I am sorry to have left you for so long. We had a grand weekend. I have no pics yet, but I hope someone will send me some. No knitting. I had finished the corrugated ribbing on Alexander’s second-attempt vest, and was ready to establish the Calcutta Cup itself – but that required a good deal of counting, not to be attempted in a houseful of jolly people.

Nor have I felt very strong. Better, perhaps, today – and the Cup is now established.

James tasted the kimchi and says it’s good. So it seems to me. But is it fermented? I remain disappointed at how little bubble-activity I saw in there. I’ve started eating it anyway, and look forward to attempting another batch. When chillies become available from British chilli-farms next month, I also want to try making a fermented hot sauce.

This is a second-Tuesday, and a new Fruity Knitting is up. I will take it to bed with me soon.

I have nothing else to report, so I will tell you a story….

Some years ago, when the financial system seemed about to collapse about our ears, my husband decided that we should take a wadge of cash out of the bank and stow it somewhere. It seemed to me at the time that this was not a particularly good idea – if the financial system did collapse, what use would a fistful of paper be? We’d be better off with potatoes, and a rifle.

But he was determined to do it, so we did. There is a wonderful little cupboard off his study, full of his paper. He stowed the money somewhere in there.

(Dark, but I think you can get the idea. There's a good deal more-of-the-same, just out of sight to the left.)

By the end of his life, he had himself forgotten exactly where it was. Recently I set Archie to work in there, offering 10% if he could find it. He tried hard, but failed.  With all those people here at the weekend, I set them at it. They tried, in relays.

And James succeeded. I gave him his 10%.

It’s nice to have the money, but even nicer, in a way, to have closed the book on a silly episode.