November 2003

Dad was feeling a bit low the other week - going off to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, then having to take Wizzie out for a walk in the dark (he doesn’t let me take him out after school this time of year because, he says, it’s too dark!)

So, Mum and me decided to try to cheer him up. He had been saying for ages that he had never got around to seeing the film “Men In Black II”, and he had laughed his socks off during the first film. So, we popped down to the local video shop after school one Friday and hired the DVD.

Mum, as usual, went overboard. Not only did she microwave a bowl of popcorn and chill a bottle of coke - as most people would do for a night in front of the telly - but she decided to base the entire supper and evening on a space theme!

As soon as we heard Dad’s car on the driveway outside, Mum switched off all the lights and switched on all the fairy lights she had pinned up down the hallway and into the dining room and sitting room. Dad thought Mum had fused the light circuit again as he entered the house, and braced himself to go back out into the garage to mend the fuse. Then he noticed the sign on the dining room door in the light of the twinkling fairy lights:

“Space Station Com - this way”!

The frown on his forehead began to subside. Mum had made lots of brightly coloured cardboard stars and planets and suspended them with invisible thread from the ceiling. Now I know what she gets up to when I’m slaving away at school!!

Supper started with Mum’s delicious homemade tomato soup with star-shaped croutons. The main course was hot dogs with strips of carrot hanging out one end, which looked surprising like a rocket with flames coming from the bottom. Mum had even arranged the chips and peas to look like the Milky Way! To round the meal off, Mum presented us with Mars ice-cream bars (I think she’d run out of time to create anything more adventurous!)

After supper, we all settled down to watch Dad’s long-awaited film. Afterwards, Dad said the evening had been “out of this world”!!!

Dad was still buzzing about his spacey evening the next day, so I introduced him to the NASA website. Two hours later, I had to remind him that it is not good to sit at a computer for so long without a break, at which point he suggested that we spend the afternoon at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

I’d already been with the Brownies to the Observatory at Greenwich last summer, but it was fascinating learning about the constellations all over again. Afterwards, Dad said he would never again moan about coming home from work in the dark. From now on he could hold his head high and study the heavens - provided he isn’t driving, of course! In fact, we no longer dread hearing Dad’s key in the lock in the evenings, as he’s in such a better frame of mind.

Last week, I was searching the Internet again and discovered a website advertising stars you could name after people. I showed it to Mum and we’re going to buy a star for Dad for Christmas. I wonder if we can call it Bill Com-et…..???

If you want to find out more about Brownies and Guides in your local area why not visit their excellent web site:

www.girlguiding.org.uk