A grumbly day

Dig's off again. As he goes out the door he says he'll be back Saturday and the au pair's coming Sunday. I guess that's an invitation to clear the house out, smarten the kids up, do the laundry, get rid of the fridge and probably reroof the house in case she doesn't like the colour grey.

OK, so I'm feeling a bit resentful about this state of affairs. I can't help it. This is not a good trip for Dig to make. It's prestigious, but they're not paying, and it seems to me that if the argument is about how someone's got to earn the money, then working for free is not a good strategy. So I am grumpy, difficult and sulky.

When Dig's gone, Shark refuses to get into her gym costume because apparently I haven't given her enough warning. It's Thursday, I say. You do gym every Thursday. How much warning do you need that Thursday is coming round again? I know. Let's get ready now in preparation for next Thursday. She then sulks round Tesco because she says I am picking fights and I won't buy her a plastic bat.

It doesn't get any better. When we go off to the kiddie theme park for the afternoon, Squirrel gets herself walked back to me by a young chap in management who thinks she's lost. She arrives back at the picnic table where I'm sitting with my book on 12th century warfare, and promptly runs off again while I explain to the young chap that she's not lost, she just looks like that sometimes, staring forlornly into space with her 'my sisters are having fun without me' expression. By the time we get to drama it's Tiger's turn to sulk and scowl and snarl at Cher, the organiser, who is so nice and sweet she reminds me of a big bowl of ice cream with extra cream. When I pick up Tiger later she's still all 'I hate drama! I hate drama!' As a fitting punishment to being a whining small person I say she's jolly well going back next week.

So there you have it. A day of being awkward and at odds with the world. A No Achievement day.