Sam and James are acting out the story of the Pokemon orphans for me. I do not know if this is the Real Thing, or something they have made up, or a mixture of the two. Doubtless some of my readers will know what on earth
it is all about.
This is what I have gathered / been told so far: there are ten instalments of the Pokemon story, of which the first three are very sad, the next
four are funny (according to Sam) or silly (according to James.) The final three are also very sad but somehow or other, so I am assured, there is a happy ending. So far we (or rather, they) have only had time to act out the first episode, in which the Pokemon
fathers are disposed of (in some unspecified way) and the Pokemon mothers have all run away, leaving their children to be taken to the Pokemon Orphan Farm. At this point my credibility is stretched to its limits on the basis that mothers would never, ever
run away in such circumstances. The boys listen to my protest and look on me compassionately. I can't help it, their faces clearly say, if I don't understand All Things Pokemon.
They are using my duvet as the Ice House (???) but I don't realise this when I begin to fold it up as first step to tidying up the front room where I have been sleeping, ready for the day ahead. The shrieks of protest stop me right in my tracks. Message
to self: it is not the done thing to run off with the scenery, however good one's intentions.
Once episode one was over, I take the boys upstairs in turn to get
them washed and dressed. I am not sure about the names of all the Pokemon orphans - apart from Young Morgan who has apparently been given the name of Ultra. "What are the other Pokemon orphans called?" I ask James. He shrugs expressively: "We haven't discussed
that yet," he says, with commendable gravity.
Today's Expedition once again involves a bus trip - this time all the way to Cardiff Bay, and a marvellous place
called Techniquest. Lots of experiments to try out, gadgets galore, and a fabulous free show called "Fire and Ice" during which, among other tricks, the presenters turn a banana into a hammer. You had to be there, you really did. Final port of call is the
Gift Shop where I can't manage to persuade the boys that they would like a notebook with a holograph on the cover. Instead, Sam buys a dragon with a squishy stomach and James buys yet another soft monkey to add to all the others he has at home, even
though he must know that Young Morgan will lay claim to it as soon as he sees it.
Intrepid explorers that we are, we take two different buses on the way
home. We are fearless when it comes to negotiating the bus station. Next time I come on a Nanna Visit, we will head even further afield. Well, all the way to St Fagan's (the Museum of Welsh Rural Life and one of my favourite places.)
Tomorrow I am going home. Back to Mr B - which is the good bit - but leaving my precious Little Welsh Boys behind, which will be just too sad.
Apart from anything else, how on earth will I find out what happens to the Pokemon Orphans?