After the stress of proper swimming lessons the 5 year old has embarked on an intensive weekly session with Gramps after school. Her first session was celebrated with some chips and a Fruit Shoot in the cafe.
Note to Gramps : Fruit Shoots are like amphetamine to the 5 year old who bounces off the walls and talks utter gibberish for an hour after consumption.
He often recalls how he taught me to swim and made me swim across the width of the local pool without armbands, apparently I got to within a metre of the edge before sinking. Clearly not wanting to repeat the near drowning he has done some research this time round and Fruit Shoots aside the 5 year old is loving it.
Three weeks in and she always comes home with a new tale … “Did you know that Gramps used to wear tights”. Yes I did, and this statement probably needs backing up by the fact he was under 10 and living in Scotland in the 1950’s.
I’m wondering whether I should also tell her that he also used to wear woolen swimming trunks on the beach as a toddler. The saggy and very soggy crotch used to trail behind him in the sand.
Next up was “Gramps told me that when you were little you pulled a cup of coffee over yourself and had to be taken to hospital” … she seems to find this tale morbidly fascinating. I have no recollection of the incident but know that I pulled piping hot coffee over myself after eating porridge and watching Open University (probably where my obsession with beards stems from) with my Dad at approximately 6am in the morning
I love that they are spending quality time together and that she is adding to her fond memories of her Gramps.
However, one memory it may be best for her to forget is this one …
I received an email from Gramps a couple of days after their latest lesson about lots of general stuff to do with Christmas presents and the like, at the end was this …
“I forgot to mention my Victor Meldrew moment in the communal changing rooms at the swimming baths. When I was trying to find my mobile phone which I thought I had lost (but in fact I’d left at home) I went back to the family changing cubicle that the 5 year old and I had used. I knocked on the door which swung open to reveal three pretty fit young ladies dressed in bikinis (possibly more a Benny Hill moment). I was rescued by the 5 year old. In the midst of my spluttering explanation she appeared and asked me if I had found my phone. I possibly avoided being banned from the baths.”
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Rebel Mother on November 15, 2009
Oh I love to swim. Good for the soul.
Award for you at mine.
Love RMxx
Insomniac Mummy on November 15, 2009
Heheheheee! Poor Gramps!
Fruit Shoot sends Big E looney too. We give him one occasionally just for entertainment purposes
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Gramps on November 15, 2009
Laura
Two points I’d like to clarify with your readers. Firstly, the tights. This was not to do with cross dressing or Scottish national dress. I used to wear these when playing golf in the depth of winter. Under trousers I would add. Secondly, the ‘young ladies’ in the cubicle were at least twenty years old or more.
Love Pops
admin on November 16, 2009
I would have stuck to the under 10 story for the tights. What denier were they?
Tim on November 15, 2009
I’ve got a beard, in case you’re wondering…
Rosie Scribble on November 15, 2009
Oh he sounds great fun and is clearly having a great time. Can you hire him out, without the woollen trunks though?
Surprise Mum on November 15, 2009
Poor Gramps indeed – but I suppose there could be worse sights to greet one looking for a lost phone!
Maternal Tales on November 16, 2009
Ooh can Gramps come and give my 5-year-old some lessons please? She definitely sinks within a metre of the side as well…
English Mum on November 16, 2009
I demand a photo of Gramps. In tights, preferably, although I’m not fussy.
Tara@Sticky Fingers on November 16, 2009
That’s so funny because my son’s gramps is also teaching him to swim. No ladies tights (cough) or embarassing himself in the changing rooms though. Or not that they tell me anyway
Jodie at Mummy Mayhem on November 16, 2009
I think it’s just great that your 5 yr old has these moments with Gramps. My parents are just too old to even entertain the idea of taking my boys to swimming. Besides that, they also live interstate, so my boys just don’t get to spend time with them and hear all their stories. (And they have many.)
Good on you, Gramps. You’re a legend!
TheMadHouse on November 16, 2009
Wonderful a gamps that comments
Thatgirl39 on November 17, 2009
Gramps is definitely the coolest… and so down with it for commenting… despite the tights!
Victoria on November 18, 2009
I wish my Dad would do this kind of thing, but I think art galleries are more his thing. He would have enjoyed the changing room full of young girls though…