Even travel writers have child care issues

Way back in the ’90′s I wrote my first book No Shitting in the Toilet. In it I advised my readers to hit the road and see as much of the world as they could before they were burdened by the dreaded three M’s – Marriage, Mortgage, and Midgets.

A decade later I still don’t have a mortgage. Even when the banks were throwing money around they drew the line at giving a loan to a man who spent nine months of each year wandering around the developing world. But I am married. And I have a little daughter called Daisy.

Daisy is four. The astute amongst you may notice that that is roughly about the same amount of time since I last released a book. While I would never give up the years I’ve been able to spend with Daisy I would like to point out that I was right. The three M’s, while not as dreadful as I thought they’d be, certainly curtail the ability to wander the globe aimlessly and rootlessly.

The journey that will become Blimey has been an attempt to ‘get back on the horse.’ It has been a brilliant trip full of adventure, colourful characters and an excess of real ales and curries. And it has been local enough for me to dash home to cover childcare emergencies.

Like the past week. Our child minder got a job in a school and we’ve been left without any cover. And I’ve had to step up to the plate.

Daisy’s routine changes a bit when I’m in charge. More chocolate gets eaten. We visit mates in cafes. And we go to the movies a lot.

Yesterday we saw the new animated Disney movie, Bolt.

It was a rollicking good yarn. And because our local cinema has stumped up for a state-of-the-art projector we got to watch it in 3D. (That’s a picture of Daisy wearing the special polarised 3D glasses at the top of the post.)

So, I may be stalled on 99 countries visited. But I’m seeing a lot more animated kids movies.

And you know what? I’m enjoying every minute of it.