I really meant to move on. But the third piece of bad news has rocked us most of all, the death of a friend in a car accident. not a personal friend, in that we've never visited each other's houses, but we have known and liked each other for years; he was a well known and much respected and liked local businessman and he will be missed so much. I'm not superstitious, but I really hope that bad news comes in threes, because that means that's the last of it.

Uneventful day, for me. Squiffany was sweet, except that she bit my nose when I was expecting a kiss. She went to sleep in the afternoon, half an hour in her cot, then she woke up and cried (because she does not like the travel cot, but I prefer to have her downstairs where I can keep an eye on her) and I picked her up and she slept for another hour and a half on me. I dozed off myself.

Friday evening market at Lovely Next Village. Many friends there, including people I don't really know, but who are very friendly. Actually, I have a slight quandary which I would appreciate any views on - my son is thinking, at some time in the future, of raising a pig or two for meat. Now, I'm not a vegetarian and, being a professed animal lover, I accept that some may find that hypocritical. But I'm interested in ethically raised animals, humanely killed, and I have to accept that my choice to eat meat means that I'm responsible for animals being raised for the purpose. If I became vegetarian, I'd not touch dairy products either as I think that dairy herds are unnaturally and arguably cruelly treated. Hens can be raised ethically (there are compromises, but not ones the hens are aware of) so real free-range eggs are okay.

Now, we were talking about that this evening. One friend, who is vegetarian herself but her husband and sons aren't, once raised a pig - they called her 'Louisa for the Freezer' and, she says, the point is that you have to accept this from the start as you cannot kill and eat a pet. Several others agreed. But I remember a friend who kept a few sheep. There was one, Longlegs - yes, she was tall - who had a personality rare in sheep. She was different. The others were nice enough, and some of them had distinctive natures; but Longlegs was one on her own. My friend took a full-time job in the end and couldn't keep up her small hobby-flock. But she had to have a few sheep, so that Longlegs would not be lonely, as she had to stay in the family until the end of her days.
What if we had a pig like that?
But 'happy pig' until the time comes, I can respect that too. It's not my choice, it's Al's and Dilly's. Can I deal with it?