One word? When seven would do…

The suspected luxury of a lie in didn’t get much past 830am really but it was nice to wake to quietly chattering and laughing children rather than the beeping alarm.

Breakfast and dressed for the children while I sorted out the kitchen which was a bit of a bombsite as Ady had got the Christmas tree in this morning before going to work instead of washing up as he usually does first thing. We all went outside for a while to witness the ‘baby’ cockerel who found his voice and started crowing. He did it for about 10 minutes which had the older cockerel echoing and had me wondering if we’d need to find a new home for him but they both then shut up after their little duet so fingers crossed it will be a once a day chorus rather than an ongoing theme tune.

I put the lights on the tree but wasn’t really happy with them. Ady and the kids had bought them at the weekend and got coloured ones although I’d said I prefer white and they were tiny LED ones on a fairly short strand which I thought just didn’t show up enough. Finally they were on a white cable rather than a green one. And they’d cost a tenner which I thought was far too much money. I moaned about them and notice they have now been removed and boxed back up to return to B&Q and one of our perfectly good long sets of white ones has been put on the tree instead and is looking lovely 🙂 It’s still falling into place so isn’t finished being decorating yet but does look lovely and festive already 🙂

I did some emailing and ringing youth hostels and very happily news is good regarding Okehampton so it looks like we’ve got venue sorted for next years Christmas camp :).

We had a couple of cheques to pay into the bank (a cash back offer from my mobile phone and a birthday cheque for Scarlett from my Granny) so we decided to head to Littlehampton which is a bit further away than Worthing but has very easy and free parking so worth the slightly longer drive. It also has a very lovely wool shop that sells ends of balls of luxurious yarns for 50p which is where many of my blanket yarn came from. I want to knit myself a hat and gloves and didnt have any suitable wool for that either. So we paid in the cheques, spent some time in the shop choosing some lovely ends of balls and some reduced yarns for me to play with for other small things and then a new pair of gloves each in the pound shop for wearing now.

Back home for a late lunch and I baked some gingerbread stars to ice and thread with ribbons to decorate the tree. Will get some boiled sweets tomorrow to make some stained glass window ones too.

Then it was swimming. I’d already decided not to go in today, mostly because I didn’t want limp, chlorine scented hair for later and I knew I’d not have time to have a bath or shower at home (for some reason the showers at the pool never quite seem to remove the smell?) and I don’t have a clue where a hairdryer might be anyway. So I watched the lessons instead. Scarlett was first and she was given a letter to say she’s going up into the 430pm group that Davies is in from January. She did well and enjoyed the fun and games that they always do on the last week of term.

Davies was in the pool himself while Scarlett had her lesson and he found some other boys to hook up and play with. He also got a letter to say he is going up to the 5pm group in January and a badge to say he has passed Goldfish 1 – there seems very small incremental steps between levels and I rather cynically suspect this is more to award a badge (costing £2 each time) per term than anything else ;). It means Tuesdays are about to get even crazier with swimming from 4.30-5.30 and Scarlett needing to be back here for Brownies at 6pm I think – just about doable with either very early or very late tea. Then Davies needs to be at Sea Scouts for 7pm. Scarlett to be picked up at 730pm and Davies at 830pm. Oh it will be bedlam! 😉 I might email and check if there are equivalent classes at earlier timeslots actually…

Back home Ady was already here and cooking their tea so I got changed and headed off to a hotel in Horsham (just over half an hours drive) for a Christmas event for Waste Prevention Advisors which is the course I spent the last 9 Tuesday evenings doing. There were people from my course and from the previous courses over the last 3 years along with council people. We had a presentation from the head of waste services (yawningly boring) and talks from five existing WPAs on initiatives they have done which was interesting. We had a chance to chat to each other for a bit and were served very nice food – I had a very small amount as I knew I’d be having dinner at home but sort of wished I didn’t have so I could fill up there as it was lovely food :).

We were all presented with a pair of tumblers (from this company and similar wine bottle bottom style but mine have little lizards etched into them around the top).

Then I drove back home again in the rain!

I’ve watched the MPs presenting the petitions which was entertaining and is already being picked up by the media which makes me very hopeful.

I’m going to trail them round medical facilities instead.

Dentist first thing this morning. Like properly first thing at 830am. Bleugh. Not sure I’ve ever typed that before, probably won’t ever again. Hope you are all appreciating the descriptiveness of it.

