Out in the fresh air

Last weekend our son and his wife decided to take Max to the Gruffalo Trail which is not too far from Epping Forest.  Max loves the story of the Gruffalo and so even though it was very cold that day, they wrapped up warm and walked the trail.  Now, once Max is out of his car seat and has been running around exploring, he isn't that keen on getting back in it for the journey home.  Jon packed up the car while Sophie put an unwilling Max back in his seat.  Very similar to what it would be like to get an octopus in a string bag.  One arm in the strap, other one out. It can be a stressful experience. You get the picture.

They came home via the motorway and as they were driving along they heard a noise which seemed to come from the roof of the car.  Then out of the corner of their eyes, they saw something fly off the roof and into the greenery along the side of the motorway.  What could it be?  Sophie's car keys.  She'd put them on the roof while she struggled to get Max back in the car, Jon got in the car and used his car keys to start the engine.  Can you imagine?  Why didn't they fall off earlier in the car park where they could have retrieved them?  You can hardly pull onto the hard shoulder to search in the undergrowth along the motorway so they had to mark it down to experience.  Needless to say, replacing the keys has made that a very expensive morning out.

I had a much cheaper afternoon of exercise yesterday when I suggested to Rachel that we take Rosie and Leo over the park.  Maybe she could supervise Leo on his bike and I'd keep an eye on Rosie on her scooter.  Are you sure?  she asked, looking as if she knew something I didn't.  Which she did.  For I was thinking that Leo had only just learnt to ride his bike without stabilisers and Rosie has only been scootering for a couple of weeks, surely both would be a bit nervous/hesitant?

I couldn't have been more wrong - Rosie is clearly a bit of a daredevil on that scooter, I could barely jog fast enough to keep up with her and once Leo gets started he is off into the distance.  I'd been deluding myself by thinking that a bit of dog walking and one Zumba class a week was keeping myself fit, by the time we'd done a circuit of the park and walked home I was exhausted!

So after this weekend we take a few more tentative steps to reopen after lockdown.  Non essential shops, gyms and swimming pools reopening and most importantly there can now be haircuts again.  Can you guess which one I'm most excited about?  Sharpen those scissors, I'm booked in for Thursday!