Minibeasts

I collected Ella from nursery a bit earlier today, but not early enough to avoid her leaving with some fairy bread from the tea trolley. Two slices of the stuff. Fairy bread is another Aussie instituion; it's bread and butter topped with sprinkles (hundreds and thousands). The feckless spread it with Nutella as well. It's evil.

The traffic was worse than usual. It was dark by the time we got to Randwick so I decided to treat us both to having our evening meal in one of the food places on the high street. We parked up and walked hand in hand along the pavement looking for somewhere suitable, which, given that the residue of the fairy bread was on both our clothes, was a pretty big ask.

I've never noticed it before, but when Ella gets excited, she comes out with all sorts of new words and sentences. It's like that scene from ET where he learns to use the Speak and Spell and starts communicating with Gertie. She was beside herself at walking down the high street in the dark, she kept stopping and jumping up and down on the spot looking at her feet. The pavement was really busy and some of the shops were still open. "Look!" she shouted. "Sun gone bed, moon come out!. Oh look! Two dogs! Man got cases! Shoe shop! Got telephone! Just like Ella! Pizza! Cake! Want walk! Hello man! Hello Lady! Ella walking! Bye! See ya later!". She was gorgeous, her face shining, her spotty shirt covered in mess from lunchtime.

We eventually found a pizza joint, the sort of place with an all-round formica kind of feel. The pizza took ages to cook, which gave her the extra time to commit a few more felonies, including throwing an empty can across the room, tipping the pepper onto the table and deliberately dribbling water all down her front. When the food arrived, it was too hot for her so I had to separate the topping from the base and blow furiously. All the while a girl in her twenties watched with interest from the sidelines. I am a one-woman non-stop contraceptive shop.

When we eventually got home I showed her the tin of mini-beasts I got her from Kids Central at Moore Park. I realise now it was a stupid thing to buy. In a country with huntsman spiders living in people's houses, you can't afford to find stuff like this on the floor if you get up for a drink in the night. I might hide them after she's gone to bed.