Chasing the ducky boat

So, I took a week off blogging as part of my social media holiday. I was considering a “wot I did on my holidays” post but it really was too dull for words. The short version is that Roo contracted a virus which made his tummy a little….err…unpredictable and kept him at home most of the week. I won’t dwell on it. We’re still home. But at least I have the internet back.

We did manage to get out for one afternoon, to do something we’ve been meaning to do for ages. This will require some preparation on the parents’ part – if you do it just off the cuff, it might be a bit rubbish. This activity is called “chasing the ducky boat”.

(No, that’s just a duck)

You know the ducky boat. Some people call it “London Duck Tours” but they don’t spend all day in conversation with a 3-year-old. It’s a ducky boat. But get this – it’s also a ducky car. We often see it out and about in Central London and if we’re lucky we’ll get stuck next to one in a traffic jam, so that Roo can wave manically at the passengers. Sometimes they wave back. So, try telling Reuben that the ducky boat and ducky car are the same thing? He just won’t believe you. It seems like crazy talk. To be fair, I never believed it until I saw it for myself. So, that’s the preparation you need to do – get the preschooler obsessed with spotting the ducky boat on both the river and the road and then tell him these wild stories about cars that can drive on water.

The ducky boat/car is more properly known as a ducky amphibious vehicle. You remember the episode of Top Gear where they try and cross the Channel in cars? Well, just like that. But a bit less rubbish. And a lot less Richard Hammond, though I see here that David Tennant has been in the vicinity of one, which is even more exciting. Anyhoo, it’s a car that goes in the water. And I was determined to prove it to Roo.

We wandered off down the South Bank towards sunny Vauxhall and took the Thames Path just by the Tower Of Ultimate Evil (so called because both Jeffrey Archer and Peter Stringfellow live there). If you follow the path round, you end up next to a slipway between “Charity Towers” and “That big sinister building with lots of CCTV cameras that featured heavily in the recent James Bond film”. That is the ideal vantage point for watching the ducky boat splash in. Five minutes past the hour is about the right time too. We only had enough time for Roo to get minorly restless before we spotted it coming over Vauxhall Bridge. And then it turned into the slipway. Do you want the action shots? OK, as you asked so nicely.

READY:

STEADY:

SPLISH!

Well, that was exciting! How to top that? A trip to Tesco Metro at Vauxhall station didn’t quite do it, so we walked back through Spring Gardens and looked at the pretty autumn leaves:

And then to Peddlar’s Park, where we found more autumn leaves and a squirrel. Can you see it?

It’s a bit like the squirrel version of “Where’s Wally?” isn’t it? Well, Roo was fascinated by it and chased it around the park before it escaped up a tree. He decided it was off to bed, so stood at the base of the tree and serenaded it with his very own “squirrel lullaby”. It went something like this: “Go to sleep squirrel, go to sleep squirrel”.

I know. He’s a genius. Just like his Mama.

And that was it for excitement for the day. I’ll leave you with a picture of Eva cause, yknow, she’s cute and she’d never been on a swing before. Awwww…