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”

Horses trotting

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.

If you ever stayed up here where I live, you'd be sure to see horses trotting. A man or a boy sits on a very flimsy cart, just tubular steel. That's for lightness, because these are for racing. The horses are specially bred for speed, and they're trained to swing both legs on one side together, instead of the normal way a horse walks, trots or gallops, which is with the two legs on each side going in opposite ways. It sounds complicated, but you'll understand it when you see it.

I often see these trotting horses going past my window when I'm working, sometimes with quite young boys on board - not as young as you, mind. You can see these rigs racing at Agricultural shows, when there is great excitement and a lot of betting. At other times you can see them racing along one of our new roads, just to practice for speed. These guys even, at times, block of a road at both ends and have their own private races, juts for a bet. They're not supposed to do it, but by the time the police come along, they've all gone.

Talking of agricultural shows, which grandad used to go to regularly (to report them) they are all coming up now, but without any cattle or sheep. That's because of the foot and mouth disease which they've found in the south of England. Foot and mouth is a very terrible disease for animals, and it can spread quickly from farm to farm if it's not stopped quickly. Last time it happened, before you were born, thiousnads and thousands of sheep and acttle had to be killed to stop the disease spreading. That was a terrible time, especially for the farmers who lots all their animals.

I've written that e-mail to your Mam, but I'm going to leave it overnight and read it again - several times - before I send it to your Mam, maybe tomorrow night. So kep your fingers crossed!

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann