Market forces

The Doctor has been away for 5 whole days, speaking at a conference in Europe whose acronym is ERIC (which I find quite amusing for some reason.) During his absence, the Littleboys have managed to break the television (by doing something unspeakable to the aerial cord); Littleboy 2 has had an accident with a cheese grater (don’t ask) which has left cheese-grater scrapings all down his soft little forehead; and Littleboy 1 has almost run into the road about 22 times (really, don’t ask). So I’m almost at the end of my tether.

Got some strange and critical stares, therefore, this morning at the local Farmers Market, as I literally screeched at Littleboy 1: “Come back here; NOW!” sounding more like a fishwife than a calm, well-groomed Nappy Valley mother enjoying a blissful Sunday with her children. Most of the other small kids are there with their Dads, who clearly have the job of looking after them on Sundays while Mummy gets a well-deserved rest, reads the paper or hotfoots it to the gym/beauty salon. No-one else is running around like a maniac, chasing one child while hoping no-one nicks her handbag or the other child, both of which have been abandoned next to the organic carrots. As Littleboy 1 downs the Chegworth Valley apple juice samples as if they were shots, and charges off on his scooter as I’m trying to purchase overpriced soft fruit, I am starting to wonder if it's all worthwhile - yes, I am introducing my children to the joys of seasonal, local produce, but along with no shopping trolleys to stick them in, and plenty of tempting items for them to grab, I seem to have spent a small fortune. I think a trip to LIDL might have been preferable....