“Who is your favourite character in the initial Star Wars trilogy?” I ask my 11-year-old high end autistic grandson over the phone who is a film buff.

“Chewbacca. Who do you like, Grandad?”

It is several years since I watched the Trilogy. Thinks… I can’t say Princess Leia that’s outside the boundary. “I like Jabba the Hut. Why do you like Chewbacca?”

“He is a good furry guy and always helps. He is based on George Lucas’s dog sitting in the front seat. He is 7’3” tall. Jabba the Hutt is terrible. He eats little animals.”

“He is a good example of corruption and how it doesn’t pay. Princess Leia killed him.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

“You are right, Granddad”

Last summer, we did the Romans with his 9-year-old sister. Made cardboard armour and paper Mache helmets. Mum insisted swords and daggers were made of collapsible cardboard. The visit to Hadrian’s wall was a success. They played the Romans on the wall. Mum and I played attacking Picts. The Picts surrendered. The picnic was eaten by both Picts and Romans.

The intention was to do the Vikings this year but Covid intervened. The girl has friends from primary school to talk to on the net. It is the boy’s first year in secondary school. ‘Nea mates’ as they say in Scotland. But Granddad was a new mate who rang 2 or 3 times a week. We have picked fruit from the film tree. Captain Marcel is not tasty to me as cartoon but to an 11-year-old it is pure heaven. The magnificent graphics.

It improved my mood to have a half hour chat about something totally unrelated to my life.

Mark

A Moodscope member.