The weather is now decidedly autumnal. Today, I will start putting the garden to bed for the winter. It is well past its prime. I know the feeling!

The meadow has been mowed, the wild flowers are dead, so I have access to more of the borders. Before I had to wade through the long, jungle-like grass to find the back of them, so that I could gouge out the weeds.

The weeds are not as prolific now that autumn is on our doorstep; they have given up multiplying like rabbits. Like the rest of the garden, they are tired after the heatwave, and they have lost their energy.

On Friday, my former Aussie flatmate, Jennifer Atkins, came to visit me at the Old Rectory, with her friend Meredith Brodie. They were models together in the eighties.They modelled with Elle Macpherson – The Body – at the Sydney Opera House for the Bicentennial Fashion Show – 1988.

I was Jen’s lodger just before I departed for my non-return trip to London in 1988. She owned a flat in Sans Souci, a bayside suburb between Botany Bay and Cronulla, the farthest southern Sydney beach. She was dating her now husband, Glen, who was at the College of Law with me in 1986. It was a six month course after Uni, during which time you pretended to be a lawyer; you had mock cases that you worked on. It was the equivalent to the British articles system, where a law graduate is apprenticed to a law firm and shadows practitioners in different departments.

Jen had just come from Amsterdam. She and Glen have a spectacularly talented sixteen year old ballerina for a daughter, Lania. She recently won what is deemed to be the biggest ballet competition in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship 2016, also at the Sydney Opera House. She is the ‘number one’ young ballerina in Australia! With the $18,000 winnings, she is pursuing her studies at the Dutch National Ballet Academy for two years.

Over lunch, I joked that Hugo, my son, should link up with Lania – think of the gene pool. Meredith joked that her son, Tom, was also an athlete, and had been earmarked! I thought to myself, “Yeah right , who could be better than Hugo!” His artistic talents came to mind. And he was pretty good at tennis too.

Later, it transpired that Meredith’s son was the renowned young polo player, Tom Brodie. In fact, unbeknownst to me, I watched him play this summer for Zacara, in the semi finals, for the Cowdray Park Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup. Meredith was there too, obviously; what proud mother would miss that moment.

It was like the card game of Snap. First card, beautiful ballerina at top of her game, second card, handsome polo player at the top of his game. Snap – winner combination. Hugo, love him, but…

How extraordinary that two models, close friends, should produce two top cards; how thrilling to share that joy.

I asked Jen how she felt the moment that Lania won. She said it was indescribably amazing.

I had to get Domino to the vet to have his nails cut, so our goodbye was rushed in the driveway. I gave them both a hug. My head rested on their chests. They are Amazonian.

I can hear the soldiers’ machine gun fire over at Longmoor, the army training centre nearby. Oh, a pang of sadness pricks my heart. With more terrorist attacks over the weekend in New York, I pray that they will be safe if they see action soon.