One word? When seven would do…

The promised post is in draft but it’s taking ages to get written down properly.

Today Davies, Scarlett and I went up to London. When I got the latest Educators brochure from the Science Museum I went through and booked up various events. They are super cheap and generally very good. Today was a Space Day and we’d booked to see Fly Me To The Moon at the Imax 3d cinema and a drama character talk of an American actor playing Gene Cernan (the last man on the moon).

So, up with the alarm, breakfasted, lunch packed and on the platform with a full 15 minutes before our train was due proving we can do it when we have to, it’s just that we don’t really want to ;). I’d brought the kids’ DSs to play on the train knowing they can get a bit restless – it’s one hour 20 minutes to London from Lancing and only the very last five minutes has much worth looking out of the windows at when you are a child who has done that journey so many times before. I get tired of playing ‘on Monday I went to the supermarket and I bought…’ for the full 3 hour return journeys every time 😆 So they DS’d, I’d brought a notepad and pen and spent about half an hour writing down things to commit them to paper – don’t remember the last time I wrote like that, it was very productive :). I then read The Metro and once I’d finished Scarlett had tired of her DS so she borrowed the pen and doodled all over the faces of all the pictures in The Metro. Actually we all three joined in with that, it was very entertaining. We left our masterpiece there for others to admire 😆

Straight through Victoria and on to a tube, I’d been fairly sure we were on the right platform heading in the right direction and we’d leapt onto the train that was about to pull away when we arrived so it was a relief to hear the ‘next station is…’ announcement was what I was expecting :). The long walk through the tunnel to the Science Museum, a thankfully empty bag search and tickets queue and we were at the Imax for the required 10 minutes before the film started. Actually they were very slack at time keeping and the 1040am start didn’t happen until about 11am.

I’ve not been to an Imax before and it was just awesome – the hugest screen ever and the 3d effects were truly amazing. The very first scene had everyone gasping, exclaming and reaching out to touch things that seemed right infront of our faces and the whole hour of the film maintained the effect. If you’ve not experienced it I’d really recommend it. So much so we are looking to book all of the 3d films there soon, especially as on Educators rates I was free and the kids were only about £4 each.

We were all hungry and debated what to do next as we had about half an hour before the Gene Cernan thing. In the end we decided to head to the cafe for tea and sneaky eating of our brought lunch at their tables. We needed to get back for Badgers tonight but our next couple of booked dates are on days we have no need to hurry back so we decided to shelf further museum exploration for when we have more time.

Gene Cernan was okay – Davies and I quite enjoyed it but Scarlett didn’t find him engaging or interesting enough. He was quite preachy and teachery and did that annoying thing of telling you what you were going to find interesting or boring. He was up against various late arrivals of school groups which didn’t help and meant he lost his thread a little. The best bit was the last five minutes or so when he took questions which he actually did really well at. He talked about gravity, Einstein and his theories, how rockets get to the moon and back again, how you eat, drink, sleep and go to the toilet in space and certainly knew his stuff even if he wasn’t terribly convincing as the real astronaut.

We came out and decided to head for home there and then. It was raining quite heavily but thankfully aside from a short dash to the tube station the rest of the journey was undercover. There was a train pulling up as we arrived once again and we only waited about 10 minutes at Victoria for a train home. The kids mostly DSd although we chatted a bit too and then they played a very extended game of rock, paper, scissors which also featured fire, wind, water, electricity and trees 😆

We were back home by about 330pm so they had some time in the garden with the ducklings while I drank tea and cooked their dinner. Badger clothes on and back out again. Julie wasn’t there tonight so it was a bit chaotic. Jan, who used to run it years ago was there and in a fit of rebelliousness we all decided to do outdoor games at the beginning of the session rather than at the end to wear them all out a bit, they came in ready for a drink and a rest which meant they were able to listen and be calmer easier. We talked about things you can and can’t eat in the wild. Jan isn’t great at getting the Badgers to listen or participate and tends to ask the same children each time for their input and ignore all the others. There was also some not strictly factual stuff said about what is and isn’t edible and I could see Davies and Scarlett squirming but wisely staying quiet. They then all did a poster warning about picking and eating things if you don’t know what they are.

We got home not long after Ady and I finished reading Scarecrow while the kids scoffed fruit. We’ve enjoyed Pulman and suspect we may come back and read more of him another time. It only started as we are seeing a play of The Firework Makers Daughter later in the summer so wanted to have read the book first. Davies and I read some of Clockwork and we enjoyed the Rat too. I think we may return to a Morpurgo again next though, his books are just lovely to read aloud.

Junior Apprentice, lovely dinner by Ady and now I’m heading to bed as I’m back to work tomorrow and suspect I have a backlog of stuff to be getting on with making for a long and busy day.

Off to visit our new friends who live on a boat today. Abbie is 8 and gets on really well with Scarlett, sharing a love of animals and talking non-stop. They have met three times now and still fill all their time together nattering away like two old women :). Helen’s middle daughter, Alex, who is 12 and has just done a short stint in school for 8 weeks before coming back out again to be ‘boat schooled’ was there so we met her too today and she is lovely :).

