There have been a number of highlights in the last month but few, if any, have beaten the times we have spent with our grandchildren.  We were lucky that the geography of Britain is such that the Edinburgh-based family passed through our neck of the woods twice on their way to and from Cornwall.  Additionally, we have been called upon to do a bit of ‘emergency’ baby sitting for the Bristol-based family; another absolute pleasure given that the illness preventing nursery attendance was mild. 

On one day, our two grandsons got to meet each other again at our house.  Seeing them together is such a heartwarming event even if the age difference prevents playing together much at this stage.

Not everyone wants children and not all can have them.  But I now feel luckier than ever that we managed to have three boys.  It has added immeasurably to Jane and my shared history and we would have a lot less to talk about if we hadn’t had them.  Most of all though, having children has opened up the possibility and, now, the reality, of having grandchildren and enabling us to experience a whole new dimension of fascination and love.  Fortunately, we have lived long enough to see and enjoy them.

Second Grandchild (SG) is less than half First Grandchild’s (FG’s) age.  He’s toddling about now he has learnt to walk, loves watching FG and he smiles and smiles.  Our babysitting efforts with SG are win-win-win for us, parents and SG alike; we get quality time with him, his parents can focus on work and SG gets undivided attention from doting grandparents.

First Grandchild (FG) is industrious and always wants to help.  He seems to love helping with weeding, cooking, vacuuming up dead flies and almost anything that he can see we are doing.  He helped me pick gooseberries and plant seedlings; his favourite phrase seems to be ‘Can I help?’.  Long may all that last. 

I made the gooseberries FG helped me pick into jam.  That felt like a huge achievement because of the lengths to which I had I had gone to protect the crop from badgers.  I pinned down netting every few inches but they dug underneath.  I put rows of brick around the netting but they moved those and dug underneath.  I felt I was building Fort Knox.  The only thing that seemed to deter them was a sprinkle of my urine on the grass around the bush (well away from the berries I should add).  Anyway, we got 3.5kg of goosberries and several pots of very nice jam.

Despite the very hot weather and lack of rain, I have also had a bumper crop of blackcurrants.  The badgers are less interested in blackcurrants and I just need to keep the birds off them.  I’ve stocked the freezer with a several kilograms, given a kilogram to a neighbour and made a batch of jam already.  There are more to pick and I’m looking forward to doing – it’s an outdoor task of repetitive, mundane simplicity and exactly the sort of thing I find relaxing and therapeutic.

In a break from all this fruit picking and family conviviality, Jane an I visited a couple who we know from our time in London and who have a house in New Quay in Wales.  We have visited there a few times previously but I don’t think I have been there since before the Covid pandemic. 

The town, once a thriving fishing town, is now dominated by tourism.  It is set between two lovely cliff and beach walks – north towards Aberaeron and south towards Llangranog.  We walked both ways in much better weather than had been forecast and ate in both these towns.  I loved the walks in a fresh breeze, with few other people about, and with terrific sea and cliff views.  The whole stay was a good dose of natural beauty, catch up chat and good food against a backdrop of lovely hospitality.

Later this week we are off to Scotland to visit FG and his parents and are looking forward to that enormously.  We are hoping the weather holds but continues to become a little cooler (I’m sure Scotland won’t let us down on the latter front).  Whatever, it will be great to see the little one and his Mum and Dad again.

But first, a little more fill in babysitting for the not very poorly Second Grandchild; always (so far, anyway) a pleasure!