Child's play & a cultural moment

Saturday afternoon heralded a drive into the snow-capped hills with Catherine and young Gemma. Having landed at the Tittesworth reservoir and country park at the south-west edge of the Staffordshire Moorlands, we caused a few double-takes from passing visitors bound for the very reasonable visitor centre and restaurant. As snow lashed down – far from what we’d expected – this did not stop our playing in the sand pit and in the children’s playground. Far from it, it created ideal conditions, for we had the whole place to ourselves. And all for the wind-chill price of minus one degree celcius – 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Ouch. Spirits were high as we trogged back to the car – each one of us with ruddy cheeks and an icy nose-run. Gemma slept all the way back to the BigCity.

Met with Emma and young Alex on Sunday afternoon, that was for a walk in a different country park – the urban kind – trees, trees, a lake, water-fowl, trees, and the mid-distant thunder of heavy traffic. Was good; an on-spec investigation of a boat shed went down well – quite the mini-adventure for the young boy. It seemed that as Mothers’ Day had struck, ‘doing family-time’ had affected a mass exodus from the towns to the edge-of-towns. The sunny day veiled low low temperatures. Shiverrrrr, and a box of chocolates.

Funniest 'culturally-sensitive' sighting of the weekend: lots of young chavs bearing withered bunches of flowers - markers of the care and affection that they feel for their mothers. The Kappa Lilies seemed to be the most popular floral tribute.

Footballingly, this weekend:-
Glad about (one per division): Newcastle, Sunderland, Blackpool, Darlington
Disappointed for (one per division): Middlesbrough, Crewe, Hartlepool, Macclesfield

Favourites of the moment:-
Book - Tony Hawks' 'Playing the Moldovans at Tennis'
Music - Scissor Sisters
TV - The Apprentice (BBC2)

Happy World Anorak Day!