Have had bad scrabble and Bitterne experiences this weekend. Have taken this long to get to a place where I can begin to share my pain. So please bare (sic) with me: ( i have always wanted to write (sic) after a deliberate spelling mistake. I have noticed that people tend to use 'bare' in this context when I think, or hope, they don't mean it.)

First, Scrabble. R beat me by 17 points, which is far too many. That was on Friday, and have not been able to look at a Scrabble board since, not even Junior version, which seems nothing like the real version. Kinder eggs. There is another Junior thing, which, frankly, I wish I had invented and not left to Mr Kinder. It is a rubbish toy, encased in air and brown solid resembling chocolate. It is the purchase of choice for both H and A, and I assume that they are not uniquely attracted to these items. So, if there are lots of children, kinder, enfants and what have you all over the globe like them, then Mr Kinder must have a lot of Oompah Loompahs working very hard.

Onto better things. Bitterne. Normally a subject of great joy, but I have to report two dismal failings I have found. Yes, even I, passionate fan of Bitterne, can see that the streets are not all paved with gold. Firstly, we went swimming there on Saturday afternoon at 2pm. One quite good thing is that only R has to pay to get in ( he opens the fire escape for the rest of the family). 2pm. Saturday. Now I am not Mr Britas, but Saturday afternoons strike me as being potentially good swimming times for many of the Bitterne populace with young family in toe (sic). Who can think of anything better than dodging plasters and veruccae in a tepid bath of urine? Well, I can, and Bitterne is a far cry from such a dismal scene. But, and this is the bad bit, it shuts at 3pm! OK, so an hour is more than enough, but some people don't get up as early as me ( 10.40am that day, since you ask) and I could have luxuriated in the jacuzzi another hour or so, no problems.

So, if you can picture the scene, we leave the delights of BLC behind us and head up hill and north east, to the library. While away a happy half hour browsing, until we hear those words we should have expected ' the library closes in 5 minutes'. At 4pm. Now, clearly I am the only peerson in the whole eastern side of Southampton who is not up with the lark on a Saturday morning, and everyone else has done 40 lengths, changed their library books and been bowling before 10am. Or am I missing something here? Feel horribly let down and was looking forward to telling you about my happy afternoon in my precious Bitterne.

Today I spent some time in the healing environment of Furzey Gardens with R H and A. It really is good for the soul to be there. We let A go off on a path on her own, only a tinsy bit away from us, and then saw a new sign which said 'DANGER area closed'. Never seen such a sign there before, never let A of the lead before, R managed a successful rescue and all lived happily ever after.