Across the Pondlife: Tarzan turns eleven!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Tarzan turns eleven!

Hot and airy, the breath from the monster coated my face like a shroud. I could just about feel my hands and feet that were trapped beneath the covers but I could not move. In the background I could hear a whirring, a fan perhaps, or maybe this was my grisly end at the hand of some deranged beast from the underworld...then...suddenly....it moved, up and down, up and down, the air was pumped from me like bellows into a fire. I tried to speak but nothing would come out, my eyes would not open, my body was stiff and cumbersome and I could not budge. Finally, just as I thought my time had come, it spoke...

"Can I wake him mum, can I, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, I want to give him my present!!!"

I peeled open my eyes like layers of a tightly wrapped onion and tried to focus on the clock in the far distance. I couldn't quite make it out...but I'm sure there was a 6 at the forefront of it all. My internal screams died to a quiet hush and I pulled her under the sheets with me.

"Five more minutes until I come round"

I think he has had a great time today. Well, if the laughter and giddiness from the back of the car has been any indication. He has wanted to go to Go Ape since his brother went two years ago but he hasn't been either old enough or tall enough. Today, however, at 11, he has crossed into new territory, he is over 1m4cm and was allowed to go!
For those of you who aren't familiar, it's basically a very high ropes course through the trees. It's the kind of activity that you send Daddy on, not because you are too scared to participate yourself (honestly!) but because you are too scared to watch your fearless children throw themselves off platforms that are hundreds of feet off the ground!