Virginia and I went for a long weekend down in Kent, staying in a B&B in Canterbury (cold cold, screws loose on door handle, light not working). We had two meals at the Old Gate Inn, a convenient hostelry near where we were staying in. I admired the way beautiful waitress Katya smiled there, like feeling the glow from a brazier. We went to church in Tenterden where Ginny went to the Sunday school – good service and the Minister was getting involvement from the people. Low brow which suits me. Saw Ginny’s old school in St Michaels before doing Leeds Castle bitterly cold wind so Ginny didn't head for the maze. We indulged ourselves in history - recent history such as the Second World War represented by the tunnels beneath Dover Castle. Impressive room housing the repeater equipment. The unsavoury lives of those who have been called Kings of England were instanced at Leeds Castle (interesting seeing where the great powers of today the G8 have met.) The buried time of the Romans underneath the shops in Canterbury. Like going back in time. Canterbury Cathedral itself is like a historical scrapbook, an ever-changing monument.

A visit to Uganda with a small Christian charity Afrinspire that I help set up computers for which are sent to Uganda and other African countries. In April people from that charity went to see projects supported in Uganda, and I tagged along to see Africa for the first time. This wasn't a tourist trip - we didn't see gorillas in the mist, or other vistas of nature which I hope to see one day. But we did see Uganda from street level and got to meet Ugandans face to face. It was a real privilege to go there, and be welcomed so warmly by those I met. Excuse an attempt at a stream of consciousness, or perhaps a Nile of consciousness. My memories not a coherent whole. Instead scenes and sights and sounds and smells tastes into my thoughts tumble. Where start I? Above the clouds? Above the sands? Desert plain blank featureless snatches. Yet circles large circles written onto the dry expanse. Signs omens of? On the flight map names legends are displayed - Serengeti, Nile, Lake Victoria. I am being borne towards someone else's world.

We're not exactly settled in yet but please look around our new home. Feel free to put your feet up and rest on the sofa (if there's space which there isn't.) Or imagine you're signing our imaginary visitors book. The move went pretty well and NTL connected us up to TV (so I could watch Dr Who meet a Dalek), the telephone, and broadband internet (so I could upload these webpages.) A lot remains to be sorted out - the fridge freezer and other equipment doesn't quite fit into the gaps, loads of boxes remain to be unpacked, the gas may not be connected. But I'm grateful to be here in what I hope will be more relaxing than the last house.

Virginia and I spent a long weekend 24th to 27th June in the North Norfolk area. On the way up we visited the Thursford Collection during a real downpour on the Friday. There we saw the nifty footwork of resident organist Robert Wolfe on a Wurlitzer. How can the brain control so much? We overdosed out on stately homes of which there are plenty in the area. We saw Blickling and Holkham and Felbrigg but I confess these in my mind all blur into each other. The old faded paintings, libraries of uniformly bound books, false doors through which servants entered, deer parks, ice houses, elaborate silver tableware, sugar nippers, manicured formal gardens seem to be the form for the houses of the nobles. We stayed in a guest house in Little Walsingham which is even more historical than a stately home. A site of pilgrimage for over a millennium, it had a mixture of shops including statues and icons if you wanted to take some holiness home with you. We had a good tarragon chicken in the Black Lion on a very wet day - the Black Lion was the coat of arms of a Queen Philippa.

Virginia had an inner urge to see Legoland so we went down to the Windsor area on the August Bank holiday weekend. Not an ideal weekend as it was the last weekend in the school holidays, and the bank holiday weekend to boot. Not an ideal weekend as the B&B we stayed in in Englefield Green was a lemon. Tiny dilapidated room. Fellow 'guests' who returned in the early hours to play loud music. We did however see Savill Gardens (enjoyable), Legoland (best seen with the heart of a child,) and Windsor Castle (getting in was like boarding an airplane,) and had Sunday lunch with an aunt so mission accomplished on that front. Getting into Windsor Castle was rather like boarding an airplane, but security checks are understandable. Once inside the scale of the place, and the serried ranks of portraits and china and swords and rifles and ornaments impressed. As they were meant to. Some houses are just for living in. But Windsor Castle is not. The size of the place, the solidity, the opulence, the order of the place are all designed to make an impression. To intimidate, to strike awe. But behind the pomp and circumstance there's only ordinary mortals.

Houghton Hall was the seat of Robert Walpole Britain's first prime minister, later associated with the Cholmondeley family (pronounced Chumley.) Fine set of rooms but not a coherent style. Good gardens.

Biggin Hill air show. A mass of people from families on outings to enthusiasts with prodigious lenses on their cameras. A mass of stalls from perfume shops through funfair antics to authentic pilot uniforms. Ice cream and burger stalls. Like being at the beach save it was airfield grass. Hard to find Virginia's male relatives again after I wandered off in search of amenities. A long search it was too. We were there to see a circus of flying machines. It had a lot in common with the circus. Aerobatics rather than acrobatics. Dizzying. Mad behaviour like the wing walking. Displays of power like the jump jet standing still or what impressed me a helicopter doing a loop. Nostalgic flights from WW2 aircraft. We left before the end which may have saved us time - the access roads to Biggin Hill are not good.

Jigsaws are a very pleasant way of passing the time. It's taken a little while but here is Virginia celebrating her latest completed jigsaw puzzle.

Christmas with the soft toys - or how our soft toys got into the festive mood.