Despite Amelie's outrageous accusation that I look like a fat criminal with piggy eyes and a tache, I still agreed to take her out on Saturday afternoon. I just didn't agree to bring her back. So while Lisa mopped the kitchen floor and sat in the cinders of her latest cooking experiment, Amelie and I headed out to the Queens Park Fun Day.

Obviously there's only so much fun you can have in one day, which explains why it only lasted for four hours, but as free events go, it wasn't bad. It was actually organised by the Church on the Rock, a local Christian group founded five years ago by a bunch of Canadians. I presume they dropped the 'ies' from the end of the word 'Rock' when they moved to this country.

Admittedly, 'Church on the Rock' sounds more like the progression of Charlotte's singing career, but they're an aptly named group, because their idea of fun is playing Christian rock music on a purpose built stage in the middle of the park on a Saturday afternoon. It was like Glastonbury, only free, and with fewer MPs dying in the toilets.

The live band were surprisingly good, and the entertainment reasonable, although I was disappointed that they weren't selling 'Church on the Rock' cakes, but one of the most useful aspects of the afternoon was the opportunity it gave me to check the progress of Amelie's bouncing skills. Back in 2009, she was capable of only entry-level Tigger skills. By 2010, she'd moved on to the more accomplished Bouncing Stage 2. But as of this weekend, she's now officially Queen of the Castle...


In an ideal world, she'd adopt a more hands-free approach, but we can work on that when she's three.

These days, of course, people talk a lot about the cost of inflation, but at the Queens Park Fun Day that didn't apply. They blew up the bouncy castle for free, and didn't charge us a penny to use it. But if that seems like good value for money, just wait until you see the COTR make-up department...


That's Amelie getting catty with a Canadian Christian. If only she'd been that cooperative with the dentist.

Five minutes of free face-painting, and this was the result...


It's basically 'Tiger' meets 'Bearded Folk Singer'. Which, I suppose, makes her Cat Stevens.