Today, I feel as if I have spent most of the time in the car. 250 miles of it! This morning I took Miles to RKade skate park and he had a really good session with his friends. As soon as I got back Fiona and I went to see her mum at the new Residential Home she is at in Barrow in Furness because her vascular dementia has deteriorated. I was slightly apprehensive about going because she was so happy in her old home but once I got there, after I found the flaming place, it was a really good establishment. Veronica was in a medium-size room with several other residents and they had been listening to a music video. She really glowed when she saw us and as I helped her over to the corner of the room where we arranged the chairs to show her photographs and have a good chat, Fiona and I introduced ourselves to all the ladies in the room. They were very nice people. As usual Veronica really enjoyed the photographs and it was a good discussion and focal point and she asked several questions. I found the whole experience in this new establishment a bit emotional but also paradoxically quite beautiful as well because she is in good hands it is a well-run place with kind workers the sort of place I would be happy to end up in! Particularly with all those ladies! Anyway, we never took the boys today because we did not know how much room there would be and it was a bit pinched but they will be coming next time or a least one of them. I am sincerely glad that she is in good hands. The journey there and back was tricky because there was an awful lot of fog which disappeared completely as we climbed up to the Stainmore pass, like a summer's day up there, and then reappeared again in the Eden Valley but a bit thinner. It was the same going back and the fog seemed to have thickened in the Vale of York. I was very careful to make sure I kept everything together when driving as well as being aware of other people because it is easy to run into somebody in fog and to be run into but all the drivers were behaving very sensibly. A very beautiful afternoon out which could correspond to duty but was in actual fact a real pleasure. God bless Veronica.

Yesterday I got out into the centre of Darlington again to do a Baha'i stall. It is interesting because as people see you there more often they become quite friendly and I got a lots of smiles as well as a bit more interest in the stall. With the guys down the bottom end of the traffic free zone playing panpipes it felt a bit like York! A nice time. In the afternoon I had a short walk around Durham with Fiona and the lads and that was lovely in the slightly hazy autumn sunshine. Fiona wasn't feeling so good so we cut short our walk but coming back over Elvet Bridge there was a really good blues singer and guitarist doing his stuff. Then eyes were caught by what looked like a waterfall plunging over a bridge. Someone had put in an art installation and it was really brilliant. We were cooing away about this and there was a guy stood next to us who I asked what was going on and he told me and he should have known because he was the artist responsible for the installation. I only found that out this morning when I saw him on the breakfast news! I just love chatting to people and asking questions because you never know who you will be talking to and he was very interesting and funny. A lovely afternoon out followed by the usual meatballs tomato sauce and pasta.