I put my foot in it

Well, Friday's party was a success. Quite subdued, as parties go. I didn't even have a hangover on Saturday morning. Which was just as well, as I had arranged to meet my friend, formerly known as the Beautiful PhD student, who was taking care of her daughter for the day. We went to the Wax Museum together with one of her little friends from Kindergarten, and all thanks to the free tickets I'd been given by Dublin Tourism.

Apart from my sister's three kids, I have never spent much time around children and I felt kind of awkward because my friend's kid kept starting at me. I asked her if she liked Spongebob. She said "No."

For a cute little girl, she sure was scary.

We met outside Trinity and made our (short) way to the Wax Museum on College Green. We had to hang about a bit outside while the girls ate chocolate bars because we didn't think they'd be able to bring them in.

My friend's daughter kept staring at me ominously.

"Are you my daddy's girlfriend?" she asked.
"Ah no," I said. "We are just friends. We haven't known each other that long."
"Because he had a girlfriend before and I hated her."
"Oh...well, I'm not his girlfriend, so I guess that's OK."
"My mammy used to be his girlfriend."
"Well, we're just friends."

I was sweating here. I'm telling ya.

So then we went in and it was fine until we got to the wax statue of Gollum, whereupon the friend from Kindergarten suddenly started to cry really, really loudly.



As we tried to comfort her (the only bright idea I had was to offer more chocolate), she said, "I thought he was gone to Heaven."

Turns out, her granda died recently and she thought that Gollum was him.

"Honey, your granda was one ugly dude." That's what I thought, but of course you can't be mean to a sobbing infant.

Fortunately, there was face painting on so we did that and the whole situation was turned around pretty fast.



And Jack and the Beanstalk went down pretty well.




I'm telling you, I really like this guy but I'm actually glad now that he is unavailable for a relationship as it's clearly a minefield, getting involved with single parents.

After the Wax Museum, we shifted left about 100 metres and checked out the chocolate festival in Temple Bar, where, thankfully, nothing reminded either of the little sprites of deceased relatives.

I was telling my friend the greengrocer the whole story later, and he told me about his grandmother's wake and how she fell out of the coffin. But that's another story.

It's funny, but since Hallow'een, there's been a definite change in the way things feel. I mean, although there's no snow or ice, there's a feeling of winter. I need a coat. And while I would love to get something fantastic and expensive and vintage in one of the many shops that drive me crazy with envy, I will probably go to Penney's, as every penny counts (ha, ha) and I'd rather spend MY pennies on going out than looking fab. (Not that I won't, but you know what I mean.

Dublin Tourism had asked me to review the Wax Museum in thanks for the free tickets so here's my two cents: A great day out for all the family! The fairytale stuff will go down well with kids, but rush past the scarier items if you're with impressionable little girls.