Torch

Sunday, rain. The Shakespeares and I  up at 0630h where they swim while I read 'War And Peace" (five months, 400 pages to go).  Despite the foul weather, the hose-pipe ban remains in place: April only the fourth month in two years with 'above average' rainfall, according to the Met. London no longer wet and dreary, as Americans like to think, but every now and then we still get warnings of 'Gale force winds" and "Amber Warning Rainfall!" and even "chance of flooding!!" which keeps the weather gals busy. A country that takes its climate seriously.

At school, Eitan and Madeleine hold the Olympic Torch that turns out to be one of 8,000 replicas which, Eitan tells me, "are carried by celebrities or famous people that run in a relay across England beginning at Land's End and ending in London."  He adds: "It starts in Greece, where it goes around for seven days, before being handed off to the hosting country." (the Olympics website notes that the official torch will "come within ten miles of 95% of the UK population" which is impressive until one considers that standing on any London street-corner puts you within 15% of the British population ). The kids homework : make a torch, which both do with gusto, Madeleine's pictured.

Me: "What does the Olympics Torch symbolise?"
Madeleine: "What do you mean?"
Me: "What does it stand for?"
Madeleine: "Sports, running. Getting on."
Eitan: "A flame?"
Me: "That's not what I'm after. What do you think of when you see the torch?"
Madeleine: "It represents .. 
Me: "Excellent."
Madeleine: "It represents courage and hard work. And winning."
Me: "Bravo."

Madeleine: "Guess what Alex is feeding his snake?"
Me: "What?"
Madeleine: "A rat!"
Me: "A live rat?"
Madeleine: "Of course not Dad, that would be illegal."
Me: "What if we get a snake and feed it a live animal?"
Madeleine: "It's against the rules."
Me: "Nobody will know. And what's the difference? The call of the wild ...  ."
Madeleine: "The difference is I would never let it happen."
Me: "We can go to the pet store and get a couple hamsters.. . "
Madeleine: "You are so cruel."
Me: "Hamsters are pretty clever, though. The snake might not catch them."
Madeleine: "Okay, Dad. Why do snakes smell with their tongue?"
Me: "Well, that is where their sensors are, and they are super sensitive. For us, it is the nose and tongue. Like, when you pinch your nose, it becomes difficult to taste your food."
Madeleine: "So if you put a big slab of meat under a snake's tongue, what would he smell?"
Me: "Probably a big slab of meat."
Madeleine: "Thought so."

Dad's note: In the UK, it is considered inhumane to feed live animals to pets, and therefore against the law.