Earlier this morning we left our visitors (Kathy and Paul - parents of our daughter-in-law Kristin; on their first visit to the UK) languishing at the back of a very long queue in terminal 3 at Heathrow, where the system was down for flights to the USA. Luckily they were in very good time for an 11.15 flight, so here's hoping they got away safely.

We've had a busy 9 days with, unfortunately, several of the party struggling against severe chesty colds. As you know, I was barely recovering when the guests arrived, but armed with anti-biotics soon started to look up; Ed was half way through his cold but still coughing and spluttering; Richard was feverish Easter weekend but recovering with cough now and Paul has been ill throughout the week...

Anyway, we made the best of it. Kristin has been in charge of the camera, so links to photos come later, but we've had a good family Easter followed by intensive sight-seeing for Kathy and Paul under the guidance of Kris and Ed, as Rick and I were back at work Tuesday-Thursday.

We were 11 over Easter, as the family came down from Lancashire to meet K&P. Georgia tried on her possible bridesmaid's dress and looked very pretty, so we decided it was the one to go with. Jake expressed a strong desire for an outfit to include a waistcoat, so that was settled too.

We all went to Hampton Court, where Henry VIII's Palace was the focus of activities from the costumed guides - we met Catherine of Aragon, and saw Anne Boleyn looking like she had a secret, and Henry himself appearing very pleased with life... The weather was showery and bitterly windy, but luckily the sun came out just as we ventured round the gardens and the Maze, so we saw it all at its Spring best.

We tried to see the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on Easter Sunday, but they changed the day on us, so we walked the South Bank, with views of the famous landmarks and quick visits to Tate Modern and Francis Drake's pirate ship, where Georgia and Jake helped to fire the cannon at the Spaniards.

We thought Kew Gardens was the best idea for Easter Monday, where the crowds might be fewer. It was quite cold, but again the sun kept popping out, so in combination with tours round all the glass houses and museums, we managed to keep warm and see most of the Spring highlights (including the Henry Moore Exhibition of outdoor monumental works).

I was back at work on Tuesday, but the gang went to Westminster Abbey and Downing Street Trafalgar Square and the Art Galleries, and on to Covent garden and Leicester Square, before meeting up in China Town for early dinner before going to see Lord of the Rings at the Theatre Royal. All reviews we've seen recently have been unfavourable, so I was pleased when a work colleague said she'd really enjoyed it. Except for Richard, who doesn't really like musicals anyway, we all thoroughly enjoyed the show too. The set and stage craft, in combination with lighting and special effects were absolutely terrific, as were the costumes. I liked the folksey Hobbit music and elfish tunes too. True, the plot was vastly curtailed and the characters didn't really get a chance to be fully established, but I only thought of that in retrospect - the sum was definitely greater than the parts.

Wednesday the team tried again and failed again to see any Guard changing at the Palace, then went to St. Paul's and a cruise down the river to the Tower of London, then walked over Tower Bridge and along past Ken's pickled egg to London Bridge station, back to Brixton, where I met them and we went out for dinner.

On Thursday they went to Borough Market and had lunch at The George Inn (the ancient galleried tavern) then walked to Shakespeare's Globe for a tour round and the London Eye. Back to Kenley for dinner, bearing sausages and pies from the market to eat.

Rick and Kris stayed over again on Thursday, as Friday was Rick's 30th birthday (!!!) and we set off relatively early for Avebury, via West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill, and on to Stonehenge. We thought we might get to Salisbury, but didn't in the end. Instead we came home for dinner - more pies - and a competitive game of Scrabble to end the visit. We thoroughly enjoyed having our visitors and look forward to meeting again soon in Michigan, at the Wedding of the Year!

Today's itinerary, after the airport trip, consists mainly of laundry and tidy up!

