Swimming pool

I spent most of last week coughing and sniffling so the last place I wanted to be at the weekend, other than the Arctic, was a swimming pool. However, daughter two’s party extravaganza was scheduled for Saturday in a swimming pool with a moving floor, whatever that means. Daughter one and my partner had also succumbed to The Cough so I suggested some alternatives, but daughter two had told all her friends and she was, like Margaret Thatcher, not for turning.

Her friends arrived and we started off with a junior bake-off session, cooking pizzas. Everyone had a different work station. Toddler boy, of course, wanted to join in so got his pinny on rather enthusiastically. Flour floated everywhere. Daughter three felt a little bit miffed because daughter two wouldn’t let her join in fully and she was confined to the corner of the kitchen near the microwave. One friend, who apparently doesn’t like eating anything except chicken nuggets and pasta with mushroom sauce, was the judge. My partner was making mushroom sauce and picking out the mushrooms.

Everything went well. Miraculously we had the toppings people desired and after several minutes of clearing up on my part, the pizzas emerged and were eaten with gusto. The judge awarded prizes to all, for the best presented pizza, the most circular pizza and so on. Very inclusive.

We headed for the pool with both my partner and I steeling ourselves steeling ourselves for the experience. I was dreaming of Mother’s Day. Inevitably we got stuck in traffic and arrived late plus the swimming pool closed an hour earlier than I had read on the website [I read the opening hours and forgot to check for open swim sessions] so there were only 40 minutes left. The pool attendants ushered us in. Getting six children, including one toddler boy, quickly into swimming costumes is not a relaxing experience, but we did it and my partner opted to stay with most of the clothes for the first half because we couldn’t fit them all in one locker and didn’t have enough £1 coins for another or time to get one. Daughter one was in the stand reading a book.

The pool was a revelation. I didn’t spot any moving floor, but it had a fantastic toddler area with giant mushrooms spilling water onto children and a slide and animals which squirted at you. Toddler boy was overjoyed. My partner came in and I retired to sort out all the clothes. All in all, it was a brief but enjoyable trip and for my partner the optimum amount of time in the water [I think he did 15 minutes]. We got something to eat and went home to play detectives with daughter two’s new fingerprint kit. Now onwards to the next birthday. Daughter three is planning something rather elaborate which involves charts and posters…

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