To cast off thoughts of murder and gloom, I met up with friends yesterday near the beach. Look: blue sky and sea. There were people swimming, though I imagine hypothermia wasn't far off for them. There was a brisk wind.
Despite what Amy thinks, Scotland isn't that cold in the winter, or at least our part isn't. We're in a temperate climate. I mean, we do get occasional frost and snow but more often, at its worst, it's just damp and windy. As for air-conditioning, Violet Sky, the big shops now have it, but it's very seldom really necessary and it's bad for the environment, surely?
Today Daughter 1 and I went with the children to our beloved Botanic Gardens.
Despite the heat wave, Grandson found a puddle to splash in. (Not from rain; from the watering of the gardens.)
It's nice to enter imaginatively into his world sometimes. Like most children, he likes to add sound effects when he sees animals: woof-woof and so on. Today, there was a fly in the kitchen. "Cheep-cheep," he observed. Flies would be more acceptable if they sang, don't you think?
And some months ago he visited London with Daughter 1. Looking up at the tower of Big Ben with its four enormous clock faces, he said, "Tick-tock" and then "Cuckoo". Wouldn't it be wonderful if four huge cuckoos popped out of there every hour on the hour?
Some of my best childhood memories are of summer holidays and day-trips to the beach! We were hardy back then, undaunted by brisk weather. My blood is thinner now, but walking on the beach is still one of my favourite things to do...
ReplyDeleteLove that puddle jumper and his dimple-handed sister!
It would indeed be delightful if giant cuckoos popped out of Big Ben, but not as delightful as watching your grandchildren at the Botanics.
ReplyDeleteWhen my niece was a baby she was terrible about bedtimes and getting off to sleep, and her parents often gave in and had her up with them. One night she came down when they were watching 'I Claudius' and my s-i-l was a bit worried that she was gazing transfixed when Sejanus met his bloody end on the steps of the Senate. However, after a moment she just sighed thoughtfully and said 'Up-Down'.
ReplyDeleteThis was of course her word for any kind of stairs, though I suppose it could have been a reflection on the nature of worldly power in Ancient Rome too...
Sorry, seem to have come back to murder most foul again. Sweet grandchildren, as always.
Ha ha ha! There was an American t.v. show many years ago, called "Kids Say The Darndest Things". Cuckoos popping out of Big Ben's face(s) is one of those darndest things!!
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