Sunday November 20th 2022

Another enjoyable morning for Lois and me in our recently acquired new-build home in Malvern, thanks to the weekend visit of our elder daughter Alison and her 14-year-old daughter Rosalind from their family home in Headley, Hampshire. 

For a while Lois and I do not feel so isolated, which is nice!

09:45 Ali and Rosalind arrive after checking out at their hotel - the Premier Inn, Malvern. 

All four of us then have an enjoyable zoom with our other daughter Sarah in Perth, Australia, and with her 9-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.

Alison, Rosalind, Lois and I have an enjoyable zoom

with Sarah and the twins in Perth, Australia

The twins are shy at first - they're used to talking to Lois and me, but Lily in particular is a bit shy, to start with, talking to Alison and Rosalind. They soon warm up, however, and I can tell that the twins are fascinated to hear, in particular, Rosalind talk: all children instinctively look up to older children who are their friends and relatives, we have always found, and they listen, as if spellbound, to whatever the older kids say.

Like so many kids today all three of them are totally fascinated by the Harry Potter books. Jessica is a voracious reader and has read all the books already, and both twins are enthralled when Rosalind starts talking about other series of books that she has read and enjoyed.

11:30 The zoom call ends and Alison, Rosalind, Lois and I go for a little walk around the estate before lunch. 

Rosalind, Alison and I in front of our new new-build home

we take a walk around the estate - when it's finished

there will be 300 houses altogether but maybe only

a quarter have been finished. In the background part of

the Malvern Hills can be seen.

On our walk we pass the Qinetiq Technology Park complex, contractors who do top secret security and defence work for the UK Government. It's based on the site where radar was developed in World War II. 

on our walk we pass along the perimeter fence of

Qinetiq, the security and defence contractor

It's quite nostalgic for me to see a fence like this, and the barbed wire etc, because I worked at a place with similar physical defences for over 30 years. Happy days!!!!

flashback to 2004: my former workplace just prior to its being demolished

- happy days !!!!!!

Lois and I suspect that one of our neighbours, Laurence, works for Qinetiq - we've seen him going off to work on foot, so presumable he works somewhere nearby, and he's just the sort of quiet guy that places like this love to employ. But we'll see - maybe we're quite wrong and he's a turf accountant or a nightclub entertainer. Only time will tell !!!!

flashback to 1944: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

visit the RRE (Royal Radar Establishment), Malvern

13:00 We come home and have some lunch, and then Alison and Rosalind load up the car and go home to Hampshire. Luckily, however, they're taking some things with them, which will make our new house slightly less crowded: a glass-doored display cabinet, a double duvet, and Alison's wedding dress from 1999.

flashback to 1999: Alison and Ed get married, and after the service, they and all their guests

drove out to Prescott Hill, Gloucestershire, for the reception.

14:00 Sob sob - Lois and I are all on our own again. Boo hoo!!!!!