Picnic and conversation

We went for a picnic yesterday - a four mile climb into the hills to sit by a small lake. Bernie and I (and Goldie, our golden retirever) then decided to walk home (another 10 miles over the hills) while the others went back by car.

It gave me and Bernie the chance to be together and chat about something or nothing for a few hours.

In fact we got talking about love and marriage; about some friends whose parents are splitting up, and another firend who had a baby by a boy she has since split with halfway through the sixth form.

This was sex education as it's meant to be, in my view - an intimate conversation between parent and child about the meaning of love, the value of waiting, and the purpose of marriage.

And it was a gloriously sunny day, too!