All the fun of the fair

Ah, I love summer because that's when the city council puts on so much free family entertainment. Today I took TLM down to the beach, where a week-long suburban festival was underway.

Not that we actually went onto the sand (beautiful as it was, framed by deep blue seas and clear, ozone-free skies). We peeked into stalls selling trippy beachwear, animal-shaped balloons, handmade photo albums and driftwood sculptures, and headed straight for one of the bouncy castles. It was a hit.

Five minutes later, we crossed the road to the park and encountered - to our great delight - a petting zoo. This was TLM's first chance to touch a baby alpaca, pony, lamb or goat (the latter had such a silky coat that it was impossible not to joke out loud about winter jackets). There were also rabbits, chickens and guinea pigs, and a mile-deep queue to have one of the furries on your lap.

Then TLM got hungry, and of course she didn't want to eat the snacks I'd brought with me. But before trawling through the aisle of food stalls, I had to make a toilet stop. There is one public toilet cubicle at the park. It has two toilets in it, side by side. I can only guess that this is to make it easier for a mum with a kid in tow, as they can both do their respective business at the same time. Because I really, really, can't think of another reason for two toilets to share a single cubicle.

I don't know if you guys get these where you live, but one of the food staples of the local fair is the hot dog on a stick. Put simply, it's a cooked sausage which has been impaled lengthwise, dipped in batter and deep-fried, and finally dipped in tomato sauce for serving. It's quite yummy in an artery-clogging kind of way. I hadn't had one since I was a kid, and eating it took me back a few decades. But TLM wasn't interested in trying this culinary version of white-trash; she stuck to the other food staple of the local fair - hot chips.

Our long morning out was nearly capped by a ride on the merry-go-round, but TLM changed her mind when she realised I couldn't ride with her. Not that there was a sign forbidding adults, but it was a teensy little thing and I'm sure I would have tipped the whole thing over.

When TLM fell asleep in the car, I seized my opportunity to eat a soft serve from the McD's drive-in without her protests (where's MY ice cream!") ringing in my ears.