Viva Espana

We've been back from Mallorca just over a week, and already it seems like a lifetime ago. What a wonderful holiday. We (Laura and me) were guests of Sarah, Thomas and Harry, along with Heather, Sue and Lisa.

Pictures (all 116 of 'em) can be found here.

Actually, I have to confess, it did almost turn into the holiday from hell. It started when we rolled up at the airport. Auntie Sue was travelling with us. We joined the Jet2.com queue...at which point I discovered I'd left the passports, tickets and money at home. Cue meltdown. Peter had to drive back to Harroagte...Mum was dispatched to our house to collect said items, and meet him en route. He got back to the airport with about 5 minutes to spare. A sterling effort.

Palma Airport was actually fairly quiet. However, the bags still took forever to arrive. Sue went to queue for the hire car. There were maybe 5 people in front of her. Not to worry...we had to wait for the rest of the gang to arrive on the Manchester flight...which they duely did. Sue still in queue for car. Sarah joins Sue while we wait for their bags. Sue and Sarah still in queue for car. Nearly two hours later (yes..I'l say it again....2 hours) we get our cars. Nightmare. Do not ever ever book with Record.

Not to worry. Can't get any worse. Let head off to the villa. Except....despite having booked a Belingo, Sue is issued with a Citroen Crappo (?)....7 seats (!)...automatic...no handbreak....left hand drive. Even the girl in the office couldn't work out how to drive it so she replaced it with a ..Berlingo.

Not to worry. Can't get any worse. Let's just fill up the tank and go....except we only saw the sign for the petrol station as we drove past it and headed onto the motorway. Short detour and we're back at the petrol station.

Not to worry. Can't get any worse. Sue gets the hang of driving on the WRONG side of the road. Doing a stonking job. Until, the car in front takes an exit off the motorway, oh...then changes his mind and shoots back onto the main carriageway. Sue breaks, and the ABS kicks in. We are swerving across two lanes...and I am using some charming anglo-saxon to express my dissatisfaction with aforementioned useless driver. I am now just waiting with horror for Laura to come out with the same expression!

Not to worry. Can't get any worse (are you getting the hang of this?) Sarah unlocks door to villa, switches off alarm...or at least tries...but had the code slightly wrong.....we have visions of the police swarming up any minute......

Luckily, it didn't get any worse.....it was a fabulous trip...lovely house, wonderful company, glorious weather, didn't want to come home.

Almost didn't come home! Got to airport on Friday.....departures board....18.25 to LBA CANCELLED. Luckily, after a few heart-stopping minutes....it turned out to be a mistake. Soemthing to do with an early problem with a Newcastle flight.

Roll on May 2008, when the Pushchair Posse regroup!

The squeamish may wish to look away now

I broke my toe! I haven't ever broken a bone - not in 42 years. Pity my first break was as unimpressive as my little toe (right foot). So, I have never had a proper plaster cast - not even when I dislocated my knee. That was just a crepe bandage and a thing to hold the leg straight - I'm sure it has a proper name. It was a blue felt caliper, for want of the correct terminology.

This time, I get a bit of stuff between my toes and some sticky tape. But, man, look at that bruise!


I did it by stubbing my toe on the door jamb in the bedroom, on the way back from the shower. Slippers from now on, I suppose.

I am flying out to Germany this afternoon. I am wondering if I can blag a ride on one of those golf carts at Schipol Airport!

Catch up - God's Own Country

Who would live anywhere else?

Outings in April and May

Catch up - Open University

I have a load of things to include in the blog - we''l start we an update to be progress on my OU course. Last post about this was when i was whinging about various things back in March, and I was due to submit an essay on Sharia law. Well....I got another B...a point higher than last time. Next religion to zoom through in a somewhat cursory fashion was Hinduism. Interesting, complicated.....and it coincided with a busy time at work (like, when isn't it?)....so I'm afraid I didn't do the essay. Luckily, those lovely people at the OU have this option called 'substitution', where you can miss one assignment, and the score will be substituted based on your average score. Hurrah!

