It’s my birthday

A collection of climate stories mostly

Normally, I plough on doggedly with Duolingo, my French language learning app of choice, driven as much by an urge to score more points than other players in my league, rather than a need to parlez-vous with the increased time now in France.

It was somewhat disconcerting today, in the middle of a section entitled family, when a young French boy said, mon grand-père a soixante ans aujourd’hui. Aside from the pedestrian nature of the sentence, my grandfather is 60 years old today, I was reminded by petit Pierre, that I’m in fertile grandfather territory.

It was my birthday this week. Gone are those super excited school days when I wished I could somehow make the 10th July arrive just a little bit quicker.

There are still presents. Surprises are always welcome. Thank you Mrs H. But it’s only fair to offer suggestions to those with less time or inclination to think. Buying for grandfathers, even those in waiting, is never easy.

Clackers, banned because of head injuries to children

Despite all my childhood excitement, presents were often underwhelming. It wasn’t…