Yesterday was a busy day even by my family's standards. Next door's daughter turned 4, sickeningly she was born two weeks early on the day I should have been having my own daughter, who decided to arrive two weeks late. Anyway we were off to an indoor play centre for her party. Most Mum's are probably familiar with these places. Tables in the middle of the room, one wall dominated by a cafeteria where you can buy a variety or fried or sugary foods which your child can then work off by climbing on the equipment! In general the kids have fun and get worn out in the process and we Mum's get a degree of peace and an opportunity for some adult conversation! The party finished at 1 but we had to leave a tad early to get to the wonder of the day - a surprise for Heather in advance of her birthday, a trip to Southend to see Lazy Town Live.
We were very diligent and used Mr T's blackberry to check the traffic, it being the hottest day of the year, so far, we knew there would be an exodus to the beach. No problems reported we breathed a sigh of relief and were bowling along rather nicely until we reached the A127 where of course there was an accident, we had just missed its listing on the BBC website.
I will be honest, I lost it ever so slightly, the tickets had cost a small fortune and been purchased a year previously, we had planned a morning at the seaside and travel via train but the party had scuppered that plan and now it looked as if we weren't even going to make it. We crawled along occasionally picking up speed only to have our hopes of a quick journey dashed a few hundred yards further down the road. Luckily we had the trusty A-z, found an alternative route and went as hell to leather as we could in a 30 zone getting to the venue 2 minutes before the show started. The problem absolutely nowhere to park. Out went Mr T with Heather and Matthew as I resigned myself to missing it. Round and round I drove getting more and more despairing as any space I found had five people waiting for it or was far too small to accommodate the ever so necessary 7 seater Chrysler! Eventually I abandoned hope and the car on a double yellow line following the example of many other people!
The kind people at the Cliffs Pavilion had heard about the chaos and delayed the start but by the time I fished Lucy out of the car and shaded her from the sun, hotfooted it to the theatre and visited the ladies, the result of too much soda at the party, I managed to locate the seats. As it was a kids show they let me in for which I was grateful! The show was brilliant and we are already eagerly awaiting the release of tickets for next year. The kids laughed, danced and sang their hearts out and even little Lucy had her eyes as wide as they could open and was immersed in the magic of the stage!
At the end of the show I knew what was going to happen. I got a ticket - I can't complain, was in the wrong so have paid promptly but next time I will definitely go by train. Still a Chinese takeaway, bottle of champagne and all the kids sleeping through provided some comfort!
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