Back from my visits

I've had a wonderful five days visiting family and friends. It went like this:

Saturday evening ~ went to a friend's 60th birthday barbecue in Worcester.

Sunday ~ spent the day with one of my sons and his three children in Malvern.

Monday ~ spent the morning shopping in Malvern, and visited an old family friend in the afternoon.

Tuesday ~ went to a bring-your-own sandwiches lunch party with the local group of Growing Old Disgracefully, then more shopping, then supper with my son and granddaughter.

Wednesday ~ home again, tired but content.

High spot ~

Engaging fully with my 6-year-old grandson for the first time, and eventually receiving his seal of approval, when he suddenly flung himself onto the sofa, leaned up against me, and laid his head (none too gently) on my bosom! And what brought about this happy conclusion? Well, first he and I took turns to do sums in his work book, and to award each other gold stars which we stuck in the book. Then we tried to play an impossibly complex game called Tantrix, which I gave him several years ago, without realising how difficult it was. Then we worked through a horrendously violent comic book, reading just the exclamatory bits, such as: WHOOOOOSH!, CRRAAACK!, SQUEEELCHH!, EEEEK! etc. That is to say that I was doing the reading, giving it all the breath, vigour and harshness of consonants that seemed to be called for. Finally, we compared scars, as we have both of us been through major heart surgery.


Conversation with his brother and sister was a little difficult to fit in to this bonding session, but I did manage to catch up with his brother's plans for A levels and possibly having his tongue pierced, and his sister's make-up preferences, along with her reassurances that she was wearing transfers and not tattoos on her stomach. I did not hesitate to express my distaste for both piercings and tattoos.

Passing pleasures ~

• Finding an old fashioned chain pull in a cafe loo.
• Tables in the same cafe made out of old plank doors, still showing the marks of where the latches and latchplates had been.
• Finding lots of places dealing in Free Trade goods
• My granddaughter choosing to keep me company when I left the food bar while the others were ordering, only to find I was going to the public loo, and not to the Post Office as she thought.
• An old Victorian letter box.
• A pigeon with a difference.

Momentary miseries ~

• No grab rail or non-slip mat in the bath-cum-shower - very necessary for stiff, unsteady oldies.
• Two waiters in a posh restaurant with metal tips on their shoes, who went clack, clack, clack across the wood laminate floors every time they moved, disturbing the relaxation and concentration that should go with good (and expensive) food.

Time and effort well spent.