Finished!

The obra prima of street art, reported here, is complete, standing out beautifully against today’s rather grey sky. I do hope the artist will let me know when his book is launched – he copied my number onto his mobile, but I stupidly didn’t take his. Ah well, we’ll see.
 
We’ve left our volunteer in sole charge of the house while we came up to the hills to breath some fresh air and check up on the dogs. It took us a while to get here, by the time we’d stopped for sausage sandwiches and apple pasties on the hill and a quick visit to the supermarket, but found a nice fire burning in the grate to welcome us on our arrival. Took the dogs for a brisk car walk – driving for me and running for them – to burn off some energy in the hope that they wouldn’t bowl us over in their enthusiasm, but still had Kayla launch herself at my back a few times once I ventured out of the car. She’s incorrigible.
 
My knees were screaming to sit down but the halo needed a brush-up, so I made a large curry with the meat we bought, as we may have people round during the week, before collapsing to watch more of the Parlympics. Just so riveting – Jonnie Peacock powered through to his gold, then the wonderful Maryappan Thangavelu, of India, getting his for the high jump. Final emotion of the night, the interview with members of the Brazilian freestyle relay swimming team, in particular Susana Schnarndorf Ribeiro, who has worked so hard to keep going as her illness gets progressively worse.