Trouble in the supermarket

Sometimes I get a little bit overconfident when I’m looking after Harry – and it invariably leads to trouble.

It’s happened a couple of times this week. On the first occasion, Harry and I were doing the weekly shop and I decided (and I’ve still no idea why) that I would allow him to get out of the trolley and walk around the supermarket holding my hand. This, it has to be said, was not a very good idea.

Within minutes, it was chaos. Harry was trying to escape, leaving a trail of fruit and veg on the floor, while I was frantically trying to pick up the debris with one hand and grab him with the other. When I finally managed to get hold of Harry, he tried to wriggle free by making his body completely floppy – that peculiar technique young children develop for evading adults. He ended up in a heap on the floor with me stood over him trying to sound stern but reasonable which, given the flustered state I was in, wasn’t easy.

Of course, when I returned home it soon became clear that I’d manage to forget half of the items I was supposed to buy. Frankly, though, it was the least of my worries.

The following day we decided to clean the cars and, thankfully, Melissa was on hand to lend some support. We dressed Harry in his all-in-one, wellies and hat, and with his reins wrapped around my arm, we set to work.

To be honest, it wasn’t a complete disaster and our cars did get a bit of a clean. However, after just a couple of minutes, Harry was soaked from head to toe. A couple of minutes later, I was dripping wet too when he decided to my head needed a wash.

Then it was Melissa’s turn. Harry managed to wrest control of the hose from her grasp and promptly directed into her wellies. She was not amused, and it might be some time before the cars get another spruce up.