Sydney soother

I was cranky yesterday. In fact the past few days. Everything just seemed to push my buttons. I've been impatient. It feels like there's constantly someone (generally a little person) asking something of me. Every time I try and sit down, just for a moment, there's an "I want...." I just wanted to pull the doona over my head and shut out the noise of the world for a little while.

There's been lots of niggly, stupid things to deal with that I just don't want to deal with. You know those days when it feels like they're idiots everywhere (though the biggest idiot around was probably me).

Anyhoo, with a loooooong afternoon stretching out ahead of me and Skip due to take a work colleague out for dinner, I decided I needed to wear the kids out. Prevent the squabbles, keep moving and get through the rest of the day as quickly as possible. I decided to take them to the aquarium.

It's just five minutes from home, but we drove around and couldn't find a car park. We then drove past a park I haven't taken the kids to for ages, the sun was shining down upon it like a little sign from heaven. It just seemed to glow.

I stopped the car and we all jumped out. It was sheltered and warm, so despite being a chilly winter's day the kids kicked off their shoes off and dug their toes in the sand pit. For almost two hours they played happily, they were queens and super kids. They were builders and shopkeepers. I sat soaking in the sun and their contentment.

As the sun began to set and the air began to chill, we jumped back in the car. It was decided that we'd have beans and eggs for dinner, as dad was going to be out. We got home and Skip arrived shortly after, his work dinner cancelled. So we strolled up the road to a Japanese restaurant, sure beats beans and eggs.

It's amazing that this city, my little patch in the world that often drives me to distraction can soothe the soul. If we do move the burbs, I will miss parks like this, strolls to dinner and cranky days that are made better by this place.