Timmy the tortoise

Today I have done a lot of driving…from my friend to my brother’s house..lunch and then home.

This is the tortoise that has belonged to my sister in laws family for as long as she can remember she thinks her parents had it before she was born and it is over 70 years old! They have it in a run in the garden but when I was there they got him out and he moved very quickly round the lawn seeking out dandelions. He looked very spritely for his age..also see extra. When I picked him up I was surprised at how heavy the tortoise was and so solid!

On the drive from my friend to my brother I passed lots of ‘ memory lane’ places….Shaftesbury Grammar School where my father went..it is still a school but a comprehensive. The ‘outfitters’ shop where he used to buy jackets and suits which is still there. In Gillingham the hardware shop which was run by a cousin and still bears his name plus passed the houses of an aunt and an uncle en route to the village where my brother still farms the family farm with his son.

A nice lunch with the family and then drove back home, a queue at Stonehenge as usual at a weekend in the summer but otherwise OK, 300 miles in the last 3 days and 4 hours driving today so now need a restful day tomorrow.