In times gone by, weekends were lazy, ‘do nothing’ affairs. In the past I could sloth around in my PJs until lunchtime before I showered, dressed and made my way to a long, lazy brunch by the river Thames that lasted through lunch, dinner and kickstarted evening aperitifs…..and the best part, I didn’t have to adhere to a curfew that would require me to get up with the birds the following morning. Just thinking about those days evokes nostalgia and sentimentality. Anyone remember Barbara Streisand’s song, ‘Memory’???!!! In this context this might be considered slightly melodramatic I know…but when you haven’t had a ‘duvet day’ in what seems like forever, it is that dramatic!

‘Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile happy your days ( I can dream of the old days)
Life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again’

As my children get older, our weekends seem to be getting busier. For this, I have to admit, I was not prepared. There was a time when the weekend offered a reprieve from the hectic demands of the nursery/school/after school activities for ‘Mom Taxi’ but a sinister quirk in the parenthood galaxy translates as ‘naps are for babies, toys are for toddlers, iPads are for 4 year olds….anyone older than that has weekend long sporting demands’.

Seriously, the week has now become my reprieve.

Today, the first day of our weekend, we arrived at the kart track at 7:30AM. DS1’s first foray onto the track was 10ish…..a long time for a 9 year old boys’s attention span! For the next 5 hours we endured the repeated question from DS2 of ‘what time is it?’. He was in a hurry to get to the party to which he was invited at 3:30PM!

Tomorrow DS2 has two football matches, DD has netball league matches to play and DS1 is once again at the kart track for pretty much the whole day. DH and I have drawn straws and decided who does what.

There is no winner.

We split to cater to our children’s preferences. DH takes the track. I mop up the rest. When we overcross we will have fun. I miss our family weekends. I miss our free time. But I love that Dubai gives our kids the opportunity to explore new and exciting sports. #mydubai #dubaikartdrome #alainraceway