16 July 2010

Emily woke at about 4am, but I took her into bed with me and then she went through to 6.30.

We walked up to Tesco with Mum, where I marvelled at the cheapness of the clothes and the special offers (eight tins of baked beans for the same price I pay for one at home). I intended to buy a pair of trousers for Emily and ended up getting several items of clothing and some toys. We had a coffee at a rather convivial cafe in the square and then went to the solicitors as I had to apply for the money that Grandad bequeathed to me. I changed half of the Yen I had brought at the bank and failed to notice that the cashier missed off a nought, crediting my account with only a tenth of the correct amount.

We picked up Mum's car and then went to get Grandma from the home. Emily nearly fell asleep on the short drive to Tiptree but I managed to stave off the nap and the four of us went into the Jam factory restaurant for lunch. It was quite an occasion, four generations sitting down together.

Grandma wasn't too bad though she repeated questions many times and was not sure from one moment to the next whether Grandad was still alive. At one point she asked Mum outright if he was still alive and after that she seemed to take in that he was no longer with us for some time.

When we finished we carried on to Maldon; Emily could no longer resist the sandman and even after we parked at the waterfront car park she stayed asleep for another hour. I sat and admired the picturesque view while Mum and Grandma went off for a cuppa. On waking, Emily was upset yet again, but I carried her to the nearby pirate boat playground and eventually she relented and was very cheerful after that. There was a group of about eight teenagers, boys and girls, hanging around on the big play structure and Emily was nervous of them; I surprised myself by saying 'excuse me but you're scaring my child'. They didn't look too rough, which is perhaps how I mustered courage to speak. Anyway, it paid off as they looked a bit sheepish and obligingly moved off elsewhere to muck about. Lots of other small children then drifted over so had maybe been put off before. Emily played very happily there until it was time to leave.

We dropped Grandma off and she was very worried about the forthcoming birthday party, mainly fearful that she would cry a lot. Emily and I walked back from the home through town, by way of Sainsburys, where yet again I saw many groceries that I wanted to buy. Radley and Hayden had returned from school now and took Emily under their wings. She had a fantastic time playing in their rooms, as Hayden still had many Thomas books and toys. After eating dinner with the adults again she finally went to bed at nine and I followed not long after.