01 November 2016
Nunhead Cemetery
The walk started off outside Nunhead Library, which is closed for redevelopment until 5 December, but is really rather an enchanting building. We then stopped on Nunhead Green to talk about the area - a craft beer shop and an enormous estate agents providing proof of gentrification! Then it was along Linden Grove (where Charles Dickens apparently installed one of his mistresses) to the cemetery.
It was really lovely! It is, of course, on of the Magnificent Seven suburban cemeteries established in the 1830s and 1840s when London's churchyards were overflowing. It was used for burials for over 100 years, but closed in 1969. And left to rot for the next 20 years, while wildlife and nature took over. And, of course, there was a lot of urban exploration, drug-taking, and downright vandalism going on. Eventually the cemetery was bought by Southwark Council for £1, and eventually it was restored - there are Friends of the Cemetery who volunteer to help keep the walkways open and so on.
Because it was All Saints' Day, some of the graves had fresh flowers, and some had flameless candles on them. Not all, by any manner of means, but enough to show that people still care. There was one modern grave that just said "Harold and Tim RIP" (it might not have been those names) with no date; we wondered whether it had been an unofficial burial while the cemetery was closed, in an era when Harold and Tim might not have been welcome to be buried together elsewhere.
There was a very moving memorial to some scouts who had drowned in a disaster off the Isle of Sheppey, near a World War 1 cemetery.
From the top of the hill, there is a protected view of St Paul's Cathedral, but it was too foggy to see it today!
And then we walked back downhill to the exit.
Contrary to popular perception, it wasn't in the slightest bit spooky - it was lovely and peaceful. Apart from people walking their dogs, of course, but then, how lovely that they should have such a big space available for to do that in! It really is a lovely place, and I would happily go back if it wasn't slightly awkward to get to!
28 October 2016
A third trip to the Museum!
We knew where we had finished our last tour, at the end of the Regency period, but weren't quite sure how to get to it without going through the whole museum, but it was fairly well signposted, and after one false start, fortunately terminated by the Boy's need to visit the loo, we found where we had been, and headed on through the Victorian section, where they have mock-ups of shops as they would have been back then. And a very splendid penny-farthing bicycle, which neither of us could imagine riding. And so on through the sections until we reached the point we had reached three years ago, where there are model trains and things to play with. And, just as three years ago, he was promptly engrossed and spent a very long time playing!
I was happy enough sat down at the table from an old Lyons Corner House, but eventually persuaded him it was time to move on! Of course, the nice thing is that now he can read, he is much more interested in the interactive displays and so on; we spent a long time on the ones about the future of London, and about the clean and dirty water of "the olden days". And rather fun to sit on a comfortable sofa and "Watch with Mother" snippets from Andy Pandy, The Woodentops and Bill and Ben, all childhood favourites of mine....
So then to lunch at Pret's - the Boy had his current favourite tuna and cucumber baguette, and drank 3/4 can fizzy lemonade, and I had a their falafel mezze salad and some coffee. I do like Pret's coffee! Then we went back and eventually found the bus stop - I had got turned around and needed help from my phone to find where I was, compared to where I meant to be - and waiting for a 56, which took us up through Islington and Hackney Downs and past the Lee Valley Ice Centre and Riding Centre. We changed buses at the Bakers Arms and went the rest of the way on a W16.
05 October 2016
Sunken Cities at the British Museum
I have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed. It ought to have been fascinating, but somehow it wasn't. Archaeologists had discovered two cities near Alexandria, called Thonis-Heracleieon and Canopus, and the exhibition showed some of the things they had excavated. Which were good, especially the heads of two sphinxes, one of which looked exactly like my old headmistress....
The selling point was supposed to be the links between the Greeks and the Egyptians back in the day, but mostly they concentrated on who worshipped what, and how, which was very dull. I'd have loved to have seen more about how ordinary people lived, and what they did. But I suppose that sort of thing doesn't survive long immersion in the Mediterranean, whereas votive statues and so on do....
Ah well. En route to the museum, I was amused to notice the signs at Tottenham Court Road station which will, one day, direct the traveller to "Crossrail" - presumably they are now going to have to change these as it's going to be called the Elizabeth Line instead! What a waste. Very slow journey home on the 59, there must have been a diversion somewhere as the Royal Mile down to Aldwych was gridlocked.
28 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Wednesday 28
So home, and unpacking and putting away and tidying up.... and on Friday the van will go home to Sussex until the next time. When and where that will be we don't know yet. Probably at least one more holiday this year.
27 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Tuesday 27
German Fairy-tale Tour, Monday 26
25 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Sunday 25
24 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour. Saturday 24
23 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Friday 23
22 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Thursday 22
21 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Wednesday 21.
