Me: Look at Harriet rolling around and my darling Big Brave Beautiful Boy listening away.
Nell: I’d just reminded them you’re coming home tomorrow.
Me: Bless them.
Nell: Is Herr Hoffmann back and why is he wearing that hat?
Me: It’s a long story.
Nell: I’ve plenty of time before Sunday Songs.
Me: Well, after a long discussion with Jonathan Sky, we decided to go and look for him.
Nell: Good.
Me: So, Jonathan, Faye and I took a train to the village near the forest where he used to live.
Nell: And?
Me: And we found him baking bread in a small cafe.
Nell: A cafe?
Me: We were hungry when we arrived, so we decided to have a German breakfast.
Nell: Good grief.
Me: You can’t search on an empty stomach, Nell.
Nell: Thats not the point.
Me: Anyway, when we tasted the bread rolls, I recognised their deliciousness, and I asked the kind lady bear serving us who had baked them.
Nell: Did you say ‘kind lady bear’?
Me: Yes. Anyway, she said they were made by her husband who’d just returned from working overseas.
Nell: ‘Working overseas’?
Me: Now you’re doing the repeating thing.
Nell: I think I know where this is going.
Me: And it turned out it was Herr Hoffmann.
Nell: Wait. Herr Hoffmann has a wife?
Me: Yes, Frau Hoffmann.
Nell: Oh my goodness.
Me: And to cut a very long story short, and after much persuasion on the children’s part, Herr and Frau Hoffmann came back here with us.
Nell: So that photo isn’t of Herr Hoffmann?
Me: No, it’s Frau Hoffmann. They’re in the kitchen now making a Sunday roast for the family.
Nell: A Sunday roast?
Me: Yes, roast beef with all the trimmings.
Nell: We’re having salad.
Me: Sorry.
