The Winter Holiday Invasion

Wednesday. Winter school holidays, and the castle is full of children in beanies with wands poking out of their pockets.

I have made a study of them from my place outside the wall, and can report the following. The grown-ups go in first, talking about strategy. The children go in second, saying nothing, and walk straight to whatever matters. By the time a father has finished explaining how he would approach the problem, his eight-year-old has approached it.

Even the gamesmasters say so: the young ones often outshine the adults. They spot patterns. They spot hiding places. They don’t stop to wonder whether a thing is silly before they try it.

I tried that today. I walked straight up to the castle gate without stopping to wonder whether it was silly. It was.