Goodnight Harriet

A very tragic day today. Once again the weather was appalling and we found Mary's pet hamster, Harriet, dead in her cage. The poor creature had been suffering from a growth on her side for a little while and we knew the end would be soon - we are so thankful that she did not die whilst we were away and being looked after by our neighbours. Mary was taking part in a Remembrance Service at school this morning so decided to break the sad news after she returned from school. I went along to the school service getting soaked by an inconsiderate driver of a white van as I walked from my car. Mary was part of a group of her class telling the story of Anne Frank. Considering that she had only been given her lines to read when she got back from the States, she did really well - I was so proud of her and felt really upset that we would be breaking such sad news to her later in the day. As it happened, Mary did take the news very well - obviously upset but she had been expecting it for a little while. It doesn't make the pain go away but it is easier. I sat with her this afternoon and we watched a few episodes of "On the Buses" which cheered her up. Tonight Sara was out again on her Vie business (she also spent most of today at Porton Down selling her cosmetics) leaving me to run the House Group and look after the children. We continued our discussion this evening on the topic of the Sermon on the Mount in front of a roaring log fire. Mary joined us for some of the meeting and our friend Dawn was great at comforting her.