Our dentist is across the road and up a bit – about a five minute walk I guess. We arrived and had a ten minute wait which made me a bit cross as last time we went we were tsked at for being a few minutes late, this time it was ten minutes after our appointment time (which was the first of the day) when we were called through.

Ady went first – he is seriously dentist-phobic. He was fine, told to improve his teeth cleaning and sent off. Davies was next and all was well with him too. Scarlett went third. Now she always got a hard time previously about her dummy so was very proud to be able to say she doesn’t have it any more. Unfortunately this was all overshadowed by the discovery that her teeth cleaning isn’t really up to par. That wouldn’t be so bad but she has tiny areas of what the dentist called ‘pre-decay’ on two of her back teeth 🙁 🙁 . She insisted that would be down to diet, and indeed she would know but I am slightly taken aback as (camp weeks aside ;)) I think the kids diet is relatively low in teeth damaging things. They only really drink water with something like coke maybe once a week with a meal, sweets are not a regular thing, neither are biscuits or cake really. They don’t really snack aside from on fruit which I suspect is the cause of the problem. I was mortified and poor Scarlett is upset too :(.

I was last and as I was already aware I have some issues with my gums. My Mum developed bad gum disease while pregnant with me and it never really improved. Although her teeth were healthy the gums receded to such a degree that she lost teeth and now wears false ones. This can be a hereditary condition so I have always been closely watched and indeed show a definite weakness in that area with regular flare ups. I was aware my gums were sore and infected about a month ago but ignored it as I knew we’d be going to the dentist soon. She said they were close to needing antibiotics and to use medicated mouthwash daily to try and sort them out.

So all feeling fairly disheartened we headed for home and Ady went off to work. The kids and I had already decided on a quiet morning so we watched Monsters Vs Aliens including the dvd extras, Davies completed some tricky levels on the MvA DS game and Tarly did some of a fimo kit she got for her birthday. We had lunch and Tarly and I gathered some flowers to put in her flower press.

During the morning Scarlett’s cough and runny nose got progressively worse and she went downhill. I’m sure tiredness has a part to play but she has definitely picked up something from last week and is pretty miserable bless her.

I’ve missed the last 2 opportunities to give blood so was keen to get along to the session today locally so we headed off there after lunch. I was rude to a pedestrian of old people (not necessary a recognised name for a group of them but I felt it was accurate) all standing huddled in the foyer blocking it off so noone could enter the building and was still riled up when we walked in. Despite not having an appointment I was ushered straight through. Whether this was luck, due to Scarlett’s hacking cough or my seething looks from the old people still apparent I don’t know but I was whizzed through the ‘have you had sex for money in the last ten days?’ style questions, passed the drop of blood in the pretty coloured liquid test and was on my back with my sleeve pushed up before you could say Jack Robinson. Quite why you’d feel the need to say Jack Robinson in the middle of a blood donor session I don’t know but that’s your issue, not mine.

Cup of tea and packet of crisps, effusive thanks all round and we were off again. I recently signed up to be an organ donor after watching a tv ad and whilst none of it is pleasant it feels like such a small inconvenience compared to the potential good it could do to give blood. The nurse told me it was my eighth time today which made me feel good :).

On the way out we decided Scarlett wasn’t up to gymnastics tonight and on the basis that Tarly wouldn’t be there Davies decided he wouldn’t go either. That makes three in a row they’ve not been to and twitches me a bit at the price. Privately I hope the novelty has worn off and they won’t want to bother after Christmas but I need them to tell me that rather than me decide for them and try and sway them.

We called into Boots on the way home and got fancy toothbrushes all round, the mouthwash for me, balm tissues for Scarlett. The nurse at the blood donor session commented on her ‘red rudolph nose’ and it is really sore.

Back home Scarlett mostly sat on me while Davies mostly watched CBBC. They had tea during which Tarly really went downhill and sat on my lap crying for a while 🙁 then they got in their pjs. A sleepover had been promised for tonight and it was very cute hearing them chat about it:
S: are you sure you want me in your room with my cough?
D: yes it’s fine, we shared a room all last week so I’ll probably catch it anyway
S: well I expect I’ll be asleep really quickly because I am tired from all the coughing so you’ll have peace and quiet after that.
😆

They went up to bed and started watching Ice Age 3 by which point Ady arrived home, pretty late thanks to calling in to give blood himself and having to wait over half an hour to do so.

