We're getting to that stage of our break in St Andrews when it's difficult not to start getting maudlin and sad as, in a couple of days, we are heading back to Southport and won't be seeing the Scottish branch of our family again until after Christmas. You may well say that that's only a couple of months but a lot can happen in a couple of months and the older you get the more you notice it.
Rose has just started to sit up and pay attention to what's going on in the world and by Christmas she will, no doubt, be using her own spoon and her own fork to enjoy some festive food. We've seen big changes in her rapid development in the ten or so days that we have been here and the next few months will see her blossom. It's not just our grandchild that we will miss. We'll also miss our daughter Sarah and her parter Duncan.
Buying the caravan has been a boon on this score. We are lucky that we could afford it but I wonder so much about the mobility of populations that has split families apart throughout the world. Our son and his wife live two hundred miles south of us and our daughter almost three hundred miles north. Were we not retired, our opportunities to see them would be limited to high days and holidays. Even now our chances to see Paul and Josephine are hindered by their hectic work schedules. This is all a result of progress - the progress that causes populations to migrate in search of a better life. And who could blame them as, invariably, the grass is actually greener in their new locations. We don't want to live in our childrens' pockets, in fact we always worry about overstaying our welcomes whenever we head north or south, but in some ways I hanker for a balance. If we are lucky we've got a fair few retirement years in us and I hope that we can strike one.
We loved Josephine's Sorority Girls on E4 on Tuesday night. If you didn't catch it you can watch it by clicking this link.
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