I’m finally feeling better! The sun is shining on this fine, but rather brisk Sunday morning, and i decided it was time to venture out of the house, and let the rather fresh wind blow the remaining germs from my system.

A  brief trip into town to have a look around, with a spot of breakfast will be just the job. Mr Grump is up for it, as is my daughter who was swayed by the thought of a sausage and egg McMuffin. “Can we take Nanny?” she asks. Well I hadn’t really planned on taking my 82 year old mother with us, as it was supposed to be a quick outing, and once we had picked her up, found her hearing aid, and dragged the wheelchair out of the shed, (she can walk but not far), that would cut into the time, but hey, I was in a good mood and she doesn’t get to town much  –  so why not.

That pleased Mr Grump! My mother is rather a large lady, and that coupled with an old and cumbersome wheelchair, meant that his poor, skinny body would be severely punished pushing her about ( I am not trusted to push the wheelchair, thankfully)!

Conveniently, there is a parking spot right outside McDonald’s which was to be our first stop,and once we had eaten we bundled Mum into the wheelchair so that we could look around the town. We had forgotten the cushion for the wheelchair, plus it looked like it had a flat tyre, as it was making some ‘squishy’ noises as it turned. Mum sat uncomplaining though as Mr Grump bounced the chair over the cobbled bit of pavement, puffing and panting as he struggled along,whilst I smirked behind them at the comical picture they made.

Thirty minutes of shopping ensued, and I could see my daughter’s face becoming more and more sullen. She feels that shopping trips mean that she is entitled to be bought something, and no amount of explaining that it doesn’t, will make any difference. At this point, she had not got anything, as Mum had wanted to get a few odds and ends, and we had gone where she wanted to go.

My daughter decided to crank it up and a gear in the hope of getting something, and asked if we could go to a particular clothes shop she liked, to “look around”. This we did, but I had no intention of buying her new clothes as I had just spent a small fortune on her school uniform.

That did it!! The sullen face turned into the “smacked arse” face, and the ranting and raving began! No amount of distraction was going to stop this volcano erupting, so it was time to hotfoot it (and wheelchair equivalent) back to the car. As we got back to the car, Mr Grump noticed something different, there was a nice big shiny yellow parking ticket left for us on the windscreen!