15-10-16 Simpler Age

Saturday 15th October 2016

Today I contemplate a simpler age when Kingsley was more contained, more restrained, less brash and certainly less likely to chuck other people’s belongings into pools. Its what the little rascal did yesterday after his swim lessons with Miss Ceara. There we were at 12 noon, Dina and I, the last of the mums and our toddlers on the pool deck after a morning session in the water with our tyrants, when all of a sudden and for no reason Kingsley picks up Dina’s bag and hurls it into the bubbling Jacuzzi. It promptly sinks to the bottom.

I saw it happen in some slow motion horror story reel that made me yell ‘DINA – YOUR BAG’ then scream KINGSLEYYYYYY!! and as fast as possible haul my ass from the pool that I was in (fishing out some stupid orange plastic cup the teacher had left behind) across the paving, over the timber steps and as I was diving into the Jacuzzi to pluck out the submerging bag, witness poor Dina fling out of her hand a lit cigarette and crash into the bag. It was a dramatic moment indeed. And a most uncomfortable one as a mumma of a bratty child who does these things to other mummas’ belongings.

With a sopping Samsung and the prospect of losing all of her data/videos/photos of son three year old Ali, Dina is trembling and I am raging. Kingsley knows that was bad. Very bad. If I could get him to work for what I will now be paying off (a brand new Samsung no doubt) I would. But for now he cops and earful and a sharp rap on the bum. Here’s to a simpler age indeed.

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Kingsley crashing the Logan Family portrait

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Before the catastrophe: some of the swim mums and toddlers