To write

Saturday at Kew, late night.
Sunday at A&E, disturbed night.
Monday at the closed library, bus, shops, blah blah, fluctuating weather.

To do:

Sort through nappy wraps on loft ladder and in black bag to see which ones fit Emer.
Get next size clothes out of attic for her.

Book. Doctor. Appointments. For goodness' sake. Rob: back. Ailbhe: postnatal. Emer: postnatal. Linnea: scalp.

Book dentist appointments for Rob, Ailbhe and Emer.

That's two phonecalls, so unlikely to happen. If I can make those calls I can also call Fiona. Yay!

Saturday: Kew!

At some stage during the week I called to renew our memberships for Kew Gardens so that the tickets could arrive before Saturday, but they didn't. Anyway, we left the house shortly before 9 - meeting Jean from Number 18 on the way - and headed up to the train station. Once there, we saw that there were no trains showing as due, so Rob called National Rail to see what we could get; the trains I looked up on Thursday were no longer available, so we chose an alternative route (actually an easier one, from a buggy point of view), and Rob nipped out of the station to get breakfast from McDonalds next door.

It was vile. But calorific. At least they have a comprehensive allergies listing which we know how to find even when the staff don't. Ugh. Remind me not to try to eat there unless I'm pregnant and having weird cravings.

Then we got the tiny local train, and the connecting slow-to-London train, and we sat on that for hours and hours and HOURS and hours (about 70 minutes, I think) and were finally deposited in Richmond where we changed to the tube. The London train also contained a bilingual family going to Bracknell. Two of the children were called Sabrina and Francesca, and I think "sit down" was "saya dee" inasmuch as I can render anything phonetically in English. It was sort of like Italian or Spanish or Catalan, but not obviously enough for me to identify really. I can't remember much Portugeuse, so it could be that. It could also have been Esperanto but I strongly doubt it. Their teeth reminded me that I have to get Linnea to a dentist. This was reinforced by Bobinogs on Sunday. Some of the children on that had very bad teeth indeed.

As we were waiting for the tube to leave the station, I watched another tube train terminate and disgorge its passenger load. Easily a hundred people walked past the window while I watched. I counted three people smiling. Isn't that creepy?

The tube journey was mercifully brief, and we were in plenty of time, so we popped in to the heath food shop to buy Moltex disposable nappies for Emer (for emergencies and tiredness). Then we headed to the gardens and discovered that unlike the last two times we got membership, we could now renew at the gates. Damn. Since I'd already renewed over the phone we couldn't do that. The chappie did let us in for free, but if we'd renewed at the gates we'd have received the visitors' passes and everyone we were meeting there could have gotten in for free too.

We went in and I stood just inside the gates feeding Emer while Rob took Linnea, at her request, for a nappy change. gmh was first to arrive, bringing peculiar stuffed toys for newborns; I chose a giraffe-cow cross - clearly a juvenile - and hoped Linnea would be able to identify it (it is firmly a Giraffe Calf now, which is fine).

We all sat for tea and snacks and waited for sierra_le_oli, happydisciple, umlj and his girlfriend. They all showed up too, and were immediately kidnapped by Linnea and forced to accompany her on her adventures.

Which kind of set the tone for the day.

We started with lunch, priced as only lunch in a London-area tourist attraction can be, and then wandered towards the Pagoda, with a vague idea of going up it. We didn't because it's very very high and only three of the party were interested enough to acquire tickets, so when we found it was an hour wait it was deemed not worth it. Instead, we sat on the grass nearby for well over an hour, talking and eating icecream and drinking tea and everyone except me spent some time chasing after Linnea.

Then we all got cold and hungry and headed for the exit. It was harder to find chips than we anticipated, so we got sandwiches at the health shop and a few of us got chips at the pub. They were served in real crockery too. And then various people toted babies and buggies under the train tracks to our platform, and we parted and departed.

Linnea fell asleep on the train home. We put Emer in the carrycot, where she slept, and Linnea in the buggy converted from a pram back to a buggy (Infant Travel Systems: Robots In Disguise). And Rob and I ate sandwiches, and then we walked from the station to the bus-stop and went home and put Linnea to bed and fell over ded. I think it was about 9 pm by the time Linnea was in bed.