Once upon a Nursery Rhyme

Rub a Dub Dub

Rub a Dub Dub
Three men in a tub
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker
The candlestick maker
And all of them out to sea

Henry and Connie came back from the weekend early, they both looked fraught, guiltily I wondered,' maybe I should have gone along', I could tell at a glance things hadn't gone well, I, on the other hand, had a very good weekend, piecing together what had a happened to Clara, although there were still a lot of unanswered questions, I was raring to go on Clara's quest.

Connie flew into my arms as soon as she saw me, as though she had been away years instead of just days.

Henry spluttered

"She hasn't stopped screaming the whole time, except when she was asleep, which was few and far between, the slightest noise would wake her and start her off again. she took a dislike to Lottie (the baby), who was also fractious, Matilda thinks she is teething, all in all it was very tiresome, I've hardly slept wink, I can't tell you how glad I am to be home.

"You sit down and try to relax, I'll take Connie upstairs and get her ready for her bed, if she hasn't slept well she will be tired and will most likely be happy to see her own bed, when I have got her off to sleep I'll be back and you can tell me all about it"

I scooped Connie up in my arms, it wasn't as easy to do as it used to be, I had forgotten how much she had grown, as I carried her upstairs I could hear Henry pour himself a drink, (Matilda it seems didn't like strong stuff and seldom had it in the house) and I heard his favourite armchair creak as he flopped gratefully into it, I could hear him muttering

"Peace at last, no place like home, " contentedly

Upstairs Connie poured her heart out in her own way, I got the gist of what she was saying, while I ran the bath. Connie loved having a bath, I knew it would help settle her - poor Henry hadn't got a clue when it came to his little girl.

Usually Connie liked to play with her sailing ship, now named ' Pwitty lady ' and we would sing while we scrubbed, tonight however, she was subdued most probably because she was tired, we made it a quick bath. I put her in her favourite PJ'S and wrapped her up in a big fluffy towel, within minutes she was asleep, I would wait a few moments then put her in her bed......

We appeared in a part of Dreamland we had visited before after a bathtime nap, it was the local swimming pool nicknamed the tub. We could hear everyone having a great time inside and we hurried to join them. I decided to keep a close eye on Connie ie as I had no idea how long we would be here as whenever we visited previously we came at nap time and not bed time, would it make a difference? Would we be here all night? How would I explain that to Henry?, I just hoped he wouldn't take it into his head to come up stairs and find us gone.

It seemed as if the whole place was swimming tonight, it had been rather hot today and the evening was lovely, I looked around to see who I knew, Georgie (sigh) was there with his friends the 4 Simons, showing off and splashing around in front of the ladies, I waved at Mary Mary, Bo and Mary, further on I could see Kitty and Lucas, unusually they did not seem to be bickering but gazing adoringly at each other. Mother Hugebert was there with the shoe lady, surrounded by lots of laughing children, the one having the most fun in the middle of them all was Bert the electrician.

"Rub a Dub Dub, Connie's in the tub and who can Connie see?"

Giggling Connie looked around,

" the butcher" I couldn't see where she was looking

"Where?" I asked her

"By the brella " Mr Porgie senior was sitting in the shade next to his wife, under an enormous umbrella