We had such a lovely day yesterday. Scarlett is such good company now, she chats away and we have long conversations about so many things. We went for a walk as I had to go to the post office. My eldest son told me about a company called We Buy Any Phone and after checking on their website Tom discovered they would give £80 for his old phone he upgraded from last year. I spent a long time the night before wiping all the accounts off it but they had sent instructions with the prepaid package so it was quite easy. Now it is sent off, it remains to be seen if the process stays positive and he gets paid without problem. I really hope so as we are planning to put the money towards the new duck run.
After we left the post office I queued at our local bakers as Scarlett loves choosing a cake from there. As we waited we chatted about the signs and all we had to do now with coronavirus. Talking to her it made me realise I don't think she can remember a time when we didn't have these restrictions. It's seems very sad but she seemed perfectly cheerful about it all.
When we were walking home carrying the prized cake she was excitedly telling me about Shrove Tuesday at nursery. She said they have a chef there called Brian who makes them all laugh and he flipped the pancakes into the air which had made a great impression on her. I pictured a kindly man approaching retirement making all the little children so happy. When eldest daughter came to pick Scarlett up I mentioned how much she liked Brian the chef and eldest daughter said "Oh yes they all love him, he's so cool!" Apparently he's not approaching retirement at all but very young with long hair and a full sleeve of tattoos! It made me realise how you can easily perceive the wrong picture of a person because of their name. Fashions in names change so much it's hard not to.
Brian is on the list of boys names which are disappearing from use, along with Clive, Lee, Neil, all names that were popular in the 1950s and 60s. I was at school with girls named Elaine, Tracey. Donna, Maureen and Wendy but they have all dropped down the rankings and are disappearing today. I remember lots of young men called Gary when I was a teenager but there were only 28 registered in 2015 in England and Wales and only 3 Tracey's! Compare this to 4,511 Oscars and 2,211 Sienna's. Of course fashions change in everything and it will only take a celebrity, or royal baby to start a new trend. Sometimes all it takes to make you love a name is remembering someone you really liked with that name. When I worked in a bank in Regent Street in the 1970s I worked with a lovely young woman who's name was Wendy, she was from Barbados and came to Britain with her family who were the Windrush generation. I don't think I ever saw her without a smile on her face, we laughed and joked all through the two years I worked with her. It may be slipping out of fashion but I can never hear that name without remembering her smile. Maybe one day Scarlett and her little friends will look back on the name Brian and think of the cool young chef who made them smile and laugh all the time.
I'm off to do my Dad's shopping today so I hope the queues won't be too long. The weather forecast says light rain but it looks really bright here at the moment. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx
