Bowood House – 15/08/21

Posted on August 23, 2021 by katese11

We’ve just got back from a holiday in Wales, which I totally intend to blog about at some point. Although I’m quite tired so don’t be surprised if the holiday post goes something like “Wales, sea, fundayzzzzzzz…..”. But I’m determined to at least blog about the first day of our holiday, which wasn’t even in Wales. It was kind of in the right direction though and meant we got to hang out with the Hollies for the day. We’d decided to split the drive to Wales over two days, so had a hotel booked in Swindon for the night. Which left us freeish to explore during the day. We would have been freer if an M4 closure between Slough and Maidenhead hadn’t added some journey time on but M4 closures were a bit of a theme for our time away.

We stopped at Chieveley for coffee on the way down and, even though we’d got past the closed bit of the M4 by then, decided to eschew motorway driving for a more exciting cross-country route between Chieveley and Bowood House. And it definitely was exciting! We drove through the middle of the North Wessex Downs, which was very pretty, and past the grandeur of Marlborough College. Then we saw some properly impressive stuff – the monoliths of Avebury and the prehistoric mound of Silbury Hill -which I totally failed to get any photos of. Well, here’s a photo of a field to compensate:

All of this brought us to Bowood House by lunchtime, which was something of an achievement. We met the Hollies at the Treehouse Cafe for lunch, which is just outside the entrance of the house and grounds. The cafe selection wasn’t huge  – and they’d run out of jacket potatoes – but the staff were lovely and made a salad especially for Holly. I had a vegan cheese toastie, which I’d mainly picked because it had pickled onion in it, and it wasn’t bad considering it was vegan. Even after ten years of eating mainly dairy substitutes, I still haven’t reconciled myself to vegan cheese.

Once we’d eaten, we went through the entrance gate. We’d booked online in advance, so it was pretty easy to get checked in. We assumed the various kids would head straight for the adventure playground but they got very distracted by various climbing trees along the way, one of which had a telegraph pole growing out of it:

Eventually we got to the adventure playground, which had even more opportunities for climbing and some scarily vertical slides. No wonder the playground says “At Your Own Risk”:

The scariest was under a roof so I didn’t even see how steep it was but the ones I could see were extreme enough:

There was play equipment for younger kids too – swings and a trampoline – but it was good to find a playground that was challenging enough for tweens. The full size pirate ship was ace:

And the boat swings were a bit hit too:

We were in the playground for over an hour and only lured them out by promising a trip to the caves. The kids had formed some kind of super-secret spy corps that I can’t tell you about but it did seem to involve ducking, rolling  and hiding all the way through the ornamental gardens and the slope beyond:

It would have been nice to spend a bit more time looking at the ornamental gardens and a bit less time looking for the “stealthy” children but I did get a few photos on the way through. Like this very worried-looking lion:

And a fragile stag that the kids managed not to touch, after only a few warnings:

And a very scenic arch, with some kind of faerie thing hanging around underneath it:

On the other side of the gardens was the aforementioned rolling-down slope, a vast lake and some ha-has, which is where I presume the road in Woolwich gets its name.  If, like me, you didn’t know what a ha-ha was, let me tell you. It’s a ditch with a sunken fence, which is supposed to prevent livestock wandering all over the lawn without spoiling the view from the house. So, now you know.

The house and grounds, with the lake and boathouse and tiny temple, reminded me a lot of Ashburnham, where we’ve spent many a chilly church weekend away. Turns out they had the same landscape gardener   – Capability Brown – so it’s no wonder they’re so similar. I really am bringing on the facts today.

We kinda meandered round the lake until we found the promised caves. I wasn’t sure what to expect but there was a very dark and twisty passageway that went through the rock and the kids had a great time stumbling around in the dark. I refused to go through it on touch alone so used my phone torch to see what was around the corner. Apparently that’s no fun though. Then the kids packed themselves into another rocky nook to have a spy meeting and we enjoyed five minutes of childfree time gazing at the waterfall.

But then, they found us:

It really was very pretty and a bit like being on holiday somewhere that wasn’t Swindon.  We spent a long time scrabbling up rocks and over stepping stones and visiting a little grotto with fossils in the ceiling:

All of which inevitably meant that Eva’s legs “turned to jelly” and she couldn’t possibly walk back to the car. I bribed her along, inch by inch, with some cookie dough bites that Nathan had bought for the tube journey home the previous day before he remembered how hard it was to eat on the tube with a mask on. At one point she attempted to roll down a slope but that was something she did even more slowly than walking. The rest of the kids shot off down the hill and back the other side before she’d rolled a metre.

