All the best laid plans...

By Laura Yates on Apr 16, 09 09:42 PM

I had Wednesday planned down to the letter. The car was going in to be fixed and I had no intention of paying thirty odd quid for a courtesy vehicle so was going to be stuck at home. I'd arranged a babysitter for The Kid and was going to use the time that I was marooned in my house to do all the house and garden work that I'd been putting off.

The Plan of the Day

6.30 - Kid gets into our bed, as per our daily routine

6.35 - Kid demands to get out of bed.

6.40 - Go and have breakfast. Coffee. Bit of telly. Get dressed.

7.45 - Take Kid to babysitter's.

8.00 - Drop Kid off. Go to garage.

8.30 - Drop car off. Get taxi home. Estimated cost: £3

9.15 - Laundry inc. chair/cushion covers.

10.00 - Clean bathroom inc. bleach grout.

10.30 - Catch up with writing.

11.30 - Gardening.

12.00 - Lunch

1.00 - Kid dropped home.

1.30 - Walk to shops

2.00 - Go and collect car - day carries on as normal.

Actual Day

7.45 - Kid wakes up.

7.46 - Throw Kid and Kid related equipment into car. Drive to babysitter's in thunderstorm heavy enough to sink the Arc.

8.00 - Hand unchanged, unfed Kid + two Weetabix to babysitter.

8.30 - Drop car off. Wait in rain for taxi.

9.00 - Get home. Pay taxi £5.50

9.01 - Go back to bed.

11.00 - Get up. Drink Coffee. Watch catch up episodes of Frasier.

12.00 - Take chair covers off. Check Facebook/Twitter/emails etc

1.00 - Kid dropped off home. Eat lunch. Put chair covers in washing machine.

2.00 Went and collected car. Discover courtesy car costs £7.95.

It's always the way, isn't it? The one time you need to get up is the one time your baby decides to have a lie in. I hold my child's impromptu oversleeping fully responsible for my lack of productivity.

Maybe I won't plan things too thoroughly next time; or maybe I'll make sure I set the alarm clock, or maybe I'll just pay the eight quid and get the courtesy car, as it's only a couple of quid more than it cost to get a taxi anyway!

And maybe I'll get round to putting these chair covers back on before the end of the night - or maybe I'll leave it till tomorrow.