Michelle and her husband David B† came over for dinner. Her baby is now nine days overdue and she's more than ready to give birth.

† Not to be confused with the other David, our brother, who is currently living at my parents' house in Dublin.

We had lunch with Alan and Sheena in Dundrum and met their new baby.

It's been very hard to hook up with my old friends here. We landed seven days ago and the only other meet up was a couple of pints with Jimmy on Monday. They're (almost) all middle-aged, mortgaged, married, and bechilded, and otherwise busy with their own lives. We are to have lunch with Hilary tomorrow and to get together with Austin on Tuesday, but the rest of the remaining week looks socially arid.

I have completely lost count of how many hats and mittens, mostly for babies, that Emma has knitted since she got here. Prodigious quantities, to be sure.