We had a couple of hours on the boat and Helen had put out various crafty bits and pieces for the kids to make stuff with while the rain drummed the boat windows and we drank tea – something very lovely about the little cabin and the smell of meths from the cooker. We had lunch and the children all spent some time out on deck watching the swans, ducks, coots and moorhens that hang out in the marina. The weather had finally cleared up so we went for a walk alongside the canal, through the woodland and sat on the beach.

We saw various wildlife including a pair of moorhens and their chicks and loads of ducks. At the beach the girls spent ages looking at shrimps and crabs. Helen and I chatted and idly watched a group of firemen doing a rescue training exercise to a stranded fireman out on the sand flats. All very watchable ;).

By then it was getting close to us needing to head off so we said goodbye and arranged to meet up again soon, then we drove back to Worthing to the beach where we had time for 20 minutes before swimming lessons. Davies said his arm was still hurting – he has been using it fine and no real bruising has come out but it clearly is still playing him up a little. I am fairly certain it was a bad fall that will sort itself out rather than anything requiring attention and have been watching him closely to make sure he is using it but was prepared to agree swimming might be painful. He was also being a bit wobbly about Scarlett playing with Abbie and not really needing him so I used the opportunity to sit and have a chat with him while Tarly had her lesson.

We talked a bit about Home Ed generally, how I feel he sometimes coasts along with things rather than using the immense freedom he has to best advantage and how coming up to ten I would have expected to see more strides out for independance from him. I think he often forgets how liberal I am about letting him try things if he only asks, but not so proactive at pushing him forward, prefering for him to make these leaps and bounds on his own. Last year was a big year for him with things like Badger camp and I think he maybe overreached himself slightly and has fled back to me again and safety. I am more than happy for him to plod along with all things at his own pace but would hate to feel he is missing out on opportunities or may one day regret not being more adventurous or demanding of new things. We talked over a couple of things he wants to learn more about, discussed some ways he can make things happen for himself and I will let him go away and digest some of that and maybe follow it up again in a few days to see how he is feeling about it all. I think Davies can be a lot like Ady – excellent at acheiveing when someone puts him on the right path but not so good at working out what he wants and how to get there. His self-motivation isn’t huge and sometimes he needs a prod to remind him that he wanted to do something and therefore he really should get out there and do it. I don’t want to be prodding particularly but maybe I do need to do it every so often.

Scarlett had a good lesson, her backstroke is coming along really well. She now gets herself changed for her lesson and dried and dressed again afterwards which is nice – she is counting down the months until she is 8 and can be in the pool herself. When Davies was first 8 I couldn’t contemplate leaving him but I can easily see me letting the two of them go to the pool by the time Scarlett is 8. Can’t really see how or why I might need or want to but I could see it being perfectly possible dropping them off outside and collecting them again an hour or so later.

Back at home I cooked various versions of eggs for the kids’ teas while Scarlett played outside with the ducklings and Davies watched Astroboy. Ady arrived home and Tarly and I nipped up to the allotment to cut down some grass. Back home again I read some story and they went to bed to listen to an hour of audiobooks each. They are both listening to various Harry Potter cds so it is quite soothing to listen to Stephen Fry’s voice drifting from various parts of the house. For once I did make them both turn off after an hour or so though as we are off to London for the day tomorrow so will have a far earlier start than any of us are good at.

Otherwise I won’t catch up!

Slept in late, must have needed it. The kids had sorted out their own breakfast – hurrah! I’ve been lecturing Davies lately about getting a bit more self-reliant as he is *nearly ten!*. I think some of it is going in. He is very hard to be cross with for long as he has so little attitude and when I point out something he is doing wrong / annoying he tend to agree, promise to try harder and at does seem to try. Probably just as well, I couldn’t cope with two who shout back ;).

Kids did some Xboxing, played with the geomags, fell out and made up, I cut Davies’ hair a bit as it was just getting on the neglected side of unkempt rather than a style choice. They played outside with the ducklings.

We had lunch, nipped into Lancing to the pound shop for Chatterbooks supplies (squash, biscuits, felt tips etc.) and then into the library. Got everything ready for Chatterbooks, talked to two of the children from the previous sessions who happened to be in the library and were really pleased to see Davies and Scarlett and the four of them chatted for quite a while together which was nice to see.

New Chatterbooks attendees arrived and we all introduced ourselves. They made name badges, had refreshments etc. Two of the girls remembered Scarlett from Rainbows which was nice :). We did the tour of the library, chose books by their covers, did the book cover jigsaw, designed our own book jackets and talked about illustrations. It all felt slightly rushed (we had squashed two sessions into one) and tough getting to know names etc so quickly but I think it went well. Certainly less obviously disruptive children this time, which is good.

I did some photocopying for Badgers, caught up with various colleagues, the kids collected a MASSIVE pile of audiobooks I’d ordered in for them, Scarlett chose a heap of non fiction books about animals (she has about 35 items on her library ticket at the moment!) and then we came home.

I made them bacon and mashed potatoes for their tea, hung some washing out, brought some in (just before it started to rain), made pastry and cooked more bacon for quiches (for dinner, for having cold for lunches and for the freezer for a dinner next week), turned some very sad bananas into cupcakes and chatted to Ady who had arrived home. Nipped to the supermarket for more supplies leaving the others in the gartden, came home to recall too late I’d left a quiche baking blind in while I was gone 😳 so made some more pastry.

