Lookout 700

A certain young girl would simply love to have a Meerkat for a pet. Together with R2D2, Meerkats are the most desirable things in her world. I'm convinced that neither would make a great pet. In particular, the territorial marking and occasional biting puts one of them low in the rankings for pet of the year. The other simply doesn't exist (unless you are six, in which case rules of the world are very different to the ones the rest of us know).

We needed to fit a lot into today: a visit to the zoo to take advantage of their prevailing discount, in addition to food shopping, clothes shopping and DIY decorating shopping. In the end, we fell short of the mark. We did spend a short while with friends we happened to bump into, but our falling short wasn't due to extended visits to the children's play areas. In spite of dear daughter 2's insistence to the contrary (and oh my can she be insistent), we spent no more than 10 minutes at the play area. No amount of reasoning with her about the need to get to the DIY store to buy paint for her new bedroom, would convince her that we needed to leave. This ladies and gentlemen is tantrum territory central and we're in for a bumpy ride. Needless to say, the exit through the gift shop was accompanied to cries of 'its not fair' and 'but I wanted to stay for longer' and 'its not fair' and Daddy! Daddy!! Daddy!!!

Eventually, we freed ourselves of the clutches of both Colchester Zoo and the freezing temperatures. We decided that a girl in such a frame of mind and of tender age would be better off sitting in the car outside Sainsbury's, rather than subjecting staff and customers to further tumultuous outbursts. Beloved and daughter 1 were going shopping as I would gently simmer in the car.

Before they left, simmering turned to a full bubbling boil as I exclaimed to daughter 1 'Careful with the d....!!' just in time to see her fling open the car door into an adjacent object.

I paint a picture of a day full of woes, making no mention of the majority - of the good behaviour and good nature. It was a very enjoyable day on the whole, marked by unfortunate events that in the short term stick in the mind, but over time pale into insignificance. I read some time ago how a parent described their experience of having children. It went something like this 'parenthood is a journey full of pleasure ad pain, but with slightly more pleasure than pain. Just enough to tip the balance.'

After no more than 10 minutes in the car with daughter 2, the rear seat tumult had subsided completely and had been replaced with a sweet natured, Meerkat loving girl uttering the words 'I'm sorry Daddy for being naughty.' Completely unprompted. The balance was tipped and a big hug was in order.

I hope you like it. 700 today!!!!