It is February now and we are back to Real Life.

The older grandchildren are back at school, and the new boys have started happily, so their families tell me. You can read all about one of them here. I think his mother is recovering her equanimity and adjusting to the transformation of her little one into a schoolboy. I don't need to worry about my own equanimity quite yet, as there are still two grandchildren with a few years to go between them. (I am, of course, quite happy to have the tally increased! I do love babies.) But I don't remember being weepy when my children started school - just delighted and proud.

I went to school myself today. I started having One to One classes on my iMac. It was a slow learning process for me as the concepts and structures sank in rather slowly. Time and repetition might increase the learning rate. I sure hope so. Anyway, apart from being embarrassed by my slowness, and wondering whether my nice kind tutor would go away afterwards and say to his mates, 'Oh boy, you should have had that sheila - she was so slow', it was good. My head is not full yet, so I intend to keep pouring stuff into it. That's the theory, anyway.

On Monday the opera study group recommenced. It was great. Tomorrow one of the Italian classes resumes. We are all looking forward to it. After a couple of months of rest, it might take some time before we recover some fluency. Choir practice is tomorrow night. Soon I have to start on my task for the first lesson of the other Italian class next week. It is rather daunting - the development of the Italian language. One of my good mates says she has just the book I need. You can't keep a good librarian down.

Now for some splenetic reaction to a court sentence. An 18 year old girl has been sentenced to several months jail for a graffiti offence.  I would have sentenced her to the same period, not of prison, but of actually removing graffiti. All day long, every day. In the hot weather, too. Let her know what the victims go through. There!

And a mild domestic gripe. Having splurged on buying DVDs in the last fortnight, I thought tonight I might have a bit of couch potato time. But Dr P wanted to watch Two and a half Men.  I can't stand that program, especially not the obnoxious brat in it, but Dr P (who is a  bloke, of course) thinks it is funny. So I kindly let him, and retired here instead to contribute to the world's vast store of deathless prose. But when will I get the chance to watch the entire Palliser series, When the Boat Comes In, and The Secret Army? Or the ones the children gave me for Christmas? I also bought Brideshead Revisited, but don't need to watch that for ages yet, as it has recently been back on the free to air TV. 

I know it is a good thing to stimulate the economy, especially now, but I think I have done my bit, and should keep away from the shops for quite some time to come.