

The downside of going at the end of the school holidays is that every club she’s in, as well as her school, has been out for a holiday treat and this is usually a trip to the cinema. Like me, Alice loves a trip to the cinema so we decided to go to a local café for a late breakfast and then go and see what was on. Having said all that, she can still be found sucking her thumb while hugging the moth-eaten, threadbare stuffed dog she has had since birth. Alice is nine, going on 36, and starting to hit that time of life when you need to check everything she gets annoyed if we park in a “Parent and Child” slot, insists on ordering her own sandwich in Subway, and no longer wants the kid’s snack pack at the cinema. My good lady wife and I find ourselves tasked with looking after our granddaughter, Alice.