Picnic no. 2

As we continued to enjoy such gorgeous weather we decided to drag Laura away from the telly, and expose her to a bit of cul-cha. A trip to Middleham Castle. Luckily this went down a storm with Laura and she is a bit princess-obsessed at moment. However, I was slightly worried that she was expecting something a little more Disney-like, rather that English (ruined) medieval. Her comment on seeing Middleham was "This castle is a bit broken down, I will admit"

I am pleased to report that she had a lovely time, exploring the castle and speculating what the princesses might have used each room for.

The afternoon finished with Laura attempting to single-handedly restart the Wars of the Roses!

Easter 2007

Well, I seem to be managing one post per month at the moment - excellent going!

Easter was lovely this year - good weather and good company. We were very pleased to ahve been able to persuade Vronni to venture north for the first time in 18 months. On saturday the boys went to Newcastle for the day, so the girls did the thing they are best at - shopping. We were going to "do lunch" while in town, but we were seduced by the weather and had a picnic instead.

Sunday saw the Easter Bunny doing his business in Nana's garden. We took advantage of mum and dad's larger premises and had lunch at theirs as well. V and I cooked dinner, which was the easy bit - keeping Mum OUT OF THE KITCHEN was the challenge.

Slightly tipsy post

Does anyone really say tipsy anymore?

So, I started drinking at about 4.45pm today, when I normally have a rule about not starting till 6pm...i.e. Laura is home, and Peter is due through the door at any moment. Today Laura was at mum's and being picked up by P. It was my day off, and yet still my work colleagues (shan't mention names - can't remember who knows about this blog) managed to p*** me off so much that the bottle was out the fridge significantly earlier than usual.

Veronica was drink in hand when I spoke to her at 5.30, which was justifiable as they'd just had OFSTED, but also made me feel less guilty!

So, I've been reading loads of other blogs, and feeling inadequate. Therefore, in a bid to appear more interesting, here is a fact about me that you won't know: I am synesthesic, or perhaps, blessed with synesthesia. It's a nice thing to have, although weird when you realise that it isn't the same for everyone else. It is strongest for me for days of the week. If you didn't click on the link immediately I bet you are intrigued now - to see what I've got...is it catching....can you tell just by looking at me!

So, I read this blog, which reminded me that I treated myself to a pair of purple kickers for my thirtieth birthday. I did wear them a bit, but I recently gave them to my niece, so clearly they came back into fashion. I also threw a Northern Exposure party, which gives a hint as to how long ago my 30th was....

Crap, crap crap

Well, I thought my next post would be about our fabby trip to Disneyland. That will appear soon, I promise, but right now I just want a winge instead.

So, I have a cold and a cough. but I got this on about 27th February. It was rubbish, but not bad enough to stay off work. In fact, i started it while actually working in the office, rather than being at home, so liberally shared the bug with my colleagues. It cleared up pretty much to go to France (ibid), then came back with a vengence this week, resulting in time off work, much drooping around the house feeling sorry for myself, and huge amounts of coughing. It's now sunday, I'm still coughing and sneezing, I've run out of Nightnurse, and I have to go to Brussels on Wednesday.
And I am desperately trying to finish an essay on Sharia law. My heart just isn't in it.
And I have to be up early to go to Birmingham tomorrow.
And my boss resigned last week. He stuck it less than 12 months.
And it is bloody snowing.

However, on the bright side, today is Mothers Day, and i got the most gorgeous card from Laura.
And i've booked our flights for the girly holiday (actually..mother and baby) in Spain in May.
And as i got a B in my last essay (did I mention that?) maybe I can afford to be a bit slack with this one.

Big head...blog it and then shut up about it!

I am doing another Open University course this year: A217 Introducing religions. I was more motivated this time than for the maths course I did last year. Now, I am double motivated because I got my first assigment back [In what ways might the understanding of material culture enhance our understanding of religion as it is lived?], and I got 80% - a B.

The road to hell etc etc

I am sooo full of good intentions! Ho hum.

