Night vision

Much of the first half of the day was spent on a mercy mission to Spalding, to help Pete's Mum, who had become very weak and confused. When we arrived she had a pair of underpants on over her trousers as well as several pairs underneath, and had no strength in her legs. We thought long and hard about going, but in the end decided that tending to her emotional and physical needs was the most important thing. While we were there I went and did some shopping for her and her partner, so at least they're well provided for food for the next few days. We left her sitting comfortably in a chair in her bedroom.

Both Pete and I felt emotionally exhausted in the afternoon, though  seeing Chris and Lizzy raised our spirits. They'd come to pick up some entomological materials and jigsaw puzzles which we''d left out for them, but we had quite a long chat, with us standing on the doorstep and them standing at the end of our drive. Long-distance conversations seem to be quite the thing now!

Just before bed I went out into the garden to see if there were any toads in the pond. I only spotted one, but the night sky was beautiful - the drop in air pollution has allowed the stars and moon shine so much more brightly. Ben joined me for a while, and we watched Sirius low in the southern sky, flashing all the colours of the rainbow as the atmosphere refracted its white light - a calming way to end quite a stressful day.