Protected: Five weeks…
April 10th, 2010 by katyProtected: Missing him
March 30th, 2010 by katyAs my dad would say, it’s all cookery…
March 29th, 2010 by bobAs part of the Science festival, I took K, L and A to the Chemistry department. There was an unexpected bit of learning on the walk from the nearest free car park to the department - the very nice playground we went through had a Moebius strip climbing frame. I’m not surpised, given where it was, but it did make me smile and K and L had fun clambering over it.
I have memories of the Chemistry department from when I was a student - 3 9 o’clock Maths lectures there a week in my first year (because it had a large lecture theatre). When you got to the building, getting in was tricky because all the fume cupboards inside were sucking air out of the building and pumping it out of chimneys, which meant that the entrance doors were being sucked shut. My lecturer was Dr. De’Ath (convenient apostrophe), who was an astronomer, and the only thing I actually remember of his lectures was vector area. He held up an inflatable zebra and asked “What’s the vector area of this?” The answer was 0, as it is a closed surface.
Anyway, back to the present. The doors weren’t being sucked shut as the fume cupboards were off. There was a huge scrum in the entrance hall as lots of people were just about to go into a lecture. A quick hello to a local HE family who were about to go in, then we headed off randomly upstairs. The first room we came to had some nice crystal stuff - examples about the size of a rubic’s cube, and some kits for growing salt crystals with some here’s-some-I-prepared-earlier showing how they would work.
The best bit in that room was the liquid nitrogen. As well as the put something in, freeze it, take it out and smash it with a hammer trick (which was done with bananas, apples and an egg) there were two things I’d not seen before with liquid nitrogen. The first was making a chunky nail out of blu tac and then being able to hammer it into a plank of wood. The second was a foam trough that was having a blown up balloon pushed into it. The demonstrator asked us how many balloons we thought were in the trough. She then got some tongs and kept on pulling out more and more balloons. Most of them had gone down to as small as when they weren’t inflated, because all the air inside had shrunk down in the cold. The trough was about the size of 4 adult shoe boxes in 2 rows of 2, and there were 31 balloons in it. She put them on the bench where they warmed up and got back to normal size - the bench was covered with balloons, and it was a very impressive demonstration.
Next was a bit of Chemistry lego i.e. playing with Molymod. K and L made carbon dioxide. There were diagrams of common interesting molecules, and K asked me to make ibuprofen which while not being e.g. DNA is about 10 times as complex as CO2. The students demonstrating had helpfully made some building blocks (though none I could use) and K put the hydrogens on a ring to make benzene. The student said a bit about it (gives you cancer, good at dissolving things) and K said “The man had a dream about snakes eating each other and worked out its structure” - student was impressed and I had a PDM. They do remember some things I tell them 
.
Next door was another student with different bowls to smell. Which was the odd one out? Caraway, dill, rose petals, orange and spearmint. I can’t remember which one it was (but I think they both got it) nor can I remember which chemical was involved, but it was about chirality - four of them had one version of the smelly chemical and the other had its mirror image. That was interesting timing, as that week scientists had worked out the chemistry involved in Thalidomide harming the body. I mentioned that to the student, and he said that even if you could produce a pure sample of the good Thalidomide, your body would turn some of it into the bad Thalidomide anyway. Hmmm…
We then went to a bit where the children could do experiments. There was a lab given over to getting ready - racks of lab coats, boxes of disposable gloves, and boxes of safety specs. I had A on my back and surprisngly they had no baby-wearing lab coats, so we settled for My First Safety Specs for A and caution for me. K and L had the full works - see Flickr.
The experiments were making snot / goo (borax, PVA and colouring), cornflour and water and an excellent demonstration of density. There were beakers with sugar solutions of different strengths, ranging from just water to a saturated solution. The different strengths were coloured differently, and by carefully slurping some up in a pipette and putting it out into a test tube (in the right order) you could make a rainbow.
