Yesterday was Father's Day in Australia and for once, the whole family, including Tom, went out for lunch. Not wanting to stray far, we went to the same Thai restaurant that hosted our wedding reception some four years ago. When I think back about the amount of administrative work I have done since that blessed betrothal - visa applications, police checks, drivers licenses, more visa applications, resumes, medicals and so forth, then I think it is wise that one never attempts to contemplate that endless stream of form-creation and form-filling in advance. That way lies madness.

This morning on a walk I saw hundreds, possibly thousands of small birds swarming, flying in short darting patterns and swoops, from east to west. I could not tell whether they were wrens or swallows, each birds velocity and eccentric manoeuvring rending it a blur. None came to rest. The Spring is definitely upon us. The birds have said so.