Darling Freddie

Not a peep out of Freddie overnight. I half expected a midnight wanderer, but no. He stayed in bed until 7 o’clock before tapping on our bedroom door. I was already awake, anticipating the early morning call, and he came scampering in, grinning all over his face as he hopped into bed with us for a half an hour snuggle. Such bliss.

What got us out of bed, of course, was the promise of the ice cream he’d made the day before. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing. The recipe had called for strawberries, of which we had none, so we had used raspberries instead. What we failed do though, was sieve the blooming things, so the ice cream had little seeds all dotted through it, which didn’t suit Freddie at all. What a shame.

Never mind. “Let’s make a cake.” he said, “oh, and can we do the orange hedgehog, please?” Then, two minutes later, “Can we go to the park? And we need to go into the garden.” Then a minute after that, “We haven’t decorated the Christmas tree yet…..” I suggested we make a list for him to decide what he wanted to do first, and that worked a treat – well, nearly……

Freddie charged back upstairs after the disappointing ice-cream episode to tell Grandpa all about it and let him taste it. Meanwhile, I promised to make volcano eggs for breakfast. Great squeals of laughter and frivolity drifted down the stairs as I worked. Whatever was going on? Ah…. “Grandpa’s tickling me!!” yelled Freddie, with great glee, going back for more.

After breakfast, we made the orange hedgehog (Christingle) of which Freddie ate half and saved half to take home. He also ate half of the bowl of sweets we’d poured out to make it easier to put them on the cocktail sticks. Nice follow-up to breakfast. “Let’s look at the list.” Freddie suggested after we’d finished the orange. Ahhh….. chocolate cake…… and ‘can I lick the bowl?’

Mid-morning, I thought I’d better check on what time Harriet planned to collect Fred-Fred so that I could prepare him for going home. We were driving into Birmingham for a hospital appointment just after three, so with regret, he couldn’t stay all day. Nearly broke my heart when he said, echoing my own sentiments of yesterday, “But Grandma, there’s still so much to do! We haven’t been in the garden yet, and can we go to the park?”

We did go to the park and had so much fun playing in the Katharine’s Wood, seeking out dragons and finding their nests. We even followed their trail. Watching the birds in the hedgerows and listening to their song lifted our spirits no end. “Listen, Grandma!” said Freddie, as he stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed, when he heard a flock of sparrows twittering in the woodland. Then he raced off, over the football field, heading straight for the skate park where he spent fifteen minutes, rosy-cheeked and happy as a sandboy, charging up and down the concrete mounds.

Disappointingly, the visit to the park ended on an upset though, as we were walking home. Lots of great puddles to splash in and OK to do so as Freddie was wearing his wellies and his splash suit. The only thing is, that neither of those pieces of clothing were able to save him from tripping and diving headlong into the largest puddle there was. Oh, dear, bless him. He was very upset, having grazed his elbow and hand. He walked home very miserably indeed and no amount of cajoling cheered him up. In the end, I carried him for the last hundred yards home and that helped. But blimey! He isn’t half heavy….

Once home, Grandpa had the beans on toast at the ready and so we started on lunch. Just at that moment, Harriet and Catherine arrived. I think it was a good job Catherine was there, because Freddie was already saying, “But we haven’t…..” and about to list all the things he wanted to do but we’d not had time for. The thrill of Catherine and the thought of taking a massive chocolate cake home with him distracted him, and there no tears on leaving. Well, not from him, anyway.

A wonderful interlude to this horrible lockdown and I am so uplifted by it that I am sure it’ll keep us going for a good while. We certainly need it.

Our visit to the hospital was a good one this afternoon, in the sense that we now know why John’s eyes are so sore and he has come home with a prescription for four or five more things to use….. It’s good that he has some products to help but, of course, it’s distressing to know that there’s even more stuff to remember and think about each day.

When we got back home, we surveyed the scene and we were reminded of that card from Wrinklies.com…… and we nodded at each other, laughed and said, “Let’s clear up tomorrow.”

Thank the Lord for such a good couple of days though. Marvellous.

The same can’t quite be said for everyone who’s been affected by the virus today though, of course, with the stats as follows:

• 13430 people confirmed as infected
• 603 people died in the community
• 203 people died in hospitals
• We’re on Day 27 of Lockdown 2
• And Day 258 since we first self-isolated in March

Stay safe everyone. God bless.