318. Women drivers (travelling with kids 3)

 I did enjoy the drive. I used to love these long drives when the kids would be fast asleep in the back and I could have the radio on even quite loud and sing away ans still they would sleep. But all good things come to an end.

'Mum! He's throwing my doudou out of the window!'

'Ouch! Mum, she's crushing me.'

'My bag! I've left my bag at the airport!'

As they woke up one after the other in a kind of domino effect, they stretched and moved and in doing so either hit the kid next to them or behind them thus getting items to tumble down from their fragile equilibrium.

'Hey! He hit me.'

I had to stop singing and turn the radio off.

'Are we nearly there?'

And I lied about the kilometres and the ETA and about everything else like would there be food in the fridge and would be stairs.

'What if the stairs are not there, mum?'

'We've got a ladder in the barn, haven't we mum?'

'We can sleep downstairs on the couch and watch telly.'

'Do we have telly in the house mum?'

All these questions, all this bickering, all this mess in the car, all this driving and of course the stress of finding the stairs had not been put up in the house and I did not want to sing along anymore. The kids had heard me on the phone telling the workmen to make sure the stairs would be in.

'Because if I have to get the kids and all the cases upstairs using the step ladders I will not be a very happy women.'

They'd laughed. Laughed!!!!

'Don't worry! It's all under control.'

I did worry when they said that.

'And remember we do not have keys. We gave you all the keys!'

They laughed some more.

And I did worry some more. Worry so much now that I was nearing the house and risking to be left homeless with tons of luggage, lots of grumpy kid with empty stomachs and a car that did not even belong to me.