We were starting to flag a bit, so we headed up to the top floor where there was more liquid nitrogen, but this time to make ice cream . K and L were a bit too young to do it themselves, so they watched as a kind student made some for them and then gave us all some. Very nice it was too - very small ice crystals so not hard and crunchy, proper ingredients including cocoa and cream.
As we were going round we’d been doing a trail where you had to find posters about mystery elements. This certainly tested my rusty A level chemistry, but we got through it and collected the prizes just before chucking out time.
As for the title - my dad’s a physicist and was therefore indoctrinated with the view that chemists are just cooks in lab coats.
More March
March 28th, 2010 by katySat 13th - Music School, then science festival - lots of chemistry (Bob) - and helping at church sale (Katy)
Sun 14th - church then fantastic afternoon at Upware: press printing (like lino printing but with polystyrene tiles), clay fossil imprint tiles, watercolour painting (still life), badge making, mask making, pebble painting, mosaic making, owl pellet dissection, treasure trail (ending with planting a sunflower seed).
Then dropped K off for a sleepover with his friend S
Mon 15th - girls danced in the morning then we collected K and went to chemistry lecture by Peter Wothers on Fire and Flame - excellent stuff,with lots of bangs and pops We were early so sat right at the front, where K and L proceeded to answer so many questions (very politely, with hands up first) that Dr W. came over at the end to congratulate them 
Came back via playground and got home just in time for L to get to gym.
Tues 16th - music workshop - really very good - working through different types of instruments and how they produce their sound, with help from Pythagorus and some fun practical illustrations. Looked at different lengths/sizes of brass instruments and then string instruments and how length of string compares to pitch so double or half lengths sound good together. All joined in with voices, hands, feet etc to make a rainstorm soundscape, then given straws to play as reeds for an impromptu concert at the end Afterwards went to see Imaginary at Maths dept - excellent video but hands-on stuff not so good when so many little ones wanting to join in! Rushed off to violin, but teacher didn’t arrive - turned out later she’d phoned us at home to cancel as she couldn’t drive, but of course we weren’t there. Must give her my mobile number! K had gymnastics - so nice not to have the huge rush of two lots of gym one after the other!
Wed 17th - thought about doing lots of science stuff, but decided to have a day at home instead, doing normals and gardening Oh, and we scoured local town looking for things J had requested for his birthday. Baby Music and cello but no Cubs for K due to a weekend event he wasn’t going to anyway.
Thurs 18th - Tots plus Philosophy, first time in new building and it seemed to work well. Last Philosophy for a while though, and quite possibly the last at all unless there is more demand, which is a shame because those who do it are really enjoying it and getting lots out of it. Realised I had forgotten my purse so couldn’t go into town as planned without coming home first. Almost couldn’t be bothered and then decided we might as well, especially as still had to find J’s bits and pieces and bigger city a better bet. Quick lunch then back into car and back to city, via a very quaint display of molecules modelled at x2 million! The creator was there (retired professor) along with his wife, who was very taken with the children and kindly took us round the exhibition at child level rather than post degree level. It was helpful just to get a rough idea of scale, since the children have talked about molecules with Helen but the scale is very hard to get. She told us that she finds it quite mind-blowing herself - the model of E Coli is about 2 metres long, and opened up so that you can see all the protein molecules etc at work inside. Apparently the professor has been working on it for about 15 years and has had to change it several times as more and more was discovered during that time - she thought he should have kept each of the models so you could see the progression but he only wanted to have the most accurate one. There are 10000000 (that’s ten million!) E Coli in one cc of poo, she said, and then all these things inside each of the E Coli - that got the children’s attention! I think their favourite bit, though, was when she took them into her workspace (I think she does lymphatic drainage, as far as I could gather) and showed them first her collection of stars (hanging form the ceiling to give patients something to look at while she works on them) and then her amazing collection of eggs, which includes ones she has decorated herself (natural dyes with leaves to make patterns) and others she has bought or been given. One was a goose egg which had been carved so intricately it looked like filigree, another could be opened up to hold a small gift… we were all spellbound
Then we carried on into the centre, parked in an expensive short term car park because I couldn’t be bothered to walk 
(and figured the free events we were going to made up for paying for parking 
) and popped to a shop I hoped would have stuff for J - and it did 
It also had a shop assistant who had been HE and an owner who thoroughly approved of us going against the system - it’s that kind of shop We finished up at the Arch and Anth Assembling Bodies exhibition which was pretty much the same as last year. I found that disappointing, but K and L wandered round rediscovering old friends and spotting things they had forgotten or missed last time. The ceramic hugs were there again, and also the Vox Theremin (?) which unfortunately freaked A out to such an extent that we had to go to the far side of the room to get away from it, and even then she kept asking to leave. We cut our visit short, therefore, which made the parking cheaper than I had feared K and L want to make body maps now - note to self in case I forget that!
