Jeremy Clarke Jeremy Clarke

Low life: Life lessons at the Devon County Show

issue 25 May 2013

The weatherman had breezily predicted a fine, warm, spring day — and it was. We were on the road early, my grandson sitting beside me on his booster seat, keenly searching the unfolding scenery with his pellucid blue eyes for notable things to report. At three and a half years old his speech and understanding have taken a Great Leap Forward. His days of vacuous innocence are behind him. He has become garrulous and vivacious and imbued with a fervent desire for knowledge and experience. And what better thing could there be to satisfy that desire than to spend a day with his grandfather at the Devon County Show.

His life to date has been limited and parochial. It was safe to say that this would be a day of firsts. It was his first time on a motorway, for one thing. Also his first time stuck in traffic on a motorway.

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