Danskcolin: Saturday October 30th 2021

A day dominated by two zoom sessions where Lois and I see our 5 grandchildren - we are becoming more and more defined by our grandchildren, that's for sure - a sign of our advanced age!

Every Saturday morning we zoom with our daughter Sarah and her 8-year-old twins Lily and Jessie in Perth, Australia, but today, unusually we have an afternoon zoom with our other daughter Alison, and our 3 grandchildren in England: Josie (15), Rosalind (13) and Isaac (11).

We were planning to welcome them here in Cheltenham for their schools' half-term holidays, but they cancelled because some of their close schoolfriends had been diagnosed with COVID, and they didn't want to risk passing it on to us, which is fair enough. As it turns out, none of the family has contracted the illness, which is nice, but we think it was the right decision to cancel, just to be on the safe side.

Later today, however, Lois has some good news for us on the COVID front. We both take statins, which seem to have some mild antiviral effects, which is nice!

I just knew those statins would come in handy sooner or later!

10:00 The call with Australia.

waiting for the zoom call to start

Sarah and Francis are thinking they will maybe move back to the UK next year, but they're not happy with the educational standards at their 8-year-old twins' primary school in Perth, and they're worried that the twins will have trouble adjusting to schooling in the UK.

Lois and I sent them details of the educational apps that Alison's children have used to hone their maths and English skills, and the twins have been having a go at these: EdPlace, TimesTableRockStars, and above all Squeebles.

If they come back to the UK they may buy our house, initially on a buy-to-rent mortgage, and Lois and I are conscious of how many things in the house "don't work any more" - yikes! We moved here 35 years ago (January 1985) and, particularly recently have stopped working, and we've just ignored them or worked around them - yikes (again) !!!

Francis is going to get in touch with one of his old business contacts in Cheltenham, Angie, to see if she can come and visit us, and suggest what in our house ought to be fixed, and how, and what can be left, which will be a relief. My god !!!!

The twins are in a really great mood again today during the zoom call, and bouncing around all over the place, especially Lily. They make Lois and me immediately feel about 10 years younger, which isn't a lot, but it's a start!

Both the twins are excited about Hallowe'en tomorrow. Sarah is going to take them trick-or-treating in their neighbourhood tomorrow afternoon, and then afterwards they're meeting their little friends Samara and Gianna and their parents for a pizza tea.

We don't see Francis during the zoom - he's out playing golf, and his golf is going well at the moment, Sarah says - last weekend there was a special competition and he won a $75 voucher, which he's quite proud about. He's just now pondering what to spend it on - a nice dilemma!

Sarah showcases Francis's $75 voucher that he won in last

weekend's golf competition

There have been problems recently with their house's solar panels, Sarah says, but she has arranged a deal with the company where she works as an accountant - they will replace the system at a special price: basically "at cost", which the landlord is pleased about. When that's done the family will be paying much less for their electricity - they have a swimming pool, and the pump is switched on 8 hours a day, so any reduction in their electricity bill will be welcome, to put it mildly. My god (again) !!!!

12:00 Lunch and a nap in bed, and before Lois and I know it, it's time for the second zoom call of the day, with Alison and her 3 children.

15:00 The call begins. Ed is still away at his legal expert conference on Lake Como, but he'll be flying back to Luton later today, and from there he'll get the train, and Alison will pick him up at the station.

the approximate flight plan for Ed's return flight

from Milan to Luton

flashback to last Thursday: Ed waiting to take off

from Gatwick Airport.

Ali says he's feeling quite tired - there are the conference sessions all day, but then there are various social events organised for the evenings. He only got 4 hours sleep the first night, apparently.

Poor Ed!

The whole family are looking forward to having him back again, especially as he's promised to bring them back lots of Italian chocolate - yum yum!

They too will be trick-or-treating tomorrow in the Headley Down area, dressed as black cats we think.

our 3 grandchildren in Headley, Hampshire: (left to right)

Josie (15), Rosalind (13) and Isaac (11)

Isaac is enjoying his Mandarin Chinese lessons. He's enrolled in his school's Language Immersion Programme, which means that he learns Mandarin, but also has some of his non-core subjects taught in Mandarin - yikes, scary !!!!

Isaac showcases some of his Mandarin Chinese homework:

learning to write the characters

Sika, the family's Danish dog, can't resist getting in on the act.

Sika, the family's Danish dog, can't resist getting in on the act -

he's a souvenir of the family's 6 years in Copenhagen (2012-2018)

Ali says it's getting towards Sika's tea-time, and he's starting to try and remind them and to apply a bit of pressure, although there's an hour to go yet, before he'll get anything, Ali says.

Poor Sika !!!!!

20:00 We wind down by watching an old episode of the 1990's sitcom "The Brittas Empire", which is centred around the Whitbury Newtown Sports and Leisure Centre, and on its well-meaning but unpopular manager, Gordon Brittas.

This is the episode in which the local Whitbury Pentecostal Church has brought along candidates for baptism to be dipped by their pastor under the water in the Leisure Centre's swimming pool.

As the candidates enter the pool their pastor gives a short prayer.

"And as our brothers and sisters step down into the water, let us pray that this baptism may see tongues of fire come down from heaven, as they did of old. May that fire enter their bodies, as they become born again into a new life".

These prove to be unfortunate words, however, as it turns out. The Leisure Centre manager, Gordon Brittas, has told accident-prone deputy manager Colin Weatherby to make sure the water is warm enough for the baptisms, and for some reason Colin decides to do that by lowering a two-bar electric heater down, which he intends will hover over the pool.

When Gordon discovers this unsafe plan and remotely unplugs the heater, it unfortunately falls into the pool, electrocuting the pastor and the baptismal candidates at one stroke. Oh dear!

Gordon's wife Helen, watching from above while she enjoys a coffee in the Centre's café, comments that it reminds her of the way her uncle used to catch salmon. She says she remembers clearly seeing the salmon floating around on the surface. Apparently her uncle used to pull the stunned fish out of the water with a net and then drop them on their heads to finish them off.

Gordon's wife Helen (right) watching the carnage from the centre's café,

recalls with nostalgia, how her uncle used to catch salmon in the same way

There's a happy ending tonight, however. The leisure centre staff manage to retrieve the stunned, unconscious church members from the pool and lay them out in the Leisure Centre's reception area, while manager Gordon calls urgently for 4 ambulances.