It was a bleak wintery Sunday when I found myself sitting in a clouded window of a warm café in Beckenham that I thought of what to write about for this months waffle on the world. I could smell the scent of hot coffee, warm pastries and hear a muffled sound of conversation occasionally seeping into my own thoughts, intermingled and making it hard to relax. The weather outside was very cold that day and I was watching people go about their daily business. Children looking at parents expectantly, parents looking at children impatiently, couples bickering and the more mature generation walking peacefully… and there was I sitting, watching and thinking about what makes us tick, what is it that makes us do what we do? It was then that I noticed a pregnant woman walking past, smiling and obviously very happy with her partner, I wondered what they were talking about and planning.

I then thought about something that I had got wind of in previous days, baby showers. Now, do not get me wrong, this is not a new mini shower invention to wash babies, I know I know – how helpful that would be to just let them have a shower each morning while you sip coffee and read ‘Woman’s Own’ or ‘Top Gear’ for you dads! Only days earlier I had received an invite to a baby shower. Ones first reaction was ‘great….free food and drink’, then a sadness crept over me as I knew the conversation would only be about babies, but that could be remedied. These feelings were then followed swiftly by an overwhelming anxiety over what to buy for the mother to be.