We have now come to the time in our trip where time, which was stretched out leisurely, is now being spooled in tight with less than two weeks till we leave for France. Plane ticket to France booked: check. All hotel accommondation booked: check. Now just all the goodbyes, a couple of big boxes in the post and we're on our way back home via France (Lyon, Avignon, Carcassone, and a little town on the beach the name of which I still can not spell), Spain (Barcelona then Madrid) and Hong Kong. Last weekend we went along to the May "bumps", a series of rowing races, the rules of which are still not at all clear to us, even after Pimms and numerous explantations. Rules and a very blustery day aside, it was a chance to see how beautiful the banks of the river Cam are further out of the city centre. Barry and Carole Gibson (old family firends of B's) were in town for the afternoon and evening and we all went out to dinner. We'd had a very yummy dinner cooked by them the weekend before when we dropped by to see them at the little village of East Bergholt in Suffolk, after spending time at the ancient ruins of Framlingham Castle. The boys tried their hands at jousting and got involved in a group re-enactment of the Battle of Hasting. Sean is now a very enthusiastic knight!

Sean gets some tips on sword strategy

Getting ready for battle

Finn readys his horse for jousting

Can he get his lance through the two quoits?

We've been to London to see the Queen (well at least some boats anyhow)



In front of one of the Tower's soldiers



We are all still recovering from last weekend in London. We threw our bags together and made a frantic dash by bike to the station to make it on the express to London with a couple of seconds to spare! First stop the Tower of London - an amazing collection of jewels, weapons, stairs and guys in funny costumes. Then it was on to the underground maze of the tube where, well directed by B, we headed out to Hampton Court Palace, the abode of the boys' favourite king, Henry the Eighth. We found his digs very impressive. Outside in the gardens behind the place, Jubilee celebrations were well underway. Bunting everywhere, bands playing, people sprawled around on the grass, enjoying the occassional sunshine (at least it wasn't raining!)

Kings at the head of Henry the Eight's banqueting table

   

After Hampton Court Palace we headed off to our friends' home in Richmond and relaxed for the evening. Jenny had prepared spaghetti and meatballs which was a yummy tonic after sub-par takeway all day. After dinner we took a stroll around the neighbourhood. We didn't make it as far as the enormous Richmond Park but got a great view across London from a lovely park a few streets away. Richmond is a great neighbourhood and Jenny and John have settled into life in London. The kids had fun playing with their eldest boy Cameron and Finn chatting away non-stop to each other.

Next post: the paegant although it wasn't that much fun for the kids - a rainy river with lots of boats on it, weather getting worse by the minute. Still, cool to be part of history!

STOP PRESS: sunshine!!

OK,  I don't want to jinx us or anything but this is the second day in a row where we have had sunshine for more than a couple of hours in a row. Summer, perchance? We wish it had been around last weekend when we had our very old friends (from Adelaide days) John and Jenny visit with their three kids. Luckily we decided to do our canoeing down the Cam river on the Saturday when it was at least half decent weather. Sunday we went for a walk downtown and then to the Fitzwilliam Museum before freezing in the park. The canoeing was fun - you have to wriggle between the punts (the flat wide boats with a person up front pushing with a long pole) as you meander along with the impressive college parks and gardens on either side and the occasional bridge overhead.
Coming up: this Sunday Brendon will take Sean to another birthday party while Finn and Katherine are off to see the Jubilee airshow at Duxford. It's less than 6 weeks before we leave so have started planning our France/Spain trip at the end and a trip to London to see the Thames river pageant on the Queen's jubilee weekend.
Here we all are last weekend in town and one too of Sean (Finn wasn't so keen to pose for Jen!)

Photos from Finn's camp

What do you mean, I'm going the wrong way?

<>  <>

 

I've just heard that Mum has raised the age for me to get a DS



What's that gurgling sound?

Whose brilliant idea was this camp anyway?



Finn, you rock!

Finn did not drown, pike out or die from the canteen food (which he described as disgusting!) at his school camp (Wed-Friday this week). He did get a bullseye in archery, get covered in mud on a blindfolded obstacle course, make a raft and then race in it, rockclimb and sail. His new friend got cross at him and the other boys in their room for being messy and preventing them from winning the tidiest room award (perhaps we should have warned him about Finn and tidy...).
    Hardest thing was going to sleep at night in the pitch black (that's how the other three boys in his room like to sleep but it made him scared and then he couldn't sleep). Other than that, it sounds like he had a grand time, particularly at the talent night where it sounds like there were some real class clowns performing.
   We met him at the car park at school and we all had an icecream before coming home to his favourite dinner of ham and pineapple pizza and then the boys set to with their new Lego sets.
   Three cheers to our little man for having the guts to go off into the wilds of outer Cambridge and spend three days and two nights with a bunch of kids he only met a month ago.
   And three more cheers for our littler man for going off on the school bus without his big brother. He was busy looking after his friend Heloise.

