Melanie Robinson: parenting blog

Single Mother Stories

Time for some (not so) SENSEless humour!!!

You know, sometimes you can have the best intentions but things just always have a habit of getting in the way. Like when you make New Year’s resolutions…… you have all these plans for exercise regimes, less drinking, quitting smoking, starting something new and healthy, a diet maybe…. but there is always some VERY GOOD reason why these plans never come to fruition.

Well that’s what’s been happening with me and my training regime. I had all these great plans last week to up the ante on my training regime for my 100km walk of death. I was going to be walking across the hills and spending hours and hours fresh air being at one with nature, getting my little legs prepared for 24 hours of gruelling non stop walking when the fire happened….. yes…. you heard me…

FIRE!!!!

I have been walking everywhere as much as I can. The car has been ditched and wherever possible I am walking. I wouldn’t say training because there is only so fast one can go with a toddler in tow. First Born even got in touch with me and told me he was so touched by the tribute to walk 100km in commemoration of his impending 18th birthday and in aid of the charity SENSE who do some fantastic work for deafblind people and their families.

However, he quickly texted me after walking to his English tutor, a grand 1 mile and 20 minutes later, and said that perhaps it would be too much but he was willing to take his Toddler sister Child to the park and play on the swings with her whilst I did power circles of the park.

This did bring me some sense of relief as I have to admit, I was imagining the scenario that would ensue if he even managed walking from morning into night fall and then freaked out. We would probably be in the middle of nowhere in the country side, not a road in sight, darkness would be upon us and we would be struggling even to have an argument about how I would get him home for lack of being able to see each others hands!!! So we planned a trip to the park.

I packed up the picnic and got us all dressed, walking shoes and all. Yep! I’m still breaking them in, I wear them every day. They are what I can only describe as my new “signature accessory”…. I tell you, my signature has somewhat deteriorated these days!!!

Anyways, there I am… about to leave the house and as FATE would have it, the phone rang. Now when I say “fate”, I don’t use that term loosely in this scenario. This was a proper INTERVENTION from the divine… or maybe it was SENSE coming to our rescue once again. They called to talk through a few things for a press release and I got tied up on the phone with them for about 15 minutes. When the call finished, I went into the living room and announced our timely departure when I smelled smoke.

YES …… SMOKE!!!!! I looked around and could see no smoke. I asked my friend who had been waiting if they could smell smoke?Had they created any smoke at all whilst I was on the phone? We both smelled it. My senses were not fooling me. We quickly went into the kitchen to find the source……
NOTHING….

Like fools we opened my kitchen window and climbed up to have a look outside to find the source…. were one of the other apartments on fire? Were we both being fooled by our noses? Finding nothing, I decided we were leaving and turned into the hallway where I discovered nothing but smoke billowing down the hallway. I went running into the bedroom and there it was……. My expensive John Lewis curtains were going down in a blaze of glory!

Toddler Child had climbed into my window where a lamp resides. You know those ones on a flexible hose like thing? She only turned the bloody thing on, pulled the curtains and left when I had called for us to go to the park the first time! The flipping curtains had been so super heated by the bulb that they caught fire! My friend and I wrestled to pull it off the curtain pole. Why in God’s name I had secured it so well to the pole was now a mystery to me. And how on earth the children manage to pull the curtains or rails off the walls so effortlessly when I want them to stay up was also a mystery. Here I found myself struggling with this burning mess that wouldn’t budge. Of course we threw that thing in the bathtub so fast and doused it with water thereby creating even more smoke!!!!

Windows were flung open, doors pushed open, fans brought out. My friend and I were choking for breath and trying to air out my apartment with tears from smoke irritation running down our faces. Meanwhile Toddler Child walking around with shrugged shoulders repeating;
“Oh no….. my house on fire….. smokey smokey”
YES IT’S FLIPPING SMOKEY!

Needless to say, she now knows not to turn on the lamps anymore and the super power training regime went out the window that day as we spent the afternoon clearing smoke out the house and ash from all over the floors! However….. Tomorrow, my walking partner and I will be walking with all of the toddlers and we will be walking for hours and hours. Admittedly yes, we may have to stop for ice cream…. for the kids of course… but there will be training being done.

Coming back to my point about “FATE” however…… if it weren’t for SENSE calling me there and then, I would have left that house and the curtains would have burned to the floor and ceiling, probably ignited the rest of the apartment and the whole thing would have gone down in flames!

Ironically, I noticed that the hole the fire left in my beloved window dressing was heart shaped…… funny that!!!! Just like my Virgin Money Giving Page! I figure it’s a sign! The sponsors and Donors have been rolling in nicely. Thank you all. Please keep sharing our story and the reason we are rallying for sponsorship. Will let you know how tomorrow’s walk goes!!!

P.S. I understand that if you are donating from outside of the UK that paypal might be the best option.

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http://singlemotherstories.wordpress.com/