I made my annual pilgrimage to Acomb to see the Cox Family. The British summer was at its peak (tipping rain), so a visit to Waters Meet at The Tyne to build dams was out of the question. Instead we played "World Safari" - a fiendishly difficult board game that made me wish I had paid more attention to geography lessons at school. Young Walter Cox proved to be an ace at this, lapping up questions such as "One sixth of the World's population live in India - true or false?" (it's true). After a slow start, I made a late bid for glory until I was undone by "Name the 3 main fibre crops". It's not potatoes, rice etc, but cotton, jute, and flax - obvious, really.
When the rain finally cleared up, we adjourned for a game of swingball in the back garden. Again I was doing well, until a fiendish forehand from Charlie brought on a "3 fibre crops" moment, and I crumpled to defeat.
Here's a picture of The Cox family: John, Barbara, Richard with Walter and Charlie.