Legoland

For many English tourists, the stately raised walls of Windsor Castle are the great landmark in this area of England. But for just as many others (most of them, admittedly, not yet in their teenage years) it is the plastic yellow walls atop another hillside not far from the Queen's ancient castle that make their hearts race with excitement. At the sight of the sign for Legoland, parents will have a slightly different reaction involving a sudden contraction in their back pocket as their money leaks steadily out.

After a drive of a few hours involving a bossy sat nav system and a curious route by most of the inner west of London, we arrived on a bleak Bank Holiday Monday at the Legoland Hotel carpark. Giant Lego figures guard the hotel entrance and the foyer is tucked under the prow of a massive Lego boat. As you enter, you see a pit of Lego being swarmed by small children. Behind the long reception desk is a collection of what must surely be all the Lego minifigures ever made. Row after row of the little icons take up the entire wall. A discreet giftshop tucked into one corner gives absolutely no insight into just how much Lego we will find for sale within the park later. We head up to our room. We missed out on a premier room (where literally everything is Legoed from the sheets through to the curtains) but still there is a box of lego waiting to be made and creatures made of Lego all through the room, which is themed Adventure. Off to the park!

The park is huge. We spent almost two days and still managed to miss quite a few rides. The most amazing part of the experience is the vast array of statues made from actual Lego. Finn and Sean are on a camel outside the Raiders laser shooting ride (above left)  and the life size knight and horse above can be found outside the massive fake castle within the grounds.




Finn making a Lego racer. The boys then got the chance to race against each
other and other kids on a small racetrack.

 


 Duck ahoy! A silly duck made out of Lego.

 

On the second day, we had more rides and fun and also had another turn in the massive Big shop making our own minfigures. What fun! And of course with Daddy away in Oxford that day, the boys managed to con Mummy into buying them an extra set of Lego each. It was a wonderful adventure.

Things we like 2/ Imperial War Museum

Things we like about Cambridge 2

 

 

English butter

       Marks&Spencers Strawberry milk 



Sky that changes moment to moment (provided one is looking out from somewhere warm and dry! In this case our kitchen window)

Monday 30 April
After a few days of miserable weather, we finally got
to have a lovely few hour of sunshine yesterday afternoon and this morning.It's 4pm now and it's already clouded over and chilly again. Sigh...
The boys and I explored one of the nearby colleges this morning - there's always surprises inside: secret gardens and ponds and then the buildings full of student rooms and seminar rooms and cafes, all hidden and higgedly piggedly. We finished writing postcards too and will find a postbox soon to send them off. I attended a meeting with other families and Clare Hall about how to include families more. The boys managed to stay quiet for 40 minutes and then we had to cut loose.



Imperial War Museum

Spitfire

Yesterday was a miserable wet day so we hopped
on a bus and headed out to the Imperial War Musuem (about 20 mins away out in the countryside).

It is housed in 7 hangers (a couple of them enormous)

at the Duxford airfield.  It was very cool - Brendon and Finn

listened in on a tour about the Battle of Britian, which had its

own hangar. The building was impressive enough - a huge wooden structure (see below) built back in 1917-18. Add to that Hurricanes and Spitfires and an original Messerschitt that crashlanded into an English field, and you get the picture.

There's also an American Air Museum (26,000 US airforce personnel lost their lives in Europe) that is chock full of other amazing aircraft, and in the main hanger, along with masses of interactive stuff for kids there is a Concorde - yep, a real one that you can walk inside. I've always thought the Concorde was supercool and it was great to see the rows of seats (28 passengers only!) and all the red carpet perks flying supersonic entitled you to.

Amazing aircraft and great interactive displays about how flying works but also rather chilling to think how much death and destruction was caused by these machines.

Attention!! In the American Air Museum



Hangar housing the Battle of Britian exhibition





Beautiful Emmanuel College

This is a grand college. I had a game of squash there on Thursday. The court had a reverse cycle heater on the wall which meant the ball was super bouncy (which I loved after playing largely on freezing cold courts here).