I had a bath while Ady moved furniture around in the lounge to make a tree space to bring the Christmas tree in tomorrow. I cooked dinner including garlic bread that the misbehaving oven left with some cold patches – he threatened to blog about it 😉 😆

I rang back Julie the Badger leader to say yes I will be an Assistant Leader after she’d left a message on the answerphone. She was delighted and said she will try and ensure I have limited contact with Davies, particularly when it is a craft that he wants to keep as a surprise for me which is what he said his reservations were. Scarlett will be delighted 🙂 I remain unsure but happy to keep my enemies close if they start coming after HEors through community groups like Badgers, Scouts and Guides aswell as wanting to ensure that Badgers is there for the next three years that I want it to be available for Scarlett.

Off to bed now and utterly luxuriating in the thought I don’t have to set an alarm for the morning…

Everyone was up early again for present opening 🙂

Scarlett hadn’t really asked for anything specific this year other than a penknife and firesteel the same as Davies. We discussed the wisdom of this briefly but decided if we sent the children to Forest School which was all about lighting fires and using knives then it was only fair to give them the tools to continue using those skills. The firesteel hasn’t actually arrived yet but Scarlett can open that parcel when it does. The knife is on the same basis that Davies has his – they always have to check before taking it out of the house that it is appropriate and okay to carry it with them where we’re going, it is only ever to be used as a tool, not a weapon and all of the safety measures that they are ‘trained’ in are to be observed at all times. I had a penknife when I was a child and I wasn’t anywhere near as ‘outdoorsy’ as Davies and Scarlett are. Realistically it will only really be on camping trips or in the garden that they are used.

So Scarlett got her teeny penknife (with scissors, tweezers etc on it), a couple of crafty kits (fimo one, pressed flower one, some new felt pens and a Playmobile Noah’s Ark – chosen specifically for the many (pairs of) animals it came with. She also got Ice Age 3 on dvd which we’d not made to to the cinema for when it was showing for some reason so had earmarked as one to buy when it came out.

Davies, as ever, got a present too – Monsters Vs Aliens on dvd and a little mechanno style kit. They both got stuck straight in to building the ark and when Scarlett realised it was designed to float Ady ran a bath so they could get in and play with it proper flood recreation style 🙂

I made a birthday cake for Scarlett, she’d asked for a victoria sponge with cream and jam which was probably the most straightforward cake request either of my children has ever made! 😆 Scarlett and I were talking at camp about some of her more complicated asks over the years including the princess castle when she was four and the teddy bear when she was five. I still think my personal favourite was Davies’ oversized chocolate eclair :). I made two sponges and left them to cool for dealing with later.

Everyone got dressed, I sat and brushed Scarlett’s hair and we watched Ice Age 3. Then my parents arrived.

Scarlett got her usual premium bonds from them and a very Scarlett outfit of a long top with a leopard on the front, a pair of leggings and a leopard print scarf. It is white, which isn’t a colour she wears very often and she’s not a big fan of leggings so I can see the top getting the most wear but it was a – for once – very good present choice. She also got a ‘camp rock’ puzzle which was rather more inkeeping with usual presents (she has no idea what Camp Rock is, infact actually neither do I!) and there was some lego to add to the lego stash and some magnetix to add to the geomags for both Davies and Scarlett. My Mum does spend a whole afternoon with the kids every week so I think it wouldn’t be too tricky to talk to them, listen to them and get a handle on what they might like but she’s always been more about chucking money at presents and ensuring they are big, showy and overpackaged than actually thinking about what the recipient might like to own!

Presents opened and suitably cooed over we headed off out. Scarlett had asked to go to the Sea Life Centre this year. I do feel for her as most of the things she’d love to do are outside – zoos, safari etc. so pretty much ruled out in December. On her first birthday we went to Stockley Farm which is a Farm visit place in the Manchester area with tractor rides, baby animals to bottle feed etc and my parents still moan about how cold it was that day, six years later! 😆 Drusillas for her Keeper for the Day last year was pretty bleak I have to admit. So, Sealife Centre it was.

