Day Tripper

Yesterday Archie asked me whether we could take a trip on a train today. I agreed, which was met with some excitement, and decided now Archie is a little calmer to combine it with a trip to Cothele, a local National Trust property. We took the train to the picturesque Calstock and then walked the one and a half miles to the property.

 

The whole trip was a reminder really of how far Archie has come. Last time I took a train with him he screamed while waiting for it to start, this time he sat pretty quietly, last time we went to Cothele he ran madly through the house, today he waited quietly for people to walk past him and checked with me before diving up some stairs. In the past I’ve felt that keeping control of Archie out and about is a bit like containing Road Runner. Things are on the whole calmer now although he certainly has his moments and sometimes there can be noise (not today, he was very calm).

Archie took his talker (of course) and use it to comment throughout the day. For example, I wondered aloud whether we should go into the house and he decided that yes we should, so we did.

Yesterday we had one of those conversations that we really couldn’t have had without the talker. Fed up with listening to the same CD (known as Louis’ music) on loop I told Archie that we were having my music on the way back in the car (currently an eclectic mix of Ben Howard, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Cosmo Jarvis). He accepted this, then after about 5 minutes said Louis music Tuesday Louis music Saturday. I agreed that I could tolerate this and he settled back smiling.

Not however smiling quite as broadly as he was on the train today. This smile was reserved for the glimpse he had of The Tamar Bridge and Brunel Bridge.