Categories: uncategorized
Date: 27 February 2007 22:11:41
Highlights of our trip away?
1) The scream that came from the bathroom at the Travelodge. Out came Smudgelet, who had had a shower and had decided to put some curls in his lovely golden locks. Good try, Smudgelet, but actually it's not that good an idea to do it with a comb. And when the comb gets tangled, it's an even worse idea to rotate it several times in the opposite direction.
I had scissors in the car, but luckily for Smudgelet we were all in pyjamas and the car was parked at the far end of a snow-bedecked carpark. And so the game began. I have to say he was very brave.. there was only the occasional wimper and no protestations or tears at all as I pulled on each hair to see at which end it was attached and then gently (gently?) teased it out from between the teeth of the comb. Half an hour it took, until the last strand was released. He's asked for curling tongs for his birthday!
2) Spending time with my sister... and talking with my nephews on Skype. Spending a rainy morning, the Smudgelets and my sister and I, having an origami competition (which, surprisingly, the Smudgelets really enjoyed) and creating snakes and crickets and pigs and hundreds of penguins of various sizes (and in Smudgelet's case, of various colour schemes!)
3) A wonderful visit to Ford Green Hall - highly recommended if ever you're that way, wherever it is. It almost wasn't a wonderful visit as we arrived to find it closed. We toured the outside looking for opening times. It was most odd - the carpark was being dug up with a JCB and there was no sign of life other than a bottle of milk on the doorstep (most odd, seeing a bottle of milk delivered to a Tudor house) but my sister had rung up the previous day and they'd said it would be open and there'd be special activities for children too. Nowhere could we find the sign with opening times, so in the end I had to find a sheltered corner, ring to top up my mobile phone credit, ring directory enquiries for the number of tourist information, and then speak to the very helpful woman there who said that the place only opens afternoons. At this point I looked up and discovered I was standing underneath a massive signpost and, on investigating further, discovered that this huge noticeboard actually had the opening times written on in great big letters!
But if you're into history, then this is the most lovely historical building I have ever been in. Unlike many stately homes, this house seems to hug you as you go in, and there's a real feel for the families who must have lived there. Unlike many places, children (and adults) are actually encouraged to touch and explore and there are loads of things to try out - reproduction clothing, games, spinning etc. My sister introduced us all to the skill of playing with a whip and top, a game she remembered from her childhood. She and Tiddles dressed up as a Tudor nobleman and his waiting maid, while Smudgelet and I tried our hand at nine-mens-morris. And Tiddles demonstrated incredible patience and skill at carding and spinning wool, sufficient for me to arrange for him to have some spinning lessons when next he's in Scotland with his uncle.
4) Spending some quality time with my childhood friend, L - a friend more like a sister until recently, when our lives had suffered a bit of a rift with the various demands on our time and attention, and with so many miles between us. A rift that a three day visit more than mended. And on top of that, the pure delight of spending time with my Goddaughters who are the most wonderful girls and whom I both love and like incredibly much. Not having spent proper time with them for ages, I had begun to fear that I hardly knew them any more and that the love between us was only there as a theoretical thing, that I was really only "a friend of their mother's". But three days put paid to that, and already we're making plans for them coming to stay and for us getting together on the mainland for days out here and there.
5) A fantastic and relaxing time in good company was the final part of our week away as we went to the St Pixels retreat at Morley. Highlight for the Smudgelets was discovering that one of the worship rooms had been somewhat converted. The furniture was all stacked in one corner and in the middle of the room was a ginormous BOUNCY CASTLE!!! Best bit - the adults were allowed on it. Sadly I only managed one bounce as I was suffering from a head cold and it made me feel quite dizzy and nauseous, so I retired for a nice safe refined game of croquet (the perfect game for mean minded people :) )
Lowlight: A bit of Tiddles-trouble, and both boys going down with the most horrible bug - chesty coughs, headaches and dizziness, and a temperature of 101 each (Goodness, that's 202 altogether!!!)