Herding cats

"Quick," I said, "before you go - let me get a photo of you all."

I can't decide who needs a bit of a talking-to first: the trio on the left, who are old enough to be expected to behave themselves, or the Boy on the right, who persisted in mining his nose even while his grandfather was asking him not to. I might reasonably have hoped that having me looking fierce from behind the camera (as opposed to being in the shot, which I'd declined on the grounds that I'm not yet familiar enough with the R5 to tackle remote shooting) would have stopped their nonsense - but apparently not. Maybe I'm losing my touch.

The house was horribly quiet after they all zoomed off back to their real lives - so R and I tidied up, stripped sheets and rearranged furniture, because you might as well do housework when you're already feeling blue. Then R went off out for a damp walk, and I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning some DSLR gear and packing it up for the courier who's due to collect it tomorrow.

This evening we had scrambled egg and bacon for dinner, because it was easy and comforting, then slumped on the sofa with a bucket of red wine, and caught up with His Dark Materials and the new feature-length Detectorists on iPlayer. I'm pretty cross that the makers of His Dark Materials have given the Gallivespians mechanical wings, instead of the dragonflies they ride in The Amber Spyglass, which I think has removed one of the most enchanting elements of the story, but having watched it this far I dare say I'll stick with it through to the end. Detectorists was charming and funny, and I absolutely loved it.