Will Slater: 'I was consumed by a desire to leave the children'

FOR several years I have been entering the ballot to be allocated tickets at Wimbledon and, after a couple of fruitless efforts, a nice white envelope from the All England Club dropped through the letter box earlier this year announcing that we had the chance to buy tickets for Number One court on men's quarter-final day.

I was jumping up and down as it is always one of the best days of the tournament, a guarantee of catching a couple of the star names with a young hopeful or ageing legend thrown in. It was instantly planned, a dash down the motorway, a big favour asked of family and an overnight escape to London with top-class tennis and perhaps even a glass of Pimm's thrown in. Perfect.

But there was a problem. This year the quarter-final was the day before the children's last day of term. It might not be considered insurmountable normally, given that watching videos is the main part of the curriculum for excellence at the fag end of a school year, but our older daughter would be leaving primary school. There was her graduation show, farewell service and the ritual signing of her school polo shirt which she, or we, might miss if we sneaked off.

So we passed on the tickets and watched a sketch and music show with all the children of P7 that we have watched grow up instead.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and a nice white envelope dropped through the door. It was from a great friend who I had lost touch with who is getting married next month. In Italy. Suddenly I was consumed with a desire to leave the children for the weekend and take off, to be a couple, to have an improbably romantic break built around a celebration in a picture postcard pretty Italian village.

While there are some people who haven't had a night away from their children, we know many more who seem to have several breaks sans children every year. They often have willing extended family on their doorstep and think nothing of getting a night or two away. We have managed three nights in almost 12 years. It is partly because our extended family is hundreds of miles away and partly because when you have three children it is a very big favour to ask of someone to look after them.

So Italy is off, the romantic break shelved until the next invitation we are unable to accept. Never mind, there's a swimming gala in Prestonpans that weekend instead.

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, 22 August, 2010