This is what’s known as a day off! We babysat Leli for an hour or so, which was the first time that Daria and Marina had met her. They got on like a house on fire! They helped her with her doll’s house – Marina tidying it up as they went along – what a godsend! They had also kindly brought a present for Leli – Lego Frozen for 4+, Leli was thrilled – and the girls had to help her to assemble it. Once Camilla had collected Leli, they got down to some work on their diaries. Later I gave them directions to Sainsbury’s, as we needed bread for lunch – as well as some doughnuts – the girls have been introduced to this wonderful British culinary masterpiece, so they were only too delighted to help out.

Following lunch, I gave them directions to go into town – I explained the whole Metro system, what signs that they should be looking for and where to get off – all of which we did the first day in Newcastle, when I pointed things out then too.

We toddled off to the station and disaster struck! The metro for this section is closed for a week for repairs. It does make sense that they do it in the summer holidays, when many are taking their holidays – but it was quite a nuisance. I explained everything to the girls, they were taking a shuttle bus to Four End Lane, then off to Monument as planned. On the return, again from Monument, the train would stop at Four End Lane and they’d get the bus to Monkseaton. Daria looked at me in horror! Being the very cruel maternal figure that I am, I told them to be brave and it would be fine – and it was! I got regular updates on their shopping trip and everything went to plan.

Once home, they did some more work in their books while I prepared dinner – another excellent British culinary experience – ‘fajitas’, as I’ve explained the Brits love all foods, most of which aren’t British. I think the favourite dinner is ‘Indian’, but pizzas don’t come far behind – so why not try some Mexican food. Luckily the girls loved it.

After dinner we had a 30-minute read – in silence – no phones! We had all brought blankets in, as it was a bit nippy – in fact this morning I put the heating on for an hour or so!

As I’m writing on 1^st August, I can now tell you that July was the 3^rd wettest on record, and many cities in the North West and Northern Ireland had the wettest July ever! Had it been a nice day, no doubt we could have gone down to the seaside, had some fish ‘n’ chips (now that used to be the height of British cuisine). The forecast is much the same for August – how unlucky have the girls been!! Luckily they’ve been great sports about the dreadful climate.

So, what to do once we’d finished reading. I managed to work out how to get into Netflix – without Karina’s help! I was quite proud of myself. As I scanned through, the girls were very keen to see Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. On the day that I had done least walking, I dozed off several times, but in all honesty, it isn’t as good as the Albert Finney version – or is it? Well, that’s to say that the scenery and cinematography is probably better. Branagh’s Poirot is funnier, I suppose – but he digressed from the original version, and I am a bit of an Agatha Christie purist. When I asked which of the three films that they had preferred, this one didn’t score well according to Daria and Marina!

And that’s it! Absolutely no history at all! Just a bog standard day in the North East of England.