It's over, for another year anyway.... We had a lovely relaxed Christmas Day. We'd told the children not to open any presents, nor wake their parents, until they could see that it was light outside. So Tom snuck into our room at 7.30am, exclaiming that 'He'd been' and also that he 'could see the hedge in the garden, so it must be light outside'. Well played, if I say so myself.
Our neighbours, K & J had invited us round to Xmas lunch this year - which was lovely as their children, H & A, play well with our two. They live 3 doors down the road from us, so it was very easy to arrange, and not at all difficult to take our nut-roasts balanced on top of the Apple and Blackberry Crumble - an alternative pudding for those who don't like traditional Christmas Pudding.
There was a little fussiness by Tom (7) about lunch, which may have been the prelude to his vomiting later that night, at 2.30am, and again at 3am. We stayed at home on Boxing Day (26th December), in case anything further developed, but he was as right as rain. 'Better out than in' as the saying goes.
The next day (27th) we'd planned a trip to the cinema to see 'Frozen' and combined it with a shopping expedition. This isn't because I like shopping. In fact, there's nothing I'd like to do less, but unfortunately the Kangol Hat Simon had given me for Xmas needed to go back for exchange, and the nearest TK Maxx store is in Swindon. (The hat cloche shape in itself was fine, just I wouldn't have chosen fluffy dyed rabbit fur, and not with the leather 'belt' detail.)
To get to TK Maxx involved a trip to the other side of Swindon... via the (in)famous 'Magic Roundabout. I'd never heard of it until we moved hereabouts, and I've only been round it once before, but it's not something I'd like to do too readily. It's a roundabout made up of 5 smaller roundabouts, and is designed to keep traffic moving, albeit slowly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
Well, I learned something from that link.
So. A quick trip to exchange the hat, for a nice handbag, and then we headed onto the Swindon Outlet Centre - a bit like Bicester Village - lots of 'designer' shops in a mall, selling discounted goods. The 'mall' used to be the Great Western Railway buidings/sheds, so the architecture was of interest. We whizzed along trying to find Phoebe some footwear. I shan't say 'shoes' because she hates shoe shopping.
We invariably end up with school shoes only because her height dictates that to avoid falling over too much her feet must be adequately large. UK size 8 and 8.5. Eur 43/44 (this is open to debate). USA size 11? The problem here is that most ladies shoe shops only stock up to UK size 8. Her half-size foot is therefore her Achilles Heel, if you'll forgive the pun! As luck would have it we eventually found her some 'biker' style black boots with 2cm chunky heel which she deemed acceptable. Phew.
Although I don't like shopping I saw the opportunity to find new pasta bowls. We actually needed some new ones as the ones we had have this year finally cracked from use and there's only one of them left from the set. They were a wedding present to us, back in 1995, so they've not done too badly. Fortunately I found a style I liked in John Lewis - the Portmerion range had quite a substantial discount. Original selling price on the 'botanic garden' range pasta bowl, £14.50. Reduced price -75% @ £3.62. I got six. Thank you very much!
We thought it would be fun to have lunch at Ed's Easy Diner. We'd not been in one for about 15 years - there's one in Brighton, and certainly one or more in London.
http://www.edseasydiner.com/index.php
Ah-ha. According to the website, there's now 27 around the country. Not the 'logical' choice for a vegetarian, but the veggie burgers are both good. It's the atmosphere that's the attraction, and they still had 'it' whatever 'it' is. If you're near one I recommend you go there.
I'd go back to the Outlet Centre - as there's a National Trust Centre to visit, and STEAM as well. http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/
Lunch done, we went to the cinema (thankfully avoiding the Magic Roundabout this time), and saw the 2.20pm showing of the new Disney movie 'Frozen'. The children enjoyed it, and I cried, as usual. I still want to see that 'Saving Mr Banks', and the poster for the new Coen Brothers film out 28th January looks good.
Simon driving home gives me an opportunity to be a frustrated birdwatcher. Well. Me driving is also opportunity, but I have to keep my eyes on the road. Doh. I'd love to have more time to pursue this old interest of mine, but I have to get my fix where I can, and this usually entails keeping my eyes and ears open whilst dog-walking.
Anyhoo, it's a good 40 minutes to and from Swindon. I saw a couple of Kestrals hovering at the road verge, pretty sure the 'big' raptor was a Buzzard and not a Kite, and returning on the A417, in the half-light of dusk at around 4.20pm I saw my first murmuration. Which was magical and extremely frustrating as we were in traffic and the verges are too high to pull over and park on. Even if I'd had my camera I'd not have had time to capture it. Perhaps there's a use after all for those google glasses that hit the news this year?
