Amelie might be as high as a kite about 90% of the time, but she also does a lot of blue sky thinking...

Although on this occasion, it basically involved her looking up and wondering how to avoid being hit on the head by a plummeting plaything. That photo might look impressive, but it was snapped fortuitously during a brief ten-second period when a miracle occurred and we actually got the thing airborne. As a general rule, it was trailing behind her on the ground. It's the only kite with grass stains and friction burns.

Anyhoo, after forty-eight hours on the antibiotics, I read the list of possible side-effects yesterday and felt more ill than when I started. But I think they've improved me a little. So with slightly more spring in my step, I joined Lisa, Amelie and Toby for an all-day picnic at Preston Park on Saturday. It was organised by a radiographer (with help from a pathologist) to allow the children from the hospital nursery to have one last get-together before they start their various big schools next week.

It was a good opportunity for Amelie to have fun with her old nursery friends. And let's face it, some of us are always up for a picnic...

If he's that excited by a Dairylea sandwich, imagine what he's like in Subway.

As for Lisa, she was planning to wear one of her scarves, but I was concerned that if she cranked up the sophistication levels too much, people might expect us to have Pimms, caviar and smoked salmon canapés, and we'd end up looking foolish with our Asda sausage rolls. So she toned it down a bit, and went as Jackie Onassis.

Anyhoo, we actually had a really nice day. Amelie proved that she has what it takes to be a future England cricketer...

She was clean-bowled and out first ball. Actually, despite having all the moves, and a technique which was nothing if not textbook, she failed to connect with the ball on every single occasion. They could have replaced it with a hand-grenade and she'd have been totally safe.

Of course, cricket wasn't the only sport on offer. Whilst Amelie was trying her hand at tennis, football and death-sliding, Toby was medalling in the sport of competitive eating...

Unfortunately those weren't our grapes. They actually belonged to a dialysis practitioner whose picnic looked a lot more appealing than ours. So Toby helped himself. Obviously you'd expect someone who works in the renal unit to be eating steak and kidney pie, but she'd gone more for the fresh fruit and gingerbread men. As did Toby.

To be honest though, I think he had an ulterior motive. Having chatted to the lady for a while, we realised that she's the mother of the boy who dumped Amelie back in July. I think her brother was taking revenge.