I read the kids a chapter of Scarecrow along with a non-fiction books about food chains and food webs which was interesting. They went to bed, I had a bath, finished making dinner and Ady and I caught up with Doctor Who.

Having had a fab weekend with friends last weekend this weekend the four of us enjoyed some time together just our family :). I’d booked tickets for a Spring Into Summer event at River Cottage HQ months ago as a surprise for Ady with the intention of camping nearby on the Saturday night if the weather was suitable. The forecast suggested it would be so we booked one night at Shrubbery Campsite as recommended by River Cottage website.

On Saturday Davies and Scarlett had Wildlife Explorers so we had our usual mad dash out of the house in the morning, dropped them in the classroom at Pulborough Brooks (their session was on ponddipping, they found loads of different things in the ponds at PB) and Ady and I sat on the patio of the cafe enjoying the sunshine, drinking tea and coffee and talking about some fairly exciting plans we are in the very early throes of looking into for the future (more about that later, probably).

The drive down to the Dorset / Devon borders should be 2 hours and we have done it in that before but the New Forest section of the road is always very trafficky and the A31 / A35 is often very slow so we anticipated it being more like 3 hours and that is what it took. We’d initially planned to head straight there and find lunch when we arrived but plaintive cries of hunger and being starving from the backseat meant we stopped at Sainsburys for sandwich supplies instead along the way. Duly sated we carried on our journey with all four of us talking about different life ideas.

We found the campsite, enjoyed the warm welcome the website had promised and were told to go and pitch anywhere. It was ideal for being located near to River Cottage (about 2 miles), had nice flat grass, a good mix of all sorts of pitch (we were just on non-hookup so no marked out pitches, just a guide of being 6m away from other tents). There was a fairly big kids playground with swings, slides, climbing frames etc. The toilets / showers / washing up areas were all super clean and modern and the shop was well stocked and reasonable. Not somewhere I’d go for a long stay as there was none of the sense of wilderness I like about camping and it definitely wasn’t a lighting a fire to sit round in the evening type campsite, but perfect for pitching our tent and heading off out again from.

The tent went up really easily, we’re fretting now that the big Outwell will seem like such an ordeal in comparison to this littler tent when we use it for Scotland. We got sleeping mats up and sleeping bags installed and then shut the tent up again and headed out to Lyme Regis. It was slightly too far to walk, which was a shame as it was a lovely warm afternoon and parking is a nightmare in Lyme Regis but we found a one hour space which gave us enough time to look round a couple of the fossil shops, recreate a picture of Davies sitting on a cannon from October 2004:
Original: ” alt=”” />Updated:” alt=”” /> and have a wander along the beach / paddle / clamber on the ‘Keep off the rocks’ rocks and back again.

We got an ice cream and headed back to the car. We’d realised we didn’t pack towels so needed to go and buy at least one from somewhere for a shower later so we went into Axminster to get towels and milk for tea / coffee later / for the morning. Then back to Lyme Regis where parking restrictions had ended for the evening.

We walked along looking in rockpools at crabs, sea urchins and little fish, watched a cormorant perched on a rock just out to sea displaying his wings and the kids climbed up the sea wall. The tide started to come in and we were all getting hungry so we headed back to the main beach via the chip shop and had fish and chips on the beach for tea, threatened by seagulls coming ever closer in hope of being tossed a chip or two.

Davies and Scarlett had another paddle and we finally persuaded them away at about 830pm. Time for a couple of self-timers and a look in a book shop which was still open. Scarlett spent ages chatting to the owner and was very tempted to buy a book but decided against it at the last minute.

Back to the campsite and Ady and I sat and chatted while Davies and Scarlett joined the throng of children playing in the park area. I could see the games getting progressively wilder and more boisterous and was wondering how long it would be before there were tears when Davies came back cradling his left arm with a very concerned looking Scarlett by his side. He got all the way over to me before bursting into tears and saying he thought he’d broken his arm. I’d not been watching and whilst Scarlett was adamant it was the fault of a couple of girls who’d be chasing Davies and was all for going over to yell at them Davies was more measured and said he’d fallen heavily on it and it was just an accident. Ady and I looked at it and got him to do various arm testing things and decided it probably wasn’t broken but badly bruised instead.

We decided it was bedtime for the kids so I took them across to the shower blocks to get cleaned up, teeth brushed and into pyjamas. I’m sorry Davies got hurt but it did mean there was a more calm feeling to bedtime and they both laid down quietly chatting in the tent which is a bit of a novelty as they usually take forever to get to sleep when we’re camping. Ady and I sat up for a bit longer chatting before deciding we were actually quite tired too so we joined them in the tent. I read a chapter of The Scarecrow and his Servant and all three of the others were all but asleep by the time I finished that. I read a bit of my own book and I think even I was asleep before midnight.

