Daddy, do you remember when we were droving in the car past that sheep farm and I said I want to be a sheep farmer?” blurted out Lily.
Always eager to improve her language, I posed the question “Is it droving or driving?”
“If you’re going to be in charge of the car Daddy, you really should know these things” she said and gave me a disappointed look. “It was when we were in Cornwall going over that bridge that didn’t used to be there.”
“WadeBridge” I said, recalling our recent holiday adventures.
“Yes, well Wade joined our class today. From Cornwall. So I said to him that I liked his bridge and I would be using it for driving across my animals when I grow up and become a sheep farmer.”
“I’m not sure that it was his bridge Lily” I ventured.
“Well, he was sure that it wasn’t, and he was also sure that he didn’t live in Cornwall anymore and that he lived here instead.”
I stayed quiet. I didn’t think she was finished.
“Do you think that they just call the place Bridge now that Wade has left?”
I could see where this was going. “No, they didn’t call it Wade because Wade lived there, they called it Wade because you had to wade through the river to get to the other side when you’re driving across your animals” taking care to repeat the term she had used already.
“So why did they build the bridge there then, if the animals could cross it?” asked Lily.
“Because even though that was the place to cross the river sometimes the animals still got hurt and drowned. They didn’t have big cars like us in the olden days that can drive straight through brooks and streams. They had to do their best to walk through the water. Can you think about why it was a good place to cross?”
Lily thought for a moment and announced her conclusion. It’s because it is the widest and shallowest bit, right next to the bridge.
“It’s called a ford” I told her.
“I know what kind of car we have Daddy, I get in it every day.”
“No, I mean the place were animals cross rivers. It’s called a ford.” I corrected.
“But now the Ford goes over the bridge?” she suggested. I was just about to correct her again when she giggled at her own joke.
“All types of vehicles can cross the bridge at WadeBridge” I told her, “and so can people driving across animals” I added.
“I think you’ll find it’s droving animals Daddy. If I’m going to grow up to be a sheep farmer, you really ought to know these things.”