A NICE DAY OUT?

This latest of Cate's warm slices of British working-class family life takes the characters we met in Flying Free (1977) and Never Is a Long Long Time 0978) on a day's outing to the beach. While brother-in-law Steve goes off to the amusements, young Billy takes a swim with sister Sandra, Steve's wife--who surprises Billy with the news that Steve is afraid of the water. Then Mare gets all worried because Grandma has disappeared; and the family is dispatched on a search. When found, Grandma has been crabbing with a courtly old man and gotten marooned on the rocks at high tide, and Steve--""a knight in shining armor,"" according to the old man--has waded out neck-deep to rescue them. When Grandma declares that they've had ""a nice day out,"" Billy thinks no, with all the fuss and bother they've had a ""funny"" day out, but that can be even nicer than a nice day out. ""Nice"" applies to the story too; for those who, like Billy's teacher, find the word inadequate, the story might be too.