20 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Tuesday 20
19 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Monday 19
18 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Sunday 18
Today was mostly housekeeping - changing sheets and towels - and driving to Berlin. SW went out for a walk when we got here, but I have done absolutely nothing except read, and have enjoyed it very much. Campsite crowded, but we knew it would be. Not at all bad for a capital city one.
17 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Saturday 17
16 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Friday 16
15 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Thursday 15
At Trendelburg, the tower and hotel are right at the top of a hill, and we thought of having lunch at the hotel, but they didn't put a menu up outside and we reckoned that, given the locality, it would probably have been horrendously expensive. So we came away and drove to the next town on the route, Oberweser, and had lunch there, but what looked like a normal pub turned out to be a Greek restaurant. Delicious, but rather more than we wanted to eat at that time of day. And they produced glasses of something aniseedy and alcoholic at the end of the meal, so I drank the SW's as well as my own, which wiped me out for most of the rest of the afternoon!
14 September 2016
German Fairy-tale Tour, Wednesday 14
Today was a rest day, and Hann. Münden a very lovely town in which to spend it. We have done very little, apart from walking round the Old Town in the morning, and a load of washing this evening. Also deciding that we want to stay on the FTR until we get to Bremen, so not going to Braunschweig tomorrow but to another town that is on the route, whose name escapes me, but where I gather we can park right in the town centre, and to which we can get to via various noteworthy sights.
It is still very hot, but the forecast tells us the weather will break tomorrow night.
13 September 2016
German Fairy-Tale Tour, Tuesday 13
So we wandered along it to Hann. Munden, calling at all sorts of pretty little towns en route, and wonderful countryside in between.
12 September 2016
The German Fairy-Tale Tour, Monday 12
The German Fairy-Tale Tour, Monday 12
11 September 2016
The German Fairy-tale Tour, Sunday 11
10 September 2016
Gernan Fairy Tale Tour, Saturday 10
09 September 2016
The German Fairy-Tale Tour, Friday 9
The German Fairy-Tale Tour, Thursday 8
07 September 2016
The German Fairy-tale tour, Prologue
It's time for our long holiday - just under three weeks. This year, we are following the German Fairy-Tale route up to Bremen, then to Lubeck, across to Berlin for 48 hours, then Saxony, and then a night in Karlovy Vary as we missed that on our Inter-rail trip three years ago. Then home via our niece in Mannheim, and then Trier.
We picked up the motor home on Monday as we had the engineer coming to fix the fridge - which he appears to have done very successfully, and it will now work properly on gas. It's been getting less and less efficient since we have owned it, and on our last trip it was patently obvious that it was basically a waste of gas, and it was just a cupboard. But a new burner has been installed, and it now lights properly and everything, so....
Anyway, most of the stuff we need has now been taken out to the motor home and put away, although there will be another couple of crates tomorrow - and the stuff from the fridge. So we will be setting off after Grandparent duty, and spending tomorrow night in the Cité Europe car park, ready to start our adventure properly on Friday.
03 September 2016
Back to the Museum
15 August 2016
Grandparents' Rally
When we booked this, back in December last year, we didn't really realise how much Boy Too would have matured - well, one knew, but he was really only a baby last December, so we didn't invite him (next year, for sure), but we did invite the Boy. I met him at the McDonald's outside Warren Street Station (I had arrived slightly earlier than them, so bought myself an OJ), and by the time we had got home, The Swan Whisperer (aka Granda) had more-or-less loaded the car and we were ready to set off.
Our first port of call was my parents', where the stuff that was in the car was transferred to the motor home, and after a sandwich lunch (and three games of "Snatch a bundle", my poor mother!) we set off to the venue at a place called Birdham, near Chichester. The rally was held on a large meadow, with plenty of room for the children - there were about ten, ranging in age from about 12 to 18 months - to run about and play. The Boy leapt out of the van even before we had parked up, and was seen learning to play croquet, although the hoops didn't come out again over the weekend.
As we weren't going to move, we set up our awning tent, with slightly more success than last time - for a start, we had tent pegs, although we needed strong elastic bands (I'll get some hair elastics) for the inner pegs. It wouldn't do to sleep in, as there would be a massive draught under the van, and anyway, we still can't quite get it as it should be. But it was good enough for a fine weekend, and we put our picnic table out there, and our chairs. The Boy did demand to eat the final breakfast indoors - after all, he hasn't eaten at that table as often as we do!
