By my low standards, my social life gears up a notch in November.

First I was invited, for a third time, to celebrate Diwali with my good friends the Khanna family. Their relatives find it quite amusing that I should do so, but I feel greatly complimented by this and count it a great privilege to share in this 'festival of light'. The atmosphere in their recently refurbished home is quite special, with the soft light of candles everywhere, to say nothing of the lovely food which they conjure up for the occasion. This, they claim, takes them only 35 minutes!

The following evening I attended the Annual Reunion Dinner for my old school, the first for which I was a member of the organising committee. Committee work is not my forte!

Only because I couldn't face another heavy meal the following day, Armistice day, we celebrated my brother's 62nd birthday quietly. A celebratory lunch followed later in the week.

Another reason for the delay was the fact that the next day saw a family genealogical reunion, which was a qualified success in my opinion.

En route to see friends in Hemel Hempstead I called in on my old science teacher. She is so frail physically, but still of sound mind, and remembers her time at the old school with great affection. Her recall of people after more than fifty years is quite daunting!

Speech Day at my old school was slightly marred, for me, by my exclusion from the buffet which followed. I was accompanied by a contemporary who had undertaken a long journey to make his first visit to the school in 49 years. So, for his sake, I decided to gate crash said function. Fortunately nobody threw us out!

Only two days later I was back at the school, helping a visitor search its archives for a book he is writing. During this I found my own records. Not recommended reading, even after 49 years!

As the gardening season draws to its close, at least for an amateur like me, it was time to embark on this winter's project: volume 3 of my memoirs. The topic? Everything that wasn't included in volumes 1 and 2!

Despite the death of the last of its founding members, the Friday family coffee mornings have resumed, with only one break in the week of her funeral. I think my aunt would have approved of that!