On Friday night I was watching a bit of Mike Leigh's
Happy Go Lucky, where the young teachers were saying how kids spend all their time playing Nintendo and never go out. It must have struck a chord, because I determined t take the boys out today ... and so despite a bit of a hangover and a sleepless night plagued by mosquito bites (is it just me or are the mossies resistant to fly spray these days?) ... I took them off in the Volvo 850 to Clovelly. It took us just over half an hour to get there, which wasn't bad .. and it was another hot day - I was sweating in the car even before we got there.
Made the mistake of sitting in the cafe there instead of getting takeaway coffee - because we ended up in an airless section right at the back, and I suffered the claustrophobic hot atmosphere with sweat trickling down by my beer gut as the boys finished off their eggs and bacon.
Butt back outside it was all worth it. The sun really beat down and while Andrew opted to sit it out, me and Paul headed into the icy water for a splash - and what a nice experience it was. Sticking your head under the waves to see the marine life, the seaweed and rocks and few fish down there - and then I paddled out to the entrance of the inlet and just flopped about in the swell with a few of the more serious snorkellers and surfers. And then watched the kids waiting to get washed off that big square rock by the huge waves.
An hour was enough - and it was already really packed when we left at midday - and I could feel myself burning even though I'd used half a tube of suncream on myself.
We had fish and chips up in Clovelly, then I drove the boys back (Andrew in his usually voluble mood) to Burwood, where I bought them the promised bikes from Target (I tried Kmart but they were hopeless).
The bikes were flat packed - and I amazed myself by being able to assemble them without using any bad language - as I'd predicted to Andrew. There's something very satisfying about such a 'dad' thing as getting your kids a set of bikes - especially when you've assembled them yourself.