So, Peter and I enjoyed my Christmas present to him this weekend. With thanks to mum and dad for babysitting duties, we braved the snow and went to Stratford upon Avon. The fun commenced with a backstage tour on Friday evening. The theatre was all set up for Merry Wives- The Musical, which we were due to see the following evening, so that made it even more interesting. Bit of star spotting: we saw Haydn Gwynne while we were backstage. Saturday morning saw a spot of shopping - I saw Haydn Gwynne again. Then first show - Merry Wives was out of this world. It got poor reviews, which I purposely didn't read, but now I'm curious...I can't imagine what anybody could find not to like.

A quick nap then dinner in Cafe Rouge, where we saw...Haydn Gwynne....I swear...the woman was stalking me. Then off to the supposed highlight of the weekend : Richard III. Another superlative production. However, Peter surprised me by announcing that Merry Wives was better than Richard III!

Better late than never?

So, I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging this weekend. See if I can cover Christmas before we hit the end of January.

Review of the year - Laura

I only started the blog in april so there is a fair bit of the year I missed....plus, as I started to compose this blog in my head, I realised I hadn't actually used it as much of a record of laura's "milestones" this year. And somewhat surprisingly, as I have always thought of myself as 'memory-woman', I realise I have forgotten so much....for example....was this the year that Laura was potty trained? I think so. 2005 would have been a little early, and indeed she was one of the last in her nursery class to come out of nappies.....let's assume it was, then!

So - 2006 for laura - well, the end of daytime nappies then! As I said, she came to the potty later than many of her contempories, but my memory is that it was a fairly painless transistion, so maybe I am vindicated in my attitude of "she'll do it when she's ready". We went down the road of reward charts and at least one reward present (can't remember what that was either!). At present she still wears a nappy at night, but over the christmas period she quite proudly told me when her nappy was still dry in the morning. So, I think we might start focusing on that a bit more.

As for leaving childish (or rather, babyish) things behind, she still has her bottle of milk morning and evening, and shows no sign of ditching either. Does it matter? can't think why, unless using a bottle might affect her front teeth? No problem there then...the thumb sucking will ensure she has lovely, sticky out teeth, just like her mum, but hey, that's what braces are for!

Laura started 2006 still in toddlers. We had some issues in early summer when her supervisor went on maternity leave and a new member of staff, Sue, joined the team. Sue is lovely (and she is a guider, so she must be alright!). Sadly Laura took a ....what..dislike is too strong a word...but she certainly was traumatised by the change. This manafested itself in crying and clinging when she was dropped off at school, which was very upsetting for all concerned. She then started to tell us that she didn't like Sue. Anyway, I had a meeting with Sue, she came up with some practical suggestions...and basically, Laura got over it! Laura's experience at nursery has been fanatastic - she has been at Playaway since she was eight months old, and I shall be sorry when she leaves. In September she moved to pre-school, which is in a little annexe at the back of the main building. She seems to be thriving there.

Of course, 2007 will bring a mjor change because she will move on to big school. We have visited
St Robert's , which appears to be a wonderful school, and barring disasters Laura will go there from September.

In pre-school she seems to have settled on Hattie as her very best friend, and we have had her over on Fridays a couple of times. Laura's previous best friends were Daniel (a big boy in the year above), then Jack Geen (runner up in the Harrogate Advetiser Cute Tot [or whatever they call it] competition). However, she has now become very concious of the difference between boys and girls - it's all very black and white to her....or rather pink and blue. Is this indoctrination from somewhere, or just another stage?

In 2006 started swimming classes. This started slowly, but about half way through the term she suddenly "got it", and now loves swimming. Her favourite thing is jumping in, and when we go to the pool at the gym this activity can go on for an hour or more. Great (!)

Laura loves cucumber and chocolate. She doesn't like currants or eggs. She is very worried about strawberries, and doesn't even want to eat them when she grows up.

Reading list [1]

At the weekend Kate asked me what I had read recently, and I struggled to remember. Rather embarassingly she gave me a lovely book journal for my birthday last year. To date it has two entries in it.

I had a look at the huge pile of stuff at my side of the bed, and a quick scan along the shelves in my study, and the list below is some of what I read in 2006. However, I tend to move on my books (fiction usually) fairly quickly - to friends or the local charity shop.

