Bus

 

Bus

                            Frankie and Roxy grew up together

Bus: a vehicle for transporting people.

Last Saturday afternoon a bus pulled up outside Frankie’s house.  No, he doesn’t live next to a bus stop. This was a very special bus, a gaming bus. It would transport its passengers from the current world to one of excitement.

It was more of a mini-van than a single decker bus and inside was one wall of ten double decker screens opposite a bench seat that ran the length of the vehicle. It offered more than fifty games, some to be played individually, some with a partner, and kept twelve ten and eleven-year-old boys entertained for an hour and a half. The days of ‘party games’ in the home seem to be a thing of the past. Nonetheless, Frankie and his friends had a wonderful, noisy time playing hide and seek all over the house after their time in the gaming bus. At such times one realises that they are, in most respects, still little boys.

Source

It’s Frankie’s actual birthday today and he will be spending his birthday weekend with his father in London. He is our seventh grandchild, our fourth grandson, and he is 11 years old. Eleven is a significant age. It is the age at which most children in UK transfer from primary to secondary school in the state sector. Independent (fee-paying or ‘private’ schools) have different arrangements. About 5.8% of UK children attend independent schools.

So Frankie and his friends are in Year 6, the biggest fish in the pond. In September they will again become tiddlers in the lake, gazing wide-eyed at their new, much larger surroundings and wondering if they will ever reach the dizzying heights of the sophisticated and very tall 6^th formers they see.

For the moment they are at that intriguing pre-adolescent stage, still very reliant on their parents, though increasingly independent, sometimes easily upset and anxious, their voices and attitudes clearly those of children. Things are very black and white, right or wrong, fair or unfair and they remain largely egocentric though beginning to appreciate there are shades and tones in life. Time seems to pass quickly at secondary school – maybe not for them, but for the adults in their lives, especially their mothers. They move swiftly from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood, too rapidly it seems. Looking back, it appears to pass in a flash, but for the moment, they are still excitable ten and eleven-year-olds, full of energy and laughter.

Happy birthday, Frankie!

            
                                     Frankie, aged 6, with Bertie