All Work and No Play?

You know the expression "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"
Yes? Well, you can confidently apply a variant of this incredulous complaint to the week's holiday I have just endured - er, I mean, enjoyed:
With holidays like these, who needs to work??

It actually took a full 24 hours before - exhausted, bewildered and more than slightly miffed - I finally cottoned on: out of the four of us, only two were really "on holiday".
The other two had actually just found a new place of employment... and full-time, no breaks, low paid jobs as Babysitters and Entertainers of Small Children.

I'll leave you to guess who was who in this tangled web of role-playing.

Once I had grasped the notion, discussed it with FH in a foggy daze of fatigue on evening no.2, and heard him confirm that yes, being on holiday was indeed HARDER WORK than being at home, there was a certain liberation.
I just switched mindset and told myself "the holiday is for them, not you. Make them happy, show them a good time."
And the situation improved a little after that.
I tried hard to become Selfless Mother: She who cares not for her own sunbathing time or relaxation... but seeks only to bring a smile of contentment to the ice-cream streaked cheeks of her offspring.

And I did OK for a while. A sort of cross between "merry mummy" and "enthusisastic camp leader". But I confess that these roles do not come naturally to me.
I am only a part-time SAHM (stay-at-home-mum) in Real Life, and boy, that is NOTHING to being a full-time mum. I see that now, and I take my hat off to those brave souls who manage to do it day in day out, I really and truly do.
It is a noble path and a difficult one. The joys are numerous, bien sûr, but my god, it's tiring.

Here we are, back home at last - er, I mean, back home already! Gosh, how quickly a week flies by! - and look at me: back on my laptop and typing out these lines with the fury and relief of an addict just out of cold turkey.
Yes, I missed my computer. I missed my blog, I missed my solitary coffee moments, I missed my bike... halt! Stop press, pinch me: I think I almost wrote that I missed my job!

Perceptive readers will understand that all of this is of course tongue in cheek.
I didn't have a horrible time. I had fun.
The photos I'll post tomorrow will hopefully testify to that fact.
But also, well, yes, I admit: it's good to be home.