While Carole and Luca currently galumphing around a snow and mud ridden farm, I'm taking the slightly more sensible option of keeping my toes un-frostbitten inside a perfectly centrally heated house. The memory of Luca's morning football remains fresh and sweet (more on that further down), but first we start in Macduff.
Yes, that windy Northern coastal town received few mentions outside it's own border, but today's the exception. Luca is pictured above in front of it's (painfully cold) coastline, ready for a visit inside the nearby aquarium. Yes, his fish fascination continues unabated.
Inside now (it took us a good 15 minutes to regain the feeling in our fingers), a slightly worryingly wide eyed child poses in front of a fish. If he was here I'd ask him what type of fish it was. He's extremely knowledgeable on the subject, and life right now is a seemingly never ending audition for a future job on the "Discovery" channel.
There were Wolf Fish inside this tank - I actually remember something! (praise the lord). I only recall as Luca's description of it's whiskers and mouth while we were there were so illuminating. 6 years old and he's educating me.
Slightly less appealing to the kiddie in the half-mast trousers (we've bought him new trousers since) was the beach. "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" doesn't even begin the describe how unpleasant this was.
But back to the football, as this directly affects Grandad Mike's wallet. Luca joined a new football training club last week - in Kintore, so significantly closer to home than last years class. It's been interesting to see the contrast in training techniques between this class and the previous he attended.
His old class has always had an extremely strong emphasis on technical skills, and concentrated very little on speed, strength or competitiveness. His new class, however, is a complete contrast and is almost the footballing equivalent of "Lord Of The Flies". Allied to this, with most of Luca's new compatriots being older and bigger than him (up to 8 years old) his initial nervousness was entirely understandable.
However, he adapted very quickly and very well. Being the new kid (and the smallest too) he spent much of his first session on the periphery of things. However, during the first competitive test he dribbled past three opponents before thumping the ball into the net. Suddenly his confidence returned, and he gained the respect of his peers in the same instance.
His second session, earlier this morning, brought him two more goals in the game at the end, and he literally strutted out the hall at the end. Had he been a peacock his quill feathers would have exploded through the roof.
On the subject of physicality, Carole has discovered a local running club for kids which (if this damned snow ever clears) will be Luca's next activity. Even taking into account my bluster and blindness toward Luca's weaknesses (you mean he's NOT perfect?) his speed is impressive, and he'd run all day given the chance. It'll be interesting to see whether or not partaking in the activity on a more organised basis will suit him.
It sure as heck isn't suiting me right now. I'm supposed to compete in a X Country 10K challenge tomorrow, but the double whammy of Aberdeenshires white out and the drunken night out I have planned this evening may rather hinder this plan.
Back to Luca, it transpires he's a single man again. Apparently he and his girlfriend Sky are splittsville again. They've been dating on and off since they were two years old (am I really typing this?), but this is the second time she's dumped him for another man. This time the lucky beneficiary is a classmate by the name of Ben. His answer to the question of whether he wanted a new girlfriend? "Oh yes"
Jesus wept.
**Useless fact of the day - Around 12 per cent of the Earth's land surface is covered in permanent snow and ice**
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