Your grandchildren are, without doubt, the best thing about getting old. Now we have three. At half past midnight last Tuesday, our youngest daughter, Clare, gave birth to Katy Elizabeth; 7lbs, a sister to the twins Matthew and Owen, and pretty as a picture.

It was a hard pregnancy for Clare. Early on she caught an infection that the doctors thought might be dangerous to the foetus. Then she had a bad reaction to the antibiotics prescribed for it. She had various problems throughout her term and, indeed, finished the last two months walking on crutches.

But Katy Elizabeth seems fine. The hospital are still doing tests to cover the worry about the infection early on: and she didn't pass her hearing test. However, the doctors think that might be mucus. Certainly she has a good pair of lungs; and babies who have serious hearing problems don't generally cry in the way a hearing child does. So we're not too worried. It wouldn't do to worry, either. You get what you're given, and need to be grateful for that, don't you.

So. Not my most coherent blog entry ever. Must be something to do with being, "Tired and emotional."

Here's to grandfatherhood!

Yup. Definitely into this French stuff. And getting back into Open University speak, as well.

It's many years since I last did an OU course. About eight in fact. At that time I had this stupid idea that I might get an MSc in Computing. I saw the light, of course, and gave up after the taught modules, earning myself a Post Graduate Diploma in Computing for Commerce and Industry. Doing the dissertation for the MSc would have been far too hard.

The OU, though, like blogging is catching: and it comes with its own terminology. People say things like, "Oh, I'm in TMA avoidance mode", meaning that they are finding excuses for not doing their Tutor Marked Assignment. And then there are SMAs and CMAs, Lyceum sessions and OUSBA accounts.

From my point of view, Lyceum is one of the most interesting things. It's a Java program that sets up a virtual classroom where learners and teachers can interact in multiple ways - via documents, charts and, interestingly, speech. Unfortunately, Lyceum, which is written by the OU itself will only work on Windows boxes, and isn't even very reliable on those. The technology is interesting, though, and I'm sure it will become more sophisticated and reliable as time goes by.

The OU are currently considering teaching Welsh in addition to their current language offerings. I'll be very interested to see how that goes.

As for the French, I've currently earned 24.45% out of the 40% of the total number of marks for the course that are needed for a pass. So things are going quite well.

******

Now I have to include a paragraph for my eldest daughter...

She phoned the other day to tell me that she'd found my blog. "Do you like it?" I asked.

"Well," she said,"It does sound as though I only meet you to get a meal out of you!"

So this is for Maxine...

I, Peter Bradley, do solemnly swear and declare that I do not believe I have to buy a meal for her in order to enjoy my eldest daughter's company.

OK, Max?