Cousins

Our niece, Emily, arrived yesterday to stay for a few days - the first on Liz's side of the family to do so. She's actually visiting her boyfriend in Singapore but has popped up to see us while he's busy at work. Nice to see her. A & N are very happy! They love their cousins and it's one of the drawbacks of being ex-pat that they don't see them as much as they'd like.

Was I close to my cousins at their age? Not especially as we were scattered around the country, although I had (still have!) quite a lot of them. However, I do remember fun times at my grandparents' golden wedding anniversary mucking around in the lift; visits to Llanthony; going to see Leeds United play in Leicester with John; games in the long back garden at Stanton St John near Oxford; a house swap with the Spooners (where I first saw a Tangerine Dream album); and the (at one time) annual Elliott get-togethers when we'd catch up on what we were all doing.