Why Do They Have to Grow Up?

 Here are two remarkable pictures of grandson James.  I always try to put a portrait or vertical sort of image in this first bit of any new Blog posting so that the verbiage on the right does not interfere.

This is James, now well over six feet tall and still heading upwards.  He is multi-tasking here - cooking his tea and watching Aston Villa on his iPad.  He is dressed for the task don't you think?  Note please the size of his feet.   The next size up is a pair of canoes according to his mother. 

Both James and his younger brother Ben became On-Train-Guides (OTGs) on the Settle-Carlisle Line as soon as they could pronounce Horton-in-Ribblesdale without spitting.  They were very good at it and looked just the part wearing their Settle-Carlisle Volunteer hi-vis jackets.  In both cases they had to be careful not to fall over as the jackets dragged on the ground at first as they walked.  People on the trains would buy line-guides from them galore, perhaps out of sympathy for this shameless child-exploitation whilst I did my commentary on the journey.  My excuse was that it was good for their interpersonal skills with adult strangers and for sums too as money and change was involved.  Ben especially has an astonishingly good memory and surprised his teachers at Gerrards Cross CofE Primary School by being able to recite the names of all the stations between Settle and Carlisle, forwards an in reverse.

This brings me to the following charming picture of tall-boy James and his proud grandfather on one of those cherished OTG* outings.  Not sure of either the year or photographer, but it cannot have been me:

It shows now-six-footer James holding the hand of once-six-footer** ex-cop grandpa.  It is a lovely picture and it has been used on publicity posters for The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle line.   I have been searching for the image without success for quite a few days without success to show you for comparison.  I found a picture of the poster but the individual image was too small and I was giving up hope.

To my rescue came Rachel Griffiths of ImageRail who had designed the poster and so much more besides for FoSCL and the Settle-Carlisle line.  Unlike me, Rachel knows how to catalogue her images properly!  Thank you Rachel sooooo much.

**Now nearer 5 foot 8" after the broken neck at C2 and a few more lower down the back for good measure.

Once, again the two pictures alongside for comparison: