Absent minded mum

Lady has been staying with one of her friends and her family in their Donegal caravan for a few days. Gordon and I took the boys into Belfast on the train yesterday morning. Duncan was so chilled out as we travelled. We went to St George's Market first. I'd hoped he would have enjoyed it like when we last were there and he was enthralled by the large clock with the visible mechanism. But the crowd and live music bothered him too much yesterday and I'd forgotten to bring his ear defenders or hat so he darted in with hands over his ears for just long enough to spy a bag of fudge for sale, ask me to buy it, and then he went back out and sat on some stairs. Gordon and Thomas wandered around the market for a while while I sat by Duncan. We shared a little fudge, unfortunately it was horrible. I asked if he wanted to go in to look at the clock, but he said, "Daddy and Thomas love the market, Duncan loves the stairs and Mummy loves Duncan." He's not wrong.

After this we walked to Victoria Square shopping centre. Duncan had livened up a bit by then and rushed off ahead of us trying to find somewhere that stocked Thomas & Friends toys. He had decided that he wanted a Tomy Fearless Freddie. Argos was no help so we went to the Hamleys store and he found a different friend of Thomas (the engine) to purchase. Thomas (the boy) chose a microscope. I paid for both items and we left the shop and headed to Nandos for an early lunch. Duncan has been eating chicken most days recently, a welcome addition to his previously limited and low protein diet so it was great to see him eating something in a restaurant and behaving quite well. It helped that there were few other customers, we were sitting in a large booth and he had a brand new toy to focus on.

As we left, he realised that the dinosaur book he'd been carrying around earlier was nowhere to be seen. I knew he must have put it down while he examined the toys in Hamleys so we had to make our way back there and lo, there it was. It took a while to extricate the boys from the toy store again and we decided to make our way slowly back to the station to get the next train home. On the way, Duncan darted off into a toy and crafts shop which also boasted a large collection of Thomas & Friends stuff as well as puppets, Lego and other interesting booty. He spied some modelling clay and chose a few packets, in all the colours needed to create an effigy of his new favourite, Donald Duck. Being only a few pounds each and of "educational value" I decided to buy them for him, but my purse was not in my bag. The last time I'd used it had been in Hamleys so we had to all troop back there once again. The woman who'd served me when I bought the toys, and who'd given me back the lost book was amused to see me back again, asking if I fancied someone working there or something. Ha bloody ha. Anyway, the purse wasn't there, so I had to look in Nandos, and thankfully, they had found it. By now a bit fed up with my less than simple day out, we rushed back to catch the train, and guess what, at the ticket barrier, I couldn't find the flaming ticket. I'd probably pulled it out off my back pocket when I'd been searching madly for the missing purse. The woman working there let us through anyway (Gordon has a season ticket) as I think she'd remembered us coming through earlier when I was running after Duncan as he raced into the shop. What a kerfuffle! One thing I know for next time, is to carry a larger bag.

But it was a beautiful day so we decided to risk another outing. This time, we drove to Gordon's mum's house and left the boys there. Then we ran back home with Pippi dog, a 6 mile journey along the coast. It was beautiful and is by far the longest run I've done for years. I did OK too, not needing to stop except after going up some steep steps near the end. Gordon then rushed back to get the boys, but his mum had found looking after them both hard work this time so we've decided not to ask her to do it again. We'll need to find another babysitter if we want to go out together on Saturdays.

Tell you what, I'm stiff and sore as nuts today though.