Did you know that when you’re not pushing a pram or wrangling a toddler you are free to walk down the road holding hands with your husband? It was a revelation last night and we walked along quiet streets as the sun set. And then it was a revelation that the revelation had taken so long to be had. Our first evening, our first anything in fact, 100% child free since forever.

And it was lovely.

Once we got used to the fact that we were free (freeeeeeee!) we relaxed into our chairs, sipped our drinks, ordered our food (an absolute feast) and found we could hold a conversation without breaking into nursery rhymes or a chorus of no!

We ate, we drank, we discussed our mutual unease about Mr Tumble and our mutual desire to do this more often. The freedom thing, not the conversation about creepy Mr Tumble. I only checked my phone twice – just in case Beans needed us. She didn’t. Obviously. She slept better last night that she had in ages.

We walked back through dark streets at closing time and wondered how parents who still go out frequently manage it. Our bellies were full and our eyes we glassy and we asked how it’s possible to stay awake any longer as our buggy free fingers intertwined.

This morning, at 7:20am we bumped back down to earth and into our mummy/daddy roles. But that little taste of freedom and the reminder of what life used to be like – all be it will a much higher degree of tiredness and a much lower tolerance of alcohol – was so refreshing.

Like the tantalising world that first opened up to me when I made it through the door of my first club aged 15, last nights very quiet evening of food and drink has me itching for more. Maybe one day we will be the parents who can go out, drink, maybe even dance embarrassingly and still be able to transform for toddler fun the next morning. Maybe.

Is there a training program that we could go on?!