Thunder conductors, fish and chips and dinosaurs.

Wake before the alarm at six and give Norman his breakfast after first letting him out into the garden. A busy day ahead, Louis from a quarter to eight, dogs to walk and more gardening to do as well as keeping my grandson occupied until bedtime. Such a day requires a decent breakfast, but I am out of bacon and black pudding, so make do with frozen sausages, an egg and baked beans with toast. I take my coffee in the Garden room and listen to the depressing news from Syria, the only Syrian I know is a refugee lawyer who runs a greasy spoon cafe on Bridlington harbour with his wife and three daughters. His name is Richard, his mother, who still lives in Syria, is a Christian and he says the West won't intervene because there is no oil. It may be cynical but it's probably a true observation. After washing and dressing, collect Louis from Sarah's house at 7:45, the decorators arrive at 8:00. I leave him with Pip and take the dogs on the Westwood, where I meet Pat from Wood Lane. Her five year old Labrador, Dora, was knocked down and killed a couple of months ago. She has her daughter's two dogs with her today, so I walk round the loop with her, she will be in receipt of a new Labrador puppy in a few weeks but is still very upset over the death of her dog. As a consequence we don't get back to Cherry until half past nine, and as soon as we do, I make a start on the overgrown ivy at the back of the house. The three dogs sit and watch me work, and after an hour it's finished and I have cleared away and am making a start on the bushes and ivy along the north side fence. Louis comes out and asks to help, and I am surprised when he begins to gather clippings and bag them for me. By now it is becoming quite hot and I take my shirt off and work in shorts and sandals. Louis does the same, he has a lovely tan from his week in Portugal, and we chat whilst we work. He is interested in everything, and wants to know if lightning conductors trap thunder as well. The last time we went to Hornsea swimming pool he wanted to know what the metal rod and the cable running down the side of the church spire was. I told him it was a lightning conductor and explained what it did. Logically, if thunder and lightning are part of the same weather phenomenon, it might conduct thunder as well! At least if you are five. His interest in clippings fades after a while and is replaced by an investigation into the inventory of tools in the garden shed, he wants to try each one. In between my work, I explain each tool and what it does and try to use as many as possible as I progress from pruning ivy to ceanothus, to jasmine and then to weeding the flower beds. I had hoped to do the south fence hedges as well, but content myself with what we have done so far and call it a day at one thirty. Louis has his itinerary planned for the rest of the day, apparently he knew he was spending the day and night with me from Tuesday, a day before I agreed to it! First he wants his favourite lunch at my bungalow, Parma ham, chorizo, smoked cheese, olives and crusty bread with cream soda pop. Like me he has a savoury palate. We eat in the garden under the umbrella, I finish the last of the roast beef slices in brown bread, with tea. Next he wants to go to the swing park adjacent to All Saints church, he plays with the other kids whilst I chat to another grandad, who has been summoned from Wigan with his wife to provide holiday child care. After an hour we leave and then drive to Hornsea and park outside the leisure centre, before going for a swim. The pool is packed, but Louis spends a happy couple of hours splashing about with the other kids. I haven't been in the water for three weeks, but manage the occasional length. I still feel tired, it might be the after effects of gardening, the recent illness or perhaps a combination of the two. We change and have a drink in the pool cafe and then have a look at the beach. The tide is in and it's starting to spit with rain, but the sea is milky white shading to aquamarine and then navy blue further from the shore. Louis reveals the last part of his master plan, fish and chips at Sullivan's Cafe, it is situated directly opposite the swimming pool. We both have haddock and chips, but Louis has a side order of gravy, a habit he acquired form his sister, Alice. We both clear our plates, and whilst I am finishing my cup of tea, he tells me he wants a full English for breakfast. I can't imagine where the kid gets his appetites! As we leave it is raining heavily, but fortunately I have brought my new brolly, and we gain the car relatively dryly and then drive to the new Tesco store to buy bacon, eggs and fresh bread for his breakfast. On our way back to Tickton I have to explain thunderstorms, cumulonimbus clouds and what an anvil is. By the time we get home to Tickton it has stopped raining and the streets of the village are dry, so after we have fed Norman, we take him for a walk down Carr Lane to the bridge. En route I explain that the Lamas at the farm are now called Alpaca, but when we get there, they are nowhere to be seen, only the horses, chicken and dogs. As we make our way back from the bridge, Louis spots the farmer and shouts to ask "where are the alpaca?" he invites us in to see them at the field behind the farmhouse, his wife gives Louis some carrots to feed to them. The horses come for carrots as well and Louis gets a finger slightly nipped by a young colt. He decides not to cry, we can smell cooking and the farmer explains that his dinner is ready, so we say thank you and leave. Normy has been tucked under my arm whilst this transpired and does his business as soon as I put him down on the lane. I have brought a wad of kitchen roll for that purpose, Louis wants to pick it up, but he has experimented enough for one day. When we get home it is eight o'clock and we put our pyjamas on and the three of us go to bed. Louis wants a story about dinasaurs, so I invent one about a family of mouse like mammals who have to traverse a swamp, a forest and a mountain to get healing herbs from a hot geyser for their poorly dad. The usual suspects, pterodactyls, T Rex, velociraptors, brontosaurus, triceratops and stegosaurs all find their way into the tale, as well as giant crocodiles and sharks. By nine he is fast asleep and I sneak out of bed to write this blog. The curiosity and imagination of children is a wonder to behold. After breakfast he is going home and I am driving to Scarborough to meet my cousins for the day. Another day of happy memories for both of us I trust.