Can It Really Be Three Years?

It seems like only yesterday that we had a phone call from Duncan to tell us we were grandparents for the first time. It was early in the morning and, as the baby was not due for another week or so, we had no inkling that she would be arriving so soon. I had promised to pick my mum up from Liverpool Airport that afternoon so we couldn't drop everything and head to Scotland immediately so, by the time we left home, we were in danger of missing visiting time. Fortunately, the roads were clear and we managed to fly up the motorway and arrive in Dundee with five minutes to spare and, somehow, maintain our unblemished driving licences.

How things change in three years! We spent 6th July helping Sarah and Duncan to give their little Rose a lovely birthday party. It was themed on Pirates and Fairies (Rose is hooked on these Disney characters) and the guests made a real effort so we had a garden full of Tinkerbells and Captain Hooks. All the fairies including Marion were girls and all the pirates including Duncan and me were boys so there was no groundbreaking swapping of gender stereotypes. Sarah baked a very pretty cake and arranged lots of games including a treasure hunt, painting and pinning a parrot on the pirate. Apart from a brief shower (for which Duncan had sensibly taken the precaution of borrowing a number of gazebos) the weather was kind and a lot of happy little kids, including the birthday girl, had a super afternoon.

Rose was a purple fairy.

Melody was a blue one.

Marion was a multi-coloured one.

We've had a week of continuing poor WIFI cover at the caravan. Caravan Connect advise us that our site is at the extremity of the park so we are basically getting what's left of the signal by the time everyone else has used it. It's so poor that downloading the Archer's Omnibus which usually takes a minute or two has taken almost an hour (and several reboots). At least service is normal with the radio and TV. I loved Lily Allen's Desert Island Discs. I'm not very familiar with her music but her desert island choices were right up my street and I think sales of this one are going to rocket.

Another Milestone

We passed another milestone in our retirement yesterday (or possibly two days ago depending on if we ever get a WIFI signal again here at Craigtoun Meadows). Yes, on Saturday 6^th July it was our first grandchild Rose’s second birthday and, although I suppose you could say that it was more of a milestone in her life than ours, it prompted a good deal of reminiscing on our behalf as we thought back to the second birthdays of both Paul and Sarah way back in the 1980’s.

In the same way that Marion and I spent hours preparing special cakes for the events all those years ago, Sarah made a huge effort and came up with this super dog. She may not be in the league of our old friend Jan Harbon just yet but the fact that many of the visitors to Rose’s party asked where she had bought the cake spoke volumes for her hard work.

Rose had a lovely time at her party. All the kids who came were well behaved and happy and everything ran smoothly giving Sarah and Duncan (and Marion) just rewards for all the hard work that they put into arranging the day. There was plenty to eat and drink and nobody went home hungry or thirsty.

It only seems like a few months ago that we raced up to Dundee to see Sarah in hospital when Rose was born and yet two years have flown by and we now have a little girl who is a million miles from being a baby and who greeted Marion today with “you’ve got a blue dress on Nanny”. “Coochie coo” and “gaga” are distant memories and I imagine that she’ll be interested in reading soon. With hair like this Einstein’s "Theory of relativity" perhaps.

Phone signals are as elusive as WIFI signals here at the caravan. This is how Marion had to stand to take a phone call from Paul recently. It’s the caravan’s hotspot – move an inch to either side and the calls disconnect.

Home For The Holidays

Sarah braved everything the weather threw at her yesterday and managed to get Rose down from Scotland to see us despite her train being cancelled and Duncan having to drive them to Inverkeithing to find one that was running. They did well to beat the storm that rapidly became  known as Hurricane Bawbag on Twitter and then on the BBC and in other media until someone pointed out that Hurricane Scrotum didn't have quite the same cachet as Irene, Katia or Andrew. They arrived in Preston almost four hours late but we made the most of the delay by taking in the town's delights - we spent the afternoon enjoying a cup of tea in Morrisons.

We are so pleased that they made it as it gave Marion's mum Flo the chance to see her great granddaughter for the very first time. Flo has been in a rest home for three or four weeks now. It hasn't been easy for her but she finally seems to be starting to settle there and she was thrilled to meet Rose. 


Sarah's a great mum and Rose is coming on in leaps and bounds and can do so many more things than she could the last time we saw her. They have so much more for babies than they did when Paul and Sarah were infants and Sarah tells us that before they learn to talk lots of kids are learning to sign so she has enrolled Rose for signing classes.

I'll reserve judgement on that one.


Staying with the home for the holidays theme, I realise that the following is probably an exploitative piece of cynical manipulation by one of the world's largest companies. But cynical or not, I challenge you to watch it with a dry eye.





And on a more blatantly commercial level here's another that's nonetheless a joyful representation of having family home is all about. 

A Great Welcome For Rose

It was a busy day at Doocot Road here in St Andrews on Saturday when Sarah and Duncan held a celebration party to welcome our granddaughter Rose. Over sixty friends and family came to join the celebrations and Rose behaved impeccably throughout and was awake for much of the proceedings so all the guests had a chance to meet her. Everybody remarked on what a wonderful cake Jan Harbon had made for the occasion, it didn’t only look fabulous but also tasted great too although it looked so good it was a shame to cut into it.

 There was plenty to eat and drink and we only had enough left over for a few snacks on Sunday and Monday.

It was so nice for us to see our son Paul who we hadn't seen for months. He made a flying visit to meet his niece for the first time and they both scored a big hit with each other. He and Josephine (who was sadly unable to make it due to work commitments) bought Rose some fabulous books that she will love as she grows older. (Paul and Sarah did).

My sister Julie flew in from Spain for a couple of nights.

And my mum was able to catch a train up to Leuchars to see her first great grandchild - another is on the way soon.

Sarah, Duncan and Marion worked extremely hard to make sure that everything ran smoothly whilst I felt a bit guilty for escaping most of the hard work by driving backwards and forwards to Edinburgh airport to pick up the family. Marion did manage to get a few moments with Rose.


Now that the celebrations are over, we have time to start relaxing for the rest of our time here in the caravan. I had a couple of hours out with the metal detector yesterday but got bogged down by so much mud that I ended up with my super lightweight detector weighing a ton and my wellies feeling like I was wearing platform soles. The weather is looking changeable so we can't get out on the bikes at the moment but fingers crossed it will pick up soon and we can make the most of our stay.