Tough political hack Kevin Maguire steps away from the day job at Parliament and reveals another side to him as Granda Kev. This week he’s on holiday in Costa del Cullercoats and wishes the grandkids were with him to hunt for ice creams – even though the science says Neanderthal nans were more important
Enjoying the summer on England’s friendly North East Riviera, I forever pictured how much Little L and Canny C would enjoy wherever I was.
It’s something we grandparents do, frequently visualising happy faces and laughter of grandkids we wish were there.
Cullercoats is an awaiting treat with its stunning bay, sandcastle building, exciting caves, melting treats from Beaches & Cream and Bill’s tastiest fish and chips. The ferry ride from North to South Shields is an adventure itself before a steam train and fun fair seal the deal.
Envisaging their presence adds rather than distracts from whatever we’re doing, a rejuvenating bond conjuring thrilling times ahead.
Luckily, I’m not one of those fretting blokes forever questioning his masculinity or I’d be frothing after reading how some evolutionary scientists believe grandmothering was even more important to human development than traditional male hunter roles.
I could hear the distant cheers of today’s grannies and caution contemporary Neanderthals scoffing at the theory to pause and recalibrate.
The revisionist argument is that nanas of earlier millennia played an overlooked role in moulding future generations by raising the grandkids when no longer able to have bairns of their own or leave the cave to bring home dinner dressed like Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC.
Staying behind to create humankind is a lot more appealing than creeping up in a loin cloth with a sharpened twig to risk death in the jaw or on the horn of a very annoyed beast. Cowardly, squeamish and running slower than once I could, my 20p would be on the woolly mammoth.
Fast forward back to 2024, include grandas alongside grandmas to ditch the sexism and the role of us grandies could be as meaningful now as then with mercifully fewer dangers and added fun.
Invisible Little L and Canny C alongside me on the Costa del Cullercoats and in Sunny Shields reinforced the two-way street of grandparenting.
How they still feel with you when not there is as magically permanent as the tide coming in and out all day, every day.