Heelys

After a lot of street pounding, I've managed to pick up a pair of this year's Christmas must-have for my six year old.

They're so rare and flying out of the stores so fast that the girl on the counter in Sports World, was actually clutching a list of the few styles and sizes of shoes with built in wheels that they had in stock. There was a sticker on the list for each individual pair, and she peeled off and discarded one of the few remaining when I snaffled the last available set in my boy's size and aimed at his gender. (When I think of the row we had when I bought him a sparkly toothbrush, I don't think he would have relished girly pink and white footwear.)

It is a strange illustration of how children change you that I was so utterly thrilled that I had pulled it off, and when I got home, "I just sat and hugged myself in my own mind," Boswell-like.

I am aware that by any objective criteria this is ridiculous behaviour.