At 7.45 we woke up to heavy and still-falling snow. There was already about 4cm on the ground.

Today Elizabeth and I travelled to sunny slightly damp Kent for a barbecue for my cousin Laura’s 18th birthday. Depite taking the secret back route out of Reading to avoid all the Reading Festival traffic, we were late, which we blamed on the subtly different but equally congesting Bank Holiday traffic (this weekend is historically the busiest weekend of the year for travel). It was, however, partly due to having to make a detour to Bluewater shopping centre to buy gift certificates.

Anyway, we arrived, chatted, drank, marvelled at my mother’s ability to locate cocktails, and ate well-cooked food – aside from the potatoes which we later discovered had only been cooked for 2 minutes instead of the required 7 due to an ongoing dispute between my aunt Dawn and the cooking instructions on the back of the packet. There was also much cake.

Found out from my aunt Jackie, who is a career teacher, that both of my second cousins are now qualified teachers. It seems the family profession, which was once the postal service, is slowly veering towards the education sector. My aunt Alison is progressing with her medical training, and can now diagnose most problems between the neck and groin, with some exceptions; as she put it, “no arms, no legs, no head – male genitalia only.”

Right, enough of that – on with the photos!