We went to an abso lovely event at Max’s school today. Those PTA people just do a marvelous job. It’s so great that so much gets done by so few people. Well done, those helpy people! I just don’t know how they find the time. Maybe we should get a second helper, so that I can lend a hand. I like doing that sort of thing. We could get a bunkbed for the helper room, I suppose.

There was one argh moment though, which made me feel quite sorry for Max’s new friend’s mother. I haven’t met her before, but she seems sweet.

Max and the boy, Frankie, were talking about where they live, and Max asked Frankie if he lives in a condo or a house. (We live in a house. A landed property.) Frankie said, “Oh, we live in a condo because houses are too expensive”.

At that point, Frankie’s mother looked positively mortified behind her Chanel shades (realees or fakees? Fakees, methinks, on this occasion), and she let out a little laugh, saying, “Hahaha, no honey, that’s not why we live in a condo! We live in a condo – and it’s not cheap, you know! – because it has a pool”.

Then Max, bless him, says, “Yeah, but we have a pool, and we live in a house”. Oh dear, the mother looked so embarrassed. I really felt for her. She must have wanted the ground to swallow her up. I think it was ok in the end though, because I gave her a super nice, empathetic smile, which I hope conveyed that she so didn’t need to feel bad about living in a condo. Lots of people do, including some of my besties, and it’s really no big deal. It honestly doesn’t matter to me where people live! Plus, there are drawbacks to living in a large landed property. So much floor for the help to clean every day.