Hi there Liam and Francesca,

Hope you’ve had a good weekend. We have, thanks. I didn’t do any work on our garden today because I had to do the front garden. I’ve nearly finished that but there’s a bit to finish tomorrow. It’s been very hot this weekend and I should have put some sun cream on as I’m now a bit red.

We played this afternoon at a little park in Barnet and we sat in the sun for two hours. I’ll have to be a bit more careful in the next few days. I hope that you two are watching out for the sun. Actually, today was the first day that I played my baryton with Barnet Band so that was quite interesting. Grandma came to listen and so did Renata and Nich from next door and they brought Talia with them. It was really nice to see our neighbours there. Our other neighbour, Pegah (you’ll remember her) is going off on a school trip for a week tomorrow so I hope that the weather stays nice for her. She’s going with the school orchestra, just like I used to do when I was at school. I hope that you two will learn an instrument too because it gives you all sorts of opportunities. I had looked forward to teaching you but you can always find a good teacher when you come back to the UK.

I’ll talk to you again tomorrow so,

Look after yourselves and feel,
All our Love,
from Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello Francesca and Liam,

How are you today? We’re both OK but missing you. I’ve just come in from doing a couple of hours on our garden. It’s coming along well. I’m working in the mornings because it’s been getting very hot in the day. Today, the sky is really blue and it’s hot.

When I’m out there working, I get a visitor come to see me. He’s a blackbird. He comes and hops around my feet, when I’m sitting down and I talk to him. The trouble is he keeps eating my worms and there’s not a lot in this part of the garden. Still, it’s nice that he’s so tame and doesn’t go away when I talk to him.

I’ve been watching the planes fly over from Heathrow and wondering where they’re going. I imagined being in one and when I got off, seeing you two to greet me. It was a very nice dream, wasn’t it. I hope that it happens one day.

I see that it’s a bit cloudy where you are (that’s if you’re in Cato Ridge) but it’s not too cold. Hope it’s not raining.

Talk to you tomorrow,
All our love,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Happy Birthday Liam,

You’re three today. It’s a great day for you today. Your Grandma and Grandad wish you a really, really really Happy Birthday, We hope that you’ll have a great time today, wherever you are. We’re thinking of you now and we’ll think of you all day, that’s a promise.

Did you get the presents we sent. We sent them to South Africa because that’s where we think you are. We hope that you got them and are enjoying them.

This is the earliest letter I’ve done yet, it’s only half-past eight in the morning and I’ve just had my breakfast. You know what, I had a Liam breakfast today. I had two of your favourite cereals for breakfast. I had Cinnamon Squares and Cheerios. I don’t need them to remind me of you and your sister but they helped to remind me even more.

It’s now afternoon and I’m wondering how you’re getting on. have you had your party yet? I hope so and I hope you’re having a good time. I’ve been doing some more gardening and have now cleared all the area around the pear trees and it’s ready for planting. I’ll keep you in touch.

It’s late now and you’ll both be safely tucked up in bed. I hope that you both enjoyed Liam’s birthday. We’ll talk to you tomorrow,
Night, night and all our love from,
grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

Just back from a rehearsal of The Trans-Siberian March Band. We’ve been planning our trip to Glastonbury tonight and working out how everyone’s going to get there. It’s quite a job getting all the band there. Still we’re pretty-well sorted. Do you think that you two will go there one day when you’re older. You might like it because it’s a bit like BuddhaField and you like that don’t you? Your Daddy likes camping doesn’t he? I can’t say that I’m too fond of it any more but we used to go caravaning quite a bit when your Daddy was younger.

We were also planning our Balkan Tour and have now sorted out where we’re going. We’re starting out at Dubrovnik and are then going to Montenegro and then onto Bosnia. It should be quite an exciting tour.

I’ll keep you up to date with our plans as they get firmer. So, talk to you tomorrow,
Look after yourselves,
Lots and Lots and Lots of Love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Francesca and Liam,

Would you believe it? This is the 100th letter I’ve written to you! Do you know, Ive never written so many letters in my entire life. I just wish that Grandma and me could talk to you and say that we love you but until we can, I will keep telling you by these letters.

I’ve been to the band rehearsal tonight, that’s Barnet Band. I had to play the trumpet tonight because Mary wasn’t there. I do love playing the trumpet but it gets a bit much to play first for two hours. It’s much safer on the baryton. Actually, I found out that it’s really called the baryton truba where we bought it. Did you know Liam that Francesca was with us when we bought the instrument? I can still remember the three of us walking away from the shop and I wondered if I would ever get to play it. Well now I do and it’s great.

On the way back from the band, Wembley Stadium was lit up and the arch was visible as I drove through Mill Hill. I still hope that we’ll all get to visit there together one day, just as you asked Francesca. You’d like that too, wouldn’t you Liam?

I’ll keep you up to date with news tomorrow, so,
Night, night from,
Grandma and Grandad and
Sleep Tight xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

Done some more work on the garden today. It’s now ready down to the second pear tree so we’re getting somewhere. I’ve dug in a lot more compost but I don’t really know how much to put in. We’ll have to see later on in the year.

I’ve had to take all the daffodils out to dig the garden but I’ll put them all back when I’ve finished.

