Pram Envy

I have to confess - I suffer terribly from pram envy. I was aghast, when pregnant, to find out that the 'cool' travel systems, your Bugaboos and your iCandies, cost more than I'd be prepared to pay for four (or possibly three) wheels and a baby-holder-bit. They're lovely, they really are - sleekly designed, light as a feather and smooth as silk on the pavement, but £500 for a buggy? Nope, couldn't do it.

So we bought a decent Graco travel system - the pram, the carseat that clips into the chassis, the cosytoes and the rain cover - for about half what one of the fancy prams cost and it's good. It's fine. No, really, it is.

But still, the pram envy. For months after Izzy was born every time I saw one of those matt silver bodied, lushly upholstered beauties, all stylish curves and chunky tyres, I felt the green-eyed monster rise from the pit of my stomach. Buggyfit was particularly bad for it - every buggy but mine, it seemed, was a designer dream. I bet they didn't have to WD40 their wheels every time it rained.

Then, though, I bought the Beast. The Baby Jogger Performance. What a machine! I bought it for purely practical reasons, needing to get out running, but boy, it's a smasher (and a bargain, being an eBay purchase). Wheels nearly the size of my car's, it tackles all terrain with ease and handles like a well tuned bike. I wheeled it into the exercise studio today for the post-natal class and heads turned. Other mums commented on it, asking how it handled and what it was like to run with. They crowded round, not to ooh and aah at poor Izzy (who was still strapped in) but to get a good look at the tyres, comment on the hand brake, and ask about its value for money. So, this was what it's like to be on the other end of the pram envy. You know what? It felt good! Now when I'm out with the regular pram, I don't feel quite so envious of the fancy-dan-prams - not when I know there's the Beast in the garage, just waiting for our next run.

Oh yes, and here's today's run. Just a short 2 miles, and a nice day for it.