I note I was writing about a week of illness on 8 March. It's now 19th and I went to the doctor's this morning, as I'm almost speechless and still drowning in phlegm from the same infection, or rather a bacterial offshoot of it. He has given me anti-biotics for "some crackling at the bottom of your left lung" - can't think how that got there, haven't had pork for ages...
Anyway, I croaked in sick and have just confirmed I'll be off again tomorrow, as a voiceless teacher isn't much use to anyone.
So why am I sitting here feeling guilty, as if I were skiving? Well, partly because I'm usually in rude health and rarely call in sick, and partly because I am inadvertently extending my long weekend holiday, but mainly because I've got all the ingredients for chocolate Easter Nests sitting ready to go to school for today and tomorrow! It's not as if we'll carry on with them after the weekend break, either.
Hey ho, such is life, she says, coughing ruefully and blowing her nose.

Just had an interesting if fairly pointless couple of hours of genealogy, showing that HM the Queen is connected to the LOCKING family via her BURNABY ancestors (her mother's maternal line).

The Queen Mother's mother was Cecilia Nina CAVENDISH-BENTINCK (1862-1938). Her mother was Caroline Louisa BURNABY (1832-1918) whose 2x gt grandparents were the Rev Andrew BURNABY (1702-1786) and his wife Hannah BEAUMONT. This couple had Andrew (1732-1812) the Queen's ancestor, and Thomas Beaumont BURNABY (d 1823), who was the father of Mary Wootton BURNABY (1791-1869) who married, in 1824 one Rev Henry LOCKING MA.

I would be more excited; except unfortunately I know very little about the Rev Henry and certainly can't yet connect him to any branch of my own family...

I know he was born in 1796 in Newark, to china, glass and eartheneware dealer Thomas LOCKING and his wife Mary BURTON. He married in his wife's parish of Asfordby in 1824, and in 1825 had a daughter, Harriette Marie in Melton Mowbray, named after his sister and mother. He received his degrees from St. John's College, Cambridge and was for a time curate of Hazlebeach, Northants, under the patronage of his wife's family. He died in Glascomb, Radnorshire, Wales in 1849. I can't find him in the 1841 census, or his widow in the 1851 census. I don't know anything about who his grandparents may have been.

So, interesting, but not connecting yours truly to anyone related to the Queen!

Here is Asfordby Church and the old Rectory, built by Mary's father Thomas Beaumont BURNABY.

I succumbed to the prevailing very nasty cold bug this last week - started feeling offish on Friday and was really unwell by Monday, intermittently feverish with sore throat and rattling chest which gradually transformed into terrible head cold. Still feeling not fully recovered, with bunged up nose, chesty cough etc, today.

So I wasn't quite on top form for my parent interviews on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! They all went well, however, with mostly compliments and recognition that my summary of their child's character was just. In truth, even the trickiest characters have made lots of progress.

So I came home Thursday evening and fell into bed and didn't get up again till Friday afternoon, since when I've just lazed around with a book and the computer and the TV.

With any luck, I'll be actually fit to work properly by Monday.

Following on from a conversation I was having with Jack about "organised exits" - when someone knows they only have a certain amount of time left and arrange it according to how they want to be remembered by their loved ones - I was interested in an article in yesterday's Telegraph about Mothers' Day.

It quoted a number of touching memoirs people had sent in of mothers, but then Justine Roberts queried how much we actually do know about our mothers. She cited her mother recounting wartime experiences to Justine's husband that she herself had never heard and wondered how many more secrets her mother had.

Apparently Elma Van Vliet had the same idea and has used the Dutch tradition of Commonplace books to come up with a book for mothers of quotes and poems on themes like childhood, teenage years, hobbies and having children, interspersed with questions for the mother to answer, in writing, in the book, which is then handed on as a keepsake to the children.

She listed 10 questions every daughter should ask her mother:

What kind of parents did you have?

What are the most precious memories you have of your mother and father?

Were you a rebellious teenager?

Have you ever had your heart broken?

What kind of child was I when I was little?

What are your best bits of advice on rearing children?

What have you taught me that you are most proud of?

What changed in you when you had children?

If you had the chance to change one thing about the way you raised me, what would it be?

What do you think everyone should have seen or done in their lifetime?

Some of those questions still seem a little self-centred on the child, to me! But I was pleased to see that my own mother and I have already discussed all of these questions over the years, in relation to our lives, and her relationship with her mother and mine with my son. So I'm feeling a) a little smug, and b) very proud of my Mum.

And did I get a Mother's Day card this year? Is the Pope a Jew?