Keen as

 It was another lovely dry and bright day. The Gorse Fox was up and about and ready for his weekly cousins' call. It went, much as usual, with trivia, banter and silly stories. As usual, it was over too quickly.

Betty and Barney Rubble were due, but the Gorse Fox had an hour to do some family tree research. Not much was achieved, but some tidying up was a by-product. Once Betty and Barney arrived we settled down for a chin-wag over coffee and biscuits. We caught up on all the family news and ailments and their current exercise of buying a new car. They seem to be intent on driving a good deal and downsizing to a single car. The current main (only) contender is the Toyota Corolla.

We all headed into Bognor Regis and parked on the front. We had a table booked at Mustard's. We had a lovely lunch. The Silver Vixen started with ham hock followed by fish and chips; the Gorse Fox started with Thai fish cakes followed by calves' liver and mustard mash. We sat and chatted for a couple of hours over lunch then made our way home.

Back home the Gorse Fox put on some tea just as the phone rang. The Silver Vixen answered. It was a dear Aunt. A dear Aunt who is not known for her brevity. A dear Aunt who is known for her repetition. A dear Aunt who we will be seeing tomorrow. The Gorse Fox carried on with some tea and a dessert for Betty and Barney until the Silver Vixen was able to extricate herself and rejoin us.