I ran round the village in the grey damp this morning. A proper February morning. Later in the morning I went down to the crossroads to catch a bus into Oldham - a visit to the library, a quick look in Sainsbury’s for things I can’t get in the Delph co-op, maybe a trip to the indoor market to see if they have any nice oranges, and a few bits and pieces from Boots the Chemists and finally a hunt for a small padded envelope in the stationers.
I managed everything except the indoor market. I’d given up the will to carry any more stuff around. Besides I’ll be going to the much smaller market in Uppermill tomorrow. I’ll have to see what the fruit and veg man there has to offer.
By the time I caught the bus home the day had brightened up considerably. A bus ride home looking over towards the hills of Derbyshire (once you leave the built-up bits of Oldham behind) is always good. When I was a daily commuter, I used to love the moment when I left the built-up bits behind and the panorama opened up! Splendid!
But that’s a good part of the day used up. So it goes!
Casting my eyes over the papers online I stopped to look at what Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett had to say about child rearing. It’s occasionally interesting to contrast now and the time when our children were tiny, so long as you don’t get obsessive about, which I might be about to do. To begin with she was writing about buggies that fold up to the size of a carry-on hand-luggage suitcase. I know about these because our daughter has one. She took it to Portugal with them last year. Now, according to Ms Cosslett they cost about £400. I know for a fact that my daughter does not have random sums of £400 floating about. She bought hers second hand. i wonder how much she paid. I think she sold at least one or maybe two previously used buggies to fund this purchase.
Judging by my daughter’s performance, young mothers today change or update buggies almost as often as they change their socks. I seem to remember we only changed buggies when the one we were using began to fall apart, folding up annoyingly with a small child in when we were out for a walk. Of course, the range was more limited back then but even so there was already a certain amount of one-upmanship in the field of baby equipment ownership! But that was as nothing compared with nowadays. According to Ms Cosslett:
“Although an earth (grand)mother type might say that all you need for a baby is a sling, a pair of breasts and a drawer, baby products are big business. The average amount that new parents spend on baby equipment, according to a 2022 report, is £6,000. A 2019 study found that 90% of parents felt they’d overspent on baby gear. And you can understand why: not only is the social media marketing relentless, but many companies make big promises, usually to do with sleep.”
I think my friends and I fell into the “earth-mother type” category. I had a sling, a second-hand cot, a second-hand pram-pushchair (and later a smaller folding buggy) and a carrycot that my mother insisted on buying us as the top of the pram pushchair was a bit unwieldy to get into the back seat of our Citroen 2CV. Those were the days.
Ms Cosslett went on to talk about gadgets parents fantasise about having for their offspring. She wrote:
“For example: I loved the bassinet of our Ark pushchair, but as I pounded the pavements I used to wish for one that had built-in speakers that played white noise and a selection of classical music so that I didn’t have to put my phone in with him.”
Now, there’s a thing: white noise to help your baby to sleep. I did know someone who used to run the vacuum cleaner at bedtime as a sleep inducer. Certain others would drive their babies around in the car until they fell asleep and then transfer them carefully. But most of us rocked our babies and sang to them, if they didn’t fall asleep over the bedtime feed. No white noise for us. My daughter’s children have a white noise generator - the little fellow still takes ages falling asleep! Her 19 year old plays a recording of rain gently falling to help herself fall asleep. So that’s what white-noise babies progress to, is it?
On the getting babies to sleep and parental fantasies question, Ms Cosslett writes:
“One dad I know fantasised about some sort of device that could take you from a standing to a lying down position without disturbing the baby on your chest.”
Now, that I can relate to!
That’s enough about baby-tech. Let’s get back to weather. According to this article Italy is facing the possibility of drought again this year. Some of the smaller canals of Venice are running dry at low tide. That changes the whole nature of la Serenissima, which was having problems of acqua alta, high water flooding St Mark’s square, last time I was there.
I’m off put for a walk in the late afternoon sunshine.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.
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