Sometimes I think my greatest achievement in life might be making all the Other Mothers feel better about themselves.
My excuse is that life’s manic. I have a proper job (journalism) and I’m a single parent. Somewhere in the gap between those two roles I write this blog, I do the top 100 index, I edit the Great Toy Guide, and I take on occasional training, PR and copywriting clients. Sometimes I might even catch a glimpse of the chap, as I am obliged to refer to him online.
All of this is of course just preamble to the fact that yesterday? I forgot to pick up Flea from school.
I know. It’s not good, is it?
I’m not sure how it happened. It was a really busy day and I’d missed breakfast and lunch, so my body clock was all screwy. So I think I just didn’t register the time passing, until I casually looked at the clock on my laptop and thought, “Ooh, it’s 15.55, that means it’s, erm, let’s see now, it’s – oh my holy crap, it’s five to four!”
I’m supposed to collect Flea from school at 3.45pm.
The school is six miles from our house and with a fair wind and no pensioners on the road, it’s an eight minute drive. Friends, yesterday? Was not that day. I got stuck behind a pensioner in a white Metro doing 26mph in a 60mph zone. Seriously. I overtook him only to find myself behind a sodding tractor. Ugh.
Fortunately, Flea’s school runs a late room for the benefit of working parents – Flea’s a regular attendee – so the teacher had simply taken her through to late room, where she was being entertained by a second year who was showing all the reception kids her tooth, which had fallen out that day. No harm done, then.
And I’m sure God will forgive me for muttering, “Hello. Erm, sorry I’m late – car trouble. Are you ready, Flea?” as I poked my head around the classroom door
