Saturday April 9th 2022

09:00 While waiting for Lois to roll out of bed, I put the finishing touches to preparing our house for a sudden influx of people - our daughter Alison, her husband Ed and their 3 children Josie (15), Rosalind (13) and Isaac (11). I set our dining-room table up to accommodate 7 instead of the usual 2. Usually it's just Lois and me on our own: we spend the day and night in each other's pockets - yikes, big change coming today, no doubt about that!!!!!

I put the finishing touches to our dining-room table:

"table for 7" instead of the usual "table for two"

11:00 Alison, Ed and family arrive, and in a couple of seconds the house is full of non-stop conversation and laughter. You would not believe what a shock it is - a pleasant one luckily!!!

We have lunch and it's still non-stop "yackety-yack" which is nice!

we lunch and we yackety-yak - what a nice change !!!!!

but at the same time it's strangely exhausting

Yes, it's fun but it's also a bit exhausting - Lois and I are getting old, no doubt about that !!!!!! It's a good thing we see Ali and Ed and family every so often. I suspect that otherwise we would soon turn into total recluses - yikes !!!!!

12:30 Steve, our American brother-in-law, emails me to say that Putin's plan to neutralise France by intervening in their elections on behalf of his friend Marine LePen now looks as if it might succeed. Oh dear, that wasn't supposed to happen! What a crazy world we live in !!!! 

The crazy Le Pen would no doubt join Hungary's crazy Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in being equivocal towards Putin. But at least 82-year-old Hungarian football legend József Szabó, ex Kieve Dynamo star, knows what's what - and he says that Orbán makes him "ashamed to be Hungarian".

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You tell 'em, József !!!!!!

14:00 After lunch, Ed takes the family's new electric car over to the Racecourse to charge it up. They decided to come here in their new car today partly as an experiment - it's their first longish journey in it, being around 100 miles, and they're not sure if they'll have to recharge it en route - luckily, that proves not to be the case.

flashback to February: Ed and Isaac pick up their new electric car,

a Citroen EC4

It actually takes Ed pretty much all afternoon. Not his fault - when he gets there he has to help another new electric car user who's confused by the new technology. And he alsochats to other users - who are similarly feeling their way with the mechanics of taking electric cars across the country. Ed says there aren't many fast charging points in Cheltenham, and the racecourse one is probably the best.

the charging point at Cheltenham Racecourse

14:15 Meanwhile Lois, Alison, Rosalind and Isaac go for a walk to the local football field. They want to try the local zipwire, but it turns out there's a big queue, so they play on the park's brand-new exercise equipment instead. Josie stays here to do exam revision.

I have a quick nap and then go out to the football field to try and find them, but they're nowhere to be seen. I decided to buy a coffee - a flat white - from Ewa, the Poliah waitress at the Whiskers Coffee Stand. I notice in Ewa's display that the "treacle tarts" are also back in stock - something Lois and I have been waiting for with anticipation for several weeks. Although I'm supposed to be cutting back on fattening things, I can't resist the temptation. Oh dear - a bad start to my so-called diet! Don't anybody tell Lois!!!!

Ewa, the Polish waitress, tempts me to a treacle tart -

oh dear, a bad start to my so-called "diet" !

Eventually Lois, Alison, Rosalind and Isaac heave into view, and I join them as Rosalind and Isaac try out the new play equipment.

Tremendous fun !!!!!!

16:00 We go back home and sample the lovely cake and the flapjacks that Rosalind (13) has brought with her - baking is her passion.

Then we play a round of the detective game, Scotland Yard, where contestants chase a criminal round the streets of London - tremendous fun !!!!

20:00 We finish off the day in front of the TV, watching a couple of episodes of the girls' school miysteries, "Malory Towers", followed by a Maria Carey retrospective.

Lois and I now feel completely "talked out". What's this house going to feel like on Monday, when it's just us again? More than a little bit empty, I suspect. Oh dear!

We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!