Glass storm and Olympic excitement

Went back home today to check all was in order for our visitors – and just as well that we did. Shortly after we arrived, there was a bang and what sounded like a violent hailstorm. A large pane of reinforced glass, maybe from a veranda in the building behind, must have exploded and all the outside areas of our house and the garage area of the next door building were covered with chunks of glass – luckily not shards, but like pieces from a broken windscreen. It also came in through all open windows, so I spent a good hour sweeping and collecting it from flowerpots and so on and had just about finished by the time the visitors rocked up.
 
Happily, they seemed very pleased with everything and kids liked their rooms (I told the small boys they had the most comfortable beds in the house – true, unless you prefer a waterbed – and they liked that idea). Then we left everyone to settle in and we went off back to Bridget’s. This is the view from our bedroom window, with the Sugar Loaf in the distance.
 

Another generous friend gave us tickets for the basketball this evening, our first Olympic event. We witnessed a supremely exciting match between the US and Canada, with Canada winning the day. The atmosphere was electric , with enthusiastic crowd participation. How wonderful to have the Olympics right on our doorstep and how lucky we are in our friends.