Summer. Long grass. Learning languages. Errant pet donkeys.

 Oops! A fourth Tory is being investigated for placing bets on the date for the election. The prospect of making a lot of money was just too much for them. I keep saying they should stop advertising betting. Maybe those Tories could have resisted if here had been less advertising! It’s easy for me to criticise as I have never been tempted to place a bet. Grandson Number One (19 years old) fell into the gambling net briefly, under the influence of friends, or so he claims. Recently he lost quite a lot of money and gave up gambling. He now proudly tells us he has been “clean” for almost 5 weeks and is learning French instead! 

It seems that half the family is learning a foreign language via phone apps. Phil and I have become the family’s go-to people for information about foreign languages - understandable as we have both been modern languages teachers. Grandson Number One in particular keeps asking about French grammar. He learnt some Spanish at school and is now finding that learning French has revived his Spanish, as usually happens when you start to learn a new language, and is confusing his pronunciation in French with all its silent letters.

Our stop-start summer is staggering along. Consequently I have decided it’s time to get the summer wardrobe out. Otherwise the dresses might just stay in the wardrobe until next year. 

The grass in the back garden is growing furiously, pretty soon it will be a meadow. However each time we think of cutting it, we have some more rain. Wet grass clogs up the mower. We’ll maybe try again later today.

I read an odd little story about a pet donkey called Diesel who escaped five years ago and was recently discovered living with a herd of elk. Someone posted a picture that went viral on social media and his owners recognised him. They have no plans to recapture him. “He’s living his best life”, they said. This is, of course, California. Where else?

We do, however, joke about maybe needing a goat to keep the grass in the garden under control.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!