A wonderful weekend with our granddaughter Catrin
Regular readers of NightHawk will know that I have a granddaughter called Catrin whom I used to see every week for the first four and a half years of her life. But then, last summer, her parents moved to Nairobi and so I see her much more rarely these days. I’ve been over there twice and Catrin spent this weekend with us while she was over in the UK with her mother.
She was as good as gold and, as always, we had lots of fun.
On the first day, we were in central London where we started by visiting “Hamley’s” toy shop. We explored every floor and observed lots of demonstrations of some amazing toys. I offered to buy her one present and, out of all the options, she chose a pink poodle that – with the aid of batteries – barks and walks. I’m not sure what her parents will make of that – or the two dogs back in Nairobi.
Then we went to see the wonderful new Walt Disney film “Zoopolis” with my young friend Jen and her son James who is the same age as Catrin and known well to her. It is a beautifully executed movie with a very strong message of tolerance and inclusion.
That night, Catrin climbed into bed with me around 2.30 am which was a reminder of my days as a parent four decades ago.
Our second day was spend locally. So we went to Harrow shopping centre where Catrin went on some rides, ate an ice cream, and chose a multicoloured summer dress to wear back in Africa. Next we had lunch in a lovely tea room called “The Doll’s House” which is on Harrow-on-the Hill.
For all the fun that kids can have with grandparents, in the end kids love playing with other little ones. As it happens, we have a next door neighbour with a son George just a little younger than Catrin and, in the afternoon, we went round there for two hours and took advantage of his extensive toy collection. George has a toy kitchen and the best part of the afternoon was when the two of them ‘cooked’ a three-course with me as the waiter and George’s dad as the customer.
It must have ben an exhausting day because Catrin slept through the night and only came into our bedroom at 7 am.
It was a wonderful weekend and I adored spending time with the cheeky monkey come little angel.
Roger & Catrin at “The Doll’s House”