In the money

Ruth was looking after Eben and Luca today, and we decided to spend some of the day together - just at our house, mainly, playing games and chatting. Eben taught me a new card game and was gracious enough to compliment me on picking it up quickly.  Various games of Monopoly Junior took place, with different ones of us taking turns, mostly without arguments. These days Eben is good at coaching Luca, rather than getting impatient with him. Later, Luca was very proud to tell me that he - in turn - had explained the rules to Richard :-) 
Ruth needs a blood test quite urgently to check her iron levels, and in the early afternoon she and the boys and I drove up to a local 'drive-through' NHS phlebotomy centre to try to get this done. I was amazed to discover that such a facility existed. Both Ruth and I found it reminiscent of Covid testing centres.
Anyway, we had no luck. The GP had told Ruth to get the test but had not loaded the right request onto the system, and although the test centre staff were kind and helpful, there was nothing they could do. We phoned the GP practice, who said they would deal with it... but time passed, as we sat in the centre with two restless boys in the back of the car, and nothing popped up on the system.  This is just the latest mini-chapter in a whole saga of incompetence on the part of Ruth's local medical centre. So she'll try again tomorrow, hoping that this time the GP will have added the right details.  Fingers crossed. 
So... a rather grainy, hasty image for today: Ruth and Eben with the Monopoloy board. Just out of shot, Luca is preparing his next move.