Grandchildren

I suppose I could start by saying that it was a grand weekend but that would be a really diabolically poor attempt at a pun.  You see, we have had the pleasure of seeing all three of our grandchildren over the last couple of days.  On Saturday afternoon I came home from delivering the last of the fireworks tickets (of which a little more later) to find my elder son and his two boys sitting at the table with the Old Bat playing happy families.  Given that Max is not quite six and until recently had the attention span of a dormouse, he really does get on very well with this game.  Indeed, I was told later that playing it was his idea.  Mind you, with hands the size of his, he does have a problem holding his cards.  After happy families we moved onto snap with me playing as well.  Then it was pairs, but by now Max was starting to get fidgety.  Ben, at 9, was perfectly able to sit still to play.  Max eventually succumbed to tiredness and we had tears but he stopped crying when it was suggested he should find the dog's one and only indoor toy and give it to her before he left for home.

Yesterday we were delighted to have younger son and Emily (5) visit us for dinner.  She is a proper little chatterbox and really keeps me amused very well.  Her delight is in helping me to feed the dog and yesterday, for the first time, I let her put the (heavy for her) food bowl on the floor.  The problem is that Fern (the dog) always wants to start eating before the bowl actually reaches the floor so I had to hang on to her until Emily was clear.

I appreciate that the foregoing is entirely egotistic - but what blog isn't?  Anyway, I threatened more about fireworks tickets.  It was a few years back that I signed Brighton Lions Club up as a PayPal member so that we could sell tickets for our fireworks display through our web site.  The first year we sold over £1200-worth that way but since then our on-line sales have dwindled, falling to between £200 and £300.  This year they have shot back up to over £1000.  What surprises me is the adult/child ticket ratio.  I would have expected this to be about 50:50 but for each child's ticket sold, I have sold 4 adults' tickets.  It is noticeable, too, that we get many young adults - in their 20s - come to the display, as well as families, groups of teenage schoolchildren, and even old age pensioners!

Fortunately, the weather forecast appears to be right.  We have a fine day with little or no wind.  I just hope it stays that way.

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As this is Bonfire Night I'll show you a picture I took at the display about three years ago.