Fri 19th - Quiet day at home, making up and posting a parcel for J, baking, normals, rest and relax…
Sat 20th - tightly scheduled day! Started with Music School, but only 2 out of 3 sessions, so that we could get to the Whipple for Sounds like Science. Billed as 5+ I found this very disappointing, as it was basically lots of straws and plasticine put out for the children to make panpipes, with no scientific explanation at all and no other input than a sheet saying you needed to block off one end with plasticine, cut the straws to different lengths and stick them to a piece of plastic. After the workshop we had done on Tues K and L at least knew to try making each straw twice or half as long as the one next to it, so we made it work for us as a science thing, but for such a good museum it was a disappointing activity 
At least the Whipple itself is always worth a look, and they had helpful students showing how to make and use zootropes too, which K particularly enjoyed as he got one for Christmas which was not a design they had there, so he was able to discuss how his works and how it’s different to the ones they had on show.
Then we dashed off to the Maths dept for some hands-on puzzles and games, lunch in the car on the way. All three children enjoyed doing things at their own level, although I barely saw L because she did a great job of just attaching herself to any family with a more or less appropriately aged girl in it and having a lovely chatty time with them Having planned to meet up with the Babs and co at the Whipple, but ended up arriving just as they were leaving, we managed it again at Maths, since they arrived just as we were leaving, but we had to get K and L to a singing workshop…
I dropped Bob, K and L off to register and headed back to the Maths stuff, where I found Beans, Hollands and eventually also the Babs. I do like the Maths Dept cafe
After a couple of hours of workshopping K and L’s group had a concert for us to watch, which was very good - apart from times when audience participation was required and we discovered that we were sitting just in front of a couple of loud operatic mothers 
Even after the choirmistress had quite pointedly said that we would need to sing quietly so that the children we were there to hear weren’t drowned out the aforementioned mothers seemed to be unable not to show off their lovely voices; as a consequence I have no idea what that piece sounded like other than the part our section of the audience was singing Glare. Grump. Anyway, the children had had lots of fun, and L now wants to join the girls choir as soon as she is old enough (8) which might even be feasible as that’s only a twice weekly commitment, unlike the boys’ choir J was interested in which demanded 3 and then 4 times a week and which K has decided sounds like too much because he wants to do lots of other things too
Concert over and certificates given out we made our way to the Astronomy open evening, where we met up with a few people we knew and the children did varying amounts of craft, learning, running around like loons and so forth. A enjoyed the light bucket display (ping pong balls, a cup, a bucket and a paddling pool - the possibilities are endless!) and we all had our pictures taken with a thermal camera 
Sun 21st - church, Wandlebury, Rainedrops
Protected: Tenth birthday!
March 22nd, 2010 by katyProtected: Twelve days in France
March 14th, 2010 by katyMarch notes
March 12th, 2010 by katyMon 1st March - packing, L gym, making the most of J…
Tues 2nd March - Gina and co popped over to help celebrate L’s b’day, then we dropped Bob and J off at the station (left K, L, A here with BA), came back for lunch and went to violin - A’s second “lesson” and just as much enthusiasm
Wed 3rd - rather subdued morning. Cello, baby music, K Cubs.
