1. Travelling Hopefully
2. Going Underground
3. The Wild
Court finished at lunchtime on Friday (memo to self. Make sure boys go into the Law. These people are not over-working.) so I packed all afternoon. Set off at 6 and drove at a fair crack. We are so rural it takes more than four hours at 70mph to reach the M25. Younger Sister and Godfather 2 stayed up. I tried to put Son 1 aged 4y 8m and Son 2 aged 20m to bed when we got there but they outvoted me. ”Cat,” said Son 2, repeatedly, whirling round in circles to make himself drunk like he does when he’s excited. ”You see these teddy bears which are cats’ toys,” said Son 1. “I expect they’re for us now.” They stayed up till midnight.
On Saturday we went with Younger Sister to their local wildlife park. We fed goats and chinchillas. Son 1 gave a lamb a bottle of milk. Hot hot hot. On Sunday Son 1, Son 2 and I got on the train, went into London, crossed it on the Tube (hot hot hot) and met The Man, fresh off the Gatwick Express at Victoria. Then we went to Kensington Gardens and watched Peter Pan. Son 1 of course thought it was fantastic. Son 2 sat through the whole two-and-a-half hours with barely a fidget. The child who is hated by a planeload of holidaymakers. “Isn’t he good,” said the lady in front. “Mine could never have been that good at that age.” We think the fairies swapped him. His favourite characters were Nanna “Woof woof,” and the Crocodile ”Snap snap.” When Wendy was carried off from Marooners’ Rock on a kite tail he let out a show-stopping baby chortle. “It’s not funny,” hissed Son 1. I do love this story but I am with Son 2 on that bit. On the way out I said “Son 1 please stay with us. You know what will happen if you get lost in Kensington Gardens.” “Mummy it’s not real life,” he said, scornfully. I saw ya, you little beggar, staring transfixed and whispering ”I believe in fairies” to bring back Tinkerbell.
We had planned to do London Zoo on the Monday, but it was too dang hot to brave on a working day, and there is a massive zoo about 10 miles from Younger Sister’s, so we spent the day there. We did the Big Five… hippos, lions, giraffes, elephants and cheetahs. Went on a steam train, ate ice creams… and got hot hot hot. At Younger Sister’s we took family photos, and the children again stayed up for dinner. On Tuesday we drove to see Aged Aunt and Eldest Brother. Aged Aunt looked brilliantly well, their garden was great, the boys were Perfect Children. And then we drove back. On the hottest day of the year. Fortunately we had wiped Son 1 and Son 2 out and they slept for most of the Very Long Indeed trip.
Tags: Aged Aunt, chinchillas, Eldest Brother, Gatwick Express, goats, Godfather 2, hottest day of the year, jury service, Kensington Gardens, lambs, London, London Zoo, Marooners' Rock, peter pan, steam train, tinkerbell, Victoria, Wildlife Park, Younger Sister
[...] in 1945. I feel as if a link with my Dad has been cut. We took the boys to see her in June journeys so at least we have pictures to show them later. I watched Son 2 load pigs, sheep and people [...]