Today got off to a pretty interesting start, as the continued torrents of rain meant that Cherie didn't run to work this morning, and it was touch and go as to whether I would bother taking Annie to Kindy or not today, especially given the fact that she has a cold that makes her sound like she's swimming (i.e. gurgling a lot and gasping for air) when she's eating. The weather cleared up sufficiently for me to decide that she'd be better off at school though (that and she had a prolonged inexplicable tantrum when I attempted to leave the room for 5 minutes to get myself some breakfast, so I can't honestly say I wasn't looking forward to it being just Michael and me again).
With Annie packed off to Kindy I decided to up my cultural intake for the week, and go with Michael to the WA Museum, which is just a short train ride from Kindy, into the city. It all went pretty swimmingly - the journey was really easy and cheap (you get free return within 2 hours on trains and buses here - makes a refreshing change from TfL bleeding you dry!) and the train deposited us virtually at the entrance to the Museum. Michael was also reasonably well behaved, and the staff at the Museum went out of their way to be kind and helpful (Michael, much like his Dad, is a bit of a charmer, and I get the feeling that a lot of people think I'm a single young mother, struggling to cope (well, they've got the last bit spot on at least...), and showed me exactly where the good exhibitions for children were located, and also recommending other things to do with children in the area (n.b. as entry fee is donation only, *must* remember to give a generous donation next time - these good intentions somehow only ever remain good intentions with children in tow).
We left at just the right time (though I'm determined to go back alone and look around more thoroughly - the aboriginal history display looked really interesting, in a harrowingly awful colonial sort of way (think Rabbit-Proof Fence), but its lack of interactive elements meant it failed to hold Michael's attention, so I only got a brief glimpse) and I even managed to shop for Birthday present for Em, and try my first ever meat pie - apparently the traditional foodstuff of Oz) whilst Michael later snoozed in the buggy.
So it was all going suspiciously well - and I thought as much - when suddenly, as we waited for the bus, apropos of nothing, Michael vomited copiously all down himself in the buggy. As I scrambled to get him out of his vomit-soaked clothes, remove the equally vomit-soaked padded bit of the buggy seat, and clean up everything as best I could with wet-wipes and anti-bac hand lotion, we missed the bus, and had to wait a further half an hour in the drizzle before another one came along, with Michael, fairly understandably, whinging pretty much the whole way home. Curses.
We left at just the right time (though I'm determined to go back alone and look around more thoroughly - the aboriginal history display looked really interesting, in a harrowingly awful colonial sort of way (think Rabbit-Proof Fence), but its lack of interactive elements meant it failed to hold Michael's attention, so I only got a brief glimpse) and I even managed to shop for Birthday present for Em, and try my first ever meat pie - apparently the traditional foodstuff of Oz) whilst Michael later snoozed in the buggy.
So it was all going suspiciously well - and I thought as much - when suddenly, as we waited for the bus, apropos of nothing, Michael vomited copiously all down himself in the buggy. As I scrambled to get him out of his vomit-soaked clothes, remove the equally vomit-soaked padded bit of the buggy seat, and clean up everything as best I could with wet-wipes and anti-bac hand lotion, we missed the bus, and had to wait a further half an hour in the drizzle before another one came along, with Michael, fairly understandably, whinging pretty much the whole way home. Curses.
Once I'd got Michael hosed off, into some fresh clothes and down for a (mercifully long) nap, I commenced a thorough cleanup operation, and put some rice on to cook (n.b. rice cookers are the most awesome time-saving machines, Im'na get one asap when I leave home). I then texted Cherie to tell her what had happened, just in case it turned into anything serious (the inoculation Michael had recently might have been a factor), and thankfully she decided to come home early from work to pick Annie up from Kindy so Michael and me didn't have to venture out in the rain again, thus saving me an afternoon of further misery.
All in all it was still a pretty good day. My only mild worry now is the fact that the afternoon's events (well, mostly the intermittent torrents actually) prompted Cherie to suggest that I start learning to drive the Toyota, so that I can make it to Kindy in 5 minutes, should I need to, especially as the buggy currently has no rain-cover. She was pretty keen on the idea, saying that it was only the au pairs from countries in which they drive on the left that she was worried about driving here. She seemed pretty flippant about the idea that I needed an International Driver's Permit to drive here, and given my nervousness about driving an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar roads, I decided, for once, that there are some reasons I don't like the similarities between Oz and the UK (other than, you know, the partial let-down of coming to a place across the world that's basically a facsimile of home). Anyway, she said I could do a few test drives and then it would be up to me whether I felt comfortable doing it, so guess I'll just see how it goes...
All in all it was still a pretty good day. My only mild worry now is the fact that the afternoon's events (well, mostly the intermittent torrents actually) prompted Cherie to suggest that I start learning to drive the Toyota, so that I can make it to Kindy in 5 minutes, should I need to, especially as the buggy currently has no rain-cover. She was pretty keen on the idea, saying that it was only the au pairs from countries in which they drive on the left that she was worried about driving here. She seemed pretty flippant about the idea that I needed an International Driver's Permit to drive here, and given my nervousness about driving an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar roads, I decided, for once, that there are some reasons I don't like the similarities between Oz and the UK (other than, you know, the partial let-down of coming to a place across the world that's basically a facsimile of home). Anyway, she said I could do a few test drives and then it would be up to me whether I felt comfortable doing it, so guess I'll just see how it goes...
TTFN!
A xx
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