Saturday November 19th 2022

 An exciting day - for the first time in our new new-build home in Malvern, Worcestershire, Lois and I are entertaining guests, our daughter Alison and our 14-year-old granddaughter Rosalind, who arrive from Headley, Hampshire at about 9:15 am, having left home around 6:45 am - yikes!

Soon after Alison and Rosalind arrive, we head off to nearby West Malvern to view a house-for-sale on behalf of our other daughter Sarah and her husband Francis, who live in Perth, Australia with their 9-year-old twins Lily and Jessica. Sarah and family are hoping to move back to the UK in the spring.

It turns out to be a nice house but the parking situation is horrendous, with no off-road parking for the house. It's got great views, but it's on the side of a really steep hill, and the rambling back garden drops away at an alarming rate - Lois and I would need climbers' ropes and harnesses to get to the bottom of it safely - yikes (again)!

After we get back to our house, we speak to Sarah and Francis on whatsapp, to tell them about the house - we try to give them the information without skewing it towards either a yes or a no, which is tough.

we talk about the house-for-sale on whatsapp with Sarah and 

Francis in Perth, Australia. Left to right: Rosalind, Alison and Lois

Will Sarah and Francis put in an offer on the house? We think on balance that they won't, but we'll see.

After lunch, Lois, Alison and Rosalind go off for a walk, while I stay behind to take delivery of an IKEA "Billy" Bookcase. The plan is that this will go some way towards solving our current "book mountain" problem. Piles of books here and there all over the house - what madness !!!!!

I ask the delivery guy to stash the flatpack in the corner of the room, where hopefully it won't fall on anybody. I must be going health-and-safety mad haha!

I ask the delivery guy to stash the flatpack for our shiny new

IKEA "Billy Bookcase" in the corner of the living-room,

where hopefully it won't fall on anybody - I'm all heart haha!

14:30 Alison and Rosalind go off to check in at the Premier Inn where they've booked a family room for the night. They come back around 4pm for a piece of lovely chocolate cake, followed an hour later by one of our Cook meals. 

Then they go back to their hotel leaving Lois and me to watch a countdown of the Top 20 Christmas toys of all time.

22:00 And so to bed....... "Are things beginning to go back to being more normal?", we ask each other. But we think it's a bit early to start saying that. Oh dear !!!!!