First though we went to Frankie and Benny’s for early lunch. We were conscious of going out for dinner again later so noone wanted to eat too much so we all went for breakfasts. Mum, Dad and Ady had proper full breakfasts, the kids and I went for pancakes and syrup. Unfortunately Scarlett didn’t like the pancakes but she made do with one of Ady’s fried eggs. I was really proud of her actually, it was her birthday, she didn’t like the food and she could have kicked off about it but she just sat happily picking at the egg and chatting. She told the waiter it was her birthday and at the end he appeared with an ice cream sundae with a candle in and they played ‘Happy Birthday’ on the speakers and the whole place joined in :).

Then to the Sealife Centre. We went for Scarlett’s fifth birthday and haven’t been since and a few new bits have been added in the last two years. It is pretty pricey – £40 for the four of us and another £30 for my parents and you could walk quickly round the place in under an hour so my Mum was a bit gripey about the price but I think you need to view it as a donation to the conservation and education work Sea Life centres provide and Scarlett and I particularly were very happy to stand and gaze at various fish for ages and ages. I’ve also realised, belatedly that there are lots of advance booking offers online which I should have researched and taken advantage of.

We had a great few hours, enjoyed the turtle feeding and talk session and were disappointed that the advertised shark feeding and talk didn’t happen (it turns out they only feed the sharks three times a week, I’d have thought their leaflet could have said that really) but got to ask some questions (Scarlett: why don’t the sharks eat all the other fish then?) and the guide did turn off the air bubbles for 15 minutes so we could go back into the underwater tunnel and get a far clearer look at the fish in the stiller waters. Scarlett was very excited to learn they do a Junior Aquarist day although you need to be 10 to do that so I suspect we’ll be back there again for that in 3 years. I like the rays and Davies spent ages with a catfish. I bought Scarlett a book about oceans on the way out and for some reason, although if we’d thought about it we’d have realised, we were all surprised to come out and find it was dark!

Brighton Pier was all lit up and sparkly looking so we decided to have a quick walk along it before heading for home. It was incredibly windy and earlier when it had been high tide the whole pier was being soaked with high waves breaking and splashing up over it but it was low tide now so just blowy rather than wet. Dad still complained but we reminded him it was traditional to get cold on Tarly’s birthday 😆 He stayed in the amusement arcade while the rest of us walked to the end and back again.

Back to the car and over to my parents via a quick stop at our house to put the chickens away and collect Tarly’s cake and decorating bits. At my parents I decorated the cake and we waited for my Granny to arrive as she was meeting us there. We’d decided to go to the carvery restuarant across the road from my parents house. There was friction between my parents and my grandmother (all three ways :rolls:) but the rest of us managed to ignore them all and had a drink in the bar before we were called through to our table. It’s a flat plate price and you choose which meats you want (pork, beef, turkey and gammon were on offer that day) along with a huge yorkshire pudding, then serve yourself with vegetables and condiments / sauces. You can go back up for more veg but the meat is single serving. I thought it was pretty good for £8.50 (although Ady and the kids both said the Christmas dinner at camp was better ;)) but my parents were moaning about it (are you getting a theme of the day yet? ;)). Ady, the kids and I had a great time though and took lots of pictures to entertain ourselves. I might have also topped up my wine reserves in order to keep spirits high. It was most amusing to hear my parents, Granny and Frazer all ribbing me about cooking and preparing food when I peeled the skin off Tarly’s new potatoes and mashed them for her (she is a mash addict and they didn’t have mash, only new or roast potatoes) given how everyone last week was telling me I spent too much time in the kitchen. Does anyone else have family who genuinely think they are crap, even at things they are probably pretty good at? Maybe I should have invited them to Truleigh Hill when we were so close so they could get to know me a bit better? 😉

We didn’t have dessert but went back to Mum and Dad’s for birthday cake. We did sparklers on the cake again and all enjoyed coffee / tea and cake.

We ended up staying later than I’d planned and finally got home just before 10pm. Davies and Scarlett went straight off to bed although Scarlett was awake quite late coughing. She had a great birthday, lovely to have it extended from earlier in the week with friends. I think seven is going to suit her!

I think we could all have done without the early start and busy day today but it wasn’t to be so everyone was up and ready to go by 9am.