Sunday morning I woke first. We’d had a bit of rain in the night but it was dry again by morning. I had a shower and managed to spectacularly slip over on the wet floor with bare feet. I’d not yet put my contact lenses in so couldn’t see very well either and people came over to help me up. Very embarrassing! I was not seriously hurt but do have a very impressive bruise on each knee to show for my clumsiness. Back at the tent the others were all stirring. Davies had slept fine and aside from some small purple bruises on his elbow and it feeling a bit stiff seemed to have no lasting effects. We went to the shop for some cereal for breakfast and met the campsite cat who was sitting on the counter. Back at the tent Ady was making tea and coffee on our little stove. Really impressed with it, it folds down really small into it’s case, doesn’t even need matches and seems to be fairly efficient on it’s little gas bottles. I wouldn’t want to be cooking loads on it but it’s ideal for boiling a kettle for overnights away.

Davies and Scarlett went off to play crazy golf on the campsite while Ady and I packed up. Scarlett managed to get bitten by the campsite cat which did have us wondering if we could sue the campsite for nearly broken arm, child savaged by wild cat and serious slipping injury in the shower block – or whether we should just hurry up and leave before something happened to Ady :).

River Cottage HQ was a really short five minute drive away. It’s very discretely marked and they are firm about the fact it is a working farm that does not accept visitors other than for pre-booked events. I’m not sure how many people were there but it couldn’t have been more than a couple of hundred, parking restrictions alone (one small field) would prevent bigger numbers. We waited for a tractor and trailer ride down from the field to the farm and looked at the programme of events, talks and demos. Hugh F-W has long been one of Ady and my heros and although we knew he wasn’t going to be there it was still pretty cool to be in the venue for the TV shows and books we know and love. We have definitely been inspired by River Cottage and HFW and he is one of the few ‘celebrities’ that our rather famous-people-ignorant children would recognise, probably as ‘that chicken man’ 😆

First stop was the Produce Exchange stall where you could hand in something you had made / grown / baked yourself for tickets to come and barter for something in exchange later. I’d taken a pot each of strawberry and chilli and strawberry and lavender jam. The strawberries were picked fresh on Thursday locally and the chillis were from our freezer, grown here at home last year, the lavender was from the garden that day. We got two tickets in exchange to come back with later and select from what others had brought. Fab idea :).

Next we joined a standing room only talk about butchering a whole lamb being held by one of the butchers watchers of River Cottage will have seen, with one of the RC chefs cooking the meat as it was cut and a member of the audience duplicating the butcher’s actions to show how easy it was. They said you can buy a whole organic lamb direct from an abbatoir for £80 – the two leg cuts would be £40 each alone so if you can butcher and joint it yourself everything else is a bargain and what a lot else there is! This is one of Ady’s passions /interests / yens to learn more about so he was pretty enthralled, I was really interested as while slaughtering an animal is something I’d still be pretty nervous of cutting it up afterwards and learning what to do with the various cuts is very interesting. Davies and Scarlett were possibly slightly less enthralled but interested nonetheless :). We realised we were so far back we wouldn’t be getting any nibbles of the various delicacies the chef was preparing and there was so much else to see that we moved on after abotu 15 minutes. Ady was quite gratified to note that while he might do a cruder job he already had a good enough working knowledge of what is inside a lamb to have a pretty good go himself at such a task. We heard from both that butcher and a guy preparing a squirrel later that nature has provded the eater with some pretty clear guidelines on cutting up animals to eat with natural lines close to bones and that a basic working knowledge of how an animal’s body works should tell you which bits you might want to eat and which to avoid ;).

Next port of call was the local produce tent – they are very picky about who gets to have a stall at RC and they are genuinely local and of very high quality. The overwhelming feeling of the day was a complete lack of commercialism and a real passion for food, sharing what is good and educating and inspiring rather than making money. For once the ‘free samples’ were just that – people so proud of their produce (and the stands were manned by the actual people who’d grown / made stuff rather than salespeople) that they were more than happy to encourage you to try it and love it rather than to buy it. We tried the most amazing chocolate (chilli, ginger, spiced), cakes and cookies, goats cheeses, chacuteries (spelt wrong probably but you know what I mean – air dried meats), honeys and other produce. I bought lip balms from two stalls and learnt that spring honey tends to be the set one while summer honey tends to stay runny. The kids bought a stunningly decorated (and apparently delicious) cupcake each for just 50 pence each and debated hanging on for a space to do some sugarcraft animal making but decided to move on. There was simply too much to see to do everything.

Next Davies and Scarlett planted a seedling each and chatted to one of the kitchen garden gardners while Ady and I wandered round looking at the very impressive kitchen garden beds. We paused at the farm house (which was off limits) for a tea and coffee (fair trade and organic of course and a bargain at just £1 each) for us and made-at-River Cottage elderflower cordial (free – all water, blackcurrant and elderflower cordial was free and in copious supplies all day long) for the kids.

We walked up the hill and Ady and the kids spent some time at the catapaulting while I watched a squirrel being skinned and boned and put on sticks to cook over the fire.

And yes I did go back an hour or so later when it was cooked to try a bit. Not really much in the way of meat on a squirrel and what there is isn’t a delicacy by any means. Very interesting to see how to do it though.

