I had intended trying to cadge a lift off young Mr Morris to the 1940s weekend on the Severn Valley Railway, but just lately fate has been dealing from the bottom of the deck. Late last night we had a message to inform us Alicia would be visiting for the afternoon as Dan was doing a churching music thing in Hickman park.
Well, that was probably the only thing that would have put me off going out as my granddad duties kicked in. First i had to hunt down some strawberries to annoy Joy and Dan and delight Alicia. I was up bright and early, for me, and went round the market but, there wasn’t a strawberry in sight. Next stop was Lidl, mainly for the bargain chocolate bars reduced from 7/- to 3s 5d for the weekend only. They didn’t have any strawberries that compared with the ones I’d seen at Co-Op yesterday, so I decided to walk back to the local Co-Op and get some from there. Sadly there was no strawberries there either.
Last hope was Morrisons, who I was sure would have plenty because the robbing sods charge double the price of the other stores. Sure enough, they had plenty and they were double the price. I hunted around and found a half size punnet that would only cost a ‘leg’ and decided that would be enough for today. To be honest, the price would not have put me off. I have waited a long time to find another soul that shares my passion for strawberries.
Joy and Alicia arrived while we were finishing lunch and Joy did her best to keep her out of the way because she is still at the age where even if not hungry, she wants to try any food that’s on offer. Of course the first thing I did was to go out with a plate of strawberries. Joy said not yet, she’s just had her lunch but, good old Alicia pulled towards the strawberries and I sat her down and let her get stuck in. Not to be outdone, just as we were running out of strawberries, Annette and Emma came out with a pot of mixed fruit: melon, apple, grapes and pear. Twice as much fun knowing Joy didn’t want her to have anything 🙂
Having fed her and let her dribble bits of fruit all over her clean clothes, we were then entertained by her antics which included teasing the dog who we had fastened outside behind Bob’s new gate. All in all a good afternoon which I finished off by doing a spot of gardening. Hunted out the ripening strawberries and raised them off the floor, watered the crops and I’m pleased to say spotted a few surviving pears.
Yes, I would definitely have enjoyed the railway and re-enactments, but these visits and chances to live up to my promise to be the granddad from hell are few and far between.