meet alfie

Permit me to introduce you all to Alfie, our first grandchild. He was born by Caesarian section at Kettering General Hospital at 8.27 on July 26 and weighed in at 8lbs 11oz. He's got a pair of lungs that would make a drill sergeant weep in despair and, as you can see, an equally charming line in gestural communication. He has, one might say, attitude!

Publicly, a big thankyou to everyone who was part of his birth. One little point to the hospital signwriters (who are presumably graduates of the George W Bush School of Literacy): "foetal" is spelled FOETAL and not FETAL.

Seriously though, it's a happy time for us and we owe this happiness to a number of people many of whose names we don't know. They'll probably never read this but, if they do, thank you for a truly remarkable gift: your labours continue to be appreciated and will not have been wasted.