6755/19675
I attended a wedding by zoom today. Even though it was the groom's third go at it, this wasn't Boris Johnson's wedding. But I wish all weddings happened on zoom. All the fun of seeing people in love making a crazy leap into the darkness of the future, with none of the dressing up (I put on a shirt, but it was out of the laundry basket) or travel or having to talk to anyone.
Spontaneity has become a thing again. It's never been my strong point, but it's one of the things we lost over the last year, without me even noticing. The ability to just decide to do something (usually) fun and to change plans to do it.
The ten pin bowling had been a great example, but today I had even more fun.
On the way to my daughter's gym lesson we saw that a small fair had been set up on the common. Phoebe was excited and also scared of the more extreme looking rides (she still recalls us queuing for an hour to go on a rollercoaster at Legoland that just scared the shit out of her and told me today that they let people on based on height, but because she's tall for her age that meant they should do it by age). She wanted to go and have a look one the class was over. I wasn't sure as we were meant to get home, but once we were about to leave and she asked again I thought, "Why am I even thinking about it? Of course we should go."
Phoebe went on a couple of rides and played hook a duck. That's a great scam. It's essentially a shop with a very limited range of goods that are marked up 500% (at least) but which the patrons all go along with because it gives children the belief that they have won something on their own merits. Phoebe was very proud to hook a duck first time and to "win" a ball on the end of a little bit of bungee string. The lady running the stall didn't seem ashamed of what she was doing. She took my £3.50, if not happily, at least with no embarrassment.
It was a whirlwind visit (and we might go back tomorrow) but the joy the girl got from her win and from driving around a little bumper car and going on a merry-go-round were well worth the diversion. What kind of an idiot dad would I have been to just take her home and not let her experience this excitement.
She was a bit annoyed that I didn't get her an ice-cream, but enjoyed the word play when I told her that she'd have to share the ball with her brother, because he hadn't been to the fair so that wasn't fair.
Mostly though I showed her that life doesn't have to go by the timetable and if something fun is happening then maybe go and join in. Personally I have often been too self-conscious or felt I should stick with my obligations to always behave this way. But I am glad we seized a little bit of the day today.
And the ball was actually pretty good fun. We got £3.50's worth out of it when we got home.
