Day 6 with the kids - Swans and Red Arrows

Saturday morning brought a lie in! I’d forgotten what that was like! Even with some extra sleep, the first thing I did on waking was decide to go to Costa, with a vague idea of watching the Red Arrows over Chelmsford later in the day.

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Whilst I was at Costa, Aaliyah called me up to berate me for having no breakfast in (seemingly the white bread, brown bread, Cheerios, Weetabix and porridge weren’t enough for her), and after a mini rant where I did my best to interrupt and point out the shortcomings in her arguments, she called me “useless”.

I don’t think I’ve ever put the phone down on somebody so quickly.  There is nothing that winds me up quicker than the kids being cheeky or rude to me.

She Whatsapped me to apologise and a few minutes later was asking if she could meet me in town as she knew I was there with Chance and their nan.

As you can see, there is NOTHING for breakfast (and the Bran Flakes and Rice Crispies at the back of the cupboard can’t be seen in this pic)

She also told me that she couldn’t find her jeans. I told her to “check the clothes drier by the double doors.” Despite there only being one set of double doors in the house, she claimed to not know what a clothes drier was.

This is not uncommon amongst my kids.

During the week, Chance (aged 9) didn’t know what a kettle was and Charisma, aged 15, didn’t know what I meant by “the zebra crossing next to the Odeon roundabout” in Chelmsford, despite there only being one zebra crossing near a roundabout in town, and the fact that it’s the roundabout near the Odeon cinema (where she happened to be at the time)

Not only that, but we go past that very spot at least twice a day.

As I write this, Chance has just come back from feeding the ducks with his nan.

“Did you see any swans?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I can’t remember what they look like.” he replied.

Once again, he’s nine years old.

This is the future of our country, everyone. And you thought that America would be screwed if they voted in Trump.

By the time we all got back home again, I’d already mentally made plans to monopolise the tv.

It’s been years since I found myself able to sit down at the start of a football tournament and watch the opening games, and so far I’ve managed to catch the majority of the first four games.  I’ve not done that for many years!

My son didn’t understand it.  Every time he came in, there was football on the tv.

“How can you watch so much football?!” he exclaimed.

I felt like asking how he was able to play Minecraft, talk about Minecraft and watch YouTube videos on Minecraft all day, but I didn’t.

He certainly didn’t complain about the football feast that Iceland provided us with.

Living in Chelmsford meant that we get to experience many of the RAF flyovers that happen for various official events, and today that included the Red Arrows flyover for the Queen’s birthday.  As I said before, I knew that they were coming, and I was hoping that I may catch them without having to go out of my way.

It just so happened that I was walking Brooke into town to meet her friend when they flew past.

I was quick with my camera and caught a photo, though unfortunately it was absolutely rubbish, as you can see.

The Red Arrows over Chelmsford - distant and on a cloudy day

The day finished with a disappointing draw for England, though not entirely unexpected to be fair.

The kids go back to their mum on Monday, and it feels that it took most of the week to get into a routine, so it’s a shame that now things seems to be running more smoothly, they are going back.

I still get to spend every other weekend with them, which is great, as well as various outings during the week, even if it is ferrying them about in the car.

Whisper it, but I’m actually going to miss the mayhem and tantrums a little bit when they’ve gone.

I’m definitely not going to miss the tidying up though!

by DannyUK

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