World Book Day

Walking to the beach today we encountered a white van with its horn blaring and its rear door open as it proceeded slowly down the road. It was a fish van bringing its produce to the front doors. I am not sure if this was a regular delivery or whether this was a pragmatic response from a fishmonger whose customers cannot currently travel to East Lothian to buy their fresh fish?

This street commerce took me straight back to my grandmother’s house in Aberdeen where we stayed as bairns every summer. She did not drive and did not go to the shops. No problem, as all the local shops came to her front door with their deliveries of fish, bread, milk and general groceries in vans of differing sizes. This was the world before the supermarkets arrived in the UK. The excitement of being allowed to climb into “Gran’s grocery van” with her and help choose some holiday treats for our beach picnic lives long in my memory!

It was so cold on the beach today due to the piercing windchill that no one was swimming and there were very few people out at all!

Earlier we had our final hour’s home schooling session with our grandchildren. It has been a privilege to play a small part in keeping the learning going in lockdown. Actually I think we might have learnt more about how to operate remote technology over the last three months!