36 Randolph Street is Christopher’s home address and the house he returns to with his mother after their journey from London. Its familiar rooms offer a place to retreat, but the return also brings Christopher and his parents into direct conflict: he shuts himself away when his father arrives, and his mother later tells him that his father has left. The house thus becomes the setting for a fragile, unsettled change in the family’s living arrangements.

Address and Recognition

When a policeman asks where he lives, Christopher gives the answer as 36 Randolph Street. The question is easy for him, and answering it makes him feel better; the familiar address offers a moment of order during an encounter in which he is also considering whether to tell the policeman that his father killed Wellington. The location is therefore established not only as a residence but as a fact Christopher can state precisely while weighing what to disclose.

Return to the House

On returning to Swindon with his mother, Christopher enters the house with her keys. She calls out, but no one is there. Although he is frightened, his mother assures him he will be safe, and he goes upstairs, closes his bedroom door, and lets Toby run around. He occupies himself with Minesweeper, completing the Expert Version in 174 seconds—75 seconds slower than his best time. The quiet of the house is temporary: Christopher has arrived before his father returns.

Parental Conflict and Christopher’s Retreat

At 6:35 p.m., Christopher hears his father come home in his van and moves his bed against the bedroom door so that his father cannot enter. His parents shout at each other downstairs, disputing his mother’s right to be in the house and whether her partner is there too. Their argument makes the home a place of competing claims rather than a settled refuge. Christopher responds by retreating to the corner of his room, pressing his head into the junction of the walls, and banging the bongo drums Uncle Terry gave him. He continues for an hour, until his mother comes in and tells him that his father has gone to stay with Rhodri for a while.

A Household in Transition

After the confrontation, Christopher finds Toby’s cage behind the shed, brings it inside, cleans it, and puts Toby back in it. The practical act of restoring the cage gives him a concrete task amid the uncertainty. His mother says that they will find a place of their own in the next few weeks, so the house remains part of a changing family arrangement rather than a secure long-term home. Christopher’s question about whether he can take his maths A-level the next day points toward the routine and plans he is trying to preserve as that arrangement changes.