Boys' weekend

Mummy was away on the lash this weekend, so it was lads’ time.
I asked Tom what he’d like to do on the Saturday, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he said he’d like to go on a train ride.

Box train!

This actually worked out quite well, as we had to take Nik to Lancaster for her jaunt to Birmingham anyway. So, we said cheerio to her on the platform and hopped on our (rather full) train to Manchester Piccadilly. It seemed to stop almost everywhere and take an age to get there, but Tom was happy enough trying to write down the names of all the trains we saw en route - Pendolinos, Voyagers, blue trains, purple trains, freight trains… Miss Swindlehurst seems to think that his writing is very good at the moment, and he’s certainly improving in terms of how he forms letters.

We spent half an hour or so at Piccadilly watching the many comings and goings on the railway, before heading into town for a spot on shopping or lunch - I asked if he needed to loo as we passed the station toilets, he said he didn’t, and then 2 minutes clutched his nether regions and said he was desperate - he keeps doing this, and it’s really annoying. Straight to the nearest eatery then - Caffe Nero as it happened, where he went straight upstairs to relieve himself and I bought us some food and drinks. We got window seats, where he could look down on the world, shouting out bus numbers and makes of car.

Footballing in sunny Barbondale

After lunch, I happened to notice there was an Ian Allan book shop nearby, so we popped in and got a couple of books that list all the numbers of diesel and electric trains in the UK and, more importantly, their names - William Wilberforce, Penny the Pendolino etc.

We then had a half-hearted wander round the Arndale Centre, but neither of us was really up for shopping - my fruitless search for a cricket hat in my size continued, but we did manage to get Tom a spare cricket ball, for when we finally do lose his first one in the field behind our house.

I had promised Tom a tram ride back to Piccadilly, which actually involved 2 rides, despite the very short distance. A bit more train-spotting, and then back to Lancaster on one of the new Scotland-bound electric trains, which hardly stop anywhere and glide along very smoothly indeed. A Chinese lady sitting near us took a real shine to Tom and gave us a big steamed dim sum bun to share, which he ate about four fifths of. The rest of the journey was spent finding the names of the Pendolinos we’d spotted in his new book - quite good reading practice.

The drive home from Lancaster was horrible. They’re digging up the roads, and it took us 45 minutes to get from the station to the M6 junction on Caton Road. This meant Tom didn’t nod off, which I was hoping he would, but to his credit, he announced that he would have an early night instead - no argument from me.

Dinner was the pack of “Tom’s Ramen” that would brought all the way back from Yokohama in June. Very nice it was too. He did keep his word and went to bed fairly early. I can’t remember what I did that evening, but it probably involved TV and whisky.

Crossing Barbon Beck

Sunday morning dawned absolutely beautiful, so I decided that we would do something outdoorsy. I suggested Barbon, and Tom went for it straightaway. We took a football and his beach tennis set, and enjoyed mucking about in complete isolation. I always enjoy going there, especially in such perfect weather, as I always loved playing there when I was a kid. It’s been very dry recently, and Barbon beck was so low, we could actually walk across it to the other side. Needless to say we enjoyed throwing stones into the water. As always, I was ordered to find the biggest rocks I could and hurl them in to make a big splash, but with the stream being so dry, it was a bit disappointing.

Back home for a spot of lunch, before we had to head out for Adam’s party in Bentham. This was the most nerve-wracking part of the weekend for me, as I was charged with transporting Adam’s Lily Pad Bakery cake to the event. No incidents en route though, and everyone was impressed by the creation (a Canadian Pacific spiral tunnel freight train cake!), so a big sigh of relief all round.
As is becoming increasingly common in these parts, the party was organised by Enjoy-a-Ball Paul, who did Tom's party in February. His presence is always a guarantee of a good time, and today was no exception.

After the party, we had to head straight off to meet Mummy. The thought of enduring Lancaster’s traffic jams again was a bit too much to bear, so Nik was ordered to get a connecting train to Carnforth, which she managed (just). We had a joyful reunion in the car park, before heading home, stopping only at a nice Thwaites pub in Hornby for a good dinner.

All in all, a nice boys’ weekend. We both behaved well, I thought.