So, here we are again, reflecting on where the last year went, and lamenting how quickly it passed by. No? OK. Happy New Year to you and yours, wherever you may be. We'd been invited to V's party last night - to bring the New Year in, and the children were welcome along as well. The children amused us (and were amused by us) playing charades, so it passed the time remarkably quickly considering that I was the sole adult who was sober.
I'd been banking on Tom (7) not lasting, and needing to go home early, as an excuse (I've never been a 'night-owl'), but blow me down he actually went the distance. It was Phoebe (13) who's head was on my shoulder at 11.30pm. Still, we're all tired out now, and it's early nights all round. Need to get back into a routine, school next week, and all that. I'm back to work tomorrow, but it's a 'short' week, so no matter.
We took a day-trip to 'big' London on Sunday. A train ride from Didcot Station took us up to the big smoke in an hour. We hopped onto the Tube and got off at Marble Arch to head into the 'Winter Wonderland' in Hyde Park.
No time to stop and gawp at the men holding court at Speakers Corner, and there was some kind of parade/march amassing - something to do with a Muslim celebration of the birth of someone or other, which was all very orderly and most of the participants were dressed head to toe in black. I did enjoy the march marshals with their loud-hailers standing by the pedestrian crossing, behesting us to 'Wait for the green man, ladies and gents, not yet, not yet, now!'.
Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland appeared to me to be nothing other than an excuse for a very LARGE fun fair with all the associated nonsense and thronging masses of the great unwashed and pickpockets. We'd decided not to do the ice-skating, but had opted instead to book in advance online for the 'Ice Kingdom' experience.... wrap up warm we were warned, it was -8 degrees inside.... and it was. It had to be in order to keep the ice and snow sculptures frozen.
The sculptures ranged in size and subject, from the small, and cute, to the larger.... and cute
... to the immensely huge!
The scale and artistry of some of the pieces was truly impressive, and we took the scaffold walkway behind the castle...
There was more to see, but you get the idea, and by this stage Tom needed to go to the loo, so we scurried past the last few things, and skipped the ice bar (which served various beers, spirits, and hot chocolate) as well.
After lunch (out of the Wonderland - we didn't fancy eating 'on the hoof') we returned and had a ride on the big wheel.
I would have taken more photos - super opportunity, clear sky, but, I do still suffer from Vertigo, and as much as I'd like not to, once we'd got the top I was longing for us to get back to the bottom. The ride controllers had other ideas, and the whole thing went round a second time before we disembarked and got back on solid ground.
We had an interesting journey from the park to Paddington Station. We ended up in a black cab because the tube was temporarily closed (barriers all down, crowds pressing, no announcements until we heard sirens, so we surmised there must have been an 'incident' - euphermism for 'accident' (or other) so not wanting the children to see too much of the darker side of life in the city we legged it to the surface).
Our cab driver was the least chatty of his kind, and the traffic was abysmyl. One particular bottle-necked double parked street had a woman walking down the middle of the road to the impasse (us versus a white car) and saying 'I'll just see if we can get someone further down to move along', or words to that effect.... Several similar streets later, a slight bump from the rear back flank of the cab to a parked vehicle, and a quick nip wrong way down a short one-way street to a large square, and we got to the station.
I don't spend much time in London anymore, and I'm glad of that. Still, you've got to stretch your comfort zone once in a while, and it was a good family day out.
Night for now. Kat
I'd been banking on Tom (7) not lasting, and needing to go home early, as an excuse (I've never been a 'night-owl'), but blow me down he actually went the distance. It was Phoebe (13) who's head was on my shoulder at 11.30pm. Still, we're all tired out now, and it's early nights all round. Need to get back into a routine, school next week, and all that. I'm back to work tomorrow, but it's a 'short' week, so no matter.
We took a day-trip to 'big' London on Sunday. A train ride from Didcot Station took us up to the big smoke in an hour. We hopped onto the Tube and got off at Marble Arch to head into the 'Winter Wonderland' in Hyde Park.
No time to stop and gawp at the men holding court at Speakers Corner, and there was some kind of parade/march amassing - something to do with a Muslim celebration of the birth of someone or other, which was all very orderly and most of the participants were dressed head to toe in black. I did enjoy the march marshals with their loud-hailers standing by the pedestrian crossing, behesting us to 'Wait for the green man, ladies and gents, not yet, not yet, now!'.
Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland appeared to me to be nothing other than an excuse for a very LARGE fun fair with all the associated nonsense and thronging masses of the great unwashed and pickpockets. We'd decided not to do the ice-skating, but had opted instead to book in advance online for the 'Ice Kingdom' experience.... wrap up warm we were warned, it was -8 degrees inside.... and it was. It had to be in order to keep the ice and snow sculptures frozen.
and not at all cute.
some people stuck coins to the ice... whilst others tried to prise them off the ice....
to exit the castle 'ramparts' you had to go down the ice slide - which wasn't as slippy as you'd imagine.
There was more to see, but you get the idea, and by this stage Tom needed to go to the loo, so we scurried past the last few things, and skipped the ice bar (which served various beers, spirits, and hot chocolate) as well.
After lunch (out of the Wonderland - we didn't fancy eating 'on the hoof') we returned and had a ride on the big wheel.
I would have taken more photos - super opportunity, clear sky, but, I do still suffer from Vertigo, and as much as I'd like not to, once we'd got the top I was longing for us to get back to the bottom. The ride controllers had other ideas, and the whole thing went round a second time before we disembarked and got back on solid ground.
We had an interesting journey from the park to Paddington Station. We ended up in a black cab because the tube was temporarily closed (barriers all down, crowds pressing, no announcements until we heard sirens, so we surmised there must have been an 'incident' - euphermism for 'accident' (or other) so not wanting the children to see too much of the darker side of life in the city we legged it to the surface).
Our cab driver was the least chatty of his kind, and the traffic was abysmyl. One particular bottle-necked double parked street had a woman walking down the middle of the road to the impasse (us versus a white car) and saying 'I'll just see if we can get someone further down to move along', or words to that effect.... Several similar streets later, a slight bump from the rear back flank of the cab to a parked vehicle, and a quick nip wrong way down a short one-way street to a large square, and we got to the station.
I don't spend much time in London anymore, and I'm glad of that. Still, you've got to stretch your comfort zone once in a while, and it was a good family day out.
Night for now. Kat
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