All that squirrel prep made us hungry so we joined the queue for lunch – a choice of ciabatta rolls filled with either spiced mutton, salad leaves (all from RC of course) and mint raita or locally caught mackrel with lemon and herb dressing – all made on site from home grown / reared or local produce. There was a veggie option of potato and spinach tortilla but clearly that wasn’t for us. We got one of each, an extra ciabatta each for the kids and all tried some of everything. The mutton was delicious – Davies and I loved it :). I washed mine down with a glass of RC sparkling elderflower wine (well, Scarlett helped ;)) which was equally moreish.

There was a full nature trail round the smallholding to see more of the land and animals but we simply ran out of time and the weather was far from the forecast doom and storms and was gorgeous all day long meaning it was one of those days for a little exersion followed by some lazing around again straight afterwards 🙂

We walked round the pigs, sheep, chickens, polytunnels and looked out over the land though to get a really good feel of what it was all about. I loved the little touches like ‘Chicken Out’ carved into the door of the chicken run 🙂

We split up for a bit as Davies and I wanted to watch the friction fire demo and Scarlett wanted to explore the little caravan and the stream so she went off with Ady.

They looked round the meadow and happened to be close to the farmhouse chatting to some of the staff about the gardens when Scarlett needed the loo. Rather than walk back up to the portaloos the staff said they could nip in the house and use the bathroom – yes that house 🙂 So of course Ady got some pictures inside – very envious 🙂


We reconvened for ice creams and then remembered the produce exchange. Rather belatedly we arrived and swapped in our tickets for a jar of chutney and one of pickled onions. There was very little left and I was pleased to see my jams had gone – wonder who’s kitchen they are in now? 🙂

Davies and I wanted to see the flint knapping demo and Scarlett and Ady went off to catch shrimp in the stream. I chatted to the flint knapper for ages about how he got into wilderness and bushcraft stuff, whether he makes a decent living from it and so on and that was really interesting. I’d talked to a flint knapper before who was very insistent that women can’t do it and this guy was equally adamant that women can. He showed the very small group of us there how it all works, the tools of the trade (antler and stones for hammer stones – it all felt very Clan of the Cave Bear ;)) and talked about some of the tools made from flint through history. Davies had a go while I spent some time with Tarly at the stream:


When I came back he was very keen for me to have a go and I suspect would have stayed there all afternoon with me to prove I could do it – as it was I reluctantly moved when a small child was asking ever increasingly desperately to have a go :).

I really enjoyed that, would love to learn more.

It was now over half an hour after the official finishing time and we were pretty much the last few people there so we had a last quick look round at the remaining things to see – a blacksmith making tools over his open fire, all of the food and drink stalls completely sold out and made our way back up the hill again to the car.

What a fabulous place, loved every minute of the day, really keen to re-visit another time and learnt lots and got loads of inspiration and ideas from it. 🙂

The traffic was bad on the drive home and we stopped for McD’s for the kids for tea when it became obvious we wouldn’t be home in time to cook them dinner at a sensible hour. We got home and they had a bath, followed by toast and a chapter of story before they went off to bed. We had late dinner followed by late bed but slept really well after a fab weekend 🙂

I had a lie in this morning to fully justify being off sick. I have quite some sleep deficit to catch up on thanks to some truly dreadful nights over the last week or so and now the itching has properly stopped I am sleeping very well again. I woke and finally looked more like me again rather than one of those computer generated age enhanced images of Nic Goddard in the year 2025 which is what I’ve felt I looked like for the last ten days.

Scarlett spent lots of time outside with the ducklings today, Davies is In The Zone on a Harry Potter xbox game so is spending lots of time on that and rampaging through the levels, doing lots of along the way reading, reasoning, logic, exercising his fingers, honing his hand-eye coordination and demonstrating that left to their own devices Home Educated children really do do nothing but play computer games :lol:. He and I also watched Doctor Who from the weekend so we’re caught up again. Of course we’re not home yet again on a Saturday evening tomorrow so we’ll be catching up on that episode sometime next week yet again…

I’ve done stuff like book a campsite for tomorrow evening (very exciting micro-camping weekend, more about that when we return), booked Wickstead and pondered lots on some hopes and dreams that I’m hoping to record in a blogpost sometime soon. I sorted out a mobile phone for Scarlett – she’s had one for a while but not active with a sim. I really don’t think seven year olds need mobiles BUT she does like to roam when we’re up at the allotment / camping in familiar areas and I’d rather she had the freedom to roam with the security of being able to stay in touch. We have a very comprehensive stash of old phones from free contract upgrades and the sim was free. I’ve stuck a tenner on it (I did that for Davies back last August for Badger camp and he still has over £5 left on it) and showed her how to use it to answer and make calls. She is very happy with the novelty and the idea of freedom it offers. 🙂

I did some laundry and then my Dad arrived. I suspected he might having had a brief chat with him on the phone last night and realised he missed Davies and Scarlett – he’s so much more attached to them than my Mum is and really seems to miss then when he’s not seen them for a week or so. He stayed for lunch and a catch up chat, familiarised himself with the duckling set- up for bird-sitting over the weekend and left just as Ay appeared home for some lunch between store visits.

Davies, Scarlett and I nipped up to the allotment and they went off in the woods to their ‘hideout’ while I watered. We really need to spend a few hours up there next week to do some chopping down of tall weeds and getting some more stuff in. I was there for about 45 minutes then rang Scarlett to get them to meet me back at the car. Without a phone or walkie talkie they simply wouldn’t be able to go out of sight / hearing like they do. I remember hanging out with other kids after school and making camps and hideouts, creating secret clubs and I love that that is part of their childhood too :).

