Visit by my dad

My dad is a train nut. And he sometimes goes on holiday with other train nuts, to look at trains. And this summer, he would visit Liverpool in that context. And that’s not far from Wales! So he figured he might drop by. And we made it happen. 

Organising the logistics was not straightforward, but we had sorted it out the previous time I was in the Netherlands. So on the day I knew which train I had to pick him up from. I thought. I was a bit early and decided to go to the platform. And who was there? My dad! He had decided to take an earlier train, and, being 86, he hadn’t thought it was the obvious thing to do to send me a message to let me know. 

We got home and had lunch. In the garden! He had been looking forward a lot to sitting in the garden. But after lunch he thought it was a bit chilly. When we had a drink later on we did it in the conservatory. At least you can see the garden from there. 

The cat had my dad wrapped around her paw as well; she often held on to the comfy chair

We also went the cheese shop between lunch and drinks. It would be nice to be able to offer him local cheese. And for my once indefatigable dad, that was enough of a walk! He feels his age. And I went for a run; I wanted to keep that routine up. I want to feel my age as little as possible.

The Friday would have good gardening weather, but we seemed to get distracted. My dad, who is an unstoppable DIY-er, spotted that the toilet seat wobbles, and wanted to do something about it. Together we managed. 

I also hauled him up to a local event of which I had slightly misinterpreted the content. Oh well! He now knows of a community initiative. We didn’t stay long and it was only 200m away, so not much was lost. And he did see a chance to cut the grass (his offer) while I went for a run. It was sweet that the neighbour’s dog tried his bark-for-cuddles routine on him and it worked! 

The Saturday was supposed to be rainy, but in practice it wasn’t bad at all. We got some good work done in the garden! And we mucked out the gutter of the conservatory. And when I say ‘we’ I mean my dad. 

Some good ladder skills at 86

We also sat down with his phone! I knew he would get himself a smartphone, because I had heard him ask my sister if she could advise him on that. So now he had one, but he didn’t know how it worked. And it was a Samsung (I don’t like them!) so I wasn’t very familiar with it either, but a combination of trial and error and googling on my iPhone got us far. By the evening he was actively texting relatives and acquaintances! A keen student. And if he took long over composing a text I used the opportunity to make progress in my book I wanted to finish that weekend. 

We also properly installed the new cat flap. After the cat demolished the old one, I had only managed to half install the new one. If I fully installed it the flap wouldn’t move freely in the frame. And it was mysterious why! But we sorted it. 

We also of course spent plenty of time having tea or wine or suchlike and chewing the fat; unfortunately, rarely in the garden. And with all that, the last evening passed.

The next morning was not very relaxed; when I got up I checked my dad’s trains. His Eurostar seemed to be running as normal, but his direct train to London was cancelled due to personnel shortages. (Last time I travelled, it had been floods.) So he had to take an earlier, indirect one. But we found out on time. And soon I waved his train goodbye. 

There he goes