Blooming Lovely

in what I suspect may be old news to many of you, I discovered a reason to watch children’s tv today. Pip and I were with one of my school friends today, who has a 2 1/2 year old son. Mr Bloom, she informed me, was at the local shopping centre this afternoon, and would I care to pay a visit.

this is the second time this week that children’s tv has been raised, with eyebrows lifted in surprise at the response that I have no idea what they are talking about. actually, it is Pip herself who shows little to no interest in tv, rather than me, but I’m in no particular hurry to try it. we barely turn the tv on at all these days, but, on occasion I have, particularly when reading tweets that children Pip’s age have loved watching it and that it affords mum a moment or two to herself. on those occasions, Pip glances occasionally at the tv but mostly carries on with whatever she is busy with (trying to get my iphone, or picking small bits of paper off the floor and so on).

so, when my friend mooted the idea of Mr Bloom, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. reasoning that my friend has good taste, and even if it was terrible, it was only for an hour, I readily agreed and off we set. Pip, of course, slept from the moment we left the house until after our return, but my friend’s son had a lovely time.

and, dare I say it, I was quite impressed. I was less impressed with the warm up entertainer, but Mr Bloom was a sweetie. pleasant, attractive and clearly showing warmth and affinity both to the littles he was entertaining and his vegetable subjects, I thoroughly enjoyed his demonstration of different vegetables and was tickled at the idea of so many children enjoying shouting out names of veg.

a quick look on the internet suggests that I’m not alone in thinking I wouldn’t mind Pip watching this particular programme. apparently there are whole threads dedicated to him, however, somewhat disappointingly, an interview he did with the Manchester Evening News earlier this year reveals him to be both married and not really a gardener. not that detracts per se from his obvious dramatic talents and ability to relate to the littles (or tiddlers, as he calls them, just like my Grandfather) but I was rather hoping that he was in the show for his enthusiasm for his subject as well as for his drama.

(for those like me who don’t know, Mr Bloom’s Nursery is a CBeebies show about Mr Bloom who is a “gardening nanny” who seems to run an allotment and inspire children to grow and eat vegetables)

—

Photo credits here (via Flickr) and here (via Flickr)