Easter Sunday. I cannot seem to get rid of my wretched cold. It’s been bugging me on and off for the last few weeks. It’s come back with a vengeance now. Huw’s dad picks us up after 9. Lakshmi stayed with them last night. Apparently she’s had a fractious night. Irritable with a blocked nose. Katie needed ear plugs to go to sleep in the end.
This morning she is happily running around with Alfie in the garden throwing his squeaky puppy at him and making him catch it. We sit down once again to a big cooked breakfast and eat till we can eat no more.
Joshua arrives with Ruby, Alfie’s sister. The oldest of a litter of seven, she was deprived of oxygen at birth and is partially blind. Her mother rejected her at birth and she had to be hand reared. Although older than Alfie by 2 minutes, she is smaller and a little bundle of energy. She bounces around playing with Alfie’s puppy and trying to rip it to pieces. Alfie is not amused. He sits there sulking and looking subdued. When Ruby tries to play with him, he scrambles on to the chair and tries to get as far away from her as possible, all the while looking out the window, hoping the old adage, ‘out of sight, out of mind’, works. Sibling rivalry, it seems even dogs are not immune from it.
Louise’s sister has been trying to track down the family ancestry and history. She tells us about the side of the family, which include Sirs and Ladies, one of whom was even a lady in waiting to the Queen. Another about a roaming gypsy who married into the family, the couple was ostracised as a result and he ended up becoming a shoemaker. Then about the possibility of Lakshmi having some Jewish blood in her and that one of the great grandparents could have been an escapee from the holocaust. I was reading the prize winning war stories this morning that people had sent in about their elderly relatives. It is fascinating to know how much of history runs through our veins without us even knowing about it.
We were meant to stay till the evening and drive back tonight, but instead opted to leave early. We are hoping that we can make a major part of the journey when Lakshmi has her afternoon nap. We say our goodbyes. Lakshmi clings on to her nan refusing to let go. Luckily all the running around means she’s tired and so happily lets herself get strapped into her car seat and is soon away with the fairies. Snow is predicted for Scotland and parts of the UK causing travel chaos, but it looks like we will be fine.