My wife and I had been discussing where I was to do with the children today. We had been thinking about me taking them to London, but she did not appear keen. And with today being a hot one, we decided last night that staying in Colchester might be better. Anyway, the children did not leave bed until after my wife left for work, so a morning trip to London would have been useless.
After breakfast, we travelled into town, stopping at TESCO to get lunch. After that, it was a cycle through town to the park which is where the picture was taken. The kids spent over an hour playing in the park. At the end of this, my son had an ice-cream, my daughter had a lolly. We sat elsewhere in the park while my son ate his later and then rode to the boating lake (or rather, pond). After locking the bikes, the kids went on the boats and loved it. After this, it was a cycling trip to show them where the skate park was and then lunch.
They loved feeding the ducks later with the crusts that they had not eaten. Then we rode along the river and across to the Hythe. And that is when the day crashed. While cycling along the river, at the back of Brook Street we came across two men almost fighting. One asked us to call the police as he said he wanted to hit a bearded man who he said had accused him of selling drugs. While I thought this was an extreme reaction, he then later claimed that this man had put a broken bottle to him. They came much to close to us while they were discussing this, worrying me and freaking the kids out. The bearded man had a chance to run to his bike, which we then used to turn round and cycle away. And I have to say that my daughter can cycle really fast!
The journey back home was meant to be much more relaxed, but due to this, the kids just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Later in the day, we did get home, and I have to say, as freaked out as they were, they were amazing both with that and the journey back home.
