BACK TO NORMAL!

We've had a really lovely day today - and the puppies have been the stars!
Helen, Mum and Hannah arrived at 11.30, just after James turned up. The pups had lots of attention, and coped with it really well. They are incredibly sociable little things and will happily respond to a fuss from anyone - even people they don't know. Helen was surprised to see how much they've grown - even though she only saw them last week. Mum and Hannah just loved them!
They've had three walks today! Lily continues to be the most confident, Rose is still very nervous, but we have managed to get them both to have reasonable walks without having a sit down protest from Rose. Te only thing that upset both puppies was when Helen and Hannah took them out this afternoon and they encountered a tractor coming up the road. From what helen said, Rose had practically leapt into her arms at the tractors approach and Lily clearly felt that she needed to do this too. So there was a bit of puppy panic for a while, but they got over it and continued their walk without further incident.
James left at about 4.30 to go and get ready for the Michael McIntyre concert. He's going with Kate and two of his other friends, one of whom thinks he might have swine flu!
James has told him to wear a mask! Personally I think it might have been better if he had given it a miss rather than risk spreading it around.
Mum etc left at about 7.30 and after a quick tidy up I went through to play with the puppies. However, they were absolutely shattered due to missing their late afternoon sleep and play was out of the question and by 8.30 they were ready to settle down.
Oh, we had another visitor this afternoon. Paddy, the very talented tiler who has fitted all our wall and floor tiles, popped in on his way to see a new customer. he came to see the puppies and stayed for a cuppa and a chat. Actually, it's Paddy's fault that they missed their afternoon sleep.
Right, I'm going to go and watch 'Waterloo Road' in a minute. (Yes, I know it's nearly finished, but we've recorded it.) I really love that series and, having worked for ten years in a secondary school, I know that it is pretty true to life!!!