Counting on SPRING

Alice was worried – was the trip with her granddaughter going to end in tears?

- Emma Darwin

As the Eurostar train began to glide silkily out of London St Pancras station, Alice did a quick count - her handbag, her eight-year-old granddaughter’s backpack, two coats and one case in the rack, Tupperware of elevenses on the tray table... She sat down.

‘Gramma, I want my ear defenders,’ said Tam.

The train was full of Easter holiday families, and Alice got up again to stop their new duvet coats flopping out on to the heads of the passengers in the next row. Squishing them back, she said, ‘Didn’t you put them in your backpack?’

‘Mum said she would, but I can't find them.’

The train jolted and Alice almost lost her balance. She'd packed their case and knew the ear defenders weren't in there. ‘Give us your backpack, lovey.’

In Tam’s Spider-Man backpack, Alexander Pig, My Big Book of History, puzzle book, felt-tip pens, water and snacks were all present — it was amazing that her daughter Josie had managed that much — but no ear defenders, and absolutely nothing Alice could do about it.

At the best of times, Tam found trains and buses overwhelming - and this was by no means the best of times. In February, Tam’s dad Martin had been posted to Brussels, so they all decided that he would come back to have Tam every other weekend as he always had since the divorce, and Josie would drop Tam over there for some of the holidays. Martin would bring her back, and in between, they would Zoom.

Then, two days before Tam’s school broke up for Easter, with the weather still freezing cold, Josie caught gastric flu. No one wanted the new arrangement to fall through before it had even started, so the only answer was for Alice to take some holiday from her shop assistant's job, delegate the choir coffee rota, and take Tam to Brussels herself.