But far more entertaining that continuing with the whole Winter thing I have greater news. I have a revelation that may shock you to the core, tip the world from it’s axis, make you question everything you knew to be true. Every certainty you held dear, everything you felt was a given, something you could rely on. Things that would never let you down, where you rested your laurels, hung your hat and felt the ground was firm beneath your feet.
Today I went on a bus.
😯
I know, I could have blogged about sending my children to school, buying the sonlight curriculum, becomming a socialist, turning vegan and eshewing all that is material in life and you might just have accepted it, but me, Nic, using public transport? ‘Never!’ I hear you cry. But It Is True. And I have bus related anecdotes and everything 😆
Ady woke me at 6.40am – yes that’s right, not even during the hour before I am supposed to wake up but the hour before that one, we got the children breakfasted and dressed and were away, a mere half hour after Ady’s latest time he wanted to be away by and on the way to Reading. I’d got 3 Snoopy / Peanuts dvds from work thinking that Davies might like them and he adored them so they were a hit 🙂 Scarlett spotted planes at Gatwick and Heathrow and the (winter) snow on the way. Davies suddenly recognised a building and said ‘oh we’re in Reading – that building is near the big metal person in a circle’ just as we rounded a corner to the big metal person in a circle thing’ and then asked if ‘Reading is the north’ because of all the snow. I explained it was north in terms of Sompting, but not exactly The North.
We got to Alison’s and Davies was imediately introduced to the Wii while Tarly sat on the floor and did puzzles whilst eavesdropping on adults conversations. Then we went to the bus stop and my adventure truly began. 😆 We went to ERAPA which is a real thriving group with a good mix of HE folk with different approaches, some of whom I even talked to for a while 😆 Davies spent *ages* playing outside and enjoyed being with the older children/teens, Tarly did some more puzzles and spent some time in the soft play area.
We got the bus home and arrived to find Ady already at Alison’s. More Wii and puzzles and chat before it was time for us to start for home (by car, but it was still winter so it was a winter journey!). S fell asleep before we left Reading, D was asleep not long after getting home and we had bath and dinner and wine.
Stay tuned for more such thrilling episodes in the Nic Goes To Public Places series with a laundrette as next week’s location :).
Only a step from Buckfast drunk out of the bottle, whilst still in it’s brown Thresher’s bag, I fear.
I don’t think it will be Thresher’s, more Bargin Booze 🙂
White Lightning (or White Star which is presumably a cheap version 😆 ) on the bench at the end of the road with the tramps.
It was very embarrassing with her on the bus. She wondered why there were other people on it, asked where the DVD player was, told the bus driver he could “drop [her] here please”, etc. Awful 🙂
Rather you than me. I can’t cope with buses; the stops don’t have names on so there is far TOO MUCH opportunity for bad choices.
Plus people smell.
And there was no snack trolley!
I’m thinking of not bothering with that fancy alcohol type stuff and going straight to the meths actually. it’s a pretty purple colour and it doubles up as nail varnish remover 😆
I think I’d be great with the tramps, we could shout at pigeons together and I could teach them singing.
Very unhygienic 😉
See you later 🙂
All our stops have names. And the buses have screens which may tell you which stop is next, IF they’re on, lol!
I like buses – I like sitting upstairs and getting different views of things. Trains are good for that too. And anything that makes it easier to interact with my children is a good thing 🙂
Excellent point Alison – I could turn round to tell them off without fear of crashing 😆
I like trains, especially now I don’t have pushchairs to try and navigate round with. Trains have alcohol on a trolley brought round ;).
What I need if I’m going to start using public places more often is some sort of seat cover that I can take round with me everywhere though 😆
Oh I love trains, can’t feel the same affection for the bus though. The bus routes never seem very sensible – they never go quite where you want them too. Take purrell & detol wipes as well Nic 😉
I like trains – not the crappy local line to Glasgow, which to be fair is reasonably reliable, but makes about a hundred stops, and is really basic – but I love going proper places on trains. And so cheap if I take Hannah with me 🙂 Much nicer than planes. Edinburgh buses are great, but I can never work out where they are going in Glasgow.
“And anything that makes it easier to interact with my children is a good thing” – ah. We may have hit of the vital difference here; i quite like cars because it means mine are contained at a safe distance from me 😉
Love the bus. Love my annual bus pass, real-time indicators, bus lanes, the views over walls and in windows, the people watching time. I probably take 12 to 15 bus journeys a week all for £395 a year. Kids go for 20p each. Got a feeling a car costs a tad more than that…
Kids have been on buses and trains since they were tiny and in slings. I’m sure it’s done wonders for Leo’s balance – all that staggering down the stairs of a double decker as it swerves around an illegally parked car. 😉