Beverley's Diary of a Word Wench

Sunday morning dramas

Yesterday my Sunday morning slumber was rudely disturbed by my 7-year-old nephew and 6-year-old daughter bursting in on me in great consternation as the rain thundered down on the tin roof.

"Mummy! Auntie Bevie! You've got to climb onto the roof. Quickly! We left Auntie Penny's birthday presents there in a box last night."

I'd stayed overnight at my sister's house to look after her two little boys so she and her husband could go to a party in Echuca, 2 hours away, leaving my husband to enjoy the solitude of our own house so he could study in peace.

Now, here I was in my green and pink polka dot pyjamas climbing a 15ft ladder in the pouring rain at the crack of dawn, wondering whether I should tell Penny that under my watch the kids had actually done this, or just get the presents - and me - safely out of the rain and just leave it.

The joys of children! And I thought it was going to be the two-year-old who'd be the problem!