Mum and dad live in Cornwall so I don’t get to see them as often as I would like. After an epic 9 hour journey they arrived on tuesday evening. A lovely evening was had with my parents, daughter and partner, son and my first grandson.

The simple pleasure of a shared meal, lots of laughter and then some table tennis in the garden was wonderful. Of course, my grandson was centre of attention, only upstaged every so often by my black Labrador Tilly, who seemed to think that the various baby snacks were in fact for her. A nine month old lad and the dog already seem to be doing a great double act.

Wednesday was spent, firstly doing a BBC radio interview on the enterprise zone, followed by a series of email exchanges on a variety of council issues.

Then it was off shopping with everyone in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter. I did wonder how many hours I would be camped outside shops with my grandson but as it turns out things were much more organised. A time had been booked, the dress already seen on the Internet, so just a try on sorted everything out.

Oh yes, and the inevitable, “dad I’ve forgotten my credit card” sketch to sort out. And just so no one things I am mean cash has already been transferred to said daughter for said dress, amongst other things!!! I have been assured it will all be sorted out, hmmmm.

I have discovered today that my grandson likes dogs, sticks, sharing food with dog, whacking everything with a stick and crawling round in circles until the next accident waiting to happen is discovered. I know who the VIP is in our house and it certainly is not me :).