This year R, who’s very much in touch with his inner eight year old, put a pterodactyl kite on his birthday wish list. It was duly gifted by the family B, and this morning it made its inaugural flight. Sadly it wasn’t a very windy day, but we hoped we might find some wind by going to the top of Dover’s Hill, which is not only relatively high but is part of what’s known round here as the Edge – the northern slope of the Cotswold escarpment – and falls away quite steeply. Even so, the wind was gusty, and the flight crew could only get the kite airborne for short spells, but when it did go up it flew beautifully. On the minus side, whenever it came down it crashed into a load of thistles, so the boys spent quite a bit of their time untangling the string and streamers, but despite my worst fears the pterodactyl survived all its thistly landings. The Boy Wonder told us that he’d never flown a kite before, but in spite of the tricky conditions he quickly got the hang of it, and Granddad and Grandson both had a thoroughly good time.
After running around the top of Dover’s Hill for an hour we were all in need of sustenance, so we went into Stratford for lunch at BTP – where R and I ate chips with a garlic dip, while the Boy demolished a plate of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Then we walked down to the river so that he could feed the ducks. Watching him hurling small pieces of wholemeal bread out across the river, R commented approvingly on his throwing technique, but to my (ex-YCCC) eye, what he was doing looked far more like bowling. “It’s a pity he’s right-handed,” I said. “He could be a lovely left-arm spinner.”
The Boy was having such a good time with the ducks that in the end we had to point out that the day was running away from us, and if he wanted to make some ice cream when we got home, we’d need to get a wiggle on. To my surprise – because these days there’s almost nothing you can say that isn’t dissected and debated by the Boy, to the point at which it takes every iota of my self-control not to crack and yell “JUST BECAUSE, OK??? BECAUSE I SAY SO!!!” – that did the trick, and he skipped away from the river quite promptly and happily. I’ve posted the ice cream maker before, so I don’t need to tell you all about it again now, but I will say that the Boy pronounced the chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips that he and Granddad created this afternoon to be the best they’d ever made. I’m going to say “the best yet”, though – because I’m already plotting my next refinement to the recipe.
R: L2, C11, D5.
