Thursday 1.

Been a fairly busy day. This morning drove into town, did odd bits of shopping and went to bank. About midday drove over to Sudbury and met up with Ann's brother David and his wife Mo. They'd been to Milton Keynes,  picked up Granddaughter Amelia, and driven her over to us. In the morning we plan to drive over to Stanstead Airport, and put Amelia on the plane to Spain, where she has taken a job with a family. The five of us had lunch together in Sudbury, then split up - Amelia to do a little last minute shopping, Ann and Mo to go shopping, and David and I went off to meet the grandson of an old friend of ours who runs a gent's clothing shop in Sudbury where I buy most of my clobber (Clothes Lori). The grandson (not the old friend - he's been dead some years) runs the shop. I've been buying from him for fifteen years or so, and earlier this year Ann, triggered by seeing his rather unusual surname  on a bill said to him "Were you any relation of Edwin W......?"    "He was my grandfather", replied my tailor. Looking at him I realised that I should have worked out who he was years before. Oh well - small world.

Then took David on a lightning tour of Sudbury, during which I took the above snapshot of the house where Thomas Gainsborough, the artist, was born.  David couldn't recall ever having been to Sudbury before, but as I said to him, it's not really on the way to anywhere much. David pronounced it to be, in his opinion, a nice little town. I quite agree with him, and this will, no doubt, be a source of great satisfaction to Sudbury when it hears of it.