Mess Fuss

Today we decided to ride our bikes down to South Bank to go to the Science Museum. Nicole made some picnic nibbles while I went and power-walked the dog, and when I got back we mounted our trusty steeds (Eloise on her tow-along for long-distance riding) and set off.

The ride down the hill at Kedron Brook Road is a bit helter-skelter but we took it easy and free-wheeled down at a cool 40 before Eloise blew her tyre on the junction and the whole trip had to be abandoned, with Nicole riding back up the hill to get the car, loading up the tow-along into the car and driving back whilst I rode up the hill.

We were about to set off again when we realised that Eloise hadn't brought her Science Museum passcard, whereupon it all descended into chaos and acrimony as it turned out she didn't know where it was, or where her wallet was, or where anything was actually and months of simmering resentment over messiness and disorganisation and clutter nestled its way between the family folds and poked its nose out to say hello again. "You're just a mess fuss" she says. "A mess fuss."

And so it came to pass that a nice afternoon at the Science Museum morphed into a not-so-nice afternoon of tidying and throwing stuff we don't want - and she doesn't need - away.

On the plus side, she got a new bookcase. She enjoyed building it too. On the other plus side, her bedroom is nice and tidy. And her downstairs "study" area.

On the minus side, rather like the European Debt Crisis, I suspect that nothing has really been solved and that even though more storage space and scope for organisation has been created, the opportunity will be squandered and stuff will still just be dropped at the very moment and location that attention evaporates.