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

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”

A different kind of library

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.

Grandad was back home on the train last night after staying with Nana Ann at her house. This time I made sure it stopped at my station before I got on - I didn't want to go sailing past like last time when I jumped on the train at the last minute.

Today Grandad was all day in a libarry, but not a library with thousands of books. This was a newspaper library, with thousands of newspapaers going back years and years. Old newspapers are very handy for telling you what happened when. The only thing is, you have to know where to look, otherwise you could waste a lot of time looking for something and never finding it. But if you know that soemthing happened on a particular day, then you can look at the newspaper for the next day (unless it happened in the mroning and gthere's an evening paper like you have in London) and then you can find out all the details of what you want know. Grandad doesz this a lot, for his books, but it is hard work but very interesting. The trouble is, when you are looking for one particular thing, you can see somethig else completely different but very intresting and you can get distracted and waste a lot of time with things that are interesting but that you don't need.

Today I went to see a man abour setting up another blog just like this one, but not about you I'm afraid. This blog for youy will have to come to and end in a few weeks time, but by then I really really hope I will be able to see you in the flesh and there won't be any need for me to write this blog any more. In any case, I might run out of things to tell you (or perhaps not).

I'll be in tonight, so let's hope your Mam gives me a ring.

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann

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”

Yachts tipping over

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.

Grandad hired a car so that we could drive all the way round the Isle of Wight - it's quite a distance, and most of the roads are bendy and narrow. It was amazing how many people were camping and picnicking near the shore, all the way round the isaland. They were there to watch the yachts race. There are all kinds of yachts, bir and small. Your Mam can sail big yacths, and we wondered if she was sailing any of the ones we saw. One race we saw involved a fleet of Catamarans, that's boats with two separate hulls, like two boats joined together. When they satrt they all have to get in a line between two boats. If they cross the line before the starting gun goes, they have to go round and back again, losing a lot of time in the race and in effect having to start at the back. This did happen in the race we saw.

So everybody tried to get just behind the line, moving forward, just before the gun goes - very, very trciky, especially in a sailing boat! But after that, it was amazing to watch these catamarans. They tipped almost right over, with one half - like a boat in itself - right out of the water, with the crew sitiong on top to weigh it down. It looks dangerous (you won't catch me doing it) but it must be thrilling.

We decided to send a card to your Mam. It has some funny jokes on it, which she might tell you. Like, for example, where are the Needles that you can't sew with? On the Isle of Wight, the Needles are very sharp rocks that stick out of the sea. So you can't sew with them. Well, we think its funny. The last time I sent a card to your Mam (it was about Thomas the Tank Engine) she gave me a ring - the first tiem for years. So maybe she'll do so again. Let's hope so.

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann

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”

Two very unusual railways

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.

We love going on trains, and I bet you do too. Well, today we've been on two very unusual railways. What's unusual about them? They both run along piers, that's what! Piers are like bridges that go out intio the sea, but are only connected with the land at one end. You can walk along them, most of them have a lot of fun and games on them, and quite a number have landing stages at the far end where you can get on a boat and go for a boat trip across the sea.

Some piers are quite long, so they sometines have a special railway that you can travel on to get from one end to the other. The first pier Grandad went on has a little train with a tiny engine pulling it. But it's a lot of fun, rading on the raileay along the pier, looking out over the water and back to the land, seeing the ships and the waves and the birds. That was good enough, but the next one was even better.

This particular pier has a much bigger train, one that carries on across part of the island just like a normal train. In fact, it is a normal train - it's an Underground Train, just like you have in London. This train used to run along the Northern Line, and now it's had a "transfer" to the Isle of Wight. So if you come on a boat, you can get off the boat at the end of the pier and get on this Underground train, except that instaed of going underground it not only goes overground, it goes along the top of the pier to take you to the land end of the pier where there is a station to get on and off the train.

We're just satying one night at this hotel, but it's very nice. We have a balcony overlookin g the sea (and another pier!) and it couldn'r be better really. If you were here, there's plenty of sandy beaches for you to play on, as well as roundabouts, dodgems and other things to enjoy. I've got several post cards and I'm thinking of sending one to your Mam so she can read it to you.

