Home of Mr Bashy

We went to the park three times today: first thing this morning we dropped Mum off for her post-op checkup at the Royal Sussex and me and Dad and Daisy went to Queens Park to wait until she was ready. There was a big spider in the sandpit and a poorly bee on the slide-ship (hard to describe, you have to see it really). Funny, all the bees we see seem to be poorly, but we’re still terrified of them.

Later we went to Blakers Park, then Mum went back to work (her scar has healed nicely and there was nothing untoward in her ‘removals’ so apart from a badly stubbed (possibly broken) toe she’s fine) and Dad took us to The Level scootering.

Now, you recall I have a new scooter, and maybe it’s a bit faster than the old one: when I get to the park, I like to revel in the freedom of being off-road, and coast down the hill a bit, curving and braking onto the cycle path half way down. This time, though, it didn’t quite work out because I was going too fast, and I went arse over tip and landed on my head. Dad and Daisy were there straight away, of course, and you can tell while your parent is consoling you they’re subtly checking for broken bones or blood.

Now, we did a bit of painting this morning, lots of red and pink, so I think at first Dad was thinking that maybe he had paint on his hand, but then it got going and when he realised I was bleeding from two places on my head he took us straight home to drive me to the hospital - and then remembered that Mum has to take the car to work now as they have relocated to Hove.

So he phoned Uncle Robin and Kathy came round and picked us up. I don’t know why he didn’t call a mee-maw. She took us up to A&E, dropped us off, then took Daisy back with her. I perked up on the way - I was a bit shocked by the accident - and ticked off my usual list of sights: St Peter’s Church (which I call House, with the majuscule emphasised), birds, bikes, “broken houses” (aka scaffolding)

We didn’t have to wait long to be triaged, and then we were taken through to the children’s treatment area. They have a fish tank and cool toys, but we didn’t get to play with them for long before we went through for treatment.

Then Dad and the doctor had a conversation like this:

Dr: What happened to James?
Dad: He fell off his scooter and landed on his head
Dr: Was he wearing a helmet?
Dad: No
Dr: Does he have a helmet?
Dad: No
Dr: [Gently but firmly] Can you get him one?
Dad: [Sheepishly] Yes we will..

Then I had to be tethered in Dad’s arms to have my wounds inspected. They weren’t serious, two small cuts and a medium lump - scalp wounds bleed a lot. So it was decided I would have my hair washed and the cuts would be glued, so we went into the main treatment centre where they have one of those backward basins they have in hairdressers.

Now I don’t like having my hair washed at the best of times - in fact it was washed last night - and generally it comes as a complete surprise to me when the first pot of water is poured over my head. I just wasn’t having it washed and no-one seemed to want to push me into it so I just had the special medical superglue treatment, which we need to leave for five days before washing and my hair will be blond-and-dried-blood colour until then, They did give us some gauze and saline to try and get the blood out, though I’m not sure how keen I will be on that. I think I’d prefer to just wear it like a Purple Heart..

So now I have a proper pair of owies: Mum has her tummy and her toe, Dad has a whole collection from the helter-skelter at Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s Sundae (according to Daisy he said Ow Ow Ow Ow all the way down). Daisy was saying she wants to be next but she really doesn’t, it’s no fun in the hospital. We’ve been up there far too much recently.

Daisy had a good time at Robin and Kathy’s: helped bath the boys, had her tea (pizza and milkshake!) and then when Kathy came to collect us she brought me a couple of slices of pizza. Yummy too! Me and Dad shared some Maltesers (I called them “ball bar”) washed down with apple juice while we were waiting, and we got home around two hours after I fell off.

Thanks to everyone at the hospital (who of course won’t read this) and to Robin, Kathy and the boys (who hopefully will). I’m a very lucky boy to be able to get great medical treatment, that we have friends who can help us out when we need it, and of course that I didn’t seriously hurt myself.

“Boring” is one of my new words, I learned it from Daisy, it’s a summer holiday thing I think. I use it a lot - to protest at Radio 4 being on in the car, when I don’t want to wear the proffered pyjamas - it’s such a useful word!

We went for a walk along the South Downs Way up at Devil’s Dyke today. I was thrilled every twenty steps or so to see we were walking on stones (”A Stone!” I would cry, amazed) and I would pick up a few and throw them off the path. We were looking for a space without too many trees to fly our kite, but when we found one it was “the wrong kind of wind” apparently. We saw a yellow and black striped caterpillar and a slug on a stone like a snail that had radically upsized it’s shell and a dog with puffy white hair like a teddy bear.

Afterwards we went to Hove Park which has upgraded it’s playground to a cornucopia of activities. They have a roundabout, one of the ground level ones and I enjoyed myself running on and off as it was going round, and a climbing frame/slide combo which I spent ages on,and a rope slide, from which I took a bit of a tumble: Dad pushed me too fast, and when I reached the far end and hit the stopper I wasn’t expecting to swing quite so far into the air and I fell a good few feet onto the ground. Ouch. I was OK though, and me and Daisy went on the double swing until the rain came and we departed for home.

Cousin Felix came down today, with his girlfriend Teri and her friend Jason who are over from Chicago. We went down to the Pride Parade, and the drizzle stopped more or less as soon as it started: I got quite into it, and hardly ever covered my ears with my hands. After lunch Daisy went off to a party, and me and Dad went down to the Pride Party to try and meet Felix. Dad was cursing his phone, but Felix’s worked and he came to meet us by the big slide (one of the ones where you you sit with your feet in the mat) just in time to go with me for my second slide. We wandered around for a while, there weren’t many other children around there, down in the main drag - families tend to go up the hill for Pride - but we hung out in a bar for a while before we had to go and pick Daisy up. I spent the whole time on Dad’s shoulders, of course, watching people dancing.

Edit: according to the BBC, there was a float “especially for children”. I don’t remember seeing it, though?

Yes, I prefer transport-related clothing and yes, Planes is my favourite, but the real deal is that I only like long-sleeved t-shirts (which strictly speaking aren’t t-shirts at all) and Planes is long-sleeved. Mum bought me some more long-sleeved t-shirts with cars on which I will happily wear.

We went to the Ben & Jerry’s Sundae festival today on Clapham Common - free Ice Cream! I played with George a lot, in the kid’s play area and jumping on various Dads, and put my hands over my ears when the bands came on (I don’t think I was the only one either)

I was pretty tired by the end - I obviously fell asleep on the way home, then into bed without a bath for once. Then, later, I fell out of bed - and didn’t even wake up!

We got me a new Micro Scooter today, the lady in the shop said she’d had another customer recently whose son’s scooter had been stolen in snooty Blakers Park, which kind of made us feel better about our local park The Level. I got my old one in October last year, and I covered many many miles on it, fell off it about a hundred times, learned to stop - initially by dragging my foot and then later by dropping onto one knee and dragging my whole leg for the cool effect, but never by using the brake.. I hope it holds together for the little boy whose parent or sibling stole it for him.

I went to a Pirate Party with George and Oliver and their cousin Alex today, in Westdene Park. I even took off my Planes shirt to put on a stripy pirate shirt, but then again George was in full pirate regalia - trousers, shirt, jacket, hat, belt, hook and eyepatch.. we had a good time, me and George had our usual fun including a who-has-the-loudest-and-craziest-laugh competition while queuing at the ice-cream van..

My scooter was stolen today from the playground at The Level, our local park. I was upset, but mollified by the promise of a new one.

Me: (Spying a train crossing the viaduct) - “Train!”

Dad: (Driving) Good spot!

Me: Not spot. A boy!!