Chatting with Arthur and meeting Saoirse

I had a funny conversation with Arthur in the car this morning. Sam and I were taking him to nursery before going on to do some work at the allotment.

Sam said you could see the countryside a lot better when the leaves were off the trees and I gave Arthur a bit of an explanation as to why leaves shed their leaves in the winter. I could tell he wasn’t entirely happy with what I’d said and then we had a conversation about the moon.

I think I said you could sometimes see the moon during the daytime and I could sense a gasp of exasperation from behind.

He wanted to tell me about the caterpillars he’d seen at the allotment eating the cabbages and I was very interested. All was going well until I said maybe the birds would eat some of the caterpillars.

I might have said I could fly! “Birds don’t eat caterpillars grandad”.

“Oh,” said I, “I think they do.”

“They don’t!”

He was quite adamant. Lucy said that he’d asked her what seagulls ate and she’d suggested fish, crabs, shellfish. “They eat worms,” Arthur had told her and he wasn’t having any other theory.

I think he might have a career in Theresa May’s cabinet explaining why Brexit is a good idea.

I’m in Jersey to spend a few days with Sam and Lucy and to meet new granddaughter Saoirse. I met her for the first time this morning and I’ve discovered she’s very long for a month old, surprisingly wriggly and has a range a facial expressions and sounds that I wouldn’t expect in one so young.

We posed for photos and had a little carry. She likes very much to be carried as upright as possible and slept for three hours this afternoon, partly while I walked her in the rain and partly in her pram in the house when we’d got back.

She was very quiet and peaceful, even Rosa’s vacuuming didn’t disturb her. Margaret would have needed to give her a poke to make sure she was all right.

Arthur sitting in his chair watching Paw Patrol