Oh my did I leave the house in that?

Last few days have been little low key, as we got E-chan back into the swing of life back at home. Poor little critter must have been confused as hell about the whole plane trip and 3 week holiday, but part of me wonders what of it he actually remembers. Anyhow, he is back to his normal temperament. I can crack a smile more often, anyway, and he's beginning to sleep better at night again back in his own bed, apart from these dreadfully stuffy nights we're having.

In an effort to keep him awake just a little longer this morning before his mid-morning nap, we went for a walk in the pram. We walked down a beautiful street with Moreton Bay Figs down the middle, and dive-bomber magpies. These magpies often attack C-chan on his way to the train station. One will distract you by sitting on the rear view mirror of a parked car and flap around a bit. Once your attention is clearly taken with it, another magpie swoops you from its perch up in a tree or on an overhead powerline. I walk down there with extreme caution, and when E-chan is in the baby carrier (ie strapped to my chest), I cover his head with my hands, look the birds in the eye, and tell them to "stay away from my baybee or else" (said with a classic Merryl Streep does Lindy Chamberlain twang, as in "a dingo stole my baybee").

Anyway, we were lucky this morning, as E-chan was safely stowed in his pram out of reach, and we strolled on through to the park when I remembered what I was wearing... It was my "I'll just throw this on for the morning so that I can put on something nicer when I go out this afternoon and not have slobber and vomit on it" top . Only, it's also my "I'll never leave the house in this" top, but I forgot, and left the house in it. Said top is a sleeveless t-shirt with a Union Jack across the entire front. We bought if from an op shop for C-chan when we were dressing up as punks (I was trying for a Cindi Lauper, but ended up looking more like Molly Ringwald... oh well). Union Jack is fine for dressing up as punk, being patriotic if you are Brittish, or if you are an Anglophile. I am not particularly any of these things.

While I usually don't get too hung up on how I look, especially to complete strangers, or to a friend you can joke about your t-shirt with, wearing a nation's flag is mildly embarrassing when you run into someone you vaguely know... someone you nod and say "good morning" to but don't know by name. Such as other mums you see in the park from time to time and with whom you have exchanged notes on feeding solids and settling. Which is the sort of person I then ran into upon realising I had a Union Jack t-shirt.

Oh well. Graver things have happened, such as 10 minutes later that very morning when I bought a take away coffee and proceeded to try to push the pram (one-handed) up the most bumpy, un-pram-ramped footpath, complete with a recycle bin obstacle course. I was losing too much coffee, and when I tried to avoid these challenges and head down a narrow, quiet ally, a car decided at that very moment to turn into the ally and follow us at walking pace for what seemed like an eternity but must only have been 30 metres.

I'll take another route next time, or at least avoid it on rubbish day and drink my coffee at the cafe...