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Sunday, September 12, 2010

After a few years of photos with your troublemaking classmates...

First FormIn Form
Off Form
... September comes, and it's time to move up to Big School...

Free Form
They have a much better library there. And Lisa doesn't have to wear purple.

Yes, just six weeks (and five nervous breakdowns) after moving in, we've finally started to let people view our new flat. That's not to say we haven't had any visitors so far. The neighbours are very fond of popping round to accuse us of drilling in the middle of the night (I must tell Amelie to stop that), but this is the first time we've had a face at the front door that we wanted to see there. And who didn't want us evicted.

So with great pleasure, we welcomed our old (well, young) friend Marie back to Brighton yesterday for a play-date with Amelie. It's five months since she was last here, and in that time, Amelie's gone from a toddling bundle of sweetness, to a half-crazed megalomaniacal genius with a snacking obsession. So we need all the help we can get. Frankly we could do with Marie here every weekend.

As luck would have it, Auntie Melee came armed with gingerbread men and Smarties. And as my luck would have it, I didn't get to eat either of them. Instead, Amelie spent half an hour trying to stick the Smarties to the biscuits with icing, before giving up and eating the evidence.

In return, I presented Marie with a birthday card and a box of Brighton-themed notelets. It was her birthday in early July, so technically that counts as a Christmas gift too. I also presented her with a cat keyring that looks like Chloe. She claimed to have lost that within half an hour. I can't think why.

So with gifts exchanged, and Lisa keen to be shot of Amelie, Marie and I took the Amster for a brisk run down to the Marina. We decided not to use her toddler reins, and instead let her run free across zebra crossings where the cars don't stop, as the inclement whether got steadily worse. Frankly it was a case of never reins but it pours. By the time we got to the discount bookshop at the marina, we were wetter than the puddles Amelie insisted on jumping in.

But our mission to buy educational learning books was a complete success. Here's Amelie running out of the shop with a bag of balls and plastic ducks...


That's the Brighton 'Walk of Fame' at the end. I think she's reserving a plot.

Anyhoo, in addition to all the junk that Amelie chose, Marie was kind enough to buy her enough books to keep her going through the long winter months. That's if she can tear herself away from her Stuart Little DVDs. We then walked home (occasionally backwards) in the rain, pausing just once for Marie to attempt a shadow puppet of a dog while Amelie picked some poisonous berries...


Back home, Lisa and I set about preparing dinner. Marie's currently on a carb-free diet, so being very mindful of that, we presented her with a hearty meal of pasta and garlic bread, followed by cheesecake with waffles. I'd hoped she might turn it down and leave more for me, but sadly she's far too polite.

We then relaxed for an hour, discussed life, love and working conditions, before sending Marie out into the night with strict instructions not to talk to the neighbours. It was a lovely day, but even better is that I found Marie's cat keyring on the bedroom floor this morning. I'll be giving her that for Easter.

3 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

She's pretty good at filling her pockets too!  Did Marie make it safely home through the night - after all that excitement - or is she still driving round Brighton in a fog?

Dave said...

Two comments arise.

1.  Is 'inclement whether' your nickname for Am?

2. What was Marie doing in the bedroom?

Phil said...

1. No, but the same comment applies.

2. She wasn't, but the inclement weather was.