We came back from our walk with the dog (and the spare kid), to hear the cleaner’s last swipes across the wooden floor. The exercise park by the beach was a cruel reminder that lifting your weight in a public space is not for everyone and if I can’t move tomorrow morning you can be damned sure it’s not for me either. But we did have a chat with a pot-bellied man and a closer look at the house for sale as we meandered home. Since then it’s been “next level” Hide and Seek where apparently a trail of white plaster dust footprints across the clean wooden floor and a slamming screen door are not the glaring clues us elderly folk think they are. It also keeps raining in great swathes of warm, monsoon level squalls but who wants it to be so hot you can’t breathe? At lunchtime the head encased in purple headphones cranked into life and informed us its sooo boring” waiting for toast to pop up. I now realize the toast was an entrée and the frozen dumplings she is busy frying like a short order cook, are the main. I also have to congratulate both of us Over 60’s on spotting the girl+dog combo heading for the bedroom. Even the dog was in on it and may have gotten away with it if I hadn’t caught a whiff of her as she slid on by. My response was the next kid to touch her gets to go outside and wash her but already my “that dog could do with a wash” suggestion has created a heavy sigh and an eye roll worthy of a much older girl. YES! I say to a full day at school tomorrow though I do question why it’s necessary to be home by 2:45. In the meantime I’ll just keep on breathing through my nose until I can bribe someone into dealing with the dog.
Robyn Anderson 