After breakfast, Ron and I drove int Aigburth (Liverpool) to visit Ron's cousin John and his wife Pat. Whilst we had both met John before, neither of us had met Pat. We were given a warm welcome and slipped easily into chatting about families, internet and the state of the world! John used to be a Merchant Seaman with Harrison Shipping Line, where Ron's sister Jean, and my friend Marjorie worked in the office.
It was really good to catch up with all their news and, after having taken the obligatory photographs, we left to have a drive around Speke and Hale Village. When Ron was in the Police Force, Speke was one of the places he worked, and I worked as a Secretary in the area. Hale Village is a gem from the past - thatched cottages and beautiful gardens. The Childe of Hale was reputed to be a giant a couple of centuries ago, and his grave is in the local churchyard. Outside and opposite the church is a tree trunk, beautifully carved into a (supposed) image of the Childe but which, unfortunately, is rotting and full of borers.
As I had offered to cook dinner tonight, we stopped at the supermarket and bought the necessaries. When we got back to Allan and Dot's, her great-granddaughter Annie was there (see photo). She is a beautiful litle girl, daughter of Dot's granddaughter Sarah and her husbad Jamie and brother to Alfie. Annie was born in Spain, where Sarah and Jamie have been living whilst Jamie starts up a branch of his business there. Dot and I took Annie for a walk (in her pram) and, after Sarah had picked her up, I started on the dinner.
Just as I was starting, Ellie, Dot's niece, arrived with her children Emily and Dylan, plus another of Dot's great-grandsons, Lewis and Dot's grandson Alistair, who also brought Alfie. Another full house!!
The kids are all very well behaved and also very friendly.
Tomorrow we're off to Yorkshire for our week by ourselves!
