Erm...

As fate would have it, the day after we announced the arrival of summer, it took flight and departed. That was highly frustrating, we'd already gotten quite used to it, and forgotten all about how drab life inside push chair and weather shield could be.

Life inside push chair and weather shield? DRAB!

So when the rain took to an on-off pattern after a day of climbing the walls, we waited for a dry lull and took to the shops. By bobby car. No push chair.
MISTAKE!
I'm told that when I was small, it took about two hours to get to the end of the street, which was about eight houses long. So by comparison, 90 minutes for 5 streets and back, including shopping for fish and pears, isn't too bad. Except, it was.
Tara riding the car? Didn't quite work. Spent about 2% of the trip on it, and the remainder having fun
*trying to push her car
*eating a snack
*touching up trees, cars, fauna, stone walls, and pebbles
*asking to be picked up again and again and again
*sitting on benches
*sitting on curbstones
*admiring half dead worms
*pausing in the middle of the road to contemplate life
*trying to visit a high number of neighbours
*chasing all available cats

She drove me to distraction. In fact, she drove me to the purchase and immediate consumption of a fat brownie as soon as we had gotten to and had safely left the shop. This is the bad kind of brownie, for extremely frustrated mothers. It comes with a warning that reads: "Warning! This is an extremely scrumptious treat. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will get fat!"*

What can I say. Tara had fun all right. Except when she got pulled off the street by a mother two degrees below desperation point, and told in no uncertain tones that stopping to contemplate life
while crossing a street wasn't on, because the streets belong to cars, which are dangerous animals.
Except Tara's little red car. Which won't be taken out again for any similar trips for the next 12 years at least.

For the remainder of the rainy season, we will read books, bake cakes, take hot baths, and shop online.


* It doesn't really say that. It says, "Warning! This cake is an indulgent treat. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight!" I had to go back and buy another one to confirm the exact wording. Of course, I didn't have to eat it for that purpose. However, I did.