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann

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”

Goose with broken wing

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.

Lat night I saw a very sad thing - a goose with a broken wing. Tghis is one of the family of five goslings (baby geese) brought up on the pind outside Nana Ann's house in London. The motehr and father had a broof of five goslings last year, but only one survived - the otheres werte eaten by the crows. This time the parents protected all of their brood and looked after them night and day, hiding them in the long grass when they were littel. We did notice that one of the babies this year had something wrong with its wing, and now it is fully grown, it seems to us that it will never be able to fly.

Tonight I saw this goose with the broken wing sitting in the water in the middle of the pond. All the other geese had flown away, and it loolked very sad. But I suppose that staying in the middle of the pond was the best thing for it. Anyhow, this morning all the geese were back, so the goose with the broken wing was able to get together with its mummy and daddy, sisters and brothers. When they saw each other they lifted their heads up and down, up and own, as if to say hello, how are you, glaD to see you again.

Today we are off to the Isle of Wight. Your Mam's been there, we do know that, beacuse she's a very keen sailor. Today is thw start of "Cowes Week" when there are lots of yacht races around the island and all sorts of other things going on. So If your Mam is away this week, and your Dad's looking after you, that's where she'll be I'll bet.

Love from

Grandad Kit and Nana Ann

Dear "Tom"
A very interesting man. I met a man on the train to London today who has really had an exciting life, not like Grandad who's just poddled around so far. This man lived in Iran for ten years and learned to speak their language which is called Farsi. He also speake French and Italian (unlike me who speaks a little French) and when he's doing business with the French and the Italians he has a friend from Iran and when they want to say sothing to each other that the other people can't understand, they speak in Farsi! Very useful.
Today I've been looking a books in the British Library here in London,quite hard work and when i left my desk I bashed my head on the big lamp that's over the top of each desk, quite dangerous. I couldn't help saying something lile OW! but worse than that. Everybody around said SHUSH because you're not supposed to amke a noise in the British Library Reading Room. Talk about sympathy - there wasn't any. So I said, "not to woory, it's only my head" but it did hurt, I can tell you.
Don't tell Nana nn, but I've forgotten the pills the dentist gave me (anti biotics they're called) to make my tooth better. It feels ok but at least if the pain comes back, I will have the pills waiting for me whne I get home - provied I don't freak out in the meantime. The answer is to keep busy and maybe I won't notie it.
Now I'm off the meet Nana Ann after work. We'll be having a meal in a nice pur and going to Nana Ann's house for tonight. Then it's offto the isle of Wight tomorrow. I'm going in the morning, and Nana Ann is coming after she's finshed her work (she just will never take a day off work) so we'll have to meet up soemwhere i'm not too sure where yet.
LOve from
Grandad Kit and Nana Ann

Dear "Tom"
Grandad gets beat
Sad to say, Grandad got beat in his last two races by this very fast bloke who quite rightly took the age group prize in my age group at the Veterans Track League, but only by two points (I was leading by two points at the start of the meet. Nevr mind, our club won the league for the third year in a row and our captain collected the trophy at the end.
Lots of things to do tonight before I go away tomorrow. Nana Ann has told me there's one thing I really must do, but I just haven't had time to do it so I've had to tellher it's practically finished. But at least I've made my sandwiches for tomorrow and put them in the firdge. I must remember to take them with me, or they'll still be there when I get back AND I'll have to buy sandwiches on my travels which I don't like doing (unless fresh made on the pot) because made-up sandwiches do have a lot of salt in them.
The other thing to do is to put everything out for the morning so I don't forget anything. At least I don't have to remeber to bring my passport (the Isle of Wight is part of Great Britain) although I never did forget it once on my many travels to Europe the alst two years (now no more). Appararently the people on the Isle of Wight don't like England being called the mainland. They say Britain is an island istelf, so they call England "North Island." And why not indeed!
The other thing I have to do is to make sure I get up in time and don't get caught in the tarffic on my way to the station. Then I have to have time to get my tickets from the "Fast Ticket" machine which is great as long as you have the right creit card and your reference numbers.

Must dash

Love from
Grandad Kit and Nana Ann