Sand-Between-the-Toes

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.

from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

It was an unseasonably warm sunny day, so the mothers group decided to meet at Manly. Unfortunately, Louka had slept very little last night, so this morning she wanted to make up for it. She woke at five to eleven, five minutes before we were due to meet, and cried for a feed. When she was fed and dressed and ready it didn't seem worthwhile to try to meet the others, but I thought we might as well go to Manly anyway, and try out the ferry trip.

We got to Circular Quay station with five minutes to spare before the ferry left, so we got a good outside seat on the shady side. Louka enjoyed the sensation of travel in the open air, with the wind in her hair, instead of being cooped up in a poky carseat. We strolled round to Shelly Beach, arriving about twenty past one, and I ordered a chocolate milkshake and calamari and chips at the kiosk there. Just as the meal arrived, I was hailed by Prab, Nicky and Andrea, who had finished their walk and were just leaving. We had a very brief chat, then they headed off and I ate my meal. The chips were fine, but the calamari was very strange; dry and crunchy. I gave Louka her apple purée which she enjoyed.

Then we headed down to the sand. I took Louka's socks off and "walked" her on the damp sand. She was happy with that, so I walked her down to the water and let the ripples play over her feet. That was good fun until a big wave came up over her knees, so we retreated a little. I gave her a little milk feed on the beach, then we headed back to the ferry.

When we reached the city I was very thirsty so I dropped into Young Alfred at the Customs House for a decaf latte, water and croissant. Under the glass floor of the Customs House is a scale model of the city, and as I was showing it to Louka we saw a young man helping his little girl to walk across the glass floor. We introduced the girls and they seemed quite excited to see each other. The other girl turned out to be eight months old and called Raisa, and her father was enjoying a rare opportunity to go out with her. As we left, he said "maybe they will meet again some day".