Ady had a busy day herding his little flock of two around: First Scarlett had Wildlife Explorers over at Pulborough Brooks. It was the Christmas Party today so she enjoyed being with her friends there for the hour. I’m not sure if Davies and Ady managed a walk round or just hung out in the cafe while she was in there. At 11am they swapped and Davies went in for his Wildlife Explorers session Christmas Party which is way longer at 2.5 hours. Ady whizzed Scarlett back over this way where she went to a Rainbows / Brownies Christmas crafts day. There were four sessions although she missed the first one which was making Christmas cards she still got to make sweets, an advent calendar, a very heavily decorated snowman and have a fab few hours with her friends.

Ady collected Davies at 130pm and they found a McDonalds for their lunch as Davies is collecting the current range of Happy Meal Star Wars toys. They picked Scarlett up and 330pm and came home. They had an early tea, followed by some rowdy playing and another early, trying-to-catch- up on the sleep deficit night. This didn’t have much effect as Tarly was very excited about her birthday tomorrow and found it very hard to get to sleep mind you.

Meanwhile I headed off in the opposite direction to Stanmer Park, where we go for Springwatch, Apple Day and the kids’ had Forest School. This time it was for a Lookerers course.I heard about this when we were at Stanmer for the Apple Day event and thought it sounded really interesting so signed up for it. I quite like sheep and they have always been Davies’ favourite animal. I thought it wuuld be a great way to integrate a tiny bit more of my wannabe smallholders lifestyle into my life, a great way of learning more about something, more free training and CV adding experiences and frankly a very cool thing to drop into conversations ;).

I arrived and introduced myself to the rest of the group – we were 12 in all and a rather interesting mix. Two were men who work in office jobs and had found details of the lookerer initiative on the Brighton and Hove website when they went to pay their council tax, thought it sounded like an interesting antidote to the Monday- Friday desk bound work life so signed up, two more were planning to be smallholders one day and keen to gain experience and knowledge, another was a newly passionate volunteer for anything and everything he could find to volunteer for, several more were outdoorsy types who had heard about it and thought it sounded good, one was the son of a shepherd who had long since left country ways behind but found himself hankering for a touch of it and finally we had a journalist from The Times there to write a story about being a shepherd! Myself excluded the only Crazy seemed to be the woman who had also seen the sheep at Apple Day, fallen in love with them as they were so beautiful and felt she had been called to take care of them. Interestingly she later was not at all inclined to actually touch them 😆

The morning was classroom based and took in why they are grazing sheep (conservation, protecting wildlife and chalk grass downland, environmentally friendly rather than fossil-fuel driven mowing, creating no waste product (other than sheep poo which alllotment holders come and collect and sheep which go back into the food chain) and sustainable), the law regarding sheep and DEFRA regulations, a shepherds year (both conservation and commercial shepherds), what to look for while lookering in terms of sheep health and wellbeing and some common ailments sheep suffer from. We learnt about the history of the South Downs geologically and looked at old maps of the area and then saw pictures and heard graphic descriptions of fly strike, scald, footrot, scab and other sheep related mishaps. The session was led by the main ranger for Brighton and Hove and the farmer who works for Sussex Wildlife Trust and owns the sheep that graze on their land over the winter.

It was all fascinating. I learnt loads and in the same way as I’ve found the WPA course to be full of content and am interested in and therefore soak up like a sponge I realised again how much this sort of stuff appeals to me. Weird huh?! 🙂

We had lunch and chatted which was good, always nice to learn more about new people. The farmer was probably the most interesting, I really enjoyed listening to him :). After lunch we jumped into 3 landrovers and headed over to his farm. We were split into two groups and I was in the group that went off to the field first to learn about electric fencing.

We erected an electric fence, connected up the power and then tested it at various points to ensure the current was flowing. We were shown how to break the circuit so we can perform basic maintenance and checks. All very hands on and practical.

Next we went bacl to the barn and were shown a flock of sheep and how to handle sheep including how to roll them so you can inspect their feet and under their belly. I was very surprised that not everyone wanted to have a go at this when we were offered the chance as it is possibly one of those not to be missed experiences in life! I can’t wait to have a slot to go and look at sheep and impress Ady and the kids with my sheep rolling skills 🙂

We were taken back to Stanmer Park and left as trained lookerers. Quite the most quirky day I’ve spent in a while :).

