Keeping our cool

The heat wave continues in South London. As the temperature in the city rises, so does the heat, up from the scorching pavement, up, up, up to our top floor flat. Me and Samuel have been closing the curtains like vampires and trying to keep the sunlight out. We've been sitting in dark rooms, ordering fans and super thin sheet sleeping bags that will inevitably arrive once the hot weather dissipates. And once the heat has hit green house levels, we've been heading out in search of shade and breeze.

On Monday we clambered over the rubble and through the brambles down the side of the building to sit in our garden. What it lacks in ease of access, grass, and garden furniture, it makes up for in shade. It was lovely and cool under the trees so we laid out a blanket, watched the butterflies and played with Samuel's ball.

Then we had company on Tuesday as Jim, one of my best mates from Manchester, came to visit us. I absolutely love it when my friends have time off work and we get to hang out with them during the week. It feels like such a luxury - and kind of like you're skiving off school. We braved the heat of Norwood Park where he regaled me with tales of dating in 2013 and I regaled him and Samuel with nursery rhymes. As you can see from the photo, neither of them were particularly impressed.

Today my lovely NCT friend invited us all over to her garden for some paddling pool action. A fantastic idea, and in such glorious weather, nothing could be more fun for a baby, right? Wrong. Samuel doesn't seem too open to new experiences at the moment and the poor thing cried from the moment we got in the garden. The cries ratcheted up to caterwauls by the time he got anywhere near the pool so we abandoned ship and dashed home for some lunch. Still, it's not going to stop me from exposing him to new experiences - hopefully he'll start to get the hang of social events soon. In the meantime we have a good photo to show to him at his 18th birthday party.