Thurs 4th - Tots sorting (last week in old venue for a while), Philosophy club (4 Cs - K and L did well )
Fri 5th - to Susan and K (Wii, garden, cookies, garlic!)
Sat 6th - Kentwell Open Day
Sun 7th - first phone call to J. All well. Hard not to chat for ages Church - moving on service, lunch, transferring toys
Mon 8th - L gym
Tues 9th - violin cancelled, but cello moved forward a day, K gym
Wed 10th - Latinetc science (looked at peas planted in different conditions, talked about making a pea plant maze. Put bacteria into petri dishes to grow, then added antibiotics to inhibit growth/kill) music, Latin, French… then K and SB grade 1 recorder, S, E, L, A with me to Baby Music. Cubs.
Thurs 11th - Tots in new venue (lots to think about!) but no multisport Impromptu Tots planning meeting.
Fri 12th - normals, Australia jigsaw, science - raisins in lemonade, moving a candle on a plate or under a glass to see what happens to flame, lemonade and Mentos (doesn’t work as well as Diet Coke), relative gravity on different planets (lots of counting of popping corn grains into cups, then we popped it afterwards ). Professor Layton/Mathletics/Poisson rouge.
Sprinting through February
March 6th, 2010 by katyMonday 1st was younger HE sports, which K and L very much enjoyed, and which meant a double dose of activity for L as she had gymnastics in the afternoon as well. Bob was ill and at home, so J and M were able to stay at home and do quiet work. In the evening K had Beavers - one of his last sessions before moving up to Cubs.
Tues 2nd was violin for L, J and M, then gym for the boys in the afternoon.
Wed 3rd was quieter than usual, with no Latinetc and no cello, but there was Baby Music, during which Bob and the boys made gas mask boxes for Fri, and then K had his second Cubs taster session, which also happened to be our turn on the parent helper rota, so I stayed with the boys and helped them turn batteries into bugs with glowing noses Other experiments included static electricity and tissue paper snakes and rubbing a neon tube with plastic bags to make it glow… or shatter - only M could do that!
Thurs 4th - Tots and Nots and Philosophy Club. K went to play with the other K, coming back with delicious choc chip cookies
Fri 5th - WWII Evacuation day with the Nene Valley railway. Dressed (more or less) appropriately and carrying lunch and a few belongings with us, labels on coats and background reading done, we were evacuated to Stibbington. It was very well done, I thought, with enough authentic touches to make it feel real if you wanted to make it so but also enough reassurances to keep everyone happy. We walked through the village, with billets pointed out as we went (each child had chosen an identity from a list of actual children evacuated to Stibbington, so they were able to see where they would actually have been staying), marched smartly past the grumpy colonel’s house and eventually got to the school, where the billeting officer/schoolteacher gave the children identity cards to fill in and a quiz to do based on posters and slogans - all about Doctor Carrot keeping children healthy, careless talk costing lives and so on. Then there was time to look at the Anderson shelter and play with some appropriate toys in the playground before lunch and a chance to spend their pocket money (£1 changed into two old pennies) on souvenirs from the shop before going into the schoolroom to write a postcard home (or draw - she was very good at differentiating and providing age appropriate work, especially given that she said this was the first time she had ever had a mixed age group), learn spellings (reciting and writing), do copy work (with a dip pen and ink) and maths and then drill in the playground. Somewhere in there we sang It’s a long way to Tiperrary and listened to an address from Princess Elizabeth on the radio. Oh and there was an air raid, which meant a loud siren telling us to go to the shelter (indoors - the Anderson shelter in the playground wouldn’t have been big enough!) where they did more maths, sang derogatory songs about Hitler and generally kept a stiff upper lip and carried on regardless except A, who screamed and had to be taken out to look at the pictures in the corridor, even if it did mean we might get bombed! All in all, it was a really good day, and brought everything to life very effectively for the children - and adults too, I think!
