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”

Our secret garden

You are now four years old. I am you other grandfather, the one you have just met, but only the once. At the moment, it looks highly unlikely that we will ever see you again, but whatever happens please believe that I love you dearly and always will. You are my flesh and blood, and always will be. We will meet again 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 got to work on our front garden today, "the jungle" in other words. Remember how I said we could have a great game of hide and seek in there? Well, it's not quite such a jungle now. Nana Ann has got to work with all kinds of cutting implements. Let me tell you, we have had to go to the recycling centre three times today with the car packed to the gunnels (I think that should be gunwales but never mind) with branches and bushes and waht have you. All our small trees and bushes are looking a little sorry for themselves, they've all had the arborial equivalent of crew cuts or at least a pudding-basin cut. But one thing really pleased me.

As Nana Ann was working, an old couple came past. They were going to have their Sunday dinners at the hospital which (for all its shortcomings) provides good, healthy meals at low prices. They go every Sunday, and every Sunday they pass our house and have a look at our front garden. Anyway, they got talking to Nana Ann and what they said was this: every time they go past our house, at least once a week, they always have a look at our graden. We have quite a number of flowers, such as our beautiful roses, and the bushes and trees often have flowers on as well. But most of all they enjoy looking at and taling about what they call "our secret garden." They rejoice in the fact that lots of little creatures live in our garden, hidden away from harm's way. The man even asked Nana Ann if she's ever seen a grass snake in our garden. (Grass snakes are harmless by the way).

But our garden will grow again, and I'm sure it will be a secret garden once more. As to whether you'll ever get the chance to play in it, I wouldn't put money on it. Nana Ann has been so busy with the garden and other things to fix in the house, the central heating which broke down weeks ago, one of our smaoke alarms was off, a new lanmpshade was needed - all things Grandad has been too busy to fix! Plus the fact that I really am in "wet towel" time with my books. "Wet towel time" means you more or less have to lock yourself away in a room so you can get on with your shed-load of work with absolutely no distractions, with a wet towel round your head. I have't actually done the wet towel bit yet, but I've been close.

So I'm sorry to say we haven't yet discussed the position vis a vis you and your Mam and Dad and us in any depth yet. Really we need both to be relaxed and withgout outside pressures. Otherwise we could very well get into an argument between the two of us, and that will never do. One thing I have learned through livig this long is that arguments happen much more readily when you're tired and distrcated. That's grown-up talk and not for you for many years yet. But we do still think about you, a lot, and every single day.

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann