Stars in My Heart

Here are some photos of the inside of hot air balloons. I love hot air balloons. I would like to live in one.

Also, here is an albino echidna, which is the cutest thing I've seen all day.

My mother was delighted when I spoke to her on the phone the other night. She said she was waiting for Downton Abbey to start the other day when she saw a promo for Dancing with the Stars. 'They're going to do a tribute to the Bee Gees!' she told me. 'Do you think it would be tactless to include Stayin' Alive?'

I said that would be a tribute to just Barry Gibb, surely, and she laughed and laughed and laughed.

I'm still reading Lady Audley's Secret. I'll report more when I finish part two, but today I came across a baffling concept. To set the scene, Robert Audley has taken custody of George Talboys' six-year-old son, and has asked him if he would like some lunch:

The boy burst out laughing.

'Lunch!' he cried. 'Why, it's afternoon, and I've had my dinner.'

Robert Audley felt himself brought to a standstill. What refreshment could he possibly provide for a boy who called it afternoon at three o'clock?

I'm with Georgy here. Three o'clock is smack bang in the middle of the afternoon as far as I'm concerned, so I don't understand what Robert thinks it is. Mid-morning? Then again, in the previous chapter Robert sat in his easy chair to smoke a pipe, then wheeled it to the other side of the room, which, I mean, what is that? A wheeled armchair? It is a strange world that Robert lives in, so I'm not surprised he doesn't know what an afternoon is.