395. Quiet time

The house has rarely been that quiet with so many people home. Both my son and Baby are home at the same time (with me) and that usually means noise. Add the dog and there should definitely be noise.

I cannot stand too much silence - not used to it anymore - so I put the radio on. It is a sunny day, not hot, but there is no rain and few clouds so Ralph the dog decides it is time to sunbathe and spends his time going from lying down on the warm tiles to lying down on the grass to cool down and back on the tiles to warm up again. So that's quiet time.

My son spends his days off sleeping and eating, both activities being rather quiet.

And Baby? Where is Baby?

Baby is in her room revising for her philosophy exam!

After spending the afternoon sunning myself in the garden with Ralph and baking these rotting bananas into a cake I begin to worry about Baby and her revision. I think she must be lying on her bed sleeping. 

So I yell at the bottom of the stairs - which greatly annoys my son doing his siesta.

'I've got my headphones on!' She says, sounding annoyed, which of course makes me furious.

'You're lying on your bed, listening to rubbish and you've got A PHILOSOPHY EXAM tomorrow!' I am yelling, I know I shouldn't because she has an exam tomorrow but I cannot help it. She is driving me mad.

'Mum, keep it down, I need to sleep I'm working late tonight.'

Even the dog wakes up and barks, sounding annoyed that I've disturbed his sleep. Is this ganging up against mum time?

'Mum! Calm down!'

'Don't you tell me to calm down young lady!'

'But I am listening to a philosophy lecture - live - so please let me get on with it!'

I am speechless. What is that? What's going on?

'A WHAT?' I yell. I am getting more and more annoyed.

Baby senses the urgency and goes down a few steps then pops her head round the steps. 

'Yes, it's on TikTok, it's the guy who wrote that book you gave me.'

I sigh. How do I get myself in these situations. I bought a book written by a TikToker!!!! Me, a teacher! Me, a parent! 

Baby keeps calm and comes down the stairs and looks for my phone and finds it and puts TikTok on and bing here goes mr Cool-Philosopher.

I make myself a cup of tea, grab a slice of banana cake (still piping hot) and settle down on the couch with my headphones on. Ralph the Dog barks, I take the headset off and put Mr Cool-Philosopher on speaker. Ralph settles for his 27t siesta of the day listening to discussions on Kant, Pascal, Bergson and others. Soon he snores and I wonder if it has the same effect on Baby.