Back home again Scarlett went back outside, Davies did more Xboxing and I made some jam with the strawberries from yesterday. I made 4 jars of strawberry and chilli and another 3 of strawberry and lavender using lavender from the garden and chillis from the freezer that we’d grown last year here at home. Scarlett came and tasted them and brought me lavender then sat next to Davies and did some drawing and pencil sharpening. I got all misty eyed in the kitchen as I stood there hulling strawberries to make jam that I’d picked with the children yesterday while Tarly kept coming to gather more strawberries to share with Davies, I chucked the leaves and tops out the back door to the chickens who had gathered there for that very purpose and thought about how very perfect life is when you can pick strawberries in the sunshine one day and be making them into jam, sharing the fruit with your wonderful children and the waste with your chickens while the sun shines in the kitchen door. Soppy!

Ady arrived home and cooked steak for Davies as he’d promised last night (A and I had steak for dinner yesterday and it is Davies’ favourite dinner), Ady watered the garden and I read some stories to the children. Davies and I measured how many litres of water our kitchen sink holds after me pahing at an advert for dishwashers that 49 litres of water is used for handwashing. Our sink holds 13 litres and we only fill it twice a day most days for washing up (we don’t have a dishwasher). The water is heated by our very efficient (and spanking new) boiler as needed. We don’t have room or funds for a dishwasher anyway but I’m not at all convinced it would be the greener option for us regardless. The 13 litres was then taken out of the sink to water the garden and top up the chickens and ducks water. Ady has been using our grey water (bath) to water the garden recently too which makes me feel better about our rather extravagent habit of bathing every day (we do share bathwater but it is a *very* big bath :oops:). We all gathered clothes to pack up for camping, the kids went to bed, I had a bath and made dinner and we sat down very late indeed.

Back on Sunday :).

which is what you get when you spend the first two days wandering up hills and sitting in cars I guess :).

Wednesday Very tired indeed I did sleep through from Tuesday night but woke very itchy, puffy and flaky yet again. I went to work but the concerned peering at my face from all my colleagues pressing me to go back to the doctors convinced me I was still looking far from great. I was having a real come-down from the weekend too and just feeling generally low, ugly and ailing. Ady took Davies and Scarlett out with him for the morning and met me back at home when I arrived. I got an emergency appointment for the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day hanging out at home while Ady went into the office.

Scarlett spent loads of time with the ducklings who are now quacking. We decided they are big enough to move outside so Wednesday was their first night out in their run sleeping in their hutch. The plan is for them to move in with the chickens eventually but we’re having some side-by-side either side of the fence time first before moving the fence away sometime next week.

Davies did some Xboxing and some geomagging, they both opted to stay home while I nipped to the doctors so I left them to it. It’s very nice to have old enough children to confidently do that every so often :). I saw yet another doctor and he was excellent. My neck and chest was very swollen and red, my eyes have huge bags of excess skin on both upper and lower lids and my facial skin is coming off in huge flakes. I said I wasn’t sleeping, was scared the effects on my eyes were permanent and just wanted it all to stop. He took me really seriously, agreed it was an extreme reaction in terms of length and severity and assured me my skin would be okay and my eyes would recover. He said he felt the steroids had not been for long enough at a 3 day course so although they had started to alleviate the problems once I’d stopped taking them it had carried on. He feels it is still the same initial allergic reaction carrying on rather than a series of reactions and gave me just the right level of professional sympathy to make me feel much better :). I came away with another £14.40 worth of prescription (bringing the total to £36 now, not to mention the additional £20 or so in recommended creams, eye gel packs etc.) for a ten day course of steroids which should hopefully knock it on the head once and for all and a tube of really good moisturiser for my face.

I managed to get washing done, dinner for the kids and bedtime stories and have them actually in bed by 8pm which was a welcome return to some sort of normality for me if not them ;). Junior Apprentice and dinner for us.

Thursday I awoke after another decent nights sleep to a far less ravaged looking face and no itching. I still look pretty rough and was told about four times today I looked tired, but tired I can live with. It was session three of the Book Club display crafts so we headed over to Bognor to Clare’s house for that. A fab time was had by all with plenty of bouncing on trampolines, sitting in the sunshine drinking tea and chatting, crafting to make yet more planets for the display and generally enjoying becomming part of that rather lovely group of people. Davies and Scarlett seem to have fitted in really well and there are some fab kids there including a huge group of teenage girls who are all really nice kids I am very happy to observe and see my children in the company of :).

We could have happily stayed longer but we’d had a plan to call in at the PYO on the way home so left at about 345pm in order to have half an hour strawberry picking before they closed. We filled 3 huge trugs and spent £19 on strawberries which I am planning on making jam with a large amount of tomorrow. We also called into the farm shop for some fruit and veg stocks.

We arrived home at the same time as Ady who was wanting to nip into town to get some roof bars he’d reserved at Argos. We have acquired a roof box for £30 second hand which is HUGE and looks perfect but the roof bars are proving something of a challenge. We whizzed into town and collected fish and chips for the kids’ tea on the way home which they ate in the garden with the ducklings while Ady and I wrestled with the roof bars unsuccessfully. Ady took them back while I bathed, dried, hairbrushed and read stories to Davies and Scarlett.

