Although I work from home I regularly travel and meet people in London and elsewhere. But despite meticulous planning and a lot of (expensive) childcare it doesn't always go smoothly. Here are just 10 things that nearly stopped me from getting to work today:
1) Smallest child refusing to get dressed and screaming "I am not going to nursery" approximately 17,000 times then weeing on the floor.
2) Said nursery only being able to have her for part of the day. The first part starts after the time that I need to be on a train. I also forgot to book eldest child into after school club. These unfortunate circumstances means that I must rely on a multi-person drop off and collection schedule with Dad on standby in case of emergency* that requires an excel spreadsheet to track
*this is fine unless he is in another country, which he is, quite a lot.
3) Safety checks being carried out on the train line near Watford resulting in lots of cancellations and rendering my careful planning of which train to catch to make my 9am meeting utterly pointless.
4) Dog sitter declining to have dog due to his escape attempt during last visit which saw him chasing her chickens around a field and terrorising baby lambs.
5) Eldest child trying to negotiate "tablet time" in return for brushing teeth, doing spellings and breathing.
6) Realisation that my work clothes and slumming clothes are one and the same.
7) Kids fighting in the back of the car over who has the freaky pink Magno toy, so violently that youngest almost makes it out of her car seat. I have to stop at the side of the road much to the consternation of the other traffic, and put her back in to her harness. At which point she starts to sob "I don't want to go to nursery" and I feel a small lump form in my throat.
8) New shoes creating crippling blisters after being deceptively comfortable for the first 30 minutes. What a pair of liars. I purchased these not-so-attractive-yet-perfectly-adequate work shoes because they looked comfortable. I should have just bought the fabulous ones that looked amazing because they probably would not have hurt any more than the pair of liars.
9) Getting on Underground in wrong direction (effing Circle Line branching off at Paddington.....).
10) Needing a wee desperately but refusing to pay 30p for the privilege which means a frantic search for a toilet near the train station but not in it.
I made it to a toilet after spending £2.30 on a coffee and then got to work in the end. I am hoping that tomorrow goes more smoothly!
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