We followed it up rather nicely with a trip to see Bob’s parents, after Music school on Sat. Bob’s mum was old enough to remember bits of the war and they both remember rationing, which went on for long enough afterwards to have become a major part of their childhood. Gran-gran and K, with a little help from L, made a couple of things from the recipe book we had borrowed form the library, while Grandad, J and M put together a flying thing from a science kit he’d been saving to do with grandchildren
My plans for a tidying and sorting weekend having been thoroughly overthrown, we came back on Monday via a HE gathering. Paper weaving happened and possibly a little chess, building with Lego and stickle bricks, socialising and lots of running around and climbing on outdoor play equipment. It was a good way of letting off steam after a long journey Then L just about got to Gym and K to Beavers, where he was swimming up - I discovered too late that J and M were meant to be there too, to help with the swimming up ceremony - a weekend away, with delayed return, is not good when people try to make arrangements by email
So, Tues 9th and M’s last violin lesson. He wants to carry on, but I don’t know how likely that is once he’s back in France, especially given that he wants to keep up piano and recorder too. Last Gymnastics session too - the end of his stay seemed to be rushing up on us!
Wed 10th - Latinlite at Merry’s - yeast, sugar and warm water in jars with balloons on top to catch gas emitted, then we tested the gas French games on the landing for those not yet doing sewing, lots of play and chat… Cello and Baby Music as usual, then M’s last Cubs, marked with a card and some little gifts
Thurs 11th - Tots and then HE sport. Chris looked after girls for me while I went and spent far too much money on cake decorating supplies to put finishing touches to silly numbers of cakes - not that I ever bake when I should be doing housework 
Fri 12th - day at home (at last!) and a chance to rattle through a few chores, make lists of games to play at party, bake and/or decorate cakes, get party food made (as working on morning of party) ensure beds sorted out for guests staying over…
Sat 13th - half term so no music school, but I was working (and usual 10 - 2 opening became 9 - 2:30 thanks to NCT training) so lots of dashing round. Michelle and Chris helped save the day, going far beyond the line of god-parently duty by getting here mid-morning and doing lots of sandwich making and general party prep - thank you - and I got back just in time to help Bob get everything to the hall and set up. Completely manic party - lots of children, lots of games, lots of food, no idea what was going on but I think most people either enjoyed it or were able to hide from it - and the pink chocolate fountain was a hit! Cakes all made it there successfully too, thank goodness.
Rather more chilled evening, with tea, leftover cake and a house full of friends - lovely
Sun 14th - Babs and co took M to his usual church. I took our children to our old church. Bob took Chris to railway station. Had to pop out for more food, leaving Barbara with numerous children, and got back to find Goddards and Manorborns had arrived Joined by Beans (without Helen ) and some Kentwell friends. More food, chat, tea etc - very nice way to spend a day In the evening we had a visit from Father Valentine, knocking on doors and windows and leaving gifts - not quite as elaborate as in the past, but still fun.
Mon 15th - Sports day all day for older Rainedrops, M, J and K. Meanwhile I took R, L and A to soft play while Barbara went to a lecture with her sister, then we met up at soft play and went back to college with sister to eat in rather elegant hall. Back home to pack before collecting sporty ones, then Rainedrops went their way and we came home ours.
Tues 16th - dropped K, L and A off with Gina so J, M and I could go to radio studio to do Woman’s Hour recording. Jenni Murray was great - nice to actually have some sensible questions! Horrible talkback on headsets though - really hard to concentrate when you can hear yourself a second or two later. While that was being sorted the boys got the giggles, which probably helped to settle any nerves, anyway. Quick pick-up,which disappointed children a bit, but Gina had other things to do and we needed to start M’s packing and make sure all his clothes were washed and dried. Wednesday was a quiet day, filled with not much more than finding things, making piles, fitting them into suitcases - and a fair bit of playing games too I had hoped to get to Twilight at the Museums, but it would have been silly to squeeze more in, I think.
