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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Cultural convergence

Wherever in the world you live - different countries, different continents - few experiences can instantly unite two seven-year-olds better than the chance to peer down a medieval castle toilet.


When I was young, the craze at school was for having a penpal abroad. You would fill in your details on tiny little forms, and within weeks you'd have received a letter from a strange foreign child with whom you had absolutely nothing in common.

All the ridiculously high hopes I had as a child, filling in those forms, have been answered so many years later by blogging. This week we met the Speechless family for an unbelievably lovely day touring a castle and walking in the sunshine. The adults talked about everything under the sun; the children threw stones in a stream, got their feet wet, played with gravel and brandished sticks.

Tess was right. That my blogging friendships can also give my children such joy is incredibly precious. No filling in forms for Littlest - no letters from strangers. She's from the Skype generation. She's planning video clips, online conversations. The world is getting smaller, and I'm all for it.

15 comments:

  1. That's just brilliant.

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  2. And I admit to a twinge of jealousy - yet so very happy for you all.

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  3. This has made me slightly tearful.

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  4. I'm very excited about meeting up.

    Veryveryvery excited.

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  5. Sounds wonderful!! I was just wondering today how their trip is going and it's super to get a little peek!

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  6. How marvellous! I'm just sad that I shan't be able to make any of the meets.

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  7. Spotty WiFi at the moment; I am standing in the foyer of my B&B balancing my iPad on the palm of my non-typing hand, but...

    BEST DAY EVER. And it was my birthday.

    And today's high point was, you guessed it, the Viking groaning on his toilet in Jorvik.

    xoxoxoxo

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  8. I liked the groaning Viking in Jorvik too. But I digress. I was going to say that blogs are a wonderful thing indeed - my elder son is learning Mandarin Chinese and we are expecting a mandarin-speaking 14 year old from Taiwan to come and stay with us on a school exchange in a couple of weeks. Thanks to the school's Mandarin blog (!) my son and his guest already know each other, have chatted extensively and First Born has a list of Dr Who DVDs ready to enthrall the poor chap the minute he steps off the plane in Edinburgh. Given my Asperger's son's dislike of disruptions to his routine, the visit could have been a major source of stress. Thanks to the blog, he is just looking forward to the visit of a friend he hasn't met yet.

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  9. I also had to come back in and tell you that the anti-robot "type in these words" gizmo gave me "flippant" and "tipsy" as my words to type. It's like it knows me!

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  10. My boys have three penpals they have made via my blogging. Blogger friends children they have met and connected with. I love it

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  11. Okay - toilet tourism is clearly the way to go! Very much looking forward to the in the flesh opportunities the next couple of weeks will bring.

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