Hello there, Francesca and Liam,

I’ve just got in from my class and we’ll soon be off to bed.

We’re off to Hastings tomorrow, for the weekend so I don’t know if I’ll be able to type in my letter straight away. I’ll write it but I might have to type it in when we get home. It’s a bank holiday this weekend here. I suppose that tomorrow is the bank holiday in South Africa. I hope that we both have good weather for the holiday.

I’ve done all my packing already because I’m leaving tomorrow. Grandma can’t get until Saturday so she’s driving down Saturday morning. I’m going tomorrow with some friends, they’re giving me a lift.

Have a nice holiday, then, both of you, we’ll both be thinking of you, as we always do.

Sleep tight, hope the bugs don’t bite,
All our Love,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

Hope you’re both OK. I’ve just got in from Barnet band and had to park right down the road past your old house. The light was on in your bedroom and I remembered that night just before you left when Grandma and I came to stand outside your window and wish you well. I hope it worked and that you’re safe and having a good time.

I think I’ve worked out how to hold my baryton now. You have to nurse it like a big teddy bear and that seems to work. If you don’t do that, the mouthpiece ends up in the wrong place. You’ve never really seen me playing that, have you. I hope that you can get to one of our gigs sometime and see me playing it. That would be nice, wouldn’t it.

I’m off to bed now, hope you’re both sleeping tight,
Night, night, from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hi there Francesca and Liam,

Hope you’re both well. We’re OK. Grandma’s been to see Thomas today and I went to see my friend in Ilford. Lizzie my satnav told me off on the way, she said ‘Please observe the speed limit!’ So I slowed down. When I was there, We went in the same shopping centre that Grandma sometimes goes in with Thomas.

Grandma watched some Doctor Who DVD’s with Thomas, those are his favourites at the moment, along with Star Wars. I wonder what you two enjoy watching at the moment. It used to be Thomas the Tank Engine for Liam and all sorts of things for you Francesca. Can you remember when we watched the wedding scene from The Sound of Music hundreds of times and then there was Saving Nemo – we watched that quite a lot, didn’t we?

Well it’s way past the time for watching DVD’s so hope you’re both tucked up safe,
Good Night and Sleep Tight,
Love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello there my two lovely Grandchildren,

How are you both. I was thinking of you today when I went to the storage place that we use. I was clearing some things out from Great-Grandma’s room and picking up the tile cutter for Uncle Joachim. I had to move lots of things to find the tile cutter and that included your two car seats. I thought of all the times you had both sat in them. We’ve got them in storage but we don’t know if you’ll ever use them again. I hope so.

I’ve been to a TSMB rehearsal tonight. I went in the car because it was raining and it’s much quicker getting back that way. However, it’s still after your bedtime so I hope you’re both fast asleep. I’m off to bed now,

Sleep tight, Love you lots,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello there, Liam and Francesca,

Hope you’re both well. We’re tired and getting ready for bed now. We went over to see a friend of ours in Ilford today. We did a bit of shopping and then had a walk around where she lived. It was a lovely day and it was really nice walking around in the sun.

Her flat backs onto a playing field and there were lots of people playing rugby and some others playing what we used to call Hurley as kids. Its real name is Hurling. It’s an Irish game with a stick which looks a bit like a hockey stick but they can pick the ball up to hit it. It looks quite interesting to watch. Most of the people playing seemed to be Irish and there were lots of green shirts around!

We’re off now,
Hope you’re tucked up safe and warm in bed,
Have sweet dreams,
All our every bit of Love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxxx

Hello both of you,

I’ve spent much of the day tidying up today and been trying to get Great-Grandma’s room tidy. It’s quite a job but I’ve got some of it done. I’ve now got to get some of the stuff put into storage so that I’ve got some space to move things around.

Grandma went to the theatre with her club today and had a really good time. She got a lift with a friend of hers who is German so they could speak German together on the way. While she was out, Tante Else rang so I had to speak German also which is really good for me to get some practice. Tante Else asked how you are and sent her love. She’d really like you to go over to Germany to see her sometime. Perhaps one day we can go over there, eh?

Well, that’s all for tonight, I’ll just say,
Gute Nacht (Good Night),
Night, night, love
Grandad and Grandma xxxx

Dear Francesca and Liam

Hope you’re well. We’re both OK. We’ve just got in from visiting some friends and it’s a bit late. They only live about ten minutes away but we’ve never been there before so we used Lizzie to get us there. Do you remember giving her the name, Francesca? It was that day when we all went to Thomas’s birthday party and you went with me in my car. Anyway, she seemed to get a bit lost round near Homebase so it was a good thing that we knew our way around there. She was OK once we got to the Edgware Road. She would probably have had us ending up in the Silk Stream if we’d followed her directions!

Anyway, we’re home now and off to bed. Hope you have a nice day tomorrow. Hope you’re doing something exciting!

Night, night and all our love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello Liam and Francesca,

Tonight it’s a bit later when I’m writing this so you’ll probably be in bed by now. I wonder what your weather’s been like today where you are. It’s been quite warm here but was a bit chilly on the way home from my course.

Grandma went on her walk at the Welsh Harp today and I kept on working on my novel. I’m a bit tired today as I woke up at 3 o’clock and thought about the story and I had to get up and write things down. I did that three times last night so I’m really ready for bed now.

Well, here’s hoping that you sleep tight,
All our Love from
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hi there, Francesca and Liam,

It’s a bit earlier today when I’m writing and I’m trying to imagine the two of you somewhere playing. I hope that the weather’s as good where you are as it is here. It’s really beautiful here. Grandma’s mowed the lawn and the garden looks really nice. It’s just very quiet without you two, though. It looks like our garden will not see you at all this summer. What a shame, eh?

I’m having to start eating up your favourite cereals as they won’t keep now they’re open. I’ve put a picture below, just so you can remember them.

I’ll eat them slowly as they keep reminding me of you two and it will make me think of you every morning when I have my breakfast. Actually, I don’t need cereals to keep thinking of you, I do that all the time but it’ll be something else to remember you by.

I’m off now, have a good rest of the day and keep looking after each other,
Lots and lots and lots of love from
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca

Today I went to the London Book Fair to look for agents for my novel. Francesca, you will remember me telling you a bit about the plot for this some time ago and you can tell Liam all about it when he’s a bit older. Well, today I went to the book fair to see what I could find out about agents. These are people who read your book and then try to persuade publishers to publish it. It was a bit of a waste of time in some ways as I didn’t realise that agents don’t go there to see authors but to see publishers so you can’t actually get to see them. They were on another floor and you had to have an appointment to get onto that floor.

Still, I went to a couple of talks that were interesting. They were about how to get your book published so that was useful. After the book fair, I went to a meeting downtown so it’s quite late now, so I hope that you’re tucked up in bed and fast asleep,
Sweet dreams,
Night night you two,
All our love from Grandma and Grandad xxxx