A very pleasant afternoon spent on the other side of the country (nice to live in a small country) with , Mr and jr. (Thanks for your hospitality: I hope we have the chance to return it soon.)

The way back was not so pleasant. The snow wasn’t heavy but the traffic was barely moving on the motorway – it took literally two hours to get as far as Ghent, not quite 50 km. We moved to the old roads, fossilised remains of the earlier pre-motorway road network, and finally got to B’s respite care place about 9 o’clock rather than the 7 o’clock we had promised; and were home by quarter past ten, the last section proving particularly slippery. So it took the guts of five hours for a journey that should have taken about two.

Tired now. Bed.