OK - Back in England it was Christmas with the family.

. . . Did I mention that brother Darrell has taken the plunge and now has a son James & daughter Jessie?

. . . six months older & one year younger, respectively, than my grandson Isaac.

Our Christmas family was enhanced on Boxing Day by the arrival of nephew Chris & friend Kim who flew in from California and found things a bit chilly . . . .

They'd planned for another visit later in 2006 but it had to be deferred to May 2007 (btw, don't miss the film later this year that Chris has been involved in in a major way. . . Surf's Up . . . now why on earth would I be interested in that?????)

The day that Chris & Kim left was a significant one . . . that's the day that Harry, Pamela & I drove over to south east London to look at likely areas for them to move to.

The area in and around Lewisham seemed a good bet as it's a transport node with lots of connections both in and out of London. Additionally, it's reasonably close to where Darrell & family live just in Kent (Bexleyheath), but it's still London.

I'll cut the long story short but it transpired over January & February last year that the best housing option for H & P turned out to be my buying (with the help of a mortgage company, of course) them a house as an "investment". . . so much for my socialist roots. Of course Harry is delighted - he won't be owning any property and hence can stay true to his socialist roots.

So, there we were, combing the streets, roads, avenues, lanes, etc. of Lewisham, Catford, Lee, Blackheath (GOOGLE them if you're interested). It took some time but finally in early March we found . . .

101 Eltham Road, Lee, London SE12 8UG

CONTINUE HERE