Fiona and Tom's last day

Uncle, mother and son, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Fiona and Thomas left us yesterday, it was just a short visit. Short but sweet. The three of us spent the day in the Oosterpark while Fred had the house to himself, time to catch up on school work and the newspapers.

We spent most of the time throwing a tennis ball around, Thomas being too shy to join in with other lads kicking a football around. To make it interesting we were throwing the ball with our left hands and catching it left-handedly as well, the catching being much easier than the throwing, strangely enough. And, of course, the more on ethought about what one was doing, the more awkward it felt.

For some strange reason, I asked Thomas if he would like a nhair cut and before long the both of us were having our hair cut at Aladin's, a Turkish barbers in Oost. Thomas wanted his hair short and spikey and that was what he got, and he looked really good, no too thuggish. Mine was more of a tidy up operation, now I can go to my interviews looking smarter and more polished. It was nice to talk to teh Turkish barber there, hearing his Turkish accent, reminding one of teh great holidays we have had in that country. The political situation there looks a bit precarious, but I am very much in favour of Turkey retaining its secular nature, as I believe that the separation of state and religion has been a vital factor in Turkey's development, and it is something which needs to be defended.

A quick dinner at home - spaghetti all'amatriciana, before walking the now heavy bag up to Amstel Station where they caught the train to Centraal and then Schiphol. I was sad to see them go, but glad they had maanged to have such a nice time over here, Amsterdam looking at its best at this time of the year, with the sun shining. The first of May last year, when Diana and her boys were over, saw it raining all day, delaying the planned start of work to build the new fountain.

Good to see Liverpool beat Chelsea with penalties at the end of the match last night and let's hope that Mun Uited do what they need to do against AC Milan this evening.