I am feeling tired this evening and will not be eating much. Almost two days have now been survived with me in charge of the kids/teenagers. There have been a few raised voices but no rows yet.

I cooked them a big bowl of chilli con carne which seemed go down reasonably well particularly as I made sure there was a large supply of Doritos (some of which I am finishing off now). I had cooked it last night when it had a good four hours of slow cooking on a very low heat. Tasting it before going to bed I was worried I might have been too heavy handed with the chilli powder and there would be a blanket complaint and refusal to eat. But there was only one comment and most of it got eaten.

The pot of it is back in the fridge now to be finished off tomorrow night.

Having got them into bed I have been trawling the internet trying to find a link to a story of a steamship The Bohemian that stuck a rock off The Mizen in the 1880’s. I was eventually able to find it and this is a picture of Captain William Grundy. He died in the wreck along with 35 men.

One of the items I was able to find includes a letter sent to New York Times from the second officer who was the only surviving officer. He describes the boat hitting the rock and the desperate fight to sort out a life boat and the night spent in the one boat they were able to get away. They had a night on the water and washed up the next day in Dunmannus Bay.

I will need to ask the man with a black beard about it the next time I am in Arundel’s.