In honour of an Olympic volunteer

Well, there's lots to sort out and lots to do before Mr Grigg and I head off for our Big Fat Greek Gap Year. One of my sisters is having the cats, my brother is having the car but I've still got to find a home for the two dogs.

Meanwhile, one of my colleagues is so dismayed at me leaving (so she says) she's found a job in the middle of a war zone. I kid you not. I think an exchange of emails from our locations - me with a G&T by the pool and she with her tin hat on - could be the basis of an interesting book. I know where I'd rather be.

Back at home, the bunting is still up, but not for much longer. We've had the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and now the Paralympics. It's all going to look very bare when the flags come down.

But we do have the thermometer, which shows us at the level the village shop fund has now reached. It's at £20,000 and only £10,000 to go before opening time in October, when we will be long gone.

This weekend, we welcome my neighbour, Mrs Bancroft, into the bosom of the village. She has been hard at work as a volunteer in the Oympic Park and it's been an experience she'll never forget. And, like the letterboxes around the country painted gold in honour of local medal winners, our phone box - the one Mrs Bancroft has been complaining about for so long because it's so tatty - has also had a facelift.

It's pink.

That's about it.

Love Maddie x