A Perfectly Cromulent Weekend
Sep. 27th, 2009 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ailbheOn Friday we went to ERAPA, slightly late. I wish we had the trike in order, the busfares are £5.30 every week to get there. But we went, and the weather was glorious, and afterwards we met taimatsu in the playground and then Rob came, and we all ate Chinese takeaway at a picnic table, and then we went to taimatsu's flat and the children used the loo and left with Rob and I stayed to help organise and tidy up, and it was great, putting things away knowing that they would stay tidy for a while after I finished, and making a visible difference, and things.
When I got home I couldn't sleep for hours, and eventually I realised that I am accustomed to the lovely happy breastfeeding hormones, so I went in to Emer and fed her in her sleep, and drifted off happily about 3am.
Then on Saturday I got up and went out with Linnea, while Rob went out with Emer. Linnea and I went to Moondogs Art Café and had a drink, and Craig-the-owner gave me some money and a box of sweets; the woman who was knocked off her bike paid me back and got me sweets! So that was wonderful. Then Linnea and I went to the Saturday junior dancing class, which was in a smaller room so I couldn't see what was going on. Which was just as well. I looked through a window for some of it, and she seemed partially-absent and bewildered and serious, but she came out grinning and quiet and happy, and said she wanted to go back.
I asked what she wanted to do next, and so we bought sandwiches and fruit in a supermarket and took it to a bench to eat. And after a while we met up withtaimatsu and went to Jacksons to look for craft materials and coloured cotton tights, but didn't buy anything. And then Rob and Emer came along and said that they had ordered the cut-price Green Cone and it would be delivered shortly, so they didn't have to carry it home, which was great. Rob had power tools and a length of wood and we all walked to taimatsu's flat and Rob repaired a wardrobe and Linnea painted a small area of the floor red, but luckily we cleaned it up before any major damage was done. And then we all came home on the bus.
A gang of young people, not children, got on the bus and the driver came upstairs and demanded to see their tickets; they couldn't shower her the tickets, so they called her a "fat bitch." It was very unpleasant. I tried not to sit by and do nothing, so I said "How dare you!" in a very aggrieved tone, but most passengers seemed to think that the driver should let them not pay, and she refused to transport them without valid tickets. The other passengers mainly thought she should ignore the non-paying passengers and that she was taking her job too seriously. However, when the male inspector she called arrived, they were all polite and reasonable to him.
I was really impressed that she stood her ground. And annoyed that passengers outside the troublesome group handed their tickets to the troublesome group so that when the inspector arrived the targeted group all had valid tickets. That sort of thing make me really cross.
I was about Emer's age when my mother explained about paying passengers subsidising fare evaders. I never got over it.
Anyway, we had a lovely dinner.
Sunday - today Linnea slept until shortly after ten! So we didn't go to meeting; Emer didn't much want to go and we didn't want to wake Linnea. We had a sandwich lunch about noon and gradually got everyone dressed and headed out to walk to Halfords, where we looked at bikes for the girls - they had some grandparent money. They had one for Emer which was self-assembly (or come back at 7pm tomorrow after they assembled it) but none for Linnea until at least Monday evening. We took Emer's away with us and got the bus to Action Bikes in the town centre, where they found Linnea a lovely bike which delighted her entirely.
This year, boys' bikes come in red, navy blue, black, and yellow (trimmed in those colours too), and girls' bikes come in white, pale pink, or lurid pink - except for one model, which comes in light blue! Linnea wanted pink, though, so that's what we were looking for in her size. The one she actually got is white with pink and purple decorations, so she's happy that it's girly and I'm happy that it doesn't make my blood pressure soar.
Both girls also have the stabilisers they had their hearts set on, and small seats at the back for their teddies. We didn't get locks today; I want to check what we already have in that line. Linnea cycled home from town along Great Knollys Street, and Emer cycled partway, but it was too far so soon.
Tomorrow I expect we'll go around the block several times.
I'm actually really uncomfortable with them riding on the footpath/pavement, which is explicitly not for bikes. I might encourage going down to the shared use path two blocks down from us, where they are at least in the right place. And if it continues, I might investigate getting myself a bike which works; the two-wheeled bike I already have is pretty much unusable. Rob bought it second-hand kind of on spec in case it was better than his own one for his commute to work, but it wasn't - wrong size, as well as not working very well.
I might get it serviced, if I can do that cheaper than buying a new second-hand one. We shall see.
Right now, we've all finished dinner, and Rob is going out to the Co-op supermarket to buy mixed fruits so that I can have bara brith, as part of Project "Make Ailbhe weigh more than eight stone". I've been getting cold and tired lately, which isn't a good sign. When Rob gets back we'll have chocolate cake for dessert - the girls' supper - and then the children will go to bed and Rob and I will try to make the house manageable for the morning.
