08:00 Lois and I tumble out of bed - at 9:30 am we've arranged to talk on whatsapp to our daughter Sarah, who lives in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 8-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie.
But 9:30 am comes and goes, and they're not there, but I wait around for an hour just in case they come through. Then at 10:30 am Sarah calls at last and we find out the reason she's late. They're down at the Nedlands Yacht Club on the Swan River, where they bought a 20 foot boat back in May.
the Nedlands Yacht Club on the Swan River, Perth
the boat the family decided to buy
Sarah tells us that Francis has been fixing the boat's mast on today and that she had to help him - it needed two pairs of hands apparently. And the poor twins had to sit in the car, because the air is thick with "mozzies" (mosquitos), Sarah says. Poor twins!!!!
When the whatsapp call begins, the twins are in a bad mood - that's for sure! And who can blame them - being cooped up in the car for a couple of hours is no fun, when you're 8 years old: no doubt about that - it's pretty much the end of the world, isn't it!
the twins are obviously feeling fed up when the whatsapp call begins
Poor twins !!!!!!
But Lois and I manage to cheer them up. We get them talking, and showing us the shells they've collected today, and the flowers they've picked. Sometimes, as grandparents who are 9000 miles away, we feel a bit useless, but at least today we can be a help to Sarah, which is nice.
this is the boat the family have bought (centre)
The twins have got their last week coming up at the Catholic private school they've been attending for a couple of years out in the country. At the school there's an end-of-term party coming up on Thursday where, as usual, all the girls have been asked to bring savoury dishes, and the boys sweet things - Lily and Jessie seem aggrieved by this policy, but it makes sense: girls are in the majority in their class.
Last month the family moved to a new home in Tapping, and next month the twins will be starting the new term at a state primary school in this northern suburb of Perth. This will be the girls' third school, but hopefully it won't be too traumatic an experience - they have a friend living just round the corner, who's going to show them around, which is nice.
10:45 The call ends and Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in the first of her sect's two worship services on zoom. She plans to go around to our friend Mari-Ann's house after lunch to take part in the second service over there in company with Mari-Ann's husband, Alf, and June, another sect member.
our friend Mari-Ann (right)
Lois's back is playing up at the moment, so I will be driving her over there and picking her up about 2:30 pm after it's finished.
13:00 After I take Lois over to Mari-Ann's house, I come home and switch on my desktop to try and polish up my so-called presentation. On October 1st I've agreed to give a talk on zoom, all about the influence of the Vikings' language, Old Norse, on the history of the English language.
on this slide, how come nobody noticed that "Norwegian"
is misspelt ????
I read through the 19 pages I have written so far, including some ill-chosen pictures, and I come to a dramatic conclusion - what I've written is total crap !!!! Oh dear! I won't have time to tear it up and start again, so somehow I've got to find the time to make it all hang together a bit better. Damn !!!!!
This is positively the last time I volunteer to give a talk - these things always turn out to be more work than you think they're going to be !!!!
20:00 We settle down on the couch to watch a bit of TV, the latest programme in ageing comedians Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse's latest series of "Gone Fishing".
Tonight the pair are on the Norfolk Broads, hiring a boat and making a mess of driving it, and trying to catch some rudd.
Tonight Bob cooks Paul a meal, the sort of meal that people used to eat in Britain every day in the 1950's and 1960's, Lois and me included. It was always a bit of meat of some kind, some potato, and some greens, usually peas, cabbage or cauliflower. We'd never heard of pasta, garlic and other so-called "foreign foods" etc in those far-off times.
After an engine disaster, Bob and Paul give up on trying to power a boat themselves, so they hire a young lad, Robbie, to take them to the perfect spot where they might be able to catch some rudd.
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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