After some agonising I rang into work to say I wouldn’t be in tomorrow. I need to apply this face cream at least every couple of hours which means wearing make up is impossible, the steroids are giving me stomach cramps which are tolerable but an unpleasant side effect and I found standing on the counter / manning the desk really tough yesterday feeling so obviously physically not right. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was right not to go in, they were all feeling so sorry for me and that recovering properly was the most important thing. I feel both a bit fraudulent and quite relieved not to be going in but I think it is the right decision.

Saturday I worked in the morning and was kindly on duties not too close in contact with the general public. Every member of staff came and had a good old peer at me though and offered the same line of questionning about whether we’d changed washing powder. Is that one of those urban myths toted out in every case of allergic reaction? Does anyone actually know anyone who has reacted badly to a change in washing powder or is in akin to swans breaking your arms and ladders having your eye out?!

Ady and the kids collected me at 1pm with a fully laden car, sandwiches and a cup of tea and we set straight off for J&J’s. On a really good run it should take 4.5 hours. Unlikely ever to happen given the route includes the M25 and m1 but it was more like 6.5 hours in the end. The M25 was bad, the M1 had various issues including road works and average speed cameras for vast chunks restricting us to 50mph and then we hit an accident that had happened about 2 miles infront. After the first 20 emergency services vehicles had screamed past us and then the air ambulance thudded overhead very low we resigned ourselves to a wait. It actually wasn’t too bad, under an hour and the diversion was off and straight back on again as the accident had happened at a junction. The only sensible reaction is to feel grateful it is you caught in the resulting traffic rather than causing it really. Thankfully Davies and Scarlett are really good travellers in the car having done it since birth (travelling from Sussex to Manchester and back was a regular occurance since they were babies and of course all of our holidays and weekends away are done by car travel so they are just used to it) so aside from the odd ‘how long now?’ ‘three hours’ ‘but you said that half an hour ago’ ‘yes and we’ve not moved in half an hour so it’s not changed!’ we got on with DSing, singing along to the radio and in-car dancing.

We were one of the last families to arrive and were greeted with hugs, wine / coffee, cheers and love. Ady and I decided getting the tent up pronto was a top plan so headed off to do that. Ady did some stone removal and some horse poo shovelling and generally looked scared as he often does while a tent is going up. I bet we’d have it pitched in half an hour and we did. Of course putting in the bedding etc took longer but the tent itself was up. Chris and Alison arrived while we were pitching and put their tents up too. Everything installed we headed back to the house for the serious business of eating, drinking and catching up with friends.

Helen had come up with the marvellous idea of everyone bringing a cake to put together to create one big cake, patchwork style. So 11 families brought 13 cakes all with a letter on to spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Other than coordinating letters and size of cake we had not discussed flavour of cake or anything so it truly was a random selection. All transported collectively hundreds of miles, some lovingly cooked and decorated, some just as lovingly bought and decorate. All indivdually delicious and remarkable and put together just so much more than the sum of their parts. Nearly 70 people singing Happy Birthday while candles on 13 cakes flickered had pretty much everyone feeling a bit misty eyed I think. It was truly one of the loveliest moments I can recall. I hope we’ve started yet another new tradtition :). Missed those who didn’t make it for various reasons and just felt very honoured to have such an amazing circle of wonderful friends.

Cakes presented, candles blown out, plates found and everyone served with cake people scattered again into small groups to chat. I spent a very enjoyable time in the kitchen debating silverback gorillas. I think we all know who the silverback was eventually ;). The kids drifted off along with some of the adults and the remainder gathered into the lounge. We played some toy car into stacking cups tiddlywinks which is about as close as I get to playing games, enjoyed the music (soundtrack to show about two hard hitting crazy Scottish cops) and some of us went to bed quite late ;).

Sunday Started very early thanks to some children waking with the sunrise ;). I managed to turn over and go back to sleep :). When I did surface for tea and sunshine I spent some time chatting to various people before wandering back into the house when the wind got too much and helping with kitchen tidying and lunch preparation. The wind was very strong and Ady spent lots of time tent watching to make sure the tents were all okay. Most stood up to it very well but I suspect at least half of them had been specifically added to their owners tent collections simply for J&J’s field so they should really ;). Ady also took Scarlett and Claudie down to the stream for a paddle / dip / play / soak.

After lunch a walk / geocache was suggested and a large amount of the group went along to that including all four of us Goddards (at least 3 by coersion ;)). It was a fab walk with crazy wind, a reservoir in the middle of the moors that was just amazing with the wind whipping up waves, the blue sky creating a tropical hue to the water and a lovely sound of lapping water. Quite surreal :). It was at the top of a very steep hill which the children rolled down, I came down on my bum and Ady very very amusingly also rolled down. Still can’t believe no one captured that on film, it was amazing!

Back at the house it was approaching tea time. We had some Pimms and got stuck into food. 3 families left during the afternoon bringing numbers down a lot (particularly as one family has 9 people in it! :lol:). More chatting, more eating cake (that was quite a characteristic of the weekend) and just generally hanging out together catching up on each others lives.

