Ned stared intently at the Thor alarm clock on his bedside table, staring at the little red numbers. He perched on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs and hugging his backpack. Sir Hugs' head protruded from the top, held snugly in place by the zips sitting either side of his neck. Ned was already dressed. He'd done it himself, knowing that his nanny wouldn't be awake yet. His draws and wardrobe, looking like they'd just been hit by a nuclear bomb, were testament to the fact. He'd managed to get his t-shirt on back-to-front and his shoes on the wrong feet, but he remained largely ignorant of the fact. The only thing that was bothering him were his trailing shoe-laces.

Finally finally the number on the clock changed and the little alarm went off. Ned reached out and carefully pushed the button his Papa had showed him to make it stop, and then jumped off the bed. Taking extra-special care not to step on his laces, Ned scurried across the room and stood on tip toe to reach the door handle. He pulled it open and paused in the doorway to shrug his rucksack onto his back.

Tip-toeing past Angela's door, Ned took the extra few steps to his parents' room. He pushed the door open gently and stepped inside. His Papa was nowhere to be seen. He must have been up extra early because Ned hadn't heard him leave, and he had been awake for ages! Mama still seemed to be asleep. He approached the bed and reached out towards her, resting a gentle hand on her upper arm. Ned gave her a little shake.
"Mama..?" he half whispered, staring intently at her face, "Mama...can you be awake please? Its morning and I'm ready." She stirred.

Happy that he'd done his job, Ned sat down on the rug by the bed and took his bag off again. He unzipped it and pulled out Sir Hugs, setting the bear in his lap. Then he extracted the book Sir Hugs had been guarding for him: Bug Safari. Ned opened the book carefully and set it down on the floor in front of him. Quietly he started to leaf through the pages, pointing out the most interesting looking insects to Sir Hugs in a soft voice. Grown-ups didn't like it very much when you shouted, especially when you did it early in the morning. He wanted his Mama to be in a really good mood so they could enjoy their adventure.

He hoped she'd offer to tie his shoe laces too. That was important. His nanny said that you were in danger of breaking your nose if you went out with them undone. Ned liked his nose, he didn't really wanted anything to happen to it.