When we were set up, it was time to get supper, and we all demolished sausages, mash and beans, although none of us were quite sure of the leeks.... but they were okay. Pudding was fresh mango, which was lovely. Then the Boy disappeared again and was found playing football, until he discovered he'd lost his watch (a slap watch, and they do come out - I've lost one in my time). Fortunately, someone found it for him, after which we confiscated it and he didn't have it back until the end of the weekend. At nine o'clock it was all but dark, so I called him in, and helped him shower while Granda got his bed ready. And after a story he snuggled down and we, too, went to bed, although for some reason I didn't sleep well. Which meant that I heard the distant fireworks that signalled the end of Cowes Week!
On the Saturday, it was All Systems Go from the start. The Boy did spend quite a lot of the early part of the morning rushing round playing football and bandits and goodness knows what else with his new-found friends, his joy only slightly marred by the fact that his (very cheap) water-pistol stopped working. However, there were a couple of hours of craft activities arranged, including making Elmer the Elephant out of the tops of milk-cartons. The Boy's actually won, although he himself didn't think it was the best:
They also made (delicious) mini-pizzas on muffin bases, topped with tomato puree and grated cheese, and then the toppings of your choice - peppers, frankfurter sausages, ham, pineapple, sweetcorn, etc.
That was the foundation for lunch, which in our case also included bacon and avocado sandwiches (the Boy didn't want avocado, fair enough) and corn-on-the-cob. Then technically there was nap time - and I certainly went to sleep - but then there was the Big Water Fight, and my menfolk signally failed to get into their swimming costumes and came back exhausted and rather cold
Then there were more games, including skittles, and a film for the children ("The Secret Life of Pets"), and a barbecue.... and it was 9:00 again before I could get a very dirty, very tired Boy indoors for a much-needed shower and bed!
These rallies always end with "Flag" at 11:00 on Sundays, when notices are given out, the organisers are thanked, prizes are distributed and the raffle is drawn, with the added excitement that all the children had been given two raffle tickets and were guaranteed two prizes - a big stuffed toy and a little one. Then, of course, many of the main raffle prizes were toys, and the children ended up choosing them, too - my Boy chose a set of "Boom" bat and ball.
And then back to my parents' for lunch, more Snatch-a-bundle, and even two games of chess with Great-Ba, the second of which, to everybody's amazement, ended in stalemate! Ba is not one to allow a child to win, and was genuinely congratulatory.
We drove back to London along the sea, enjoying the ships in Shoreham Harbour, and only turning to the M23 when we had to - we didn't want to go into Brighton. It was a slow old journey, but we got there in the end, and the Daughter produced omelettes all round as we were hungry. And eventually home by 9:30 pm.
11 August 2016
The V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green
We arrived at about 11:00, and our first port of call was the loos. Boy Too has only recently learnt to do without nappies (he won't be three for another month, so really good going), and it is only really during the last week or so that it has been possible to take him out without several changes of clothing - even now, his mother sends him out with several changes and the collapsible potty, just in case! But he is learning to go when he is taken, and we had no trouble at all with him today. In fact, the only problem was that there were no towels in the ladies (The Boy had visited the gents with his grandfather), and he absolutely hates hand-driers and won't use them. "Well," I said, "You'll just have to stay damp, then, or dry your hands on your trousers."
At 11:15, there was a talk advertised with "the opportunity to touch and feel the object". Today it was teddy bears. The talks were billed as suitable for 4 years old and up, and indeed Boy Too got bored so Granda took him off to do something else, while the Boy sat squarely on the rug and joined in to the fullest, discussing famous teddy-bears and remembering Winnie-the-Pooh's friends, and things like that. The talk lasted 30 minutes, and then we were dismissed with a reminder that there would be story-time at noon. The Boy wanted to go to that, so we looked round the museum for a quarter of an hour until it was time for the story, whereupon I took him back down to that space, and he sat, entranced, to listen to a story of how the tortoise got his shell.... The story was extremely well told, with no illustrations (except for an African drum) but lots of different voices, and getting the children to join in to remember which animals had tried to get the leopard away from his drum....
Once that was over, we went and had a look around the moving, electric and visual toys and then it was time for lunch. We decided we'd rather go back to Liverpool Street Station to have that, as the food provided by the museum is really rather expensive for what it is. So we got on a bus to Liverpool Street, with the Boy and me upstairs and Boy Too in his pushchair (which he has nearly outgrown) downstairs with Granda. Boy Too dozed off during the journey, and slept through lunch at Pret a Manger, but woke up once we were in the train to Wood Street, and ate his sandwich and drank his juice very happily then! He had also thoroughly enjoyed the museum, glued to some of the display cabinets.
Although much of the museum is geared to adults, there's plenty for children to do and enjoy there. I commend it as a good morning's outing with Infant and early Junior ages.
