We went down to Kent at the weekend to visit M's family; our niece Niamh is six months old now which is hard to believe. She is eating butternut squash (very sophisticated, M says he never tasted such a thing until he was thirty) and just about standing up in a wobbly sort of way, if she has something to hold on to. In the photo she is modelling the smocked dress that her nanny made her, and her auntie is modelling a much-needed haircut and a self-knitted mohair cardigan.

Since last post, we have visited S for dinner (and discovered that I have been taking the wrong bus to her house for months now - the one I should have been taking would excise the 30 minute walk from Putney Bridge completely - bah), been out to visit my family, and I've been to a reception at the British Library showcasing their online accents and dialects collections - saw several familiar faces, including my old supervisor.

This week the office was painted and recarpeted and generally transformed; then we put all the books and office stuff back in so it halved in size, which was faintly disappointing. We also went to a Hallowe'en party at Ry's, which featured skeleton wallpaper, black spaghetti and hatmaking (photos of the latter can be found here). The next day we held our own fireworks party, with a free view of the cricket club's display followed by soup, pizza, sausages and tarts. Eighteen people came, which is more than we've ever had in the flat before, it felt like a successful do.