Relaxed Parents

Well, we’re back! It rained solidly until the day before we left but it was still good to get out of London. We did actually catch a great deal of sun yesterday. Unfortunately, we were driving home at the time.

Anyway - here’s the first report from the front…

Evening, 18/8/07

Yesterday, we drove down, or rather, across and up to Suffolk where we’ve rented a wooden cabin for a week. The cabin feels alarmingly roomy and spacious compared to our London maisonette so the first ten minutes was spent working exactly how cramped it would in reality. That done, we unpacked and headed out to explore Leiston, the small town near our accommodation.

Ten minutes later, we drove on to Aldeburgh. Aldeburgh (famed for its connection with Benjamin Britten) was much more interesting, featuring the kind of fish and chip shops people queue, an ongoing festival of some kind and a brass band. The festival was winding down but there were still plenty of stalls and activities going on. Dudelet had a go on a round about where he had a fire engine with two brass bells to himself. He sat there intently, ringing first one then the other and sometimes both. At other times, he steered, keeping an eye-out on the on-coming traffic. Then, feeling like we’d wandered into some kind of picture book of a Victorian resort, we sat down and ate our fish and chips whilst listening to the enthusiastic brass band play something melodic and laid back. The breeze had switched from chilly to almost warm, the evening sky was blue and decorated with fluffy fillets of white cloud and a mixed crowd of all ages was sitting on the grass and the sea-front, smiling at each other and listening to the band. Weird.

Dudelet grasped the point of brass bands immediately. He listened attentively to the first tune and applauded loudly, being the last person to finish clapping. Then they started another different tune.

“Oh no,” he said after a moment. “Not this one again.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“Ye-es. But it sounds just the same as the other one.”