Doesn't Time Fly?

Yesterday was my grandson's third birthday; he was born the day after all that snow fell in Dec 2010.  I can remember so clearly that I was busy the whole day doing the laths on the back bedroom ceilings  - it was freezing cold in the house - while the snow fell and fell until it was 8 or 10 inches deep. I wrote this entry a few days later, but here's another photo from that time:

That one was taken in the back garden of the dreadfully cold and badly designed rented house that we had at the time. That house (built in 1999) just never got warm, even in July, and a modern house surely should not allow the internal hot water pipes to freeze between the boiler and the bathroom! This house of ours, however, did warm up when the walls had dried out after all the sources of dampness had been tackled; the old thick walls are now a heat reservoir which helps the house to be warmer than outside in winter and cooler than outside in summer. Old methods are more effective than badly done new ones!

Anyway, back to my grandson. I did not realise how much fun a grandchild would be, especially now that he has reached the stage of learning things and asking questions. Every time we see him he comes out with some new bit of learning, like switching on the room lights. Of course, I am fairly pleased that he wasn't our own child when we heard about him being unwell last weekend! However, he was better yesterday and really enjoying opening his presents, blowing candles out and eating chocolate cake. Oh to be young again.