My most delightful encounter so far today has been with a youngster I remember as a toddler, locked into her own world and evidently autistic. She has been through a programme in the USA that helped her parents learn how to communicate with her, helped her to communicate with them and to look the world in the eye. Now at 15 she is comfortable enough to hold a conversation with me, a stranger. Impressive.

We could do with a few breakthroughs here as we look for ways to deal with my grandson's insomnia. He wasn't able to stay on the adventure holiday he had so looked forward to because of homesickness, but that was compounded by his inability to get to sleep. Searches on the Internet bring up hypnotherapy, which we are going to give a shot, and Melatonin which he's been on for ages now. I've started taking it myself because after a lifetime of sleeping soundly I too have started to find sleep eludes me. It's much more worrying for a youngster to be losing sleep though - diminished ability to concentrate and heart problems in later life.

The weather in Scotland this July has been extremely disappointing, at least on this side. A trip to the west coast to pick up the g'son on Sunday showed us beautiful blue skies and real heat making Oban glow like a proper seaside resort. And so many peeps - I haven't seen that many in one place since I was last in London! But then I don't get about much.