My mother has been visiting this week and it has reminded me how there are times when you just need your mum. No one else will do. Thanks Mum. I think that 5 hours non stop shopping was quite an achievement :)

When we were kids she introduced us to the most wonderful children's book ever. For those who know it and for those who don't (and all the children I have taught do!) that book is 'Flat Stanley' by Jeff Brown, who sadly died last year. When my brother and I were little we used to beg Mum to read it to us over and over. It is simply the story of a boy named Stanley Lambchop who has a picture board accident and wakes up one morning totally flat. Half an inch thick. He has lots of mini adventures before he decides that being flat is not all it is cracked up to be and his brother assists him in regaining his correct shape. Doesn't sound amazing but it stuck with my brother and I for many years. So you can imagine my surprise when a small parcel dropped through my letter box containing a 40th Anniversary Special Edition. It had no message, no name. Just that. It transpires that it was my brother who had seen it and ordered us both a copy. Inevitably it made me cry. Which in turn made my mother tearful as it was clear how much the two of us had loved the book she had chosen for us all those years ago. So thank you Mother for choosing it and thank you Dan for sending it.