Ottawa 25 kilham 12

This is not a football score
but the temperature today - Your Mother looks in the Telegraph every morning to compare temperatures and there was something predictable as this is a bank holiday weekend in the UK.

It appears as though you're having an Indian summer in Ottawa although we did get good weather last weekend and had a couple of barbecues.

We have a gardener called Stan and his wife cleans the house - he is a farm worker but they are paid only the minimum wage even though the farmers are multimillionaires.

Well they go way to Ibetha every year to the same hotel - the accumulate so that I pay them only once a year and this is about 600 pounds - the Garden has the lawn cut back and front regularly irrespective that the house is empty. It is much better for us when we leave as we can and it is spotless on return.

When I drink at the Star pub in the evening - I hear all the farming stories - one chap was telling me last night that he has a farm with over 1000 lambs and supplied Marks & Spencer's for the past seven years but they had to discontinue for reasons which are hard to believe. Apparently the quality of his Lamb is proportional to the lushness of the grass - from round here it was such high-quality Lamb but he couldn't supply insufficient proportion for M&S and punters complained from the inferior lamb from his competitors.

He is a real character and kept me in stitches when he finished at agricultural college he went for a year to Wyoming in the 1990s- riding on a horse and looking after cattle - even in this day and age they carry a gun to stop the Indians russling. He was 30 miles from the town and apparently this was the back of beyond and he said the workers there spent all their life on the farm and were completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Everyone called him the Englishman and tears came to his eyes when he told me he recently went back after 15 years and they all rushed up to him to pat him on the back and still remembered him/ he said is never worn a watch since then - apparently their motto was you either work or drink or Sleep.

It's sad to hear really as Bridlington is dependent on good weather over the bank holiday - they have spent 6,000,000 pounds on improving the area - mainly on the sea front and the new Spar Theater. Plus today they have opened a huge carpark for park-and-ride. Even the swimming pool has been revamped and you will see when you are over in August.

It's a pity for James and family as it is too cold in the Lake District for children - I doubt whether the log cabin they are staying in, have any form of heating. Only Maggie will enjoy.

We spoke to Philippa on the telephone yesterday but she didn't wish to come down for the weekend to kilham - she said she was going to apply for a couple more jobs and rest whatever that means. She's getting bored I hope she can get a job soon.

She goes away to Crete the week before we fly out to Ottawa - we are fortunate in having a BA flight to Gatwick which is not affected by the strike.

I think this time that BA has broken the unions - if you listen to the Liverpudlian and Glaswegian voices of the leaders - they are all ex-Communists from the bad old days and this is the last bastion of union power when they have almost all BA to its knees over the past years.

Your mother buys more presents for your children so I hope they enjoy and we've got a small something for Adam. He will be able to accompany me to the Earl of Essex pub with his bulging wallet but I think the drinking age is 21 in Canada also. I will be able to judge his driving skills as well as Annas. I assume you are not going to buy them a car.

Just a short reminder Angela but can you make sure the car insurance covers me as I am not intending to hire car but may go for a drive out downtown as their is no bus if my memory is correct.

I received a short e-mail - a misnomer really as only four words on Chris's iPhone - he obviously has the latest technology. He told me that his contract has been extended until December and we will see him in London.

As I stated previously the LED television /Blu-Ray from John Lewis did not work properly they are sending out the technician on Thursday next week to Queens Quay - as it is brand-new I thought they would've replaced it.

We have done very little today other than going into Driffield to do some shopping - you will see when your here that it is a superb place to shop as many upmarket. All the produce is a local and we made the spaghetti Bolognese today and had fresh strawberries and cream. The local asparagus tastes fantastic.

We go to the library every other day as your mother is an avid reader of biographies mainly film stars and models - we returned one today on Elizabeth Taylor.

What I suggest for Italy is that we all take two paperbacks and a bottle of hooch - we can liaise and some take gin others Bacardi and your mother likes Bailey's etc. we will buy the Pepsi and soft drinks as well as the wine and beer as we have a week beforehand and should be able to find a hypermarket.

I am passing time to avoid five hours of the Eurovision song contest! Even Terry Wogan has called it a day