We’re here to have fun!

I was woken at about 7am this morning by the sound of Davies and Scarlett playing in Davies’ room. Although they went downstairs soon after (with Davies popping his head in the room to tell me he’d feed the cat when he got downstairs, bless him :)) I was wide awake so I pulled the curtains and read some of my book. When I was a child my bedroom was fairly big but had two single beds in it for much of my childhood which rather restricted the layout options so my bed was under the two windows in the room (it was on the corner of two outside walls), one small and one large with my head board directly under the smaller window. This was before the days of double glazing and the room was quite damp and cold and in the mornings would often have puddles of condensation on the window sills and damp nets clinging to the misted windows. Laying in bed with a book took me right back to the mornings I used to wake really early, pull the curtains and lie in bed reading a book in the cold morning light with the smell of those damp nets, waiting for someone else in the house to get up too before I got out of bed. There is something so indulgent feeling about being in bed, in daylight, with curtains open, reading not sleeping :).

Anyway I did get up fairly soon afterwards, we had breakfast, let the chickens out, hung out washing and went over to pick my Mum up before heading over to The Flying Fortress soft play. We went there quite often when it first opened but haven’t been for a year or so as it is not a cheap day out by any means. Mum paid £13 for us to get in and they are *very* strict about not bringing your own food and drink in which means to justify the entrance charge you sort of need to buy their food and drink really if you plan being there more than an hour or so. Maybe we were spoilt by the crappy but cheap Fun Junction where it was only £6 to get in and food was equally cheap but I certainly couldn’t afford to go there very often. They have spent money on things like go karts and trampolines but the rest of the place had a rather tired and grubby air about it with the sofas all stained and worn looking and the inevitable Soft Play aroma of feet and nappies clinging to the place.

Davies and Scarlett had a great time though, dashing off to play, whizzing up and down slides and things and having a go on the trampolines and go karts. Davies cried once because I said he couldn’t have chips *and* crisps for his lunch and Scarlett had a real moment when her time was up on the trampoline – both of which were surprisingly out of nowhere events and not really like them at all (they are not normally unreasonable and both of them were over these things) but other than that it was great. I made the most of my Mum having paid a whole pound for me being there and went on all the slides twice too, although the climb to the top of the big ones is so energetic I did have to pause at the top to get my breath back :oops:. Mum and I drank tea and coffee and chatted generally and specifically about Home Ed, our planned move and rather perenially whether I think she should leave my dad or not :roll:. I do love my parents lots but am frequently very frustrated by their inability to be either happy themselves or happy for other people who are happy (myself included) and feel I spent enough of my childhood and teenage years playing marriage guidance counsellor (albeit one with a very emotional interest in the whole business) and find either of them on their own even more wearying company than them together as inevitably the conversation soon turns to whichever one I am with slagging off the other one in a script I could recite from memory myself I’ve heard it so often. It’s like Eastenders really, the characters don’t seem to change, the venue is the same and you could miss it for ten years, come back and still find nothing has really moved on despite frequent dramas. Anyway…

We came home via Mick The Butcher where Davies proudly handed over his picture to Mick and was much thanked and told he will put it up on the wall. Mum came in too and was probably quite astounded at the level of conversation between Davies, Scarlett and Mick, and then in true Balamory style a community police officer popped in too (I think she actually did want to speak to Mick on ‘other business’ but waited til we’d left) so they chatted to her as well. About half the meat I wanted hadn’t arrived on his delivery yet so I left my list and will call back in the morning, with him putting what I took today on a tab and telling me to pay for it all tomorrow – felt like a right proper housewife from the 70s :lol:. We also talked about the whole Free Range chicken thing and he said he can get me one whole one for tomorrow but won’t be doing breasts til April. Sure enough the next two supermarkets I tried also didn’t have any FR but aislefulls of battery farmed but I did find five packs of free range in the Co Op so snatched up the whole stock and have enough to keep us going for a while :). We popped home to collect swimming stuff and then went to the pool via my parents house to collect my Dad too. As he finances swimming lessons I thought it would be good for him to witness them and also for the children to know that Granny and Grandad are interested in them and their pursuits.

It was a good lesson for them both, Scarlett had her hair plaited intricately all round her head which helped (she is still not at all convinced about the idea of a swimming cap) and halfway through Carolyn (the instructor) put armbands on her which seemed to make all the difference in allowing her to float on the water and concentrate on what her legs were doing rather than use all her energy in simply staying on the surface. Davies did really well on his back with one float, less well without – just like Helen mentioned about SB he is far better under the water than on it’s surface which makes back stroke rather more difficult. I’m always surprised that while she tried to call to each parent about how their child has done none of them ever stop to talk about their progress whereas we seem to linger for at least five minutes after each session just to go over it. She’d happily talk for longer too, I’m always the one walking away while she still talks because the children are starting to turn blue and shivering! But then the same is true at Beavers and Badgers actually when I always catch the eye of the organiser and ask ‘was he / she / they alright?’ before leaving. I guess that simply isn’t possible to do once children are at nursery or school so parents get out of the habit and while of course I trust D or S to feedback anything dramatic that’s happened it would feel very odd not to have at least that one brief moment of ‘handover’. Mum and Dad waited upstairs in the foyer while I got D and S changed and then we dropped them home before coming home for tea. After a hot lunch they both wanted crumpets for tea and ate four each followed by two yoghurts and a banana, so all that physical exercise had worked up appetites :). I got curry on for Ady and I, laid and lit a fire, got a bath run and the children were in their pjs and having the current story (we enjoyed the story of Plop, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark so much I’ve got the full series of Jill Tomlinsons from work and we’ve kicked off with The Penguin Who Wanted to Find Out, which is leading on beautifully from The March of the Penguins that we watched recently) read to them when Ady arrived home :). He’s had an interesting and productive time away in London at a press day so came home with Stories From The Smoke ;), oh and a single red rose which is a new variety and he somehow managed to get intact all the way home on the train for me :). Ady and I have eaten curry, watched Hugh FW and drooled over our current dream home on the internet. Thanks to a phonecall from Julie offering the chance to go and walk their pony with them in the morning which D and S jumped at we have an early start rather than the lazy morning I had planned.