This is the first post for October – the month where it gets colder, darker, the clocks go back and where Halloween comes at the end. As of this week I return to my normal hours at work – so I’ll be working more, and doing evenings again. It’ll take a bit of adjusting to as I had gotten used to having my evenings free for the past year and a half!

September round up

and

Cunningham and Petrov: The Mystery of the Missing Children chapter 24

“It’s expensive,” he said, looking down at his wife. “Two pounds ten shillings a week – and you’ve got to remember that Molly won’t be leaving school and earning money for a while yet.”

Mr Jackson discusses the cost of renting a new house with his wife in The Family at Red Roofs. Money is often a plot in Blyton’s books – often with children raising money for charity, or to buy fireworks as a group etc, or as happens later in this book for the family to survive. But generally it’s small amounts that add up – I can’t think of many times when Blyton has adults discuss their finances. This conversation includes Mr Jackson mentioning the possibility of him getting a raise, and them having to fund the children’s further educations. So it’s all a bit serious and grown-up, but it’s necessary to set the scene for what comes later.