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The great escape
By ella | November 14, 2005
In the early stages of this pregnancy I told Matthew that before the baby came I wanted a weekend away. ‘Great,’ he said misunderstanding, ‘where shall we go?’ ‘No,’ I replied hesitantly, ‘I would like to go away by myself.’ Now I am not by nature a solitary person although given my own company I can always find something to fill it with. And I love being a stay at home mother. But for the last four years I haven’t been away from my entire family once. And I needed to get away from them partly so that if I am in hospital for more than a night when the baby comes they can cope (emotionally, rather than physically) and also to remind them that I am first and foremost Ella rather than a mother and wife and also to remind me that I am first and foremost Ella rather than a mother and a wife.
So this weekend I escaped to London with a liberatingly-small overnight suitcase and spent the weekend being pampered and cooked for and not having to run around looking after anyone else. I went to the Tate Gallery and I shopped and no-one moaned that they needed a snack or that it was getting late/boring/time to go a toy shop. I enjoyed the busy-ness of London which always reminds me that there is more going on in the world than the toddler groups and weekly shop that are the highlight of country living as a mother. I sat drinking coffee just watching the world go by, because I could, without any interruption to my banal thoughts. I went to my friend’s wedding and didn’t have to worry that one of the children would fart during the quiet bits in church or would throw expensive canapes over the bride. On Saturday evening I met up with my old business partner, who is still very successful in his field and lives the glamorous, single, party lifestyle. If he looked embarrassed at the tank following him around town on Saturday night he was much too polite to say. To say it was a wonderful weekend would be an understatement.
Everyone in London seems so busy and noisy. I lived in London for a long time and there were times when I found the noise and number of people frustrating (tourists clogging up the sidewalk when I was a busy and noisy person trying to get somewhere in a hurry) but I miss it terribly and I always feel a sense of real excitement and possibility whenever I step out of the underground. It somehow feels like coming home.
Now I am back home in the country with my family and I wouldn’t be anywhere else. But I might just be planning one more weekend away before the baby comes…
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Categories: Playtime
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