Out with Alexander

Alexander loves travelling on trains and buses and so I was sure he would enjoy  the Maidstone and District Bus company centenary event.  There were large numbers of buses new and old.  He ran around saying red bus or yellow bus, climbing on to have a look round and chattering away.  We rode on a couple of vintage buses and went to see an exhibition of vintage cars.  Unfortunately, Alexander was so excited by the cars that he wanted to try the door handles of each, trying to get into the cars.  As all were highly polished I was surprised that we weren't told off but I encouraged him to leave that area and we went back to look at buses.  We travelled on two buses to get to the show and two buses to get back.  Unfortunately, I forgot the camera and couldn't get my phone camera to work so don't have any pictures.

Over Easter Beccy and I travelled to Herne Hill by train then walked to Brixton to meet Helen and Alexander from the tube.  We spent the day in Brockwell Park.  We started in the children's play area where Alexander climbed on the train climbing frame, slid down the slides, climbed other climbing frames and rode on roundabouts and seesaws.  We had an ice cream and then walked across to the lido where we paid for a family swim.  We spread our towels out around the pool and Beccy and Helen sunbathed and read.  I tried to get Alexander to go into the pool, we put his arm bands on him and went to get into the water but it was very cold.  He immediately raised his legs, screamed and shouted 'cold'.  Despite sitting with him for a good while trying to encourage him to splash his feet in the water he wasn't having any of it and so we went back to sit with Helen and Beccy and I went for a quick swim.  The water was so cold it actually hurt.  My legs hurt for quite a while at first as they acclimatised to the water.  When I started to swim it was quite difficult.  My muscles weren't really interested in working efficiently and it took a while before it became easier.

After my swim we had lunch in the cafe by the lido.  I had a mackerel bap, battered mackerel with tartare sauce in a soft bap.  It was delicious especially accompanied by the still, organic Sicilian lemonade that Beccy and I both had.  Helen and Alexander had a salmon and dill tart and both Alexander and Beccy had chips.  It was a nice meal in an unusual place.