Monday I woke very itchy again. I was feeling quite sorry for myself and took additional antihistimine and mourned the fact I wasn’t improving as quickly as I’d hoped I might. In the morning some of us took various small girls (all girls for some reason!) to the stables to see Tipsey’s new foal. We’d hoped to see Megan’s pony too although Patience the foal more than made up for that in serious levels of cute. We also spent some time in the pen containing chickens, ducks, rabbits and guinea pigs and several of the children had a sit on the back of the horses there. Scarlett was more interested in the furry animals and declined the offer of sitting on a horse.

In the car on the way back I had Chloe, Megan, Beth and Scarlett and we had most enjoyable converations about rubber replacement feet and other surreal medical ideas. I do love listening to – and even better joining in – with kids’ conversations :). We also debated what potential damage we could do to Ady’s shiny new 4 day old car that he was a bit precious about me driving and filling with girls in horse poo covered wellies ;).

Back to the house for lunch, more cake and another walk. Note I am glossing over the fact the walks contained geocaches. Not because we didn’t find them – we did, but because I don’t get geocaching I don’t think. I guess I am not competitive enough and don’t want to exchange plastic tat for more plastic tat or worse still explain to my kids why a shiny stone is not a suitable swap. In future I will raid the pound shop in advance for genuine plastic tat rather than found treasures 😆

Only Scarlett and I went on this walk – Davies was feeling a bit washed out so rested in the tent and Ady sat with him chatting. Ady says what he likes most of all about these types of weekend is going to bed early with the kids and having interesting conversations. Which is just as well really as I have no intention of going to bed early 😆

I struggled with the walking up so steeply at the end and had to pause several times and use my inhaler. I would have been happy to wait lower down for all the others but Barbara and Michelle very kindly waited with me chatting when I paused and urged me to make it to the top. It was very worth it as the views were just spectacular. They’d found the cache including a Happy 40th Birthday badge which seemed incredibly fortunate so that was swapped to bring home for our hosts.

We walked back and I loved how at different times people slowed down or increased pace and fell into step with various other people, both combinations of adults and children. I spent a fair bit of the descent with Lulah, Beth and Scarlett which was very entertaining :). Back at the house again yet more people had headed off while we were out and aside from Marcus, Michelle and Chloe and us everyone else left after tea and cakes. Ady and I went to Morrisons for butter and strawberries and came back for a very low key tea with very dwindled numbers.

After eating M,M & C also left leaving just us and our hosts. Jan wasn’t feeling great so retired early. A lovely alliance was formed between Catie and Scarlett on the basis of chatting about dolphins and evolution looking at a poster while queuing for the loo and then Catie read some stories that Scarlett really enjoying listening to. Ady stayed up with Jonathan and I for a while and then left. We stayed up a fair bit longer emptying wine bottles and chatting – it was really nice :).

My itching got worse and by the time we said goodnight at 230am I was really suffering. I cast a cat off my pillow to go to bed and laid there scratching and not sleeping until it was 5am and daylight. Half insane I went for a shower in the hopes of cooling off and then elevated by head with 3 pillows. It finally worked and I think I fell asleep about 6am, only to be awoken shortly afterwards by Ady as we needed to get going.

Monday Ady had to visit some Middlands stores this week so to save his company money and tie in well with him not having to drive loads we had stayed an extra night at J&Js and come home down the M6 rather than the M1. We left not long after 8am and got home at 930pm so a very long day :(. Ady only actually *worked* for about 3 of those hours, the rest was sitting in the car, in heavy traffic, on 2 hours sleep with continued itching. 🙁

We went into a garden centre where Ady had a meeting / presentation and the kids and I spent ages looking at pets, overpriced gifts, underpriced books etc and I actually bought them a book to share then we went back to the car and I had a 30 minute nap while they looked at the book. We had lunch at KFC – Ady and I had both been saying how familiar the road looked when we realised it was where a Travelodge was we’d stayed in when we visited Cadbury World years ago. One more garden centre and then heading for home.

Yet more traffic (overturned lorry on M25) meant the time was ticking away and we finally got home at 930pm. Ady bathed and fed the kids while I dashed to Sainsburys for bread, milk, etc. It might have been late but my bath, dinner and bed were all very welcome :).

I spent a lot of time this weekend reflecting on how incredibly lucky we all are to be part of this group of friends. I adore how Davies and Scarlett’s memories of childhood will be weekends like this – playing til long after dark with friends, white Christmas at Helmsley shared with 50 friends round the table for Christmas dinner, walks and trips on moors, downlands, beaches and woodland, hanging out, forming alliances and friendships that I hope will endure through the years. And for me? I feel so priviledged that decisions have led us to meet such an amazing group of people – so diverse, so different and so dear. I love how we have shared laughter and tears, been there for each other, celebrated and comisserated in our very 21st century fashion supported by blogs, email groups, Brightkite, twitter and facebook but most of all I love falling into step with 20 different people on a 3 mile walk, the in jokes, the affection, the knowing each other, the support, the love and the real, genuine, 100% friendship we share. You’re all bloody amazing and I love each and every one of you.xxxx