I came home via Tesco for various bits and while gazing into the mirrored window while in the queue I spotted my Mum’s reflection. It took me ages to work out precisely where she really was with all the mirror effects 😆 We had a brief chat and made arrangements for tomorrow which saved me a later phonecall.

Finally home where Ady greeted me with a cup of tea and a lovely warm bath. X Factor, the end of last night’s half written post, everything flickr’d and when she eventually did go to sleep Scarlett’s presents wrapped.

I’m very tired and suspect it will be another Not Lie In tomorrow so am going to bed, just a few minutes before life changed forever this time seven years ago.

I knew we’d always struggle to match the magic of last years pretty near perfect Christmas Camp at Helmsley. The snow, the prettiness of the venue, the slightly smaller and therefore more initimate group of friends feel to the gathering all contributed to a holiday that leaves all four of us misty eyed when we think of it. We also got to extend our holiday by staying with friends in Leeds on the way up and of course having the best part of daylight hours travelling home on the last day.

But this year way more people wanted to come – and very pleased I was to have all of them there – but it meant Helmsley simply wasn’t big enough for us, and actually maybe you should never go back and try to recreate anyway. Truleigh Hill was tried and tested from 2 years ago, cheap, available and large enough (with some creative of theoretical bodies). There are benefits – Ady and I had a ten minute journey there on Monday and the same back home again today, we were able to justify taking both our cars so brought up a Christmas tree and did an online food shop which arrived at our house on Monday morning and was put straight from the ASDA lorry into the back of Ady’s car – wish someone else had done the walking up all the stairs with food for 50 people for four days mind you, that was a bit of a killer!

Whenever I talk to people about our Christmas camps (at work, friends etc.) they always think it sounds like such a wonderful thing to do. I love that alongside Davies and Scarlett’s memories of Christmas with Ady and I, their grandparents, uncles, cousins etc they will also have memories of sitting at great long tables filled with all their very best friends pulling Christmas crackers, singing Christmas songs, exchanging presents and just spending that time with the people who we now consider as much our family as those we are related to.

Monday Was really very laid back for a holiday start. We got up, leisurely packed up clothes, cameras, various chargers and other such essentials including a Christmas tree and lights. We wrapped the secret santa presents, took delivery of a huge online food shop and I nipped up to Sainburys for the last couple of bits I’d forgotten to add or had been missing off the order. We were a bit on the random side about eating lunch, I think the kids did but I didn’t manage to – not sure about Ady, and we were off!

We arrived at the hostel, were greeted by the hostel manager and his sidekick (Bearded and Non-bearded) and set about bringing all the food upstairs and getting the kitchen organised. Davies and Scarlett chatted to Bearded about Star Wars videos and we borrowed some bluetac so Ady and I could whizz round and allocate rooms with names on doors. While still doing this Layla and Si arrived :). Others arrived in a steady stream – memorable were Chris and Helen for the vast quantities of crispage and cake they came bearing (in the style of gold, frankincense and myrrh). We’d just about started to fret on the whereabout of Jan and Jonathan when they too arrived, which just left The Babs who was supposed to be late and ended up not as late as she’d expected. It was all a bit alternate reality with the order of arrivals to be honest!

Alys’ birthday was celebrated with games, pass the parcel, gifts given, Happy Birthday sung and cake candles blown out.

Wine was mulled 🙂

We had pasta for first night meal, which we did plain, pesto, tomato, bolognaise with or without cheese, all served with garlic bread. I have to concede to first in a series of Things I Learnt In The Kitchen This Week # 1
Ady was right, it would have been to cook the pasta in several small pans rather than one large vat.

As ever evenings begin to merge but it’s safe to say it was 3am ish.

Tuesday Scarlett was still very hopeful (as were we all) that Alex would be arriving at some point so kept badgering me for updates. She was very upset when it eventually became obvious she wouldn’t be making it :(. There was some crafting – thanks to all who brought the various lovely things for the children to do. I reached sitting around doing not a lot saturation point so went off to do some baking and was joined by Katy doing more of the same. I really enjoyed the interludes with various people in the kitchen – Bob, Katy, Jan, Babs, Michelle and of course Alison who was in the kitchen for about every minute I was too (thankyou darling x) – we covered all sorts of things from religion, careers, callings, philosophy and more of the life story stuff that I love hearing about people. 🙂

