It is a relief to sea the sunshine; during the night I woke to hear heavy rain outside. The girls' Dad is coming today, and it will be good to be able to play outside, maybe at a park or the beach. On rainy days there are less options, which cost money.
Yesterday we went into town. One of the girls has a birthday party to attend this afternoon, so gift shopping was required. With a couple of their friends in tow,we headed out. At one point we were thirsty and, inevitably, hungry, so Ro asked if we could go to SHADES in the centre of the Arndale. My ex-husband irreverently calls in CODGERS, as it is frequented predominantly by old folk. I was in there once when Ro was tiny. Confined to her puschair, hot and bothered, she screamed and screamed. I left her at the table with my older girls and joined the queue to get her another drink to keep her quiet while we were still eating. Just as I was paying the waitress serving me complained to her colleague about the screaming child, saying she wished people with babies would stay at home.
"Actually she's mine!" I declared, causing the young woman to turn fuschia with embarrassment. People can be so quick to criticise without thinking.
Yesterday, at that same counter, I was trying to give our order to the girl behind the till.
"Pardon!" she said. I repeated the request. She still could not hear. There was a man beside her frothing milk. He stopped momentarily, long enough for me to start speaking and be drowned out once more. I took a breath, as did my elder daughter, and the two of us turned and looked at him, expectantly. He looked sheepish, and turned off his frother for a minute.
It is wonderful to see how much communication is non-verbal. For that reason, I don't really like talking on the phone. I like to have eye-contact and body language to read.
Over time, I seem to become worse at mask-wearing. To my children's amusement my face frequently gives away my feelings. Being true to myself is probably a good thing, though I'm sure I can remember being a master of disguise where feelings are concerned.
My chidren have tried to develop that skill. In a large family it can be hard to get to the bottom of things. Face reading can quite often work. Once, body language had given away the culprit, but she was still denying it, so I resorted to the the use of a dowsing crystal. When it spun in circles over her head she was mortified and confessed immediately!
