A Day

Madeleine in the back of the car - bored. Bored. Bored. We drive by Harrods as I snap this photo (car at a red-light, emergency break on). She could care less about the department store. Poor kid, dragged alongside for my amusement. There is no such thing as wasted time when your kids involved, however - at least from my end. I try to get a few conversations going but she resists - subjects like school, friends, homework and football draw a blank. She perks up a bit when a group of teenagers walk past which she sometimes equates to smooching, forced into her face by a semi-naked couple with locked faces. An add, of course. This somehow leads to a discussion about teen-age pregnancy and why we do not want to do it. We also talk about cigarettes and why people smoke and Madeleine: "because they cannot stop?" which is the best answer I did not think of. I add "enjoyment" and that it may seem cool; she concludes that "your friends might do it" which we agree is the worst reason. It takes real will power to not offer jumping from the Brooklyn Bridge if your friends jump from the Brooklyn Bridge .. So I think I have done a few good things today as Dad. We shall know in time what sticks.

Madeleine desperate to go to the news-agents to buy some "some stringy liquorice" but thwarted by Sunday hours.