Night night y'all. Kat.
Our neighbours, K & J had invited us round to Xmas lunch this year - which was lovely as their children, H & A, play well with our two. They live 3 doors down the road from us, so it was very easy to arrange, and not at all difficult to take our nut-roasts balanced on top of the Apple and Blackberry Crumble - an alternative pudding for those who don't like traditional Christmas Pudding.
There was a little fussiness by Tom (7) about lunch, which may have been the prelude to his vomiting later that night, at 2.30am, and again at 3am. We stayed at home on Boxing Day (26th December), in case anything further developed, but he was as right as rain. 'Better out than in' as the saying goes.
The next day (27th) we'd planned a trip to the cinema to see 'Frozen' and combined it with a shopping expedition. This isn't because I like shopping. In fact, there's nothing I'd like to do less, but unfortunately the Kangol Hat Simon had given me for Xmas needed to go back for exchange, and the nearest TK Maxx store is in Swindon. (The hat cloche shape in itself was fine, just I wouldn't have chosen fluffy dyed rabbit fur, and not with the leather 'belt' detail.)
To get to TK Maxx involved a trip to the other side of Swindon... via the (in)famous 'Magic Roundabout. I'd never heard of it until we moved hereabouts, and I've only been round it once before, but it's not something I'd like to do too readily. It's a roundabout made up of 5 smaller roundabouts, and is designed to keep traffic moving, albeit slowly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
Well, I learned something from that link.
So. A quick trip to exchange the hat, for a nice handbag, and then we headed onto the Swindon Outlet Centre - a bit like Bicester Village - lots of 'designer' shops in a mall, selling discounted goods. The 'mall' used to be the Great Western Railway buidings/sheds, so the architecture was of interest. We whizzed along trying to find Phoebe some footwear. I shan't say 'shoes' because she hates shoe shopping.
We invariably end up with school shoes only because her height dictates that to avoid falling over too much her feet must be adequately large. UK size 8 and 8.5. Eur 43/44 (this is open to debate). USA size 11? The problem here is that most ladies shoe shops only stock up to UK size 8. Her half-size foot is therefore her Achilles Heel, if you'll forgive the pun! As luck would have it we eventually found her some 'biker' style black boots with 2cm chunky heel which she deemed acceptable. Phew.
Although I don't like shopping I saw the opportunity to find new pasta bowls. We actually needed some new ones as the ones we had have this year finally cracked from use and there's only one of them left from the set. They were a wedding present to us, back in 1995, so they've not done too badly. Fortunately I found a style I liked in John Lewis - the Portmerion range had quite a substantial discount. Original selling price on the 'botanic garden' range pasta bowl, £14.50. Reduced price -75% @ £3.62. I got six. Thank you very much!
We thought it would be fun to have lunch at Ed's Easy Diner. We'd not been in one for about 15 years - there's one in Brighton, and certainly one or more in London.
http://www.edseasydiner.com/index.php
Ah-ha. According to the website, there's now 27 around the country. Not the 'logical' choice for a vegetarian, but the veggie burgers are both good. It's the atmosphere that's the attraction, and they still had 'it' whatever 'it' is. If you're near one I recommend you go there.
I'd go back to the Outlet Centre - as there's a National Trust Centre to visit, and STEAM as well. http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/
Lunch done, we went to the cinema (thankfully avoiding the Magic Roundabout this time), and saw the 2.20pm showing of the new Disney movie 'Frozen'. The children enjoyed it, and I cried, as usual. I still want to see that 'Saving Mr Banks', and the poster for the new Coen Brothers film out 28th January looks good.
Simon driving home gives me an opportunity to be a frustrated birdwatcher. Well. Me driving is also opportunity, but I have to keep my eyes on the road. Doh. I'd love to have more time to pursue this old interest of mine, but I have to get my fix where I can, and this usually entails keeping my eyes and ears open whilst dog-walking.
Anyhoo, it's a good 40 minutes to and from Swindon. I saw a couple of Kestrals hovering at the road verge, pretty sure the 'big' raptor was a Buzzard and not a Kite, and returning on the A417, in the half-light of dusk at around 4.20pm I saw my first murmuration. Which was magical and extremely frustrating as we were in traffic and the verges are too high to pull over and park on. Even if I'd had my camera I'd not have had time to capture it. Perhaps there's a use after all for those google glasses that hit the news this year?
Night night y'all. Kat.
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