sometimes it's awesome when the car breaks down

...because that means you have to walk the boy to school, and pick him up. And that means

• you get the dogs out for a run
• you get some great exercise
• you clean out the pouch on the pram, finding two milky ways, a space food stick and book club catalogues from approximately 18 months ago
• you can practice a little mindfulness meditation (I am walking. I am walking.)
• you get to walk along a gorgeous beach
• you can stop and have a leisurely chat at the bakery
• you can meet the most striking Great Dane ever
• you can be told by several people "Gee. You have your hands full!", and feel sorry for them, that they don't have their hands full
• a kind man with a surfboard will tell you what a great job you are doing
• your baby girl will snuggle up comfortably in the carrier
• there are at least two hours where the two-year-old TV addict won't be whining about I watcha car doos mummy?
• you will sit on a cool sandstone rock under a tree and feed the baby while the middle boy plays at the park
• you will realise, yet again, how much you love it here, and vow to do it again tomorrow.

S.