Clearing up

Alasdair's party last night seemed to go very well; no damage to the house except (another) cracked tile in the back room, and the party-goers did a bit of clearing up in the morning before they left, which I appreciated. Andrew had stayed overnight and I was chatting to him over breakfast, it's great to hear how much he is loving his course at university. There were still lots of spillages to clear up, and my biggest task was to mop the floor in the back room. It was the worst I've ever seen it; I think that earth from the garden had been tramped in across the floor which was already wet with beer, and so by the morning it had dried into a layer of dirt. This meant that I couldn't just mop it, I had to wet it first to soften it and then go over it again, which took longer. It was a beautiful morning so I opened up all the doors and the floor dried very quickly. Jack the cat was very pleased that the crowds had gone and especially enjoyed walking in and out of the back room, supervising the cleaning. David and Andrew helped by taking some bin bags of rubbish along to Gran's bin, however Alasdair had gone back to bed, exhausted from partying and then making breakfast for his guests! David and Andrew enticed him into getting up at lunch-time by bringing him a sandwich from Subway and the three of them had lunch in the garden, I could hear them chatting away. James planted my lemon and lime trees in their terracotta pots; they look great. Then he did some more gardening while I took Grandma into town to shop for clothes because she isn't feeling confident enough yet to go into town by herself. We went to John Lewis and she found a dress and jacket that she liked, I thought they were lovely. Then we had a coffee at my favourite table in the restaurant, which looks down Buchanan Street and from which the view looks like a Lowry painting. Home to find that Ally had done a lot more clearing up and the house is more or less back to normal. And so ends my Easter holiday. Has it been a good one? Yes, I think so; some walking, some useful work around the house, and plenty of relaxing.