Kate - this is for you....it's in no particular order..not even alphbetical (o mi god!), but I have noted where something is non-fiction:

War crimes for the home - Liz Jensen
Number 5 - Glenn Patterson
Remember me - Trezza Azzopardi
Welcome to Temptation - Jennifer Crusie
The analyst - John Katzenbach
The righteous men - Sam Bourne
[NF]Perdita - Paula Byrne
[NF] Don't wake me at Doyles - Maura Murphy
Wish I may - Justine Picardie
The Apothecary's house - Adrian Mathews
[NF] Victorian London - Liza Picard
The equinox - Michael White

can we talk?

I bought
this phone just because it is pink with stars. My husband thinks I have become very shallow. I think he is right, and actually I think that is OK. I got into pink since Laura was born. Sure beats post-natal depression.

Stalking other (much funnier) blogs

I stole these cartoons from this blog. For for my close associates who have an insight into my fragile mental state at the moment....well, these kinda made me smile.

Yeah but...No but....

We went to see Little Britain Live on Saturday night, at the (newly renovated) Grand Theatre in Leeds. It was a corking evening. We even had a warm up act - a comedian called
John Fothergill. He was very good, and very much set the tone for the rest of the evening, if you know what I mean. Apparently Matt Lucas was stuck on a train coming back from the Arsenal game, which was why this chap opened the show. The LB boys did not let us down - it was a tremendous evening. I've never been to see one of these "TV shows transferred to the stage" before (unless Spamalot counts?), and wasn't sure what to expect. It was, as you might expect, slightly more "blue" (read filthy and full of swearing...hurrah!) than the TV version...although I say "as you might expect" - clearly it wasn't expected by those audience members who brought their kids along! Oh, and David Walliams got naked at the end.

The Naughty Witch of the North

They were allowed to dress up for pre-school on Hallowe'en, so may I present my little witch:

A little something to look forward to..

My future travel blogs will include:Birmingham (again?), Southampton, London, Chesterfield, Manchester, Chester, Halifax, Hatfield and Manchester again. That's in the space of 11 working days.(repeat after me.."i love my job...i love my job..") We also have a social trip to Manchester in the middle of this, assuming Peter is fit to drive (Hernia blog another time I think!)

My travel blog...with acknowledgements to Chris...

and apologies...and a certain amount of jealousy, as he does get to go to some pretty exciting places . I, on the other hand, have been to the following places over the last two months: Birmingham, London, Chiswick, Openshaw, Sheffield, Havering (it's in Essex), Leicester..oh and SOUTH AFRICA! Pictures (all of 'em I'm afraid) can be seen
here. None of your business class travel for us, I'm afraid. Not least because the flight was absolutely chocka. Actually, on the way out we did OK for space as we were sat in the bulkhead. You could see the other passengers sniggering as we took our seats because we were sharing with a five month old baby. Didn't faze us parents! Least of all my work chum John, who was escaping from a 12 week old at home!

South Africa was strange, to be honest. Not a place I had ever had any desire to visit (I'll blog my travel wish list another time), mostly because I suppose I am old enough to still remember......Anyway, I also *thought* it might feel a bit more like...well, Africa. Which it didn't. We were in Jo'burg, then in Centurian, which is on the outskirts of Pretoria. Honestly, we could have been in pretty much any European capital city. Everyone we dealt with was lovely. Food was fine, drink plentiful...and so cheap. I also went mad shopping, so if you are on my xmas pressie list chances are you'll get something South African.


We were lucky enough to have a day off at the end of our work commitments, and I got to choose what we did, as John is a regular visitor. I picked Soweto and the anti-apartheid museum (hey...i never wear my politics credentials lightly do i?) It was fascinating, moving, emotional..everything you'd expect and more..



The biggie is that we won the sale we went out for....!

Where we did it all.

"Little Pernderff".....gorgeous, and already booked for another two weeks next summer. See more pictures here:
Penderff








Judith & Jeremy...


















Cats, dogs and chickens....