26th of January

 

On the morning of the 26th we awoke and James and I were launched into a rather long, detailed, and if truth be told, quite fun version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Playing it with another adult does tend to allow a certain level of irony and entendre to enter into the dialogue which is missing from the one-on-one with Ted.  We even played it twice, with James and I switching the roles of Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka to keep it all fresh.

 

But once Harriet was up and the two of them started at each other again, I looked at James and he looked back at me and we were both ready to walk out the door and go to the movies.  On our own.  Separate movies too.  However instead we put on cheery faces and decided we'd all go to the pool, since it had been ages since James had seen Ted swimming and what with his newfound skills, he is a whole new fish.

So we went and ran into Ted's friend from preschool Zoe and her dad.  The aquatic centre had also installed a big inflatable slide for everyone to climb up and slide down.  Fun!  So Harriet made a beeline for that baby and I followed soon after.  Honestly I was surprised to find that there was only one other adult that made the slide and none went back numerous times like I did.  It was really fun!

And the pool was just what we needed to cool us all down and change the dynamic.  

 

We came home for a late lunch and while I was chowing down sausages in bread (it's all high class here) I thought I'd have a peek at my emails on my iPad while the children were off playing babies in the playroom.  And lo and behold if there wasn't a message from my friend Chloe, who reminded me that I had shown interest in going to this old abandoned factory she had found in Ryde.  It's due to be demolished very soon and made an awesome place to take a photographic ramble.

So ramble we did.  I jumped back into the car, still awash with the resplendent scent of chlorine, and set off to Ryde.  I was surprised that Ted didn't have a meltdown when I left, but I wasn't about to question it.


The factory was gorgeous, and I didn't really have the skills to capture it in quite the way I wanted.  I think I'm going to go back and work on these photos a bit more and see if I can make them at least a little like what I see in my mind's eye.

I quite liked this little nook where people had obviously made a little lounge room area.  I didn't capture it because I wasn't too sure about the stability of the ground but there was a set of shelves covered in very neatly lined up cans.

 

On the way home I thought about how it was coming up to dinner, and decided to take a turn straight to Hijazi's.  Mmmmm...for $24 we ate like royalty.