London Life with Baby

Life in (the generally hostile) London changed for me once I had Erin. Actually it started once I began to show during pregnancy. My favourite change was it gave me a free pass to talk to strangers without them thinking that I was a) crazy, b) hitting on them, or c) about to rob them. I was always comfortable striking up conversations at bars (not like that), bus stops, changing rooms, trains, wherever really but once I was pregnant/with baby the overall response was much more positive and less suspicious. I guess this is what old ladies feel like as everyone is nice to them too. Maybe people now consider you a ‘low risk’ member of society. There is so much more love around, people offering you their seats on the tube when pregnant or a helping hand with getting your buggy off the bus with your baby. Its also easy for people to strike up conversations with you too, asking questions like, when are you due? how old is she? oooo she is so cute! Lots of people have children in their life and can relate to you. People just smiling at you when you access a soft play area or they too have a child around the same age - I now have a special two year old shaped pass to a far friendlier world.

I just got home from a weekend in Hampshire where I had to get the tube from Walthamstow to Waterloo then the train to Winchester. On the tube in rush hour we had a few smiles from fellow passengers and had two lovely chats to two different women instigated by having Erin sat on my knee.  Two more waves and smiles from two different tube drivers. More waves and smiles from the signalling staff at Waterloo station who saw us off on the train. A chat with two more people on the train itself instigated by Erin asking who they were and what they were doing.

Another major bonus of having a child is the numerous opportunities to be childish with no one judging you! The only people who truly don’t give a shit of what other people think of them are children and old people. Erin recently dragged me to my feet in a trendy coffee shop as she wanted to dance to the music that was playing, and I thought, why not! Its not everyday I get a chance to do this! Singing nursery rhymes walking along the road, playing peek a boo, chasing each other, stuff that is really fun but just doesn’t wash with your friends is brilliant.

Another change neither good nor bad which is handy sometimes, and absolutely nothing to do with living in London, is how I can now communicate with my boyfriend via Erin, for example when trying to deflect Erin’s attentions away from me in order to steel a few moments of peace - ‘’Daddy will get you a bread stick if your hungry Erin’’. Or to have convey my annoyance with him while avoiding direct confrontation -  ‘’No you can’t have your rabbit teddy Erin as daddy left it at Grandma’s house’’.

On the downside, and not necessarily just London centric, but I don’t have anything to compare it to, was that some health care professionals I would come across during the numerous first year medical checks and appointments would talk to me like I was slightly retarded. Being seen as off work and caring for a new baby full time instead of being seen in a working world as a professional I was then viewed as just a mother and for some this seemed to be considered to go hand in hand with being stupid.

Another downer is trying to get a parking space somewhere near my house on a packed permit free road less than 10 minutes from a tube station - especially important when you have a screaming baby in the car that you can’t tend to until you park - leading to fantasies of private driveways and garages of the suburbs, wouldn't that be amazing!

The End 

(Sorry about this but I have been sitting on this one for ages and couldn’t think of a tidy ending! Couldn’t think of a snappy title either - oh well its the middle that counts)