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Mum’s talk... by Sarah Reid


I remember once, a few years ago, having a giggle at a colleague who was going to see Slumdog Millionaire “a week on Thursday”.


How I mocked “Mr Spontaneity”. Really – who plans a cinema trip ten days in advance?


Actually, it turns out that parents do. In fact, ten days now seems to me to be pretty short notice, especially as he had two small sons.


I also now appreciate that it was possibly the only fi lm he saw outside his own living room that year, and most defi nitely the only one he would have seen that month.


These days, with a few more years behind me and two small children into the mix I have recognised an epoch I have termed “the lost years”.


This is the period in which child-rearing is at its most intense and, consequently, a parent’s contact with popular culture falls to an all- time low.


Looking back on the years between 2009 and 2013 it feels like nothing really happened in the Outside World.


What I quickly realise though is that plenty happened, it’s just that I didn’t sit down for long enough to notice it.


I say 2013 because – just maybe – this is the year we stop being lost and get back in touch with cool things. Live music? Check. Cinema? Check. Meal in restaurant after 6.30pm? Check.


We’ve even rediscovered the DVD box set and acknowledged that Twin Peaks is worth staying up for past 9pm. Now I’m not sure I’d have said that last year.


So at this stage, when children love having others look after them and potential babysitters don’t run screaming at the prospect, it’s tempting to try to gorge on fun and do everything all at once.


But then you realise that while you may now have the opportunity, something weird has happened to your energy levels and for some reason you’re yawning furtively by 8.25pm.


That doesn’t mean of course that I plan to give up on this newly rediscovered Outside World.


But do give me plenty of notice if you’re planning to take me there.


You can follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahereid7


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