10 August 2024

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Volvo electric car in black

Our Ian will be forty years old on Tuesday. Ahead of this pivotal moment in human history he drove up from London this very morning with Sarah and Baby Zachary. They have a big, black electric car made by Volvo.

We now have an outdoor electric socket on the front wall of our house so he was able to reverse the black beast close to the wall ready to plug it in. We will both be interested to see how much it has recharged by tomorrow morning because Ian and Sarah normally use rapid charge public facilities in their London borough.

Our youngest grandchildren - Zachary and Margot were born just nine days apart but they are developing quite differently. Zach is already pretty mobile, moving around on all fours  like Mowgli in "The Jungle Book". He claps and waves and can stand up independently for a few seconds at a time.

In contrast, sweet Margot remains pretty immobile but she smiles a lot and is very good-natured. She is only just beginning to clap and wave. She weighs significantly more than Zach and wears bigger nappies. I have watched her learn how to manipulate her little toys with increasing dexterity and she is showing interest in books. In three weeks time they will both be ten months old.

Ian (left) with Gordon Ramsay and Henry

We are all going out to  a hotel in nearby Grindleford tomorrow afternoon for a Sunday lunch that will celebrate Ian's birthday. Frances has already collected a special vegan cake she ordered for her brother and I think we are going to eat slices of it at the venue.

I am looking forward to giving him the gifts that a craftsman made for me. I have not mentioned what they are on this blog because I want to keep this secret  but I will show pictures of them next week.

On Wednesday, Ian and Sarah will be heading up to Kelso in the Scottish borders. Her parents have a holiday home there. Luckily, Sheffield is almost exactly half way between London and Kelso so they will be back with us once more next Saturday.

Another visitor we had today was Phoebe dressed in her Anna costume from Disney's "Frozen". She was keen to ring our next door neighbour's doorbell so she could show them what she was wearing and so dutifully I took her round. It is hard to believe that our neighbours, Tony and Jill, and have not seen "Frozen 2". Hell, they haven't even seem "Frozen 1"!

21 comments:

  1. Ian is ageing well. I should think the car will reach full charge overnight. Please let us know if it does. Happy lunching.

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    1. The car was plugged in at 1pm yesterday. It was already on 38%. Just a little while ago at 10am Sunday it was up to 94% charge.

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  2. Happy times for your family!
    Oh dear, I have not seen Frozen 1 or 2, either, but at least I know what the characters Elsa, Anna and Olav look like.

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    1. Maybe you and OK should rent "Frozen" next weekend and Let it go! Let it go!

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  3. I haven't seen Frozen yet either. I do have a copy, but did other things while it was playing. I remember my Matthew being as active physically as Zach, then just before turning ten months he got up and walked! Perhaps Zach will do the same. Margot seems more into fine-tuning dexterity, she may be a great knitter or crocheter, only time will tell. Perhaps a skilled micro-surgeon.

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    1. Margot has much more weight to carry on her little legs. I suspect that Zachary will indeed follow your Matthew's example.

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  4. Happy 40th birthday to Ian, have a wonderful celebration.
    Like your next door neighbours I haven't seen "Frozen 1" or "2", but remember the hype when the first film came out. No idea there was a sequel too.

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    1. You should watch it Carol... then you might buy your own Elsa or Anna costume.

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  5. Replies
    1. Hopefully, the stuff in your freezer!

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  6. Enjoy the celebrations. Happy Birthday to Ian.

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    1. It certainly does not seem like forty years.

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  7. Happy birthday to Ian. I was going to name my daughter Ian if she'd been a boy. I love that name. He is with Gordon Ramsay? How'd that happen? I am relatively new to your blog and perhaps I missed something from before?

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  8. Happy Birthday, Ian! He sure has accomplished a lot in his 40 years! Glad he is enjoying life and hope his future continues to be bright.

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  9. I've never seen "Frozen" either. I suspect this is not unusual among people who are not parents. (Or whose parenting years are far behind them.) Glad you got to visit with your kids and their kids!

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  10. Nice car! I had no idea Volvo was making an electric car of their own.
    And how sweet that Ian wanted to spend his birthday with his mum and dad.
    Babies develop at their own rate. This is the way of it.

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  11. Happy birthday to Ian. Our boys are the same age, my son turned forty this year as well, and that's where the similarities end:)
    Our federal government has decreed an end to selling gasoline powered cars by 2032, which is a laudable goal. However, our electricity, in this part of the country comes from natural gas powered electrical plants, so it doesn't solve the problem. Not only that, but our electrical infrastructure can't even cope with the added burden of AC in the summer, so how will it manage with electric cars? I don't have an answer.
    Have a wonderful celebration with Ian and family.

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  12. I haven't seen either Frozen movies, lucky me.

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  13. You are having lots of good family stuff. We all mature at different rates more noticeable in the young.

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  14. It will be fun and interesting to watch the baby cousins interact with each other.

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  15. I'm with Michael. What was Ian doing with Gordon Ramsay? And when?

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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