An outing to Grantchester and one of the many great buildings here

Something for cricket fans

This blog is very funny and silly. Worth listening to given his silliness: http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/andyzaltzman/archives/2012/03/the_moonlanding_milestone.php

Classic Zaltzman (words of wisdom):

Just as facing Xavier Doherty in Brisbane, or Mishra and Raina at The Oval, was not ideal preparation for encountering Pakistan’s crafty tweakmen in the Gulf, so seeing off Lakmal and Prasad in Colombo, statistically one of cricket history’s least penetrating new-ball attacks (their career figures suggesting they offered the incision of an ice scalpel in a sub-Saharan operating theatre), will not have honed England ideally for the South African pace and swing barrage. As preparation for that task, it was about as appropriate as Neil Armstrong training for his rocket trip to the moon by hanging a cantaloupe melon from his bedroom ceiling, saying “5-4-3-2-1-blast-off” and throwing a dart at it.

Boys at school, mother on the loose

Boys at school
The two lads offically started their two days of school a week this morning. Finn had a trial day last week and although it seemed to go well he couldn't be persuaded to go again the next day (lots of anxiety about Sean being safe and cold feet at the newness of it all).
               We did tell him however that he had to give it a proper two-week trial from today. The school itself seems wonderful - I was super impressed when I went with the lads last week and of course Sean's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw all the toys! It's in a glorious old Victorian house owned by the council and right in the middle of a quintessential English park. The headmistress Hilary Sturdy is amazing - both passionate and compassionate - and it was she who suggested that because we are only here for such a short amount of time, we might like to come part time. They are very flexible and laid back but at the same time, get great results from the kids.
               Today didn't start so well for Finn but we'd done some detective thinking on his anxiety about Sean yesterday and that really seemed to help. It also helped that we had said the two-week trial was not negotiable. I agreed though that rather than catching the shuttle bus, he could come with me and Sean on the regular bus (I was taking Sean as I wanted to be there with him at his first drop off)

Here they are at the bus stop (does anyone have any idea how hard it is to get a photo of the two of them without Sean pulling a face and Finn cracking a great big fake smile?!). They love sitting up the top of the double decker bus right at the front. The good news for me is that after schlepping into town to catch the bus in the cold misty drizzle, they both agree that taking the little shuttle bus from just around the corner is a much better idea!
Thankfully once at school, Finn didn't hang around to see Sean into his room but instead headed straight up to his own classroom. Sean was a little apprehensive (I'm glad I took him for a look around last week when all the Infants were still away - they come back a little later than the big kids) but soon his teacher had him sitting on the bench entranced with a story. And only very happy stories this afternoon when I picked them up from the shuttle bus stop. 

Mother on the loose
So of course this meant I was alone. I actually got out a lot by myself a couple of weekends ago for the WordFest literary festival but other than my runs, I have been doing everything with the boys.

My first stop was the wonderful cafe I discovered a few weeks back: Hot Numbers.  Just to give an indication of the lovely weather we've been having, this photo (right) of its outside sign was taken around 1030 in the morning. Light but persistent rain gusting into my face for a few blocks really did give the sign an extra glow. Inside it's a warm coffee haven. Along with very good espresso coffee (is it just me that thinks Australian espresso is often way better than Italian?), they also have  Japanese-style filter coffee. I had it black so I could really enjoy the flavour. Because it's filtered slowly and gently the flavours are very clear and rich. Yum!








How much did these books cost?
Time to find some books. At the Books for Amnesty (International) store I got a stash of second-hand books: 7 of the larger size kids books, a paperback and a hard cover. I'm going to ask you all to guess how much they cost altogether. Clue: way way less than in Australia! Next stop was the Salvation Army shop where I found a pair of my favourite brand of shoes - Bally court shoes that cost me a whopping one pound 30p!
                   Then home via grocery store to put together an application for a local literary award I have found out about. I'm also looking at agents but right now I'm looking at the clock. Close to midnight. Off to bed!

Happy birthday (aunty) Kit

Birthday painting: Flag by Finn, plum blossoms by K, Henry the Eighth by Sean (why we don't know!) 

Happy birthday from us all in Cambridge!! Finn and Sean wanted to send you lots of British lollies but instead we are still looking for something interesting and handmade and of course light to send to you. Hope you had a great day with Ma and Pa.

Things we like in Cambridge: One

FLOWERS

 

Kids battle with sticks and the Royal McEnroes