Thursday 18th was M’s last day here, which he spent with J and Bob in London. They met up with M’s mum at the station and went on from there - Bob’s story to tell, I think, as I was at Tots with K, L and A, mostly sorting toys and books ready for our move while the church is refurbished.
Friday 19th was a catch your breath day, I think, although we had intended to go and help Tadcu with clearing Grandad’s house, then Saturday was filled with baking and soup making ready for a ceilidh at church in the early evening. Sunday found the children dancing again, and also learning about how a violin works, at the second of the dancing sessions organised by Gina and friends. It was also an all age service at church, followed by a fair-trade lunch.
I think M going made the others realise how little time there was before J went. They seemed to close in together, sleeping in the same (fortunately large) bed and spending much of their time playing or reading together. HE work took a back seat as I felt they needed down time together, but at the same time we were trying to fit in visits to see people J wanted to say goodbye to before he went, or who asked to see him. On Monday we had again intended to see Tadcu, but bad weather intervened so it was put off until Friday, when we went to Auntie Norma and Uncle John’s on the way. Tues was violin, then gym for K but not J. Wed was Latinetc, with pea planting to see what conditions they like best, and lots of extra music for those taking exams soon. No Baby Music, so I took K and E to cello, which meant I could stay and watch the lesson for the first time, while Gina and Helen stayed here with all remaining children - which meant extra bonus time for play and chat before Cubs Thurs was Tots and then multisport and on Fri we managed to squeeze in a trip to the dentist for J - all fine but he has the same problem I had/have of having unusually deep grooves/holes in molars which means you have to be extra careful to clean food out; the first I knew about it was when I had a precautionary filling at 15, so I’m glad this dentist has at least warned us beforehand. Then we went to Grandad’s house, which was bittersweet. We came away with a box of books which were presented either to Grandad or to my great uncle Alf when they were about 10, which my dad and uncle read at about the same age and which my dad has now passed on to J to read because he’s the right age - or will be when he gets back from France I also have notebooks with all Grandad’s sermon notes, some children’s address props (but I’ll need to hunt through 70 years worth of sermon notes to find the talks to go with them!) and a great sheaf of papers which are my grandmother’s sermon notes, plus lots of their preaching books and resources. I need to set myself up a corner and do some proper work again soon, I think. The post-baby lull is finally wearing off. J talked all the way home, processing Grandad’s death and the circle of passing on memories and things. Not very easy to deal with at 70 mph on the A11.
Despite a late night we got the children to Music school on Sat. J had taken some En Famille International leaflets with him because he said he was tired of having to explain about it to everyone who asked. I don’t know how many he actually handed out though! L tried the violin ensemble this time, hoping it would be a fun way of getting a bit more violin into her week. It turned out to be rather prescriptive and distinctly lesson-like though, with a teacher who disapproves of “coloured strings” and likes things done her way. Poor L spent most of the time waiting to be told what to do, which eventually happened via an older student explaining things to her rather than the teacher actually giving any kind of instructions or explanations On Tuesday we spoke to Christina, our violin teacher, and she said she had already come across this particular teacher and sadly her advice was not only to not do the sessions but also to speak to the organisers and point out that this was not an ensemble and that it would be unhelpful to most of the children there. Back to recorder ensemble then, I think.
In the afternoon we went to our favourite toyshop where J managed to buy L’s birthday present (the cuddly seal she has been saving up to buy) without her noticing, then went on to choose a present for A (jointly with L and K) again without her suspecting Lots of browsing and playing later we had chosen a game or two for M’s family and some little bits and pieces for ours and it was time to come home.
Clearing the blog blockage
March 6th, 2010 by bobI hadn’t realised that my lack of CenterParcs post was stopping Katy’s creative flow, so here’s a very belated CenterParcs post. As a result it will be a bit of a jumble.
