Thursday 8 January 2009

And We Thought We Were Just Going Shopping

Today we had an Adventure.
"What's an adventure?" LissaLou asked. "Well, it's when you do something out of the ordinary" I replied. "Surely that's every day for LissaLou?", Bertie suggested. "Okaaaay", I reflected a bit more. "In this particular circumstance it's when you look positively at something that could be seen negatively!"
We have given our lovely citroen car back to our friend who is now able to drive it, and whilst she has said to let her know if we need it on any occasion, we are challenging ourselves to see how we can manage without it. And as ever, do you know something? Jehovah Jireh! On Monday, Bertie's sister passed him her car to go to work. Yesterday, he got a lift in with his pupil. It can be a bit more time-consuming but I guess it is saving on petrol!
So today we stayed at home and chilled - the girls had great fun trying on some dressing up clothes their cousin Stella had been given by her doctor - and then after siesta time (er, for the adults not the girls!) we decided to walk to Carrefour as Baby JoJo was down to his last nappy. (Mum will remember the walk which we did with her - pretty long for little legs but manageable.)
So we set off and very much enjoyed the walk in the cool of the setting sun. We were particularly grateful that it didn't rain, as it had been doing on and off all day. The girls had a great time running along or hanging on the buggy board and chatting with us about different things.
On the way back in the dark of the evening, Bertie shared how much he appreciates not having the car, as he feels we have better family time, the girls get to run around and it also reminds him of London where we used our car infrequently. I agreed, and added that we get to appreciate the world around us a bit more and feel a bit more active rather than just passive participants in life. Plus it always feels quite simply good to walk. I am sure that we were made to walk!
And then the Adventure began. The buggy suddenly collapsed and we discovered that the wheel had completely come off.* And it was starting to rain. And we were at the bottom of the hill. But let's not let little things like that spoil life! I took Baby JoJo, Bertie carried the buggy and board, and the sweetest part was LissaLou insisting that she would carry the shopping bag to help out! She had it over her shoulder (it was probably two thirds her size!) and it took a bit of persuading to get her to carry one handle and me the other!
The rain cleared and we carried on. The girls continued to walk as best they could, but CassCass does have a bad habit of not looking where she is going and slipped off the pavement banging her face. So we regrouped, CassCass went on my shoulders, I took the bag, Bertie took Baby JoJo and the buggy and LissaLou (after crying that she wanted to go on someone's shoulders too!) kindly offered to take the buggy board. We must have looked a strange sight! And we made it home safely, despite the dark and lack of pavements or lights and tiring legs (LissaLou) and arms (CassCass!), still in good spirits and glad for those out of the ordinary moments.

*The buggy looks pretty irreparable to me, but Bertie is going to play around with it and see what happens. Otherwise I guess we will get a cheap stroller - and I am embarrassed to say that would be our seventh ever buggy! In our defence, this one was a very old Maclaren that was about to be dumped when we took it, and the pavements here really are atrocious and not fit for any buggy!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its amazing that the wheels stayed on for so long!
You should make clear that not all these 7 buggies were new to you.
I had 8 prams for 4 children (not all at once and not all new either!)
I love the way you take every opportunity to enlarge LissaLou's vocabulary. I thought Alice aux pays merveilleux was The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland ?

Anonymous said...

I don't understand it. McLaren's are usually so reliable.

Well, the Formula One cars are, anyway.

Hevs said...

Hmm, the majority have been new but in my mind all of them have been justifiable! Yes that might be the title, but dont have it in English here.
Ah Lewis, watch out for your wheels if ever you have the misfortune to be driving in Gwada with a heavy shopping bag, that's all I can say!