It has been a good and tiring weekend, full of achievements. I feel much better now.
taimatsu in the playground and then Rob came, and we all ate Chinese takeaway at a picnic table, and then we went to taimatsu's flat and the children used the loo and left with Rob and I stayed to help organise and tidy up, and it was great, putting things away knowing that they would stay tidy for a while after I finished, and making a visible difference, and things.When I got home I couldn't sleep for hours, and eventually I realised that I am accustomed to the lovely happy breastfeeding hormones, so I went in to Emer and fed her in her sleep, and drifted off happily about 3am.
Then on Saturday I got up and went out with Linnea, while Rob went out with Emer. Linnea and I went to Moondogs Art Café and had a drink, and Craig-the-owner gave me some money and a box of sweets; the woman who was knocked off her bike paid me back and got me sweets! So that was wonderful. Then Linnea and I went to the Saturday junior dancing class, which was in a smaller room so I couldn't see what was going on. Which was just as well. I looked through a window for some of it, and she seemed partially-absent and bewildered and serious, but she came out grinning and quiet and happy, and said she wanted to go back.
I asked what she wanted to do next, and so we bought sandwiches and fruit in a supermarket and took it to a bench to eat. And after a while we met up with
taimatsu and went to Jacksons to look for craft materials and coloured cotton tights, but didn't buy anything. And then Rob and Emer came along and said that they had ordered the cut-price Green Cone and it would be delivered shortly, so they didn't have to carry it home, which was great. Rob had power tools and a length of wood and we all walked to taimatsu's flat and Rob repaired a wardrobe and Linnea painted a small area of the floor red, but luckily we cleaned it up before any major damage was done. And then we all came home on the bus.A gang of young people, not children, got on the bus and the driver came upstairs and demanded to see their tickets; they couldn't shower her the tickets, so they called her a "fat bitch." It was very unpleasant. I tried not to sit by and do nothing, so I said "How dare you!" in a very aggrieved tone, but most passengers seemed to think that the driver should let them not pay, and she refused to transport them without valid tickets. The other passengers mainly thought she should ignore the non-paying passengers and that she was taking her job too seriously. However, when the male inspector she called arrived, they were all polite and reasonable to him.
I was really impressed that she stood her ground. And annoyed that passengers outside the troublesome group handed their tickets to the troublesome group so that when the inspector arrived the targeted group all had valid tickets. That sort of thing make me really cross.
I was about Emer's age when my mother explained about paying passengers subsidising fare evaders. I never got over it.
Anyway, we had a lovely dinner.
Sunday - today Linnea slept until shortly after ten! So we didn't go to meeting; Emer didn't much want to go and we didn't want to wake Linnea. We had a sandwich lunch about noon and gradually got everyone dressed and headed out to walk to Halfords, where we looked at bikes for the girls - they had some grandparent money. They had one for Emer which was self-assembly (or come back at 7pm tomorrow after they assembled it) but none for Linnea until at least Monday evening. We took Emer's away with us and got the bus to Action Bikes in the town centre, where they found Linnea a lovely bike which delighted her entirely.
This year, boys' bikes come in red, navy blue, black, and yellow (trimmed in those colours too), and girls' bikes come in white, pale pink, or lurid pink - except for one model, which comes in light blue! Linnea wanted pink, though, so that's what we were looking for in her size. The one she actually got is white with pink and purple decorations, so she's happy that it's girly and I'm happy that it doesn't make my blood pressure soar.
Both girls also have the stabilisers they had their hearts set on, and small seats at the back for their teddies. We didn't get locks today; I want to check what we already have in that line. Linnea cycled home from town along Great Knollys Street, and Emer cycled partway, but it was too far so soon.
Tomorrow I expect we'll go around the block several times.
I'm actually really uncomfortable with them riding on the footpath/pavement, which is explicitly not for bikes. I might encourage going down to the shared use path two blocks down from us, where they are at least in the right place. And if it continues, I might investigate getting myself a bike which works; the two-wheeled bike I already have is pretty much unusable. Rob bought it second-hand kind of on spec in case it was better than his own one for his commute to work, but it wasn't - wrong size, as well as not working very well.
I might get it serviced, if I can do that cheaper than buying a new second-hand one. We shall see.
Right now, we've all finished dinner, and Rob is going out to the Co-op supermarket to buy mixed fruits so that I can have bara brith, as part of Project "Make Ailbhe weigh more than eight stone". I've been getting cold and tired lately, which isn't a good sign. When Rob gets back we'll have chocolate cake for dessert - the girls' supper - and then the children will go to bed and Rob and I will try to make the house manageable for the morning.
It has been a good and tiring weekend, full of achievements. I feel much better now.