I won’t get much done tomorrow as I’ve got a couple of things to do. One is to take my car to the garage as it’s making a funny smell. Not good, eh? Poor old Frog. You remember Frog don’t you, your Daddy used to borrow it a lot when your Mummy needed to use your car. The other thing I’ve got to do is to go back to my old university where someone’s asked if I can help with a project. I’m going along tomorrow to see what it is.

Hope you’re both fit and well and having a good time. Can you feel our love circling the earth to find you. We’re sending it out all the time, lots of it. I’m sure it will be getting there.

I’ll talk to you both tomorrow when it’s a special day. tell you tomorrow,
All our Love,
grandma and Grandad.

Hi there, Francesca and Liam,

Today’s the bank holiday here and the weather’s been pretty good here. Hope it’s been good where you are.

I’m getting on with the vegetable garden. There’s another bit of garden cleared and ready for planting. It’s the bit between the shed and the rose bush which is between the two pear trees. I’ve dug in a lot of compost to improve the soil as it’s pretty clayey and heavy there. I’ve left the clay around the rose bush as they like a clay soil.

I’ve watered the tomatoes and strawberries each morning and they seem to be doing fine. They’ve settled in well and there are already some strawberries developing.

I promised that I would send you some more photos of our trip yesterday with the Trans_Siberian March Band as there was a fire-breathing mechanical horse at the festival. It was very good and did all sorts of tricks. We never saw it doing the fire breathing bit. Perhaps it had run out of flames by the time we saw it.

Here’s the horse just standing still

You two would really have loved this. You might have got a chance to lead it around a bit like this little girl did.

The horse had a man with it who tried to get it to do what he wanted but it refused to do so.

This is the horse with its master and another man who was trying to lead it around.

The man tried to ride it but it wouldn’t let him get on its back. It wasn’t like when we were in Prague. When we were there, Liam, your sister had quite a long ride on a pony in a park at the top of the funicular railway. Have you two done any riding this holiday? We know that your sister likes riding, Liam, do you? We’d love to see you on a pony too.

Well, hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures,
Write to you tomorrow,
All our Love from ,
grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

It’s a holiday weekend here and the weather’s been absolutely fabulous. How is it where you are. I hope it’s great too.

I’ve been playing today with the Trans-Siberian March Band at the Wandsworth Festival. We played near Putney Bridge, next to the Thames. We were playing outside and, because of the beautiful weather, it was a really good gig. Grandma came with me and she really enjoyed it to.

After the gig, we went for a walk in the park which is next to the river. here’s a few pictures we took today.

This is looking back towards the city centre from the park. That means looking down towards the sea. The buildings you can see are still being finished. I don’t know where they are but they’re just across the river from Chelsea.

This picture is looking the other way – upstream – at some nice older buildings.

This picture is looking towards Putney Bridges. the one you can see is the railway bridge and, just behind that is the road bridge.

I hope that one day the four of us can take a trip down the River Thames and look at some of London’s history. I know that you both like that.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about some of the other things we saw today and show you the pictures, until then,
Bye for now,
Lots and lots and lots of love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello there, Francesca and Liam,

I’ve been working on the bit of garden on the right of the path and have finally got a few plants in. It was tiring work today as I had a gig last night and didn’t get in until very, very, very late. In fact, it was starting to get daylight when I got in.

When I started work on the garden, I had to dig out the great big Elephant Lily which grew here as it was taking up all the space. Grandma didn’t want it here any longer, it never had any elephants on it anyway. You’ve probably got more elephants where you are at the moment! There’s a couple of pictures below.

This shows one of the tomato plants and some of the strawberries. I left the daisy in behind them as it should recover OK and came from seed from last year.

This is a picture looking down. You can see the leaves of the narcissus that was in earlier in the spring. I’ll be able to cur the leaves off in a week or so.

I’m working on the other side, near the pear tree. You’d love this bit of garden, Liam. You could water this with your little red watering can all day and the plants would just love it. I hope you’ll be able to come and see the garden one day.

I’ll write again in the morning,
All our Love,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello there Liam and Francesca,

It’s a bit earlier today and I’ve just come in from a couple of hours gardening. One side of the garden is ready now but it’s the small side. That’s the bit to the right of the shed when you walk up the garden. It’s the piece where you had the blue bushy plant, Francesca. The soil there is quite nice but it’s a bit heavy on the other side, around the pear trees. I might dig some stuff in there to lighten it a bit.

I’ve put a picture of the plants I bought below while they’re still in their pots.

This is one of the tomato plants in its pot. It’s a bit taller than I would have liked. Gardeners say it’s a bit leggy. I talked to another gardener in the shop when I bought this and he said he’d had a lot of trouble growing things this year.

This is a photo of the strawberry plants. These look really healthy. The trouble is that the slugs and snails will think the same so I’ll have to put some straw around them the keep the little beasties away. Can you remember your pet snail you had last year, Francesca. I can’t remember her name now, I’ll have to see if Grandma can.

I’m off now for a cuppa and then I’ve got to go and look at my car, the Frog. I’m having a bit of trouble with it.

Bye then, Love you Lots,
Love from Grandma and Grandad xxxx