Sofa, so good

Saturday so up at 9. He pulled the old "Exchange TV remote for empty breakfast plate" trick, finished 100% of food in 3 1/2 minutes: funny, that.

Jof has been harping on about sofas, wardrobes and dressing tables. I am interested in sofas: I like the 2-seater jobs like Elizabeth has. So the deal was struck: go to Hedge End (outside Southampton, don't talk about football) and spend a little time agreeing on a sofa set, then go to 3 swingparks as a reward.

First, we ditched the inherited TV, some foam, bottles, cardboard etc at the tip. Found the sofa shop and played hide-and-seek and Ninja attack in amongst the groovy selection of soft furnishings arranged for my personal delight. Actually, it didn't take long to identify a set (big sofa for Jof, 2-seater for me, chair for him and bonus footstool and 3 distressed tables) that didn't match the lounge decor but I bet ErinsMum will approve. At that price, I should coco.

The whole process (including Ninjas) took 1 hour so we all deserved lunch at the Giant Sainsbury's nearby. I had soss mash'n'peas with added choccie cake and I was stuffed. Then, while she went to Marks'n'Spencer, it started. 1. Hedge End recreation ground. An ace park. Full marks for this one, with the closed-at-weekends Citizens Advice Bureau car park right next door for easy access. It has an exercise park, splash-paddling pool with squirters, 16 boulders, zipline, beams, metal trains, swinging basket, ground-level trampoline, swings, 2 willow tunnels and a large spiderweb rope complex with climbing walls. This is a good park, highly recommended for little people tired of important shopping.

2. Moorgreen Park, West End, Southampton. Rubber floored, this is a small local park only but is quite inventive in its facilities. The swinging bowl (smooth not roped) seemed a little risky and the climbing frame was small but the roundabout had a timid 5 year-old and his mother so formed an alliance immediately. We showed off our park prowess to great appreciation from the doomed duo, we could whizz the roundabout much faster than she could and we were soon the centre of attention with much adulation, applause and laughter, the way I like it. We did the seesaw, bouncing carriage and tripped over the camouflaged rubber tortoises and then the 2 teenage girlies vacated the boomerang swinger. We got on and messed about as only we can, he fell off and that left me with no opposing weight: I plummeted and skinned my ankle on touchdown. Much howling later, we left. It's a small park, not worth the journey on its own but was good until I got damaged.

3. Hinkler Road, Thornhill. Large, central to a dour council estate with forbidding tower blocks all about. The park itself was pretty good, actually, with exercise machines, well-appointed skate park, telegraph pole-style posts and rope pyramid of formidable construction. Very good, 8/10 and none of the feral youths attacked us at all although there were some unfamiliar words and phraseology. My damaged foot got much better. After losing each other in Giant Sainsbury's a few times, we made it home and they abandoned me and started painting again. But I didn't care because Jof bought me a Lego Hero.