Trains on Monday

Off to my mum's on an early afternoonish train. F now really looks out of the window on trains - it's another part of the exponential changes she has gone through in the last 4 months. Her imagination, the scale of it, has expanded hugely. She now looks out of the window and talks about what we can see with me, notices things, imagines things, etc. Very different. She is also great at going to the seat ahead of me, understanding when we have to get up, etc. which all goes to take the stress out of train travel. I love trains and it's so nice to be able to enjoy them again, now, with less of the "F! Too loud!" and "F! Now!" type nagalogues. A smooth and enjoyable journey, sunshine, little lambs gambolling, much discussion of landscape and buildings and other such. There was a mum and her son on the train a few seats down - I was almost sure they were home-ed too, but didn't quite get to point of asking. They had an easy relationship and really talked - he was about 9 maybe and talking about a card-collecting game. She was about 45 and had a falling-apart basket and they both had long hair and nice unfashionable clothes.
There was also a gay male couple on the train, bantering about who changed their outfits most often. They helped me with my case on wheels (now left at my mum's as I've decided I much prefer rucksacks - it was a nightmare to get on and off trains and buses).
At my mum's, F was very excited to arrive and played for a long time with a fit-together hopscotch set, much fiddling with numbers and talking about the colours and lots of hopping and jumping around generally.
I had a ton of work to do for Wednesday, so got down to it - mum only has dial-up so none of my usual social distractions online! F stayed up till midnight and thoroughly enjoyed herself.