I taught my children "The Farmer's in his Dell" the other day. They love it, of course. But the first time, they weren't sure how it was played. I deliberately picked one of the older, more savvy ones as the farmer in the middle, and he successfully chose a wife, who picked a child. The child wasn't so confident in English and hesitated. "Go on" I prompted, "Choose someone." "Choose?" she asked, a touch anxiously. "Yes, choose a friend. Pick someone" She still wasn't convinced I meant it. "Choose?" she confirmed. "Choose" I replied. She looked bemused, but obediently sat down and started to remove her shoes....
Reminded me immediately of a story my late dear father-in-law used to tell. One day he'd been doing a job about the house when little Jenny started to interfere. "Get your fingers off!" he'd berated her. A couple of minutes later she presented herself, naked. "What are you doing?" he asked. "You said get your fings off" she said....
Which reminded me of another of George's tales. Little Gareth had broken a glass pane in an interior door. George got a replacement from the glazier's and had just finished fixing it when Gareth came in. "How did you break it anyway?" asked the irritated Dad. "Like this" replied Gareth, and showed him....
