The Long Night
Thanks to a profound lack of childcare, today I found myself not at work but instead adventuring with my little daughter.
The weather has been stonking hot, so we have had a marvellous time. We spent all day outdoors getting dirty and faffing about building a den in the local woods. All in all it was a very good day. But the best bit I saved for last.
The good lady phoned.
Hey chick, what's shaking?
Said I, with even more panache than usual.
Just finishing work, it's boiling. What have you guys been up to?
She always likes to ask this does the missus. I think that deep down she suspects we will spend all day watching TV and eating snacks if she is not there to chivvy us into doing stuff.
Oh we have had a fantastic time, haven't we lass? In fact, I was telling the little chipmunk that tonight. will be her...
This is a old running joke between us. I have always joshed about leaving our little daughter out on the hills one night and coming back for her in the morning. I say things like If she survives she is truly one of us and such things. It drives the wife nuts.
Oh ha ha.
No, seriously, tonight is the night.
Oh very good. Yes, I believe you.
Wait, if you don't believe me, ask her?
I handed the phone to my little chookapook. I heard her mummy ask how she was.
Mummy mummy, tonight is my long night!! We made a den and tonight I get to stay in it!!
The silence on the other end of the phone stretched out long and terrible like the death of a sun.
My daughter handed the phone back to me.
Right troublemaker, I will see you when I get in
I chortled and hung up. I wasn't really going to leave my daughter out on the hills. Sometimes though in any relationship it is good to leave your other half guessing.
Tonight my daughter will be doing her long night in a tent in the garden.
The most horrifying thing for the good lady who hates tents is that we are too! How could I say no when the little one asked?
I suspect I might be in for a kicking :O)
Thank you for posting @meesterboom.
Lovely....splendid story. Sounds like great fun.
Very capital illustrations....the telephone is a keeper.
An oriental rug makes a tent quite luxurious and a couple of pieces of campaign furniture and bleujay is sure the good lady will insist that these adventures be imbarked upon at least twice a year......something likened to the adventures of good Queen Victoria. She knew how to picnic in the great outdoors.....bleujay is taking that idea a step further....and suggesting using her idea of a picnic and tweaking it into an overnight stay. What do you think?
Wishing you and yours all the best. Cheers.
Oh yes for sure it has to be an overnight stay! You know that is actually a fine idea. If I can get a rug that would make camping seem quite luxurious! I shall embark on finding a suitable one for the tent!!!
Cheers for the splendid idea @bleujay!
hahahah am with yer good lady
no tents for me
just the thought of creepy crawlers (ants specially) would keep me awake
I hope you guys had fun though!
Ah the creepy crawlies is another reason she doesnt like them. We were fairly fortunate. Only one little black walker made it in. I have camped out before and it has seemed like there are more in than out!
Awesome camping in a tent in the garden! A great adventure for the young one. Why do better halfs not like staying in a tent? It'll be marvelous, little campfire, outside noises, like the oehoe sounds of an owl. Breakfast outside the tent in the morning.
Have a great long night!
She is a bit of a complainer to be honest. The good lady not the little one. She has fought against the tent for so long and tonight, or rather last night she auqiesced.
I could of course pretend that she loved it but sadly it wasnt the case! They have no spirit of adventure sometimes!
Well, for your daughter it must have been a great adventure. Surely that would be worth the offer your better half made for her. ;-)
Cats n dogs overhere...
Have a great day mate.
She loved it dude!! Especially the little fire we built with marshmallows!
Hehe, it's dry here. Cats and dogs for the next ten days apparently though sigh
Memory for life man! It is so great that they are happy with any apparant little adventure that is extreme real and huge in their experience. Some adults seem to have lost it, great to see you still got it.
Campfire, that is the best! :-)
Tomorrow we'll have a dry day, then the rain comes again. Ah well, it is triest, but what can ya do?
Hope the weather turnes for the good mate!
I ain't holding out much hope here but we will see, sometimes the sun likes to surprise!
Yeah, that's the but I live the best is the little things which make them think the world is an amazing place which we have forgotten!!
Cheers to the sun surprising us and little things that show us how amazing life really is!
Dude, you posts are fucking hilarious. You should get your own youtube show or go on comedy central or something like that. Your very funny and you make great pictures for the beginning of your posts. Keep up the great work Meesterboom!!
Ha, Cheers very much dude!!! Much appreciated :0D
Super , she' ll love it , I believe.
Escapable childhood memory's. lol
She ahs had a quite smashing day! Cheers man!
Yes , really looks like a very enjoyable day for both !
Cheers !
Oh man. Much better content than head wounds. I like it!
Cheers @papa-pepper!
You weren't?? But why... I mean, she earned the right to... How could you, dude... How could you...
You know, for a second there, I thought you were referring to another long night, since winter has come. What with the skull in the background and the wolf howling at the moon haha! Really though, I'm just so glad you use a rotary phone as well. Way more dependable than those touch thingies people are lugging around these days.
I will have no truck with those infernal electronic gizmos that people use. Much better a sturdy phone that can survive an apocalypse!!
She did earn that right. One day perhaps the missus will come home and scream bloody murder as she realises I have followed through on my
threatpromise :O)Who knows, maybe that act would be the crucial moment that fulfills the prophecy that I've been preaching for several months now :O
I know we're just making this stuff up, but that literally gave me chills hahaha!
Hehe, the pivotal moment in the eventual destruction of all things!! Mark my words. She brings destruction!
Is that your brain or your balls talking? Be honest, dude. You're in a safe place.
It's my brain!!! Harbinger of ruin the soothsayer said. She will destroy us all!!!
Aye... But, as a prominent figurehead in her formative years, you have the power to change the course of history. Are you to blame for the carnage or are you to be praised for the utopian future we would live in? Sure, the latter won't give you much attention, but still.. Your conscience, sir. Your conscience.
Hahaha, I will be the one steering her!! I shall be pushing her along the way, encouraging words at every step as we descend into destruction!!!
Haha what a great story. 👊👌 some of the best days are days spent with children... just getting on to their level. In a way... becoming childlike again. Forgetting about all our adult responsibilities and sailing leaves down a gutter and getting mud between our toes.
As adults we forget how very freeing these simple things can be. As well as wonderfully liberating they are great de-stressers... and they cost nothing. On top of that... the time spent with the family is hugely beneficial to the little ones too, as so many of them spend far to nuch time glued to screens these days with no real interaction with their moms and dads.
Great post. Like your writing style too 👊👌😁👍😎
We do forget indeed! I often start a day care day by asking what she wants to do and then going with it. That is unless its TV and biscuits lol. Although I let her do a bit of that too if she is insistent. When its not raining though its great to just forget it all and go gadding about :O)
Thank you very much!
Haha these thumbnails always get me curious lol! Awesome stuff.
They take a little time so I am glad you like them!!! :0)
Oh how i loved your story, came home one day and my husband could not change nappies. I am talking about 45 years back, found he was using the hose pipe to clean them, and making a game of it. I nearly had a heart attack lol
Haha, oh my!! That's nuts!! Hilarious nuts of course!!! Ah there is nothing quite like having a huge guffaw over this time in life!
Hope you got a decent air mattress, for the Missus of course lol. Oh dude at your age, you will be feeling like you went a few rounds with Tyson in the morning hahaha!!!
Yeah, its a corker. Expressly purchased for this kind of scenario!!! :0)