Dinner was stew so we had the customary dumpling tossing event by Scarlett, Alison and I (oh how I have missed Alison for that!) and Tilda came and had a few shots too. Scarlett accidentally discovered a new move for 2009 of the ‘bounceback’ which involved hitting the wall above and splashing back into the pan. I think only 3 dumplings were lost (down the back of the cooker) to the cause 😆

The stew didn’t manage to be properly traditional in that it failed to stick to the pan but I don’t think anything was lost by that 😆

Another evening, more crisps, more cake, more alcohol, I laughed until my sides hurt at various things but specifically remember Ady tellling the testicle story which gets embellished slightly more every time I hear it but never fails to be very entertaining.

Wednesday We had our visit to the South Downs Planetarium. The man I’d been booking it through by email rang me in the morning to ask which way we were coming so I passed my phone to Ady, who has lived and worked in Chichester for about 450 years so knows it really well and they had a nice chat about how it was in the grounds of Ady’s old school and he’d get to drive past the bike sheds he used to smoke behind and the fields he played football on as a lad. It all seemed very amicable and they agreed the right way in would be the route we’ve taken the last twice we’ve gone. At no point, unfortunately did either of them mention satnavs, which is a shame as it turns out their postcode doesn’t actually lead you there:(.

We’d debated a convoy but actually 6 or 7 cars is pretty tricky to convoy and as everyone either had a satnav in their car or was following just one other car with one and I was getting stressed about us not leaving at 1030 like I’d wanted to we headed off thinking we’d arrive at most five minutes before everyone else and be able to introduce ourselves, work out prices and so on. So we drove straight there, pulled up, were greeted by the very grumpy man who asked ‘where’s all the rest then?’ and was horrified when I assured him they were but a few minutes behind us and all had satnav disclosing that that wouldn’t actually get them there!

I’d already talked to Fran / Merry once so between us Ady and I rang everyone else and talked them in from the incorrect postcode sat nav (street name was fine, so some people arrived just fine anyway) but the man had a very strange manner about him and was utterly intolerant of us being even slightly behind schedule. The other men there were very relaxed and assured us not to worry, took us into a hall where we could leave our coats etc and then took us through in groups to the planetarium.

This was our third visit there (we saw an ‘in the sky this month’ show and a ‘whistlestop tour of the planets’ show, both by the same, older presenter who was excellent so I was a bit worried that the far younger man who was doing our presentation wouldn’t be as good. It was an utterly groundless fear as he was fab. 🙂 The show was a little bit of everything – taking in the sky tonight at four different times going from sunset through to the early hours. He talked about light pollution, pointed out various constellations and stars, all planets visible in the sky currently, the moon and it’s phases. Then he talked about the solar system and did a show of all the planets (and dwarf planet), asteroid belt, sun, moon, stars etc. We took in the Northern Lights before finally seeing sunrise and the sky lightening. He then did a very lengthy Q&A session with the kids and did a fab job of answering the amazing array of questions he was asked. Most were very sensible, very well framed questions on everything from why we don’t have east and west poles, to what do we think caused the big bang and whether two stars crashing together would form one bigger star. I was really proud of the all the children for sitting still, clearly being interested, asking questions that showed they’d taken in what was said and wanting to know more. It was ace 🙂

Back to the hostel, via home where I picked up Scarlett’s birthday cake and some towels. Most people had already arrived back and were tucking into a late lunch. We had one of my favourite conversations of the week which involved the signs in swimming pools telling you what you aren’t allowed to do. Some people claimed to have never seen one 😯

The children who had wanted to put on a caberet show for us. This included a few instruments, plenty of singing, a couple of jokes and a play. It was, as ever, entertaining and charming :).

We got curry going for dinner, I assembled Scarlett’s rainbow cake which had, as I feared, lost it’s layers but gained a very bright marbled effect, made all the more lurid with green coloured cream and smarties! We sang Happy Birthday, she blew out the candles and was presented with some very lovely presents – thanks all. She did one of the kits that evening, has done several more since we’ve been home today and has gone to bed wearing her buff and fingerless mittens every night 🙂 She is clearly very well known by you all as you got it spot on 🙂

Curry was good, it smelt even better when some people had seconds at about 11pm and then again the next morning for breakfast / lunch :). As is traditional on ‘Christmas Eve’ several of us were in the kitchen til nearly 11pm peeling, chopping and prepping veg. I was not one of the last to bed but when I was droopy of eyelid at 130am ish I thought bed was a sensible place to go.

