Dear Kitchen Friends, thanks again for being there. (And yes, you are all important enough to warrant Capital Letters) 
Got a bad dose of my autumn blues at the moment but have been reading your posts daily, even if I haven't felt like answering 
N&G I'm so pleased for you that 'your new house' was still for sale and if there's any room left on the chara I'd love to visit. I'm not too keen on housework but am quite good at supervising others and inspecting their efforts Maw as I was reading your post about your visitors I was thinking Oh no, Maw has enough to cope with already But it sounds as though you did cope and Paw had a good boost to his spirits. Kitty so sorry to hear you missed Bertie's footie match. My DS, aged about 11 at the time, had a goalkeeper trial for our local professional league club. It was at short notice and he was staying with his dad as I was away for work at the time. I knew nothing of it till I rang him that night but oh, how I wish I'd been there. He wasn't successful but not every boy even had the chance 
Soop your book of photos sounds delightful. Maybe I can borrow DS's scanner and do similar with my old photos for him and DGS. My mother had old photos from her childhood and war years with the WRAF that I loved looking at till she told me she'd chucked them out without ever thinking I might like to keep them
On a more serious note N&G I'm sorry to hear about your discomfort over Jackson and other children's choice of words. I had an experience I wasn't comfortable with a week last Friday when collecting DGS from school. Another boy of about his age kept running in front of us then turning round and going WAAH! in his face. The boy's mother and younger brother were close by but she did nothing. DGS, who is autistic, wasn't sure whether to laugh or be frightened. I didn't know if this was a (special unit) classmate with similar difficulties or just a nasty piece of work. I'd glared at the mother to no avail so held DGS back till they'd moved away. I then asked him if he knew the boy, to which he replied that the boy chased him at playtime. I told DS and DDiL who informed the school and we had no problems this Friday. DGS has called me a f...... stupid Grandma in the past when having a meltdown and I've just told him I don't like those words and don't want him to say them in my house. They've obviously been picked up at school as his parents don't use 'that word' at home. Thankfully he's taken that on board and his meltdowns are also becoming more rare as he's getting older. They do still occur though and as a result are all the more remarkable.
To Charley , corner, Grayduster, Galen and everyone else in the kitchen I send my love and my plea to keep posting here. I've occasionally strayed to the dark side but have scurried back to the sanctuary that is soop 's kitchen x
I never had any ill effects from eating the food because they cooked authentically prepared food - so no gluten. People have been raving about a new restaurant in the next village so DH went and collected a meal which we really enjoyed. Until 2 am, when it became apparent that their cooking wasn't quite so authentic. DH and I ate the same thing and he had no problems so the obvious conclusion is GLUTEN!!
my apologies.
