grandad kit

Thank you for reading my blog. If you have difficulty seeing your grandchildren, or have any views about my situation, I would welcome your messages by e-mail through this blog site. If you wish, just use a first name or a nickname and your identity will be protected, like mine – “Grandad Kit.”

Dear “Tom”

Going to the dentist

I am you other grandfather, the one you have never met. You are three years old, and although I have never met you, I love you dearly and always will. You are my flesh and blood, and always will be. We will meet one day, I am sure. I am writing this daily "blog" to you to make up for the fact that I can't speak to you right now. I hope that one day you will be able to read this.

Nana Ann has had to go to the dentist today. No doubt she'll tell me all about it tonight. And Grandad has to go to the dentist on Thursday, and I can tell you I'm not looking forward to it. I bey you're really brave going to the dentist, and don't worry atall. I remeber when your cousin Elaine was the same age as you, I took her to the dentist and she wassn't worried atall. I was very impressed. But her Mam - your Auntie Rosie - wouldn't let Elaine eat too many sweets, so she hasn't had a lot of problems with her teeth.

The trouble with Grandad is that I love sweets and cakes and ice cream. Now when I was your age, there were very few sweets - you couldn't buy lots of sweets in the shops like you can now. Sweets, like all kinds of food and clothes, were in short supply. There was only so much of each thing to go round. So the government decided that, instead of a few people having lots of things and other people having none atall, everything had to be shared out equally. It was called "rationing" because everything was srationed and each person, child or adult, could only have so much. For example, just one egg for each person each week.

Now that wassd fine while it lasted. It certainly was healthy, and hardly anybpdy got fat, because you simpky could not eat too much because there wax only so much to eat. But then, bit by bit, things came off the ration and you could buy as much as you liked or you could afford - eggs for example. So when sweets came off the ration and you could have as many as you could afford, that was great, or so it seemed.

My trouble was that I loved sweets so much, I spent all my pocket money and all the money I earned from odd jobs, on sweets. I ate so many seets that my teeth started to go bad. And I've had bad teeth every since! So ther, it's all my own fault.

I wnet to Newcastle to see a man today, but he wasn't there. So I had a wasted journey, and that was all his fault.

I haven't had a call from you Mam yet. I'm thinking of giving her a call this weekend if she doesn't ring, and taking a chance. I'll be coming to London again soon, and I would definitely have plenty of time to see you and your Mam and Dad, along with Nana Ann of course, but that depends on your Mam. Kee your fingers crossed!

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann