grahamg
Old codger
- Location
- South of Manchester, UK
A few years ago my brother and his family of five children moved to France, and uncle Graham was left in charge for a morning, while mum and dad went to complete the last formalities!
The obvious thing to do was take a walk along one of the country lanes in rural France, (the Limousin area), and off we set on a nice warm day, though not too hot, and uncle Graham decided he needed a walking stick, so fashioned one out of some fallen timber in the hedge.
"I would like a walking stick too", said the eldest boy, then the second son wanted one too, and before we'd got very far along this road, uncle Graham had to climb into the neighbouring roadside field, so everyone of the five kids had a walking stick, including the youngest who was under five!
Job sorted I thought, though the walk didn't go entirely the way I expected thereafter, as the children decided it would be a good idea to try to attract the attention of local French people passing in their cars by waving their sticks into the road and slowing them down!
Only one or two cars came along the road, and all seemed delighted to be inconvenienced in this way by "those crazy English kids moving into their neighbourhood"!
Uncle Graham was very glad when we got back to the house, and my brother and his wife found me flaked out in the chair, and minding the younger three, whilst the older boys were playing computer games with the two boys next door!
Now I'm obviously a soft touch as a child minder, and my niece, and nephews knew this, but there was no falling out, and "doing such a good job", you're not relied upon too often!
The obvious thing to do was take a walk along one of the country lanes in rural France, (the Limousin area), and off we set on a nice warm day, though not too hot, and uncle Graham decided he needed a walking stick, so fashioned one out of some fallen timber in the hedge.
"I would like a walking stick too", said the eldest boy, then the second son wanted one too, and before we'd got very far along this road, uncle Graham had to climb into the neighbouring roadside field, so everyone of the five kids had a walking stick, including the youngest who was under five!
Job sorted I thought, though the walk didn't go entirely the way I expected thereafter, as the children decided it would be a good idea to try to attract the attention of local French people passing in their cars by waving their sticks into the road and slowing them down!
Only one or two cars came along the road, and all seemed delighted to be inconvenienced in this way by "those crazy English kids moving into their neighbourhood"!
Uncle Graham was very glad when we got back to the house, and my brother and his wife found me flaked out in the chair, and minding the younger three, whilst the older boys were playing computer games with the two boys next door!
Now I'm obviously a soft touch as a child minder, and my niece, and nephews knew this, but there was no falling out, and "doing such a good job", you're not relied upon too often!
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