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Grandchildren are fun!
Jan. 9th, 2018 11:13 am Oswin came with me and her mother last week to visit her Great Grandparents. We went by train.
Oswin likes trains... They live close to a railway line and Mummy is working on a model steam engine when she has the tools and the time.
She plays 'Birdie house' with me a lot.
This is a game largely of her own invention in which she and I are birds living in a house under the lounge table. The species vary. I was really fascinated the day we had an owl and a goldfinch sharing the house. Oswin explained that we were on a shift system: the nightbird slept in the bed during the day while the goldfinch was out, and the goldfinch had the bed at night when the owl was out. (Grandad is a bird watcher, can you tell?)
Anyway, this last week, the birds have been going on train journeys, getting tickets, getting on and off trains, looking out the window, having our tickets checked, etc. When I asked her where we were going on the train, she replied: "The place where the worms are." And indeed, when the imaginary train arrived, she got off and dug up imaginary worms with an imaginary trowel (the birds have an allotment too, so she knows what trowels are for). then we ate our worm sandwiches, with a few extra beetles and some birdseed on the way home.
Yesterday, they had road works on the way to her nursery school, so her mum took her by train (they live very close to a station and it's only a short hop into Poole).
A very understanding man at the ticket office gave Oswin her own little paper 'ticket' with 'ticket' written on it. When they got on the train, she wanted her ticket inspected, so they went and found the ticket inspector who got into the spirit of things and duly checked her 'ticket' and marked it.
The relief driver heard the conversation and popped out to see what was going on.
"Do you know what kind of train this is?" he asked.
Oswin: "It's a 444"
Gobsmacked driver (because she was correct) "And how many carriages does it have?"
Oswin: "5"
Driver: "What's the other kind of train?"
Oswin: "450"
Driver: "How old are you!"
Oswin: "3"
I suspect he'll be telling that story for a while....
Oswin likes trains... They live close to a railway line and Mummy is working on a model steam engine when she has the tools and the time.
She plays 'Birdie house' with me a lot.
This is a game largely of her own invention in which she and I are birds living in a house under the lounge table. The species vary. I was really fascinated the day we had an owl and a goldfinch sharing the house. Oswin explained that we were on a shift system: the nightbird slept in the bed during the day while the goldfinch was out, and the goldfinch had the bed at night when the owl was out. (Grandad is a bird watcher, can you tell?)
Anyway, this last week, the birds have been going on train journeys, getting tickets, getting on and off trains, looking out the window, having our tickets checked, etc. When I asked her where we were going on the train, she replied: "The place where the worms are." And indeed, when the imaginary train arrived, she got off and dug up imaginary worms with an imaginary trowel (the birds have an allotment too, so she knows what trowels are for). then we ate our worm sandwiches, with a few extra beetles and some birdseed on the way home.
Yesterday, they had road works on the way to her nursery school, so her mum took her by train (they live very close to a station and it's only a short hop into Poole).
A very understanding man at the ticket office gave Oswin her own little paper 'ticket' with 'ticket' written on it. When they got on the train, she wanted her ticket inspected, so they went and found the ticket inspector who got into the spirit of things and duly checked her 'ticket' and marked it.
The relief driver heard the conversation and popped out to see what was going on.
"Do you know what kind of train this is?" he asked.
Oswin: "It's a 444"
Gobsmacked driver (because she was correct) "And how many carriages does it have?"
Oswin: "5"
Driver: "What's the other kind of train?"
Oswin: "450"
Driver: "How old are you!"
Oswin: "3"
I suspect he'll be telling that story for a while....
