Well, I went down with the family bug on Monday. My husband went into work because his timetable just happened to be full of Years 11 and 12 who had stood down for their exams. That gave him the opportunity to do some urgent admin that was bothering him and also to go to the doctor. He came back to school to tell me what the doctor had said and I went home early with him and haven't been back since. We are both much better and will be back to work as usual on Monday.

I've pottered through a couple of long put off jobs when I got to the "walking wounded" stage so there have been some fringe benefits to being poorly this week. I've also worked out a to-do list of jobs in addition to the regular ones. I thought a reminder would be useful.

Still just the five eggs a day from the young hens. One of them is still laying an egg every day (around lunchtime) from sitting on the perch. Needless to say, it is often cracked. Sometimes the shell is cracked and the membrane is still ok so we can still use it in cooking. I hope she gets out of that habit sooner rather than later. They have two nest boxes between 7 of them so there is not too much competition for them. There must have been several weeks difference in age between the oldest and the youngest for two not to have started laying yet. We've had them 6 weeks now. They are nice to watch and they give me lots of laughs with their antics. And I've sold four boxes of eggs this week which means that they are contributing towards their keep now. : )