Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Put those handcuffs away

Question: What have playing chess and having a new baby got in common? Answer: It helps to think a couple of moves ahead.

I took Hugh in his pram to the supermarket, to get a few groceries. I suddenly realised the challenge of pushing a supermarket trolley and Hugh's buggy at the same time. I was like a Cyborg with opposing mechanical arms. Come to think of it, I had never seen any other new mums do this. I felt a bit silly. Some people smiled. One old woman refused to smile.

I couldn't dispense with the trolley and put my items in Hugh's buggy's low-slung nylon hammock, in case it looked like I was stealing them. Heaven forbid. I'm sure a court of law would have given us benefit of the doubt (me, Hugh and Richard Madley?) but this is Britain after all - we all get hung up on how things might appear. Best to avoid criminal convictions before 3 weeks old.

-C

1 comment:

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, there should be training courses for this kind of thing! In the early stages with my small girl I nearly emptied her out of the pram several times by (a) trying to leave a shop the wrong way (steep steps on exit...reversing out was not the right choice!), (b) mistackling an escalator (always use lifts until you reach the right level of skill...or unless you have a co-pilot) and (c) incorrect strappage on bairn. It's tricky stuff...and the supermarkets are all geared up for parents-who-have-brought-children-in-cars too which doesn't help. Have you tried pram and shopping and old-fashioned non-flat-entry bus yet? Maybe it's only out in the sticks that we still have those buses!
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