Summer arrives

We have just had the most sensational week.  The weather has been glorious and we’ve made the absolute most of it.  On Wednesday afternoon after school we visited Devonport, which although not the sleepy seaside village it once was, is still lovely and perfect for a short visit with children.  We had a look through a toy shop and the library, then visited the park.  The swings were underneath beautiful old oak trees, and as the girls went higher and higher they laughed out loud with the sheer delight of trying to reach the branches above them.

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Social conventions

Although its lovely in many ways to see how uninhibited children are, in other ways I can’t wait until the girls learn what not to say in public.

Today we went to a transport museum, and took a ride on a tram.  Waiting for the return journey, the tram unexpectedly lost power and we had a little wait inside a rather packed and hot tram.  Fortunately, we were sitting at the front, and the tram driver and conductor left the door open to let in a breeze.  As we sat waiting, I idly watched the driver and conductor chatting outside.  After a few moments I realised with a jolt that the driver, despite initial appearances, was a man.  He had long hair tied in a pony tail, and quite feminine features, but once I got a proper look at him I could see quite clearly he was male.  

My mind wandered onwards [when will this jolly tram start again, will one of the 20 children jammed onto it have a tantrum before it does...etc], when suddenly my reverie was broken by my three year old: 

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Take THAT, burglars

Ha HA, we have an all singing, all dancing security system.  Our house is festooned with infra red detectors, alarms and stickers proclaiming to all the world that if you step foot in HERE, you will not only be stoned to death by me after you’re wrestled to the ground by security guards, you will probably be deafened by the alarms first. 

Mind you, the burglars have our TV and our paving stones, and we’ve just spent a bit on the security system, so I’m not so sure we’re the winners.  Never mind,  I feel a little safer.

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They came back…

And this time they stole the telly … yes, some horrible burglars (possibly the ones who nicked the paving stones) jemmied open a window and stole the TV from our bedroom.  We are Not Impressed, last time it seemed a bit annoying but also a bit amusing, but now we’re quite annoyed and not amused that someone felt they could just reach in our window and take our property.  The police came around to see if they could get any fingerprints, alas there was nothing usable, so we were just left to clean up all the fingerprint dust (the girls actually enjoyed this bit, sitting on the dresser scrubbing away with a soapy cloth) and rue the fact that the windows were not as secure as they looked.  And start to plan a security system.

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Awkward moment ahead

I have a feeling I have some awkward moments ahead, specifically Awkward Cancer Moments (ACM’s).  I’ve had quite a few of these in the last 18 months, and they go something like this:

[Introductory conversation with someone I don't know, eventually they ask about what I've been up to recently eg work/child raising / etc]

Me: Um, well, I’ve had a bit of time off work recently.

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