Bother

It’s been a slower start than usual today.  This was the weekend that UE was taking the girls to Center Parcs, and they are not back until this evening. 

I was, as you know, rather nervous about them going there.  It is the first time since we split, six years ago, that he has had both girls on his own for a holiday, and I believe that this four day period will also have been the longest time he will have had them for full stop.

I waved them off on Friday morning with a certain amount of nervousness, it has to be said.  My parenting instinct was dialled all the way up to ‘preternatural’, and I spent all of Friday resisting the urge to ring them every ten minutes to make sure they were all right.

UE was actually very thoughtful, and by Saturday morning I was receiving regular mailings of the girls doing various activities.  Tallulah went horse riding while Tilly went rock climbing, and so on, and so forth.  They had smiles on their faces, and had all their limbs.  This was lovely to see.  I note that Tallulah, taking after her mother, had the widest grin in the picture where she was just about to tuck into a chocolate laden dessert as big as her own head.

They called me on Saturday and Sunday evening.  I was very grateful for this. I had decided that I simply would not call at all, as I did not want UE to feel undermined when it seemed like he wasn’t doing a bad job, and I didn’t want to seem like an interfering shrew.

The calls were a delight. It was hard to tell exactly what had been happening, as their words were spilling out of their mouths so quickly and at such a pitch that it was rather like listening to a particularly noisy waterfall full of bats.  I was able to pick out quite clearly the words ‘awesome’, and ‘fantastic’ though.  Apparently they did a treasure hunt and won a prize for coming first, and Tilly was most excited about fulfilling her dreams of holding an owl. Nay several owls.

I knew this was on the cards, as it is one of the activities you have to book.  UE called me last week and asked me which of the activities I thought the girls might like.  Unsurprisingly this was one of the ones I chose. 

I have been in trouble with the girls all week for calling it owl fondling.  When they called yesterday, Tilly was squeaking about owl handling and I could hear UE in the background shouting out; ‘more like owl bothering.’

Sometimes things like that remind you why you loved someone all those years ago.

Sadly, I have not received any pictures of the girls bothering owls, which is a shame, as they are the sort of thing I would definitely have framed and put on the mantelpiece.  I expect the owls were being bothered enough without flash photography dazzling their beaks.

I bet the real pictures would turn out to be a disappointment though, and not half as wonderful as the images I am making in my head.

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