Somehow, we got back to the playground and there we enjoyed some well-deserved ice creams from the kiosk:

And that gave Eva the strength to finally make it across the highest of high beams:

It was getting late and we still had a little way to drive before we found our bed for the night. We’d booked the Holiday Inn, near Junction 15 of the M4. It wasn’t anything fancy but I’d made the booking halfway through our stint of self-isolation in July and it had seemed the most exciting thing in the world then that we might possibly leave the house and go and stay in Swindon for the night. It even had a swimming pool! So we checked in around 5:30 and, happily, they had timeslots available for us to swim that evening at 7 and again in the morning at 9. It was lovely and refreshing after a warm day of walking around Bowood and the kids were excited, even if they were disappointed at the jacuzzi being over 16s only. You can’t have everything, kids.

Once we were dryish, we had a late (for us) dinner at the Spotted Cow, a few minutes down the road. My instinct was to walk it after so much driving but the walking route seemed to take us over a dual carriageway with no crossing so driving it was. We ordered through the app, which is one of the only good things to come out of the pandemic, and the food arrived very quickly. Cheap, fast and filling food was exactly what we needed and the Spotted Cow certainly delivered that. We were all exhausted by this point, in case you couldn’t guess.

Then we drove back to the hotel for a slightly restless night (I was sharing a room with Eva and her feet do not stay on her side of the room) and then a fairly cheap hotel breakfast. I’m a real tightass when it comes to paying for breakfast in hotels and hadn’t paid for it beforehand because it was £14 per head, which would have been £56 for all of us. But when we checked it, I was told it was £10 per head and kids eat free. On that basis, we were in:

And we fuelled up well for another swim (allowing time for breakfast to settle first, obviously) before setting off on our drive to actual holiday. But more on that later. Maybe. Wales, sea, fundayzzzzzzz…..

 

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Hanging Around the Southbank -14/08/21

Posted on August 14, 2021 by katese11

Today was a proper old school LWAT kinda day. Not much of a plan but sunshine and family made it a happy day of hanging out. We were meeting CousinZ and her parents and CousinO under the clock at Waterloo. This has been our standard assembly point since the beginning of time – I don’t remember when we first met anyone under that clock but it was probaly at least 30 years ago. Now, apparently, it’s something that everyone has latched onto:

Still, it works so well as a meeting point that I’m happy to share it. And it worked fine today – CousinO, CousinZ, my brother and sister-in-law were all located right on time and we took the level exit out of Waterloo (just behind the clock and next to Costa) to head to the Southbank Centre. We’d met at lunchtime so the first stop was at the food market at the back of the Centre. I didn’t think Roo and Eva would eat anything that was on offer, so I’d packed sandwiches for them but Reuben spotted some giant Polish sausages in baguettes and asked for one of those instead of his sandwich.

Nathan and I had BBQ bowls from the Korean BBQ stall and they were pretty good – I had some kind of sticky chicken on a bed of kimchi rice and allllll the pickled radish. So yummy. I got something beefy for Nathan but don’t exactly remember what. I avoided the super spicy options just to…errr…simplify the day. I won’t elaborate.

We found a bench near the river, using the wheelchair friendly route round the right side of the Southbank Centre (after you come out next to Giraffe, there’s a graduated slope through the middle of the steps to get you up to the river-level). The kids were obviously immediately distracted by the classic Southbank benches, which are now more postbox-red than neon-orange-red, and ran off to climb on them as soon as they’d finished eating. That kept them happy for a bit but once Reuben and Eva started arguing, we moved them swiftly on to the playground proper. On the way, I realised that the South Bank itself looked different to how it used to. Is it just me or has it got a lot leafier of late? I know these trees were always there but were they always so…well…treelike? I’m not complaining, it’s just something different.

The playground worked fine until Roo and Eva started arguing again, at which point Nathan took Reuben off for a round of hipster golf at Between the Bridges. For anyone who hasn’t been to the South Bank lately, that’s the patch of land between the Southbank Centre and the playground that was the Underbelly arena at one point and has had a million names since.

Golf was fairly pricey – £9 for adults and £5 for kids – but kept them occupied for a bit and gave Reuben something fun to do after the disappointment of Free Comic Book Day being postponed again. Nathan didn’t take any pictures, but it was apparently “a bit confusing” and squeezed into a repurposed dodgems arena. When Roo and I popped over there to enquire about availability, a whole crowd of young people were singing “Spice Up Your Life”. It was, as Nathan said, a bit confusing.

Golf aside, we lasted around two and a half hours in the playground with various trips to the M&S Food Hall to get drinks and to the Southbank to use the loos. The centre is open to the public still but seemed weirdly empty. The loos are accessible through the doors on the terrace side and other bits of the centre are roped off. Luckily, it was outdoors weather so that’s where we spent pretty much the whole afternoon. In fact, it was so outdoorsy weather that CousinZ declared she wanted to find a swimming pool to dive into. Now, swimming pools are in short supply in Waterloo (despite the watery name) and my South London knowledge is not what it was, after 7 years in the North