Home

Dad's mobile home, his residence for the best part of 18 months and hopefully not for much longer. The views of Dartmoor from it are spectacular (extra) but it's exposed; having frozen last winter he's now quietly cooking in it.

I've come down to bring Poppydog for her holiday with family plus help sort his belongings which are out of storage and mostly in my sister's farm buildings. Dad's new little place is already full! Could be tricky, especially as I've brought another carload of his stuff ... including the rubber plant that is directly descended from the one I remember as a child that lived on a big windowsill halfway up the staircase!

I stopped off on my journey down to see an old Surrey friend who also moved away just before I did. Our contemporary daughters are living quite different lives - but then they're completely different characters. It was great to catch up, even if only for an hour or so.

The car's brakes developed an interesting judder as the journey progressed which was pretty disconcerting. I've managed to book a slot at the local garage; fingers crossed it's a brakepad issue and easily resolved as I don't fancy a long trip back as they are.