The long, long walk

Went to the Sydney Road Street Festival with DeepSpice, BallFiend, Gran and GrandPaul. Walked all the way from home to the northern most end of the festival area, then walked the full length of the festival (Victoria St down to Union St), zig-zagging back and forward to the stalls on either side of the road and lots of backtracking to go back to the others when they were being slow pokes.

Then I walked all the way home again! That's well over 5 km of walking Not bad for 13-week pregnant woman!

Saw a couple of performances, including sitting through one of the kids' ones at the Children's stage. (The sacrifices we make...)

I will have to remember that going with the grandparents to these sorts of things is a brilliant move - they insisted on pushing BallFiend in the stroller, and whenever DeepSpice and I wanted to wander off and look at something else, they insisted on keeping BallFiend with them... it was almost like being on a date. The day amounted to 5 or 6 hours of free babysitting and I didn't have to wipe BallFiend's snotty nose even once.

Grandparents also took BallFiend into a mini-fairground set up the grounds of a church where he enjoyed a junping castle and playing the laughing clowns and winning a windmill thingy. However the real highlights for BallFiend were:

1. the gi-normous soccer balls hanging up on one of the stalls (he wanted one of course, but we parents now have mastered the superpower of "resist two year old whining" and successfully walked on by... using my now oft-used phrase: "they are just for decoration");
2. getting a free, but not yet inflated, soccer ball, courtesy of GrandPaul who happened to spot them being handed out at the right moment and rushed over to grab one.
   

I gorged on various delicious delights, including fairy floss, a chocolate croissant, ice-cream and freebie lollies but it was all OK since I had a bowl of lentil-vegie soup as well.

Got to vent my spleen at the disgustingness of people dumping rubbish in our local area at the Council's stall where they were survey residents about which anti-civic behaviour is worst - littering, dumping, graffiti, etc. Now that I think about it, there was one missing off the list - dog poo on the streets! I hate that. People who don't clean up after their dogs should be forced to come and clean the dog shit off my pram's wheels and change my toddler's pooey nappies.