30 July 2016
July Holiday: 30 July
Then it was time to go through the check in for the Shuttle - we were very unimpressed by the so-called heightened French security, they didn't even bother to look at our passports! We squeezed on to the shuttle before the one we were booked on, which is always pleasing, and were back in the UK by about noon, UK time. We stopped at Maidstone Services to have lunch, and were home by 14:30. Now unpacked and tidied up (mostly) and catching up!
29 July 2016
July holiday, 29 July
28 July 2016
July holiday, 28 July
27 July 2016
July holidays, 27 July
26 July 2016
July holiday, 26 July
25 July 2016
July Holiday, 25 July
24 July 2016
July holiday, 24 July
It wasn't the road traffic that kept us awake, it was the seagulls at 4:00 am, and the pigeons at 5:00! We got up about 7, and the Swan Whisperer went for a run while I got dressed and breakfast. When we had cleared up, we caught a bus into Whitstable and went to the service at the Baptist Church, where the Daughter's Godmother's husband is the minister. Lovely service except we sang "Teach me to dance", which i like, but is such an earworm!
After this, we caught the bus back to the motor home and had lunch, and then set off for Folkestone. We soon realised we were going to be far too early, which they do ask you not to be, so we parked in a Forestry Commission car park and the SW went for a walk. We had been told there would be a wait of about 30 minutes to check in and then a delay of about an hour before crossing, and that was pretty accurate, but we got across at last and drove down to Arras. The aire we had hoped to park in was full, but there is on-street parking, so we have parked up across the road from it. And are having supper and then what will be an early night by UK standards, but France is, of course an hour ahead.
23 July 2016
July holiday, 23 July
We slept well in the aire in Canterbury last night, and were up betimes in the morning. We set off about 10. First stop Halfords for more loo chemical, and we also bought a clip-on bin for the van. We then drove down to the former airport at Manston to the Spitfire and Halifax Memorial Museum as we had planned to spend the night there and wanted to see if it was gated (it isn't). We visited the museum and had lunch in the café there, very nice, and then the Swan Whisperer went to the RAF museum in the same site while I had a nap.
The Daughter's godmother lives in Whitstable, and when she heard we were in the area, she invited us over. They were busy all day but told us where to look for parking and we arranged to meet in the evening. In the end, we found a long-stay car park where we could park overnight, and we had our supper and then she came to meet us and walked us back to her house along the sea front. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours with her and her husband, and then they walked us back to where it was just half a mile or so along the road to the car park.
22 July 2016
July holiday, 21 and 22 July
03 July 2016
TfL Transported by Design
There are some excellent photos on the BBC report of the event.
Two years ago, The Boy was not quite four and Boy Too was about 9 months. Now he is nearly 6 and his brother is 2 3/4. It makes a huge difference - Boy Too was loving the exhibits, especially the ones he could climb on or get into, while The Boy was able to read the captions and generally realise far more what was happening than that someone had put all these buses there for his pleasure.
I didn't enjoy the exhibition as much as I'd liked the Bus Cavalcade. There were several old buses, a tube carriage ("The same as the one in the Transport Museum" said The Boy - it probably was that one) and a couple of taxis, but after that it was rather more static exhibitions about the present and the future of transport design. The most popular - from the boys' point of view, anyway - was a giant London train set, with Tower Bridges, buses, and Underground trains. Both boys were promptly absorbed, and the Daughter worried about an exit strategy, but in the event Boy Too is learning to do without nappies and didn't quite make it ("I'm all wet!" he said, ecstatically), and once he had been put in dry clothes, The Boy came away very cheerfully, with no sulking.
There were also things you could colour in, and people giving out free yo-yos and boxes of peppermints, and endless stickers. And various concession stalls. "Frozen yoghurt!" said the Boy, blissfully, but we pointed out that there were six of us (Mrs Rev had joined us for the afternoon, lovely to see her) and it would be too expensive. I noticed the Swan Whisperer eyeing the ice pops stall thoughtfully, but again, probably too expensive if you bought one for all of us.
But I don't think any of us were really sorry to arrive at Oxford Circus and meet the boys' father who had come to join them. And The Boy went into one last tent to do one last colouring, and we went our separate ways.
23 June 2016
June Holiday: 22 June
21 June 2016
June Holiday: 21 June
Driving. All day. We had about 700 km to go, from the far side of Frankfurt to Cité Europe.
So we set off at about 09:15 and stopped for coffee a couple of hours later, and for lunch, and to ship the Auchan at Grand Synthe, near Dunkerque. And finally arrived here about 20:15. We took ourselves out to dinner at one of the long-standing restaurants in the Cité, which was good, and are now enjoying the quietness!
I did manage to doze for a lot of the drive, but am still tired. Still, we knew it would be like this, and it was worth it.