My day job involves fostering enterprise and ethical trading. Meaning that yesterday, I was all smiles when I saw a few of the locals in Addingham selling food and drink over their garden walls – to the thousands of people who have descended upon Yorkshire for the first leg of the Tour de France here.
I was gagging for a drink and had forgotten to pack my water bottle. So I nudged my 9 yr old (who is dyslexic and who also has a dab of dyscalculia – like her dear old mum) to accompany me to make a wee purchase and work out the change da dee dah.
We approached a local chappie who had set out a little table on the side of the street.
DAUGHTER: A bottle of water please. Is it fair trade water?
MAN: Dunno, actually. Can you get fair trade water?
DAUGHTER: Oh, believe me. You can get fair trade anything! So, if it isn’t … and if it’s a bad company what harms people with their water … my dad’ll have ’em for it – yeah?
MAN: Right… That’s 70 pence, my love.
DAUGHTER: (hands over correct money!) There you go.
MAN: Ta. Tell all your friends won’t you?
DAUGHTER: I will do. But it’s probably a bit pointless because it’ll be Monday- when I’m back at school. And none of them are old enough to come to Addingham on their own. And anyway – are you still going to be sitting here then? Selling water?
(Moral of the Story – Tell the world that dyslexic people tend to take things very literally …)