7 of us in the car was a bit of a squeeze, and we didn’t arrive early enough for the cheeky swim before you can check in. But we got there early enough to not be too stressed. We had paid a bit extra for the chalet, which I think was worth it - I can’t remember exactly what we got for our money, but I remember Katy and me saying it was good.
I think that Sherwood Forest is better than Thetford Forest CP, other than it’s further away and in an area we’re not familiar with. We were weren’t in as close as last time, but I didn’t feel our lack of bikes was a problem. The playgrounds were excellent - a splendid set of musical things to jump about on, a decent rope bridge (actually over a bit of a lake) and other good things for A to play on. Also there was something that looked like a skate ramp, but was actually an enormous see-saw (for e.g. 10 adults at each end). And there were a couple of weird multi-armed see-saw things - so that 3 people could sit on a telegraph pole each and try to bounce each other up and down (the poles were roped together in a fiendish way).
It was still very cold, and one morning when walking to the main bit we saw a rabbit hop across a small lake over the ice. I’m glad I stopped to enjoy the moment rather than try to get my camera out and take a photo and probably miss it. J and M found an archimedian screw thing in a big sandy bit (actually a beach by the side of a lake), and had to force it loose of the ice that was jamming it up.
Generally the swimming was great - easier than last year. We didn’t have to battle J to get him swimming, which made things much more pleasant. (He occasionally took quite a bit of persuading, but definitely not what I’d call a battle.) K and L were as happy as last time, and better at swimming than last year so less hard work. M was in his element - he hadn’t been to a place like that before, and really enjoyed all the chutes and flumes. A liked it a bit, and I hope that next time she’ll be generally a bit bigger and capable and so get more out of it.
I was glad that all the various families going had managed to book so that we were at least in clumps if not all together. We had a DVD night at ours one evening (with rather delicious panettone bought as a post-Christmas bargain), but didn’t join in the late night board games sessions as I’m such a lightweight.
It was a bit weird getting a couple of phone calls from Newsround about the exchange in the middle of the holiday. Once I was in the middle of helping A across the big rope bridge and asked if he could phone back later - I gave the reason as I thought he’d understand. Possibly one of the strangest “I can’t talk to you right now” reasons they’ve had.
At the end of swimming on the last day M managed to lose his trunks and a pair of goggles, J and K had earned one of those big foam sausage things each, and K had found a disk from the laser clay pigeon shooting.
As well as a lightweight I’m also an old fogey. The only place I could get wireless reception was at the bowling alley / bar in the main bit. We met up there first for a birthday celebration for Big, which was during the afternoon. I went back one evening and the music was SO LOUD. I couldn’t see why people were sitting there voluntarily, in the name of enjoyment, shouting conversations to each other. Some couples had their babies with them in buggies. My laptop’s battery is so feeble that I had to plug into the mains, and the only place I could find a socket was next to the info kiosk thing - I did feel a bit weird, the only person there tapping away on a computer rather than chatting and drinking, but we needed to keep in email contact with Katy’s dad.
We cut it short a bit (but not much - just the cheeky, after you’ve checked out swim), so that we could get to Norwich in time (taking a slight detour to deposit M with Gina and co). Despite a stressful stretch or two where we thought we wouldn’t make it, we got there OK. and Katy has already blogged about all that.
