30

Last week, the husband turned thirty (old man, old man, old man, guffaw), and because everything is so disorganised at the moment with our new house (long story, don’t ask, gaaaah), we decided to just go out for the afternoon with the kidlets. Present wise, he’d already had a new jacket a month or so ago, so I just had to buy him a present ‘from the children’ (gah, cliche alert) – he needed a new bag for work, and the gym, and computer game marathons at his friends house, so I searched around online and came up with… nothing. Everything seemed to be overpriced, made from rubbish materials and about as far removed from ethically produced as you could get – not even slightly what I was after. I vaguely remembered Hannah from Seeds and Stitches (Queen of all things environmental!) and her Mister had chosen an eco-friendly vintage-style backpack to use as an alternative to a changing bag, so I looked up the company.

Kanken bags, first manufactured in the 1970’s, are made by Swedish company Fjallraven, who are about as environmentally friendly as you can get. As well as their wonderful bags, they also sell all sorts of outdoor equipment and clothing, all ethically produced and carbon offset. Read more about the brand and their principles here, and find a wide range of Kanken bags here. I opted for the classic version for the husbands birthday, but we’ve decided to get one of the larger vintage style rucksacks for our days out – we usually end up laden down with a changing bag, a cool bag, two reusable supermarket bags and a blanket for good measure. Add two children to the mix, and a fun day out soon turns into a complete logistical nightmare. God bless the backpack!


We had lunch on the common; a whole bag of Marks and Spencers finest goodies, finished off with ginger beer and cranberry lemonade. In an ideal world I would have packed a picnic at home, lots of cous cous, pasta salad, chorizo and cheeses, crusty bread and biscuits, but as the kitchen is full of boxes and the fridge isn’t even plugged in yet, it was a bit of a non-starter.

The food was followed by a whole lot of running around with a football (Benjamin and the Husband) and a whole lot of napping (me and the baby).

When sunhats go bad….

The wind started to pick up a bit, so we all piled in to the car and took a wander round the shops. Benjamin met Elvis, I enquired about a second hand record player (oddly, I’ve collected loads of records, but have nothing to play them on….) and we had a look at some antiques.

As nice as it was, going out for the day with two children (especially when one is a baby who is bottle fed, oh the palaver) is incredibly stressful at times – Benjamin managed to find the only patch of bird poo on the common and roll in it, Daisy wouldn’t take her feed properly and the weather turned chilly. It’s our second anniversary on the 2nd July, and we’re off to Brighton for the day – we’re going here for our usual lunch, and I’m dying to try this place for an afternoon tea – sans children (thanks Mum!). I’ve got high hopes for Snoopers Paradise this time, I’ve just got a feeling I’m going to find something amazing.