Mummy at the School Gate

I need a new bike, and I want a Pashley Princess.  I'm fed up with the great weights of mountain bikes, and bikes where I have to lean so far forward I'm practically laying face down.  I don't want 25 gears or an aluminium frame so light I could carry it across the lake.  I want to ride on something sedate and be fitting of someone of my age. I want to get on a bike in a dress, with the wind in my hair and a basket to put my flowers in after I've plucked them from the hedgerow.  I want to pedal effortlessly through the maze of the woods, and I don't want mud up the back of my calves. Pashley Princess-image kindly supplied by Pashley. Then I came down to earth with a bump!!  Have you seen the prices of those beauties?  I could buy 10 pairs of good shoes for the kids, or  a holiday (for me solo!) at a health farm!  I could pay off my credit card bill in one foul swoop, or I could buy at least 3 pairs of vertiginous heels from coveted designers...ones I can only

My mum has always popped out wise sayings at appropriate moments and when I was younger, I couldn't understand what she was going on about.  It's only now that I have kids myself, I find myself repeating the same phrases that she did and actually understanding the meaning behind them.   My kids have no idea what I'm going on about as they take each sentence as something which is said by their mother when she's trying to offer advice. They have to question me a million times about what I actually mean.  Very often Bart will say "Why don't you just say what you mean?  It really is annoying when you don't get to the point!" Mimi will look at me blankly then just carry on with what she's doing.  She has no idea what I've just said, but doesn't question it.  She knows it means something, but isn't really bothered about it. I can see it in her eyes. I can read her like a book.  "Ma, I have no idea what you're saying....and really I