Baby bliss despite rain on the parade

Days before it had been wet and miserable. That early afternoon it was dry and quite sunny, so I grabbed a fleece to go along with chinos and trainers and was ready to set off when they arrived.

Opening the door I was alarmed to see this ‘little bundle of joy’ - he is a ‘looker’ by the way - all wrapped up and covered over like we were preparing for a hike up the Andes.

Now while the sun was not exactly splitting the sky, the wee man was well over-dressed for the occasion, and we agreed the rain cover could come off, two of the blankets could be removed and the cardigan on top of his natty long-sleeved shirt and shorts combi could be declared surplus to requirements too.

Having shed all the excess weight, and with the youngster in our charge looking suitably relieved he was finally cooling down, we got underway.

Where we live is a lovely part of the district, and within minutes we were pushing along through quiet streets towards the open spaces that pass for countryside nowadays chatting away as mums and grandmums do about how ‘cute’ the infant in our charge was and me agreeing with her that the quicker grandson, daughter and son-in-law move ‘hame’ to Scotland from England the better.

Was it 20 minutes or less into our adventure that things took a down turn?

The sun disappeared, the blue and white clouds were rapidly replaced with those of a more dark and threatening nature and, with no-where to take shelter, the rain that thundered down hit us hard.

As we scuttled back towards home at a quick lick, I volunteered my fleece as a rain cover and granny donated her light weight sweater as a substitute blanket.

We only had a mile and a bit to travel - and we were soaked by the time we got back - but baby was giggling and laughing like he didn’t have a care in the world - which at that age he probably doesn’t - and giving us a little look that seemed to be saying something like: “Calm down ladies, it’s only a bit of rain.”

By the time mum and dad arrived, baby was dried off and happy and watching television and they all toddled off none the wiser - I think!