Hey Duggee ... in Ukrainian

Grainy, grainy phone image taken in low light. But it's my chosen memory for today.

To manage picking up both Eben and Frieda today, Richard and I did a double act. R met Eben at the swimming pool, where Ruth dropped him straight  after school before heading off to a meeting; then R stayed for the lesson and brought E back to Ruth and Josh's house. Meanwhile, I picked Frieda up and took her to Ruth and Josh's, so that Richard could get back home to cook tea for his usual Weds night music buddies. I looked after Frieda and Eben till Josh and Ruth got home with Luca, at which point I drove back home quickly for my Weds night Greek lesson. Marianna picked Frieda up from Ruth and Josh's.
But none of that is the point of today's blip, even though I do want to keep a record of how we manage all this juggling together.
What brought me up short was watching Hey Duggee with Frieda and Eben - and finding that it was a new(ish) episode, based entirely on the theme of welcoming Ukrainians to the UK. I nearly wept at this simple piece of broadcast kindness, such a contrast with the toxic messages that we hear daily from our awful government.  The core of the programme was a welcome song, alternating English phrases with phrases in Ukrainian.

Hey Duggee is a wonderful programme, in my view; it achieves that blend that good pantomimes achieve - layers that appeal to adults as well as to very young children, and to all ages/stages in between. It's visually clever, and there's no dumbing down in the language. Today's episode brought to the surface for me all the sadness about the tragedies taking place in Ukraine, as well as the relief at seeing the TV equivalent of a big warm hug.