Now for an olive nut

Now for an olive nut. That actually means a brazil nut still with a thin layer of hard-necked olive oil coating it, dating from the broken bottle disaster of the week before. Now after some days of rain and the sudden beginning of summer (or a spring sneak preview thereof) I returned to the scene of the 'crime' where I polluted the environment to the extent of spilling some drops of the broken oil on a spot outside our house. Never mind, though – time, the great healer, will soon put paid to that blemish. And indeed after another downpour it is almost gone. Would that all our sins could be washed away like that. Will the new pope be a lenient father confessor?

Book flight to Dub for July - to see long lost brother and wife. That will do us all a power of good. These anipodal realtionships are a strain for those of us who are non fully fledged members ofthe jet set.