It’s actually our wedding anniversary today, but we’re celebrating next weekend and so instead I’m bringing you an update on our daughters.

We sometimes take B on an excursion to the Chapel of the Holy Cross at Neerwinden, the next village to where she lives. It’s a small 18th century building, on the site of the two bloody battles of Neerwinden (in 1693 and 1793), which is open for visitors most of the time.

B generally lives in her own world, and while she doesn’t often refuse to engage with the rest of us, she doesn’t rush for opportunities to do so either. However, I got her to light a candle in the Chapel of the Holy Cross last weekend – it took three goes, but she got there in the end.

Meanwhile U continues to come to us for about a third of the time. She has recently decided that she no longer wishes to attend school; she is 19 so that’s fair enough really. She is always accompanied by a green Google Android and a spoon. Her vocabulary is limited but she knows many parts of the body.

Our family is not very much like other families. But we get by, thanks to support from a decently funded welfare state.