I need not have worried after all!

While Mrs BW was up in Edinburgh on a hen night, not hers obviously, I was left i/c of the fledglings for a whole weekend. And it was with some trepidation that I saw her off at Buxton Station on the Saturday morning I can tell you. I must have cut a forlorn pathetic figure waving sadly as the train disappeared leaving me in charge.


I had agreed to allow our youngest to have one of his friends to stay on the Saturday night. I had also agreed to take them and friends to Ponds Forge in Sheffield on Sunday. Ponds Forge is, if you don't know the venue for Sheffield's International swimming pool and has a fun pool with slides and a wave machine as well. They were all looking forward to it. To me it was a major expedition. There was a time a few years ago when driving into Sheffield would have filled me with as much concern as putting the milk bottles outside our front door. I used to happily negotiate my way across London map less and with out a tom tom or what ever it is people used to get lost nowadays. Now however, the thought of any town or God forbid city larger than Buxton fills me with dread. So I spent an uneasy Saturday evening worrying about finding my way into Sheffield. And then there was the problem of parking! There used to be a large open air car park next to the Pool. It has been closed, presumably so that they can build yet more luxury apartments. We would have to use the underground one beneath Ponds Forge assuming I could find it. Of course being a bank holiday weekend the place would be seething with people. By Sunday morning I was dreading the whole business. I was snappy and short tempered and as I loaded them into the car I was unhappy and worried about the whole wretched trip

As it turned out we breezed into Sheffield, found everything first time and the place was positively deserted. The slides were great, and the hour and a half we had passed in a blur of crazy wild fun and excitement. I even let them have a KFC afterwards. Why do I worry so much.......? Oh God I have to go to London on Tuesday!