Here are some sketches from life that my cousin Laura did of Alec a couple of weeks ago. I think she was very brave to follow him round with her sketchbook: she much prefers to have the time and space to get every part of her incredibly detailed work exactly right.
1. The B&B owners say how well-behaved Alec was; the taxi driver who took us to the station let him sit in the driver's seat while we were packing the book; and the London cabbie said he is "a smashing talker" (they'd had a bit of a chat about whether London Bridge was going to fall down as we were driving over it).
2. The little clump of violets by the back door seems to have doubled in size while we were away (apart from that the house is exactly as we left it).
3. I settle the over-wrought Alec down for an afternoon nap and then Nick and I go through our photos and talk about our best bits of the trip.
