Came the day when I had to pick Emma up from Tiny Tots, she was just coming back from her day at the school nearby to Tiny Tots. Two crocodiles of tiny children all holding hands for safety. Emma looked worn out, it had been a long day for her. Tiny Tots would take them to the primary school to acquaint them with the large Victorian building on a Tuesday afternoon. They looked subdued, disciplined to behave and Emma looked around for her precious Mama but only I could be seen. Emma was definitely less than happy about that. he carer fastened her into her car-seat at the back of my car. I drove away, two blocks down the road Emma bawls out at the top of her voice,

’Where’s my Mama.’ I had to laugh, she had found her voice. That day Femke was out, so it was my job to make sure she had her nap. I took her to my bedroom and she chose my son’s old bed in one alcove and I laid down in the other alcove and pretended to sleep. Emma soon dropped off. I went down to prepare tea and twenty-minutes later I heard her shout out,

’Hugh, can I come down now?’ She was so well behaved and much better for her nap. Femke came home and we had tea, Emma was now completely at home with us, Mama arrived an hour later. It was all part of Mama’s wish to see her daughter socialise and grow up.

Emma took ballet lessons and showed off her tutu, we attended fireworks displays, we visited castles, there are a myriad castles set here in Wales, and we went to the pantomime at Christmas. We watched her grow, and grow rapidly into a normal active little girl, full of life. She had plenty of girlfriends and we went to parties, bouncing castles was a great favourite.

Then there came the day when Mama and Emma had to leave their home, something that happened no matter the why’s and wherefore’s it happened and they ended up in a shelter provided by the local council. Mama was extremely brave about it all, there was conflict as we harboured mother and child and Emma’s father’s family were estranged which was bad for everyone all around. A problem arose because one is not alone in a shelter, there are guests and then there are unwanted guests. Their guests gravitated to us and we harboured guests and they were a darn nuisance took us months to extract the little pests. Head lice can be very persistent, strange that they loved Femke much more than me, I cleared mine in two weeks Femke’s took months and £50.00 in anti-lice remedies none of which worked until she tried in desperation Dettol, Dettol applied inside a plastic bag which she wore for hours. We were glad when they departed and when the council sold Mama a flat.

I was unhappy about the stairs of that flat, they were steep and there as no guard. One night I turned up with my box of tools and a gate for the top of the stairs. I arrived unexpectedly Mama had bathed Emma and put her into her little car seat to watch a film. She was shining like a new pin, her cheeks full and glowing pink. She frowned when she saw me, I wasn’t wanted, not needed and I was going to interrupt her film. Emma could make herself understood without words, she was a character. The downstairs neighbour of that flat was an active person, active in her social life and was noisy when she had a visitor, a special visitor who came only on Friday night. Emma wanted to know what was all those strange noises. The grunts, sighs and shouts and then the silence. The only answer we could think of was that they were practising their judo. And that was that. Emma could be noisy when she tapdanced on the linoleum floor, the neighbour would retaliate by banging the ceiling with a broom handle. This only encouraged Emma to more tap dancing. Emma saw everything as fun.

The neighbour a thirty-something woman demanded we do not park in her drive and that the front lawn was her lawn and we were not to use it at all. We called the council in and the lady explained that no-one was allowed to park in the drive as it blocked the neighbour in, including the neighbour. And that the front lawn was shared between the two flats, upstairs and below. So we called her bluff, later she damaged the camera that had been set up for security and I had a word with her, she calmed down after that. It seems she had the attitude of ’What mine is mine and what is yours is also mine’. It seems that people build empires out of sand on a beach and are surprised when the tide comes in and washes it all away.

It wasn’t long before I understood that Emma adored animals and stories about animals. When I was a boy I would tell my baby sister stories at bedtime and it was easy for me to tell stories to Emma, that strengthened our bond. Bear stories were a great favourite, but any old story would do Emma was always on her very best behaviour when a story was in the offing.

Mama was a great believer in physical exercise and nature so we spent many Saturday afternoons walking on beaches and in the hills of which there are so many in Wales. Wild areas and parks and National trust castles, there must be hundreds of castles in Wales and Emma never complained. I don’t think it did Emma any harm trudging over the moors and heathlands, climbing up innumerable castle steps, in fact, I think it made for a healthy strong girl. 

We visited Port Einion on one occasion, Emma absolutely loved the beach there, a beach full of rocks and rock pools. She’d decided to build a house for the fishes. I grew up on a beach myself and to me in my childhood, there was nothing as good as sunbathing, swimming in the and surfing in the waves I hope Emma remembers those beach walks.