Alignment

There are some days as a parent when you know exactly what you’re going to do with them on a particular day to keep them occupied.

Very occasionally on those self-same days, the planets align and the timings all come together and the day runs as you intended. Being off with the children for half-term today, I was fortunate enough to benefit from that cosmic alignment and we all had a really nice day together!

First order of business was to get The Youngest some new clothes. Her existing ones either don’t fit or are mainly hand-me-downs, so we headed to Primarni to top up on tops and leggings (she steadfastly refuses to wear jeggings or jeans), whilst there taking the opportunity to get m’boy a couple of bits.

From there, we caught a mid-morning showing of The Bad Guys, which was surprisingly good fun (due in no small part to the awesome voice talents of Sam Rockwell) and we were delighted to discover that Anthony Ramos; Hamilton alumnus and originator of the part of John Laurens, was the voice behind the manic Piranha.

Pumped full of sugar via soft drinks and a barrel of popcorn, we took a walk up and around Williamson Park to visit the Ashton Memorial (pictured here) and the butterfly house, which was lovely and warm. Matty got worried about a turtle in the surrounding water feature, but I maintain that it was just relaxing…

I remembered that there was a large antiques warehouse just down the road, so we went in there for a mooch – I am in the market for a new chest of drawers – and the children were challenged to find the weirdest thing they could. Matty won with some hideous troll/goblin effigy.

Home for tea before rounding the day out with a couple of rounds of Mario Kart and me dozing in front of a film called Friends With Benefits, which was a nice spin on the romantic comedy genre.

Most definitely: a good day.