Tough political hack Kevin Maguire steps away from the day job at Parliament and reveals another side to him as Granda Kev. This week Kev worked out how to ensure there are no waterworks when he picks up his granddaughter from the childminder’s – and his anxiety at letting her scooter along the pavement
Gerrin, I’ve finally cracked picking up Canny C from childminder Carol’s without tears. That’s the granddaughter’s tears, not mine or Carol’s.
How to stop her whimpering developed into a minor obsession over the past few weeks as this column’s regular reader could testify.
My daughter maintains Canny C’s brother Little L did the same when he was two and was cross.
All I remember was him shouting my name and leaping forward as he does now at four, a greeting either dropped before his 14th birthday or I’ll be dropping him.
The penny dropped that if Canny C was expecting to see mam and brother Little L as usual on the doorstep, forgetting she’d been told in the morning it would be the world’s best granda*, then cooing I was taking her to see them was the answer. Bingo! It worked a treat.
Canny C scooted along the pavement smiling, chatting and laughing at an impressive pace, granda hurrying behind, relieved for his back she wasn’t hoisted onto my shoulders to stem grumbling. Every time we approached a curb I still felt a terror twinge. She’s learned reassuringly safe road craft from her parents, stopping with yards to spare and holding out a hand. But the anxiety is a safeguard against in locus parentis complacency.
Imagine if something awful happened. The briefest thought of an accident so horrible a nightmare it’s too terrible to contemplate. I have no idea how parents and grandparents cope when it goes disastrously, fatally wrong.
Please, please, please let me and tens of millions never experience the ordeal.
Slower 20mph speed limits get a bad rap, reactionary motoring groups and some at the wheel screeching they’re unnecessarily restrictive, woke.
Occasionally I’ve shared their frustration driving along empty roads at night no faster than an electric milk float, while pedestrians are tucked in their beds.
But people hit by cars at 30mph are five times more likely to be killed than those at 20mph, a chilling stat. When I’m with the grandkids, 20 is plenty.
*T&Cs apply.