Thursday Was Christmas Day :). Ady got the turkey in nice and early so it could cook slowly and it was delicious :). We put the first shifts of roast potatoes in the oven and I had Things I Learn In The Kitchen #2 when I discovered, fortunately in time, that lard is not as I had always thought a vegetable oil product but a pork one!!!! 😯 I’d always thought it was dripping that was meaty and lard that was not and clearly as I’ve never had to check before it’s never been a false assumption I’ve had corrected. Barbara’s horrified facial expression is one that will stay with me forever though 😆 Luckily I’d only basted the first two trays of potatoes so we were able to clearly mark those as not for veggies and ensure everything else was suitable for veggies.

A fair few of us had planned to head out, lead by Marcus, for a geocache walk that morning so we set off, with miles of sky above streaked with all sorts of potential weather. The first clue was based on the sign outside the hostel itself so the children worked that out and we headed off using the coordinates from that. I have to say I’ve never known such a successful geocache as we found both the little cache with the next set of coordinates and the big main cache too.

The walk was nice, very up and down hill and included some muddy and rough terrain aswell as finishing with a short walk through some very large shrubby trees which meant the whole thing felt very much like we were walking through the pages of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. This feeling was compounded by hurting, chilling hail on the very last leg of the walk. Scarlett and I fell out over her refusal to stay still and be in the self timer photo we took although we made up pretty quickly. I walked the last bit with Michelle and we ended up first back at the hostel by quite a margin aside from Elijah who whizzed past us on his bike right at the end, closely followed by Kit and Johnathan, hare and tortoise stylee who ran past us at the very end to claim their positions! 😆

I put a vat of mulled wine on and we got stuck into getting Christmas dinner happening. Alison and I made mince pies on the basis we were in the kitchen anyway and then went out to watch the Christmas carols that Helen, Em and a couple of others had worked really hard with instrument playing children to pull together. We had a lovely sing-song. I learnt that many notes in descant versions of carols are now beyond my reach, but I had a go anyway.

Tables were laid, some people got changed and a very efficient human chain of platers, servers and eaters was set up which meant I think we had first to last person served within about 10 minutes. Given our incredibly limited kitchen space, oven facilities, workspace and other handicaps I think we pulled off a remarkable feat once again :). Ady and I were very well thanked by infact Chris and Alison had easily as much of a part in it as we did and there were several others who were equally heroic in making it happen. Along with the people who cleared it all away again afterwards.

Marcus and Michelle – do they wash up? Yes they wash up!

Mince pies went in the now empty ovens and we did secret santa. I think every single person was really pleased with what they unwrapped :).Again, I love how well people know each other and how the gifts reflected in-jokes, known interests, skills of the giver and how much thought, love and inspiration had gone into the gifts :).

The children had watched a film during the afternoon and the original plan was for the adults to do the same in the evening but once we’d all had Christmas pudding, mince pies, custard and cream noone felt inclined to do too much. Ady and I were very slack and decided to let Davies and Scarlett stay up, aslong as they were out of the way as long as they liked. Elinor, Chloe and Freya joined in and the five of them had a lovely last night playing together. I’m not at all sure they managed to not disturb anyone else which was our other condition of the late night but they had a ball.

We made the most of the very last night and for the last three of us – Helen, Alison and I, it was our latest night of the week. Lovely to sit and chat with lovely friends though.

Friday Came around all too quick and morning was even more unwelcome on about four hours sleep. We put the hostel back as we found it and people gradually drifted off. Last to leave were Chris and Helen, us, Michelle and Babs who left in that order down the windy lane. Scarlett loved having friends sandwiching us for part of the way home. Ady ran Ali and Freya to the station and we arrived back at home at almost the same time. Let the chickens out, cleared up protests from Candle and were eating turkey sandwiches within the hour!

We had a very quiet afternoon with baths all round, Davies did the dragon puppet he’d brought home from camp to do and Tarly did the fimo-alike stuff she was given as a present. I began flickring. Early dinner followed by early bed for Davies and Scarlett and a relatively early dinner and very early night for us.

It was a fab week, already missing having all my friends around. Thanks to all who came, here’s to next year!