achoo

I think I caught my friend Julia's cold. At least, I sneezed about three hundred times while making Avery's breakfast and, as well, drove to school in what seemed like a fog, although it's a beautiful sunny day. Could our hugging and kissing and sharing lunch have contributed to this situation? Perhaps. I got to the car this morning to find it nearly buried under a lorry full of scaffolding equipment and lots of cheerful Irish dudes unpacking their wares, swinging boards and rods and whatnot with abandon over our dear convertible. Then just as I pulled cautiously out of the parking spot, a vagabond taxi and a marathon runner came out of nowhere, but I did not hit them. Then there was another scaffolding lorry parked opposite our little road, which I neatly avoided, only to be nearly run down by an enormous vintage Bentley and a motorcycle. Whew, I was glad to drop Avery off and get home safely and now I think I will drink an enormous glass of Lemsip and do some laundry.

Avery had a marvelous time at Westonbirt yesterday, for what was touted as a "Science Challenge" but actually sounded much more like a cross between a murder mystery weekend and a prolonged picnic. It's a school to which I was all prepared to send her, abandon London and move to the Cotswolds, she could ride every day, the house is gorgeous, and the food not to be despised... but it's a boarding school, it turns out. Shoot. Not even for a pony will she go to boarding school and I don't blame her. But it is a beautiful spot. The four of us parents stood around in Paddington Station last night, amid clouds of what we could only think was diesel fuel pollution, watching all the hapless commuters, waiting for our little darlings. What an interesting group of people: Italian Victoria, waiting for her little Jamie, German Claus sternly inquiring why the train was four minutes late, waiting for Sophia, and English rose Alison, wearing several pieces of jewelry of her own design and tapping her fingers impatiently for Coco. And there I was, a nice girl from Indiana... sneezing. Wish me luck.