Darley Park Concert

Getting there was stressful. They were all quite tired already, though at least the two smallest had been persuaded to take a nap in the afternoon. Then wrangling them all into warm outer clothing ready for the chill of the night air. Finally getting to the park and winding our way through the crowds to find friends was such a relief.

This was a year of firsts. Without a car we had thought it might be our first year not to go, with late night buses not being the best fun with so many small children.

Instead it was the first year I didn't breastfeed during the concert. The first year I didn't have even a momentary blank terror when a child makes a run for it through the thousands of concert-goers. The first year I bought sweets in our picnic (and bought more than half home, too). The first year I've had a one year old there who didn't cry at the fireworks (in fact, the first year in six that none of the children were even momentarily afraid of the loud bangs). The first year we haven't ended up sitting next to a large group drinking and smoking. The first year I haven't had to apologise profusely for a knocked-over drink or stepped-on picnic when the children played and danced.

So yes. We go home at almost eleven o'clock, and the children were still up bright and early this morning. But it was the best concert on the park ever.