Welcome Maxwell

We are a grandfather.

Apologies for the plural, which echoes the late Margaret Thatcher, who would have said the same thing if she had been the one wearing the trousers in the family.  (Though, come to think of it, she did.)

Late in time behold him come.  Late?   A long and difficult labour then?   No, he was born a little ahead of time by Caesarian Section.   I meant overdue by several years.   

Yes I did say HIM and HE.  His name is Maxwell James.  For those of you obsessed by such details, here are a few to be getting on with.  He was born early in the afternoon (Editor’s note: precisely at 1304 GMT) of December 3 – last Wednesday – at Kingston Hospital, Surrey, England.  The birth weight was 7lbs 15 oz (I’ll leave those readers wedded to more exotic standards to do the conversion.)  The length was …. Oh, I can’t remember.  Does it matter?  Ask my wife. (Editor’s note: 20.7 inches long.)

Mother Sara is tired but otherwise well, and naturally thrilled.  As are beaming father George, not to mention assorted grandparents.  I am, needless to say, and in my quiet unobtrusive way, equally delighted.  Martha is, as I heard her expressing it, over the moon.

Why Maxwell?  I have no idea.  But then neither, it seems, do the parents, other than that it sounds like a fine name.  I couldn’t be happier with it than the parents.  After all, Wayne and Darren lurk in the Top Ten these days.  And then there are those Beckhamesque names like Brooklyn, and for all I know Bronx and Staten Island. 

But what’s in a name anyway?  Maxwell could have been called Marmaduke for all I care.

What’s important is that he’s a bonny child, complete in all respects, and remarkably handsome for his age – taking after me, some have said.

I’ll not bore you with any further particulars.  Most of you didn’t even know the event was imminent, for which I ought to apologise, but won’t, not for a silly superstition related to hatched chickens and all that.

Anyway, normal service will be resumed in this space as soon as possible.  It may take some time, though at least now you’ll know the reason why.