Catching up again
February 3rd, 2010 by katyand still leaving Centerparcs to Bob
We dashed straight from CP to south of home to drop M off for a sleepover with Gina and co, then across to Norwich for Grandad’s funeral. We got there in time to go to the house first, where Mamgu had masses of food waiting for us and we had the chance to chat with Tadcu and my sister Polly before going to the church. The service was lovely, with lots of people who knew and loved him taking part. The usual minister was away (not such a bad thing actually) and the service was led by the super, who had known Grandad well and spoke about his Methodist background and his preaching life. Tadcu talked about the rest of his life - he was upset later at how stilted he had been but it came across well to the rest of us and the pauses just showed how much it meant - my oldest cousin did a reading, the oldest great-grandchild did another, my uncle Ron spoke very movingly about how Grandad had been very welcoming when they were all young and had become increasingly like a father to him after his own father died, then read the most amazing poem that they had found in Grandad’s papers after he died. I’m welling up just thinking about it - must get a copy from Daddy. And then I had to stand up, after that, and do prayers. I didn’t think I’d manage it, but somehow I did, and we all sang, almost raising the roof of the chapel - Grandad would have been very proud of us all, I think. After that we went to the crematorium for the committal, then back to the church for refreshments. Auntie Jill asked if we would go back to hers for the evening and since M was happily at Gina’s we decided that would be a good way to round off the day, even though it meant a long drive and a late night.
On Saturday Bob dropped the children off at music school then went to pick up M and got him back in time for the last session - his favourite. A quiet day of unpacking and washing followed. Sunday was a normal quiet Sunday, with church and lots of rest, especially for me as I was exhausted, then Monday another quiet day, with L’s gymnastics as the first organised activity. We did a bit of catching up on music and normals, and M did French night at the other Cubs pack - answering questions about life in France, which apparently he bot enjoyed and did very well.
On Tuesday Bob went off to work and then came home an hour later because he felt so unwell. He slept most of that day, while the children and I went on a HE group trip to P cathedral, looking out for Tudor things - it’s a good place for that! We went straight from there to violin, with lunch in the car, then back home with enough time for K to get changed into gym clothes. J decided he didn’t feel up to gym so only M had to do the quick shuffle at 5:25. On Wednesday Bob was still sleeping upstairs, while we Latinetced downstairs - fish dissection, which was actually nowhere near as difficult or unpleasant as I had feared I think it’s easiest to just send you here for more! Since the children were deeply involved in some fantastic game with the new market stall Helen and Michelle stayed for another cup of tea while I took K to cello and A to baby music, meaning I could leave J, M and L here without feeling bad about Bob Cubs was French night again (different pack) and also K’s first trial session.
Thursday was Tots, again leaving Bob asleep. Lots of piano, and the usual French while M was busy After Tots was Multisports for M (J opted out) while the rest of us went to Gina’s and played with S (and E and J, who had also opted out of sport) while she taught. Came home and dashed round getting Tudor stuff ready for HE group on Friday, then got hopelessly lost on the way and nearly didn’t make it at all. We were there in time to talk about Tudor life and Kentwell, share pottage and frumenty and show accoutrements and costume, but we missed all the other talks so as an HE experience for mine it was a bit of a waste - although I guess it gave M a reminder of what we had done at the beginning of his stay with us. Dashed home for a busy afternoon.
Saturday was music school and sling shop, as usual. Bob came with me and slept on the settee at the shop until it was time to collect children. As it was K’s birthday we had made vast amounts of cake for him to take in and share, which apparently went down well They came back to shop and had lunch then when they got too bouncy Bob dragged himself off the settee again and took them to the park while I finished up.
On Sunday M joined us at our local church, because we had been invited to lunch after the service - third attempt and the first one we’d been able to make, but we then realised that K needed to be elsewhere for a birthday concert and meal with a music school friend partway through so had to change plans a bit. Bob decided that driving one child would be easier than staying with the other four, so he and K had first course and then slipped quietly out. The idea behind the lunch was for newcomers to meet a few more people. It was slightly spoiled by the fact that our family took up most of a table by ourselves and nobody seemed to want to sit in the spare seats It worked out nicely in the end though, as first one of the cooks and then the minister took pity on us, so even though we didn’t get to meet anybody new we did get to have pleasant chats with nice people Bob got back in time to save us a walk home - and to collect a bowl of trifle to bring back with him - and I did the collecting K run and so got to meet his friend and friend’s parents.