And what a motley crue of kids they were. All shapes and sizes with very independent thoughts on the correct attire for public swimming. The Lish went Canadian - shorts and T-shirt. The Brits let it ALL hang out and with some of those kids verging on the oldish side to be that naked, it made for uncomfortable viewing. Put it this way, it's a good job Muslims very generally speaking do not seem to bring their kids here.
The Lish went mad. No hesitation, she was in like Flynn. Up and down, round and round. I decided at the start of the week that there would be no reading on duty. I just watched her chase her tail and with good reason, this is a park. At best you get mentalists who like to do tai chi in orange jumpsuits from the 2009 Guantanamo collection but at worst, parks and particularly places designed for children draw the nasty and depraved. I kept a sharp look out for paedos all afternoon, not once allowing Lishy to leave my line of sight and almost willing some arsehole to come between mummy bear and her cub. I was ready to rip his bollocks off with my bare hands. Luckily I didn't see any - but then again, what was I really expecting? A fat, bald sweaty fuckwit with bottle end glasses and trousers round his ankles? I dare say they were around, quietly taking it all in. Makes my blood boil.
So cleary, I enjoyed this part of the day immensely. But in all seriousness, I didn't obsess - it was just, you know, there, in the back of my mind.
Onto brighter subjects - the day was one of those days that get immortalised in photographs of your youth, when it seems it was only ever sunny. Except of course today I forgot to bring the camera. So you'll have to make do with me telling you - it was a bloody lovely day. Warm, dry and sunny.
After what seemed like 3 weeks, Lish finally came to sit with me and eat her sandwich and this is the bit I will fall alseep to tonight. We lay together - she wrapped in a towel like a piglet in a blanket and me cuddling her from behind - munching our lunch while sedately watching the park life unfold around us. It was idyllic.
Then another age passed as Lisherlicious went in for a second dip. Meanwhile I kept watch like a meercat. I managed to persuade her that an icecream truck was about to leave if we didn't move fast at about 4pm. It did the trick.
We hiked back to Queensway, via the wild part of the park which I somehow convinced myself was full of grass snakes. To distract from this I got The L to lead the way a la Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz kind of way. In retrospect, had there been any snakes, I'd be feeling pretty rotten for sending the kid in first. I made up for it with a strawberry ice cream ( I had mint chocolate chip) which we enjoyed to the symphony of the traffic on Bayswater road and the heady exhaust fumes. Bangkok has nothing on Queensway. Still, we had ice-cream, we didn't care.
It was 6pm by the time we got home. So no need to bake today thank god. I rushed the pleasantries of bathtime, dinner and bed - rattling through 2 books blocking Lishy's every attempt to stall.
Kiss kiss, click and slump. Over and out my friends. Tomorrow I have Jungle Jim planned. I'm already feeling naseaus.
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