Trains, swings and buses

It's been a busy couple of days. grandma is determined to spend the whole time the kids are visiting "doing things with them". Of course, we had a long conversation last night about benign neglect, how boredom is a vital part of the human psyche, and how children who are constantly rushed from one activity to the next are seriously missing out on some important lifeskills, but she still insists we have to do things all the time!

today we all took the bus up to a park about 5 miles away. On Wednesdays my mother looks after my neice, so there was an extra child in tow. Fortunately she is only a couple of months older than LMB and they get on fabulously, so in some ways it's easier to have her there than not. Apart from the fact that I had to remind my mother how to get there (despite the fact that she has lived within 10 miles of where she was born for the whole of her 65 years, and I left london half my life-time ago!), the day went well. We got to the park without incident, and the kids were more than happy running around, climbing rocks, hiding behind trees, watching the ducks (Mstr A aquired some bread to feed them from some unsuspecting woman), and generally doing what children in parks do. Then we found the play area, and they spent even more time happily playing on the swings and climbing frames etc, with only one minor incident when Mstr A felt he had missed his turn (well, actually, the other boy DID push in front of him, but since there were more empty swings, it wasn't really such a big deal!). Mstr A doesn't approve of other people breaking the rules of fair play - although he is not adverse to doing so himself on occasion!

Anyway, after a couple of hours, we headed back to the bus stop. I got told off by my mother for going to the wrong stop (not that she knew where the right stop was, just that the stop I went to was too far to walk - that's because last time I caught a bus from there, that housing estate was a bus station!), so we missed the bus and had to wait *gasp* 15 mins for the next one, which gave all the kids time to walk along, and fall off, a little brick wall! A few scrapes, grazes and screams later, we returned to Grandma's house and avoided having to eat her abysmal cooking by buying burgers on the way.

Still no arguments between my mum and Mstr A. It's a miracle!