Park-Time Lover

Happy 22nd birthday, blog! You turned 22 on 27th April, and while it’s tempting to say “ah, they grow up so fast!”, that’s emphatically not true in this case. It feels like forever! Unfortunately the only thing I could find in the list of rights at different ages for 22 was that “support ends for young people who have been in Local Authority Care… unless they are going into Higher Education” which is (a) convoluted, (b) not applicable, and (c) surely more of a loss than a ‘right’ anyway.

Back in the world of human parenting – which is significantly more hands-on, and doesn’t come with any backups – the latest milestone has been ‘settling-in days’ at nursery before he starts properly later this month. For the very first session, we just sat together in the nursery for an hour, and I got the same warm and cosy feelings that I had on our first visit, long before he was actually born. Fingers crossed he agrees!

Of course, nursery also means an entire marauding army of new germs heading our way, some of which may have been responsible for his dodgy eye and subsequent trip to the walk-in centre in Beckenham to be prescribed some eye drops. This just happened to be on local election day, and so our plan for a relaxed after-work family stroll to the polling station to commemorate Randi’s first time voting in the UK turned into a genuine moment in the pharmacy (right after “I’m so sorry, but we’re actually out of those”) of wondering if I would actually miss my window to vote. But then came “oh actually, I found one hiding at the back of the fridge!” and we all made it in the nick of time. It is a really good thing that polls in this country stay open until 10pm, though.

Eyeing some pizza crust (later he later chewed on quite happily)

Talking of new experiences: you know what else might be revelatory if you were born in October 2025? Long sunny days in the park! A couple of weekends ago, we finally hit the tipping point for being able to lounge on a lawn for a few hours, enjoying a beer and\or ice cream and admiring the rival foam rockets being launched around us in all directions. On Saturday we did just this in Beckenham Place Park, while on Sunday we headed to Crystal Palace Park to hang out with Caroline, Josh and their little one – who we hadn’t met yet! – in the new (and very cool) dinosaur-themed playground.

This month, I also celebrated my aunt Bonnie’s 60th birthday at a fancy dress party with the theme “something beginning with B”. Naturally, I went for British Rail (yes, the defunct nationalised entity), which is why I’m now the proud owner of an authentic British Rail corporate shirt, cap and whistle. (If only I had a matching Silverlink outfit then I’d also be sorted for Halloween.)

Anyway, this was lots of fun, with a special shout-out to the Bananas in Pyjamas and – of course – to the latest cousin to join the newest generation of the family! Despite it being her birthday, Bonnie also produced an outrageously large number of desserts, which were delicious and great fuel for my journey home.

Bob Dylan, Björk and British Rail... obviously — Bob Dylan, Björk and British Rail… obviously

Tash, Cormac, Gilly, Maria, Carolyn and Beth... who we finally allowed to go back home! — Tash, Cormac, Gilly, Maria, Carolyn and Beth… who we finally allowed to go back home!

It's always wild to cross the river at night, like an early modern Londoner scurrying across before the gates slammed shut. — It’s always wild to cross the river at night, like an early modern Londoner scurrying across before the gates slammed shut.

All that said, the big event of May was Catherine and AJ’s latest visit to London! There are too many kids in too many photos to do justice to their whole trip on here, and since I was working I also missed out on some choice outings, including an overnight stay in Canterbury or the obligatory visit to the Transport Museum. But, I did get a decent chunk of time to hanging out with everyone, including trips to Padella, the Perry Hill pub (twice!), ScandiKitchen and a quick stop at the British Library (albeit mostly as a nappy changing destination).

We played in parks too, of course: a very satisfying brunch in Crystal Palace, a fun day out at Blackheath and Greenwich Park (during which I was surprised when AJ just flat-out agreed with me about daylight savings – that never happens!) and Beckenham Place on their final with special guests Tash, Katie and Cormac. These three trekked a long way across London to hang out with us all, which we were very grateful for. To capture the real essence of these trips, look no further than the lovely Polaroid snaps taken from the sightline of a four year old, which really took me back to the unusual angles of my own first photos taken with my own childhood camera.

But my favourite moments were back at ours, from chaotic daytimes to chiller evenings featuring some combination of of Taskmaster, wine and caterpillar birthday cake. At some point we did wonder if hantavirus was about to lock us down together, but seemingly not this time. It is kinda incredible that we’ve kept up the frequency of visits, though, and now we’re into a groove it feels unlikely that our children won’t be forced to play together for many years to come… while we argue about the primary election schedule.