Reason No. 24

Younger Son asked me to take him to his tests today as they were being held in Neath, the next small town, and he didn't want to have to drive and navigate round a strange place, and possibly get lost and be late.

The map he'd been sent of the venue wasn't very clear so I looked it up on the internet this morning. Younger Son appeared. 'Ready to go?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'Do you know where we're going?'
'Yes, it's a doddle.'

Now husband quakes in his boots when I say that but YS doesn't have his experience so off we set.

The wrong turn that was a dead end wasn't a big problem; more problematic was the missed turn. As Neath became a tinier speck in my rear-view mirror, I chuckled. 'Never mind, we can soon turn round I expect.'
'It's not funny. I've got 5 minutes. I'm not going to get a job if I'm late.'
'Well, you can tell them it's a crappy map. Or that your mother got lost. Or ...' He was looking straight ahead. I sent up a silent prayer. The next minute we were on the road we were looking for. He got there spot on time. And the tests were late starting!

I had two hours to kill so I went shopping at The Range. It's one of these large stores that has a bit of everything. I'd heard about it but never visited it before.

It was impressive but the thing that astounded me most was the craft section: there must have been four aisles dedicated to scrapping!

Now before I met Shirleen, and through her other scrappers, I was completely unaware of this other world of scrap-booking - and this was a revelation.

So much beautiful paper, bits and pieces, fluffy things, sparkly things, words, stamps, you name it, it was there. I had to keep closing my mouth as it dropped open in wonder. I was ready to buy it by the shelf-full.

But I am too busy already not doing all the things I want to do; I must not start scrapping as well.

What the Range also had was Cadburys Fingers. Yesterday I bought a packet for 79p and thought that was good value; here you could get two packs for 99p. Well, I had to, didn't I?

I would have had a cup of tea in the cafe but there was no money in my purse. Out at the car I emptied my handbag on Betty's bonnet. I found a satsuma, a very old packet of Skittles, and some face powder in a plastic bag, but no cash.

Meanwhile the wind was chasing some leaves that hid behind Betty's door, making the wind blow even harder and send Betty's door crashing against the car alongside.

I tried rubbing the marks off; they didn't seem to want to move. I'd have to leave a note. I was just wondering if I should call the security guard to witness the fact that it wasn't scratched exactly - just in case it was a tricky motorist who would try to claim serious damage - when the lady driver approached.

I explained what had happened; she rubbed half-heartedly at the marks. 'Don't worry about it. This car's had loads of scratches and bangs.'

I could have cried. There I'd been dreading it in case the driver was a ferocious bear who'd had a bad morning and here was this lovely lady telling me not to worry. Bless her. And her car didn't look as if it had had lots of scratches.

Younger Son's tests were easy peasy. One of the logic questions was the old one: If a man builds a house with all the sides facing south, what colour is the bear that walks past? But there were loads of people doing the test and they have another lot tomorrow.

Just a final comment. Going back to Cadburys, I notice they have new adverts on the billboards. They show a large bar of chocolate with the words 'Cocooned under the duvet?' or 'Children asleep in bed?' As if we need reasons to eat chocolate!