3BT – flatness, garden/I knew it, park, rain

1. After nearly a decade and a half in Yorkshire, I forget – and freshly appreciate – the flatness of west Lancashire. We take a new route and as we get closer to our destination, we pass familiar landmarks I haven’t seen for years.

(That actually seems to be a theme for today – even more so than on usual trips to Southport because we go to slightly different places. The chip shop we’d visit after going to Elliotts or the Kingsway (twenty years ago now); the house just off Lord St where a friend lived; then later the park.)

2. There is such variety of colour and texture in their garden, a contrast to the endless flat grassland beyond.

2b. Lily likes pottering around and gets distracted grazing at the untamed end. I find the longest bamboo cane – some 12ft – and poke her with it: she jumps but by the time she rounds the vast tree stump to check, she’s wearing an ‘I knew it was you’ smile.

3. After dinner, we meant to go to the beach but the clouds are gathering so we go to the park instead. We find the little playground of my childhood has been replaced with four separate play spaces – one for little kids, one for bigger ones, a wooden adventure set and an outdoor gym for adults. We make my mum (who hasn’t visited the park for 20 years, even though it’s only a couple of minutes walk from her house) try all the outdoor gym equipment but we’re happy to keep the zip line in the adventure bit for ourselves.

4. We take the rain back with us – I have just enough time to fetch the washing in from the line before it starts. Later, I let the drops cool me as I wait for Lily to get herself ready for bed.