September already? As a teacher it meant the beginning of a new year - scores of new names to learn, new pupils to get to know, all of them eager and keen to learn. We teachers would soon put a stop to that! September was also the month when daughter Eva was born, a little too soon after Emma and I were married to suit some people’s sense of what was right and proper. At the christening, Emma’s auntie May - who pointedly gave us two pair of single sheets as a wedding present - asked in a tone of feigned innocence “Was she premature?” The minister coughed discretely. “No,” I replied. “She was preconceived.” Actually, May Banks was not Emma’s real aunt. Emma only had one, but had others foisted upon her - all her mother’s female friends were called auntie something-or-other. Her auntie May sold made to measure corsets in a delicate (insipid) shade of pink. Does anyone remember Spirella?

It’s a while since I photographed Emma with her menagerie, for no better reason that the larger animals have been consigned to the guestroom. They were beginning to take over our bedroom. It’s the same lack of space that has curbed Emma’s desire to add to her zoo recently. However, she could not resist the cuddly lamb seen her amongst the carnivores. Since we live in sheep-country, I’m surprised she has taken so long to include one. I’m glad Emma doesn’t take these soft toys too seriously. An acquaintance of ours, who married late, always set a place at the table for his favourite teddy-bear. His much younger wife was surprised when he took a suitcase full of bears on their honeymoon cruise, and sat them all comfortably around their cabin - perhaps to watch the proceedings. Is that weird, or is it weird?