The pangs and joys of a working mother

I went to work today for the first time in two weeks due to G's drawn out bout of tonsilitis. Poor wee thing cried when I left her with her wonderful family day care person. It sure tugs at my heartstrings to leave her when she wants to be with me. But....I know she will be ok in a minute or two and when I rang to check she was happily cutting out stickers.

On route to work, I read "Brideshead Revisited" for 25 minutes on the train. Bliss....to escape to another world for a little while - especially 1920s Oxford. I was a nanny for a short time in the 1980s in Oxford so could picture most of the action in my head of which streets they were wandering down etc. Mind you, being a nanny was a slightly different experience from "reading English" at Oxford. I used to sit next to well spoken English girls on the bus coming back from London and try not to turn green with envy. It all helped to motivate me to head off to University myself when I got home.

After my sojourn with Charles and Sebastian on the 8.20am train, I spent the next eight hours happily researching old buildings at work. Although I have been doing this for some 13 years, it is still a thrill for me to sit down with only an address and a printout of a map and start the detective work. One of my favourite bits is looking at the old postal records and finding out who lived where and what they did for a living. Occupations have changed so much. (Not too many blacksmiths working the city these days)

I also had 30 whole minutes to eat my lunch in peace and time to wander down to the shops to buy fruit toast or a choccy bar or a Nudie drink (or all three) if I felt peckish. Plus I chatted about work, life, travel and puppies with grown ups and didn't have to do any cleaning, tidying or clothes folding. Or bottom wiping. Yep...it was a nice day. Then.... I came home on the train with my book and my (slightly frazzled) husband picked me up at the station with two little girls in the back seat who were pleased to see their mummy. And, best of all, Mummy had extra reserves of love and patience and their little faces seemed extra beautiful and their funny expressions seemed extra hilarious. And tomorrow, I get to do it for the second time this week and then enjoy a big weekend of puppy collecting. I'd better get to bed!