See her jump on the trampoline, oh yeah! Next stage of our UK travels take us to Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, to the residence of my old friend from university, Nick, and his family. As at my brother's house, a trampoline features in the garden. Here is Monika airborne over a field full of cows above. Below: Nick's cottage, rendered in the style of a 1930s Frank Newbould railway poster.
This stained glass window in Tissington Church brings together a few strands recently visited by this blog; rainbows, floods and the importance in life of hope.
Daughter Monika (above right) and her cousin Hoavis making their way up the Tissington Trail from Ashbourne to the beautiful Derbyshire village of Tissington (below). Today was the second day in a row with no rain (the first such days since leaving Warsaw over a week ago).
Today we visited the Polish church in Manchester to pray for the recovery to health of my father-in-law, Tadeusz Lesisz. He designed the interior of the church, including the stained glass windows, most of which have a patriotic theme. The above tryptich, dating back to the 1980s, quotes poet Adam Mickiewicz: "Thus you will miraculously return us to our fatherland's womb". And indeed so it was that fate ordained that our family would move from London to Warsaw, capital of a free Poland. Note the three crosses of the Gdansk Shipyard in the left hand panel.
Next stop Manchester. Eddie (in rear view mirror, above) and I hopped on an excellent bus service, the TransPeak, which joins Nottingham to Manchester via Derby, Matlock, Buxton and Stockport. An all-day ticket for this entire route for one adult and one accompanied child - a mere £7.80. The bus journey was a delight - not least for the stirring scenery of the High Peaks and the lovely stone architecture of the Derbyshire Dales towns. Everyone on board was polite and friendly, the driver helpful and informative, the bus was comfortable and punctual.
Ten miles or so up the Derwent Valley from Duffield is Cromford, home to what is considered the world's first factory, where the industrial system was created by Sir Richard Arkwright in the 1770s. Today we visited this UNESCO World Heritage site, and the preserved canal and railway infrastructure surrounding it. Right: the mill race that powered the water wheels that drove the machines that spun the thread in the factory buildings behind - built over 235 years ago. Industry - source of the wealth of the British nation (well that plus slavery and empire).
This evening my brother and I attempted again to go for a walk - with his younger son we drove to Belper to see the River Derwent (above) which had burst its banks a few weeks ago. The sky was glowering, the rain beginning to threaten; as we returned to the car, the clouds cleared the west, and low, strong sunlight illuminated the valley. (Below) The resulting rainbow, beautifully framing Belper and the Derwent Valley. Let's hope the passing of the rainclouds means some better weather tomorrow. My sister-in-law tells me that full rainbows are often visible from their house in the evenings - as indeed they are from our house 1,200 miles away. The rainbow was the same size and intensity as this one.
It's official. Since the British began keeping detailed meteorological records nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, there has not been such a wet summer. It's thoroughly miserable. We were about to go out for a late-afternoon stroll, all equipped in wet-weather gear, when the heavens opened and we had to turn back. I am reminded of the words of a white Rhodesian farmer at Heathrow, fleeing Mugabe's regime: "Miserable grey little island - I cannot live without sun or servants".
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