On The Lookout For White Whales In Newcastle

Good afternoon. As it's Wednesday there is a Baby Centre blog for you to read, that's if you haven't read it already? Maybe? Probably not. Anyway go to http://www.baby.co.uk/mum_stories/why-i-cant-stop-using-the-n-word/. If you have any advice on other words to say to your children other than 'no' then I'm all ears.

So onto today and you can now 'call me Ishmael'. Moby Dick ranks in my top five favourite books ever. So it came as a surprise that the wee man and I were able to play Moby Dick today on a wooden boat in a park round the corner. What are the chances of that? I think as well we were the only ones playing such a game.

It also came as a bit of a surprise that this boat had a harpoon launcher on the back of it. I'm not sure what Greenpeace would think of this but luckily whales aren't particularly common in Newcastle (*insert your own joke here* I'm not lowering myself to that). Also I would imagine that Health and Safety would probably claim this to be dangerous, fake harpoon launcher in a play area? You could take an eye out with that.

Anyway, so the wee man sat up front playing the role of Ahab looking out for the whale and I played the roles of Ishmael and Queequeg (the harpooner). I can honestly say I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I'm not sure the wee man knew what I was wittering on about but he just enjoyed turning the wheel. I'll miss moments like this when I return to work, mainly because they're great fun and also because their great bonding moments. They're moments that just happen spontaneously, to use a quote slightly out of context 'It is not down on any map, true places never are'. Works in my head anyway.

jpr