High-tech ice-cream

I’ve just had an old person’s run-in with technology. Margaret and I were in Cambridge to look after Julia, Aureliano and Florencia while Lucia received her doctorate. Carlos and Nidia had come across from Ecuador to see the ceremony. 

We met up outside King’s College first thing and we hired a punt on the river to amuse the children while the ceremony took place. 

They very much enjoyed the experience. We were punted by a chap called Ben, a student at Edinburgh and a former King’s, Ely student. 

He gave us lots of interesting history about the colleges and the children listened politely, but definitely became more alert when there seemed the risk of running down a duck or Ben bumping his head on the low bridges. 

Afterwards, they were all dining in King’s College (including the children) so Margaret and I were able to look around the shops and have some lunch. 

It was a scorching day and also my birthday, so I thought I’d treat myself to an ice-cream from this posh ice-cream shop. 

We went in, there were four people behind the counter and no-one was making eye contact. 

We spent a minute looking at the different flavours on display and talking about what I’d have and still no-one made eye contact or asked if they could help. 

Eventually I said: can anyone get me an ice-cream? 

The answer was that you have to order it on the screen. “Can’t I just tell you what I want?” 

“No.” 

“OK forget it.” 

“No, no sir, I’ll help you.” And the chap came around from behind the counter. “Press the screen to start, now select the ice-cream you like.” 

“I just want a cornet”. 

“OK, there are three sizes, which would you like?” The middle one was a ridiculous £7.45, but it was my birthday so I thought I’d push the boat out. 

“Now select the four flavours you'd like.” 

“I only want a cherry cornet! OK, this is ridiculous. I just want an ice-cream and you can’t just make one for me.” 

Point made, I left the shop ice-creamless. I’m all for technology, but only when it serves a useful purpose. This seems like a solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist. 

We used the park-and-ride to get to Cambridge and we’ll probably do it again, now we’ve discovered it. Trumpington park-and-ride is just off the M11, it’s free to park and the buses run into the city centre every 15 minutes. They cost £3.50 return.

Playing with Alice

Alice has very imaginative play. She can create a world in her imagination and interact with it. I’ve not known any of my other grandchildren do it like her. Arthur would have a world, but he’d be the only one in it and he wasn’t open to suggestions, he’d just want to concentrate on doing what he was doing. Once, we had string balanced all across the ski chalet, so you couldn’t move from one side to the other without pulling some down (much to his anger). Alice takes ideas from film, TV and books and she loves having someone to play with. She sometimes wants to be in charge but will often take new ideas and spin them into the backdrop. I’ve successfully introduced Scary Cat, pirates and dinosaurs into games. Elsa, from Frozen is a popular character (always played by Alice) and she’s handy person to be because if the game’s getting a bit dull, you can always start freezing the other players. Often, I’m quite glad to be frozen like a statue so I can have a bit of a rest. We been doing a fairy story in Spanish in Spanish Plus the other week – los tres cerditos (three little pigs) and I thought I’d talk about the Big Bad Wolf (our game needed a baddie). Alice said she didn’t like the Big Bad Wolf because he was scary. I told he the story of the Three Little Pigs with the emphasis on the incompetent wolf and then I asked if she knew the story of Red Riding Hood. She did, she had a book and we rummaged though her library to find it so I could read it to her. She enjoyed it and then wanted to play Little Red Riding Hood. In this version, she was Elsa, I was the wolf and RRH was an invisible figment of our imagination. When she came walking through the woods, the plan was that Elsa would freeze her and then the BBW could catch and eat her. Today, we were playing with Lego/Duplo, little pots and water. The Duplo dog got stuck in the pot and, joking, I said “we need to call for Paw Patrol.” She seized on the idea. She was Sky, I was Ryder … Oh no, the dog (it’s Rubble, decides Alice) is stuck in the pot. We need Paw Patrol, let’s yelp for help. Pups to the Look-out. Sky, Rubble is stuck in the pot, use your winch to get him out. There’s some singing of the Paw Patrol anthem (with some variation because I can’t remember it) to set the scene, then Sky (Alice) arrives to pull out Rubble and everyone is safe. “Again,” says Alice and we repeat half a dozen times until there’s a game change. Now, the Lego horse is stuck on the table and his mummy can’t get to him. We need Paw Patrol, let’s yelp for help. Pups to the Look-out. Sky, we need you winch to lift the baby horse off the table and return him to his mother. Repeat six times, with no lapse of enthusiasm. The Paw Patrol song must be sung and Ryder has to go to the Look-out to brief the dogs… The loop is finally severed when it’s time to head for Thurmaston shopping centre.

Feeding Red Kites in the garden

Red Kite in the conifer

Margaret has been feeding red kites from the garden.

We’ve seen red kites become more and more common in the past few years and they seem to have usurped buzzards as the top carrion bird in the area.

They’re lovely to see – huge birds with forked tails, riding thermals around the village or patrolling low over houses in the hope of spotting something tasty. I’ve never seen them land anywhere near houses, although one has been sitting in a large conifer at the corner of Arkady’s property (the windmill). It’s been there several times and will sit for hours, probably digesting its latest meal.

On Sunday, June 29, Sam and Lucy staged a birthday party for Julia and she brought back some cake (a rather large slab). I did my best to eat it, but after a week, Margaret put it on the lawn for the birds.

She was staggered to see a kite swoop down and grab the cake and fly off. I honestly thought our garden would be too small for a bird of this size to dive in, grab and have enough room to fly up and away. They look so big close too and with their wings fully outstretched, it seems they could touch either side of the lawn. I certainly underestimated their flying abilities!

Since the cake grab, Margaret has put more food on the lawn and they’ve been back and taken it. She now buys them chicken wings and we’ve heard them crying (possibly saying “feed me”).

So, we’ve heard a call, and a kite is sitting in the conifer at the side of Maggie’s garden. Margaret has left a chicken wing and by the time she’s back in the house, it has swooped down and taken it.

Sometimes she goes out in the garden and hears them call. She does an imitation of their cry in response and goes to get a chicken wing. It does sound a bit bonkers, but it does work, and they’ve been fed almost every day for the past three weeks.

I have tried to video them, but they don’t play ball. However, I did manage to take this through the lounge window.