Bit of a washout

we set out to go to M’hell to go to build-a-bear workshop – the money that the children were given by their grandfather is burning metaphorical holes in metaphorical pockets. Unfortunately, build-a-bear workshop is on the groundfloor of M’hell, and not very much of that is open yet. When we went up there the other day we only popped into a couple of shops, and they were mainly on the upper floor, so we hadn’t realised the scale of the disaster that’s overtaken the lower floor. There are less than 10 shops open downstairs I’d guess, and we walked throughout looking at all the boarded up fronts. It’s slightly surreal.

So we didn’t spend money on cuddly toy accessories. The other thing we’d set out for was acrylic paint to do some more doll house decorating, but with most of the shops shut, we lucked out on that too. Did grab an absolute bargain in poundland though, as I indicated a box in the audio section marked “Are we nearly there yet?” I thought it was a box of tapes of irritating songs, it turned out to be 5 cds, including Whatever Next! (Book & CD) by Jill Murphy, Teacher’s Pet (Puppy Patrol), Sam the School Pony, Are We Nearly There Yet? (poems read by Stephen Tompkinson and Emma Chambers) and the piece de resistance, The Gruffalo, read by Imelda Staunton. RRP on the bottom is £31.95 – we paid £1 🙂

I do love poundland 🙂

Given the disappointment of the required shop being closed, when Small said he’d like to play in the playground, I said yes. And then we discovered that is not merely shut, it’s completely absent. So we left M’hell in search of outdoor entertainment, heading for Roche Abbey.

Got there at 10 past 4. It shut at 4. Did you ever have one of those days? Anyway, we had a walk around the outside, a slow walk on my part, and then a leisurely drive back across country. Children pretty much asleep in the back of the car, and now listening to Imelda Staunton, who really does read this extremely well. They’ve nearly finished tea, after which I shall be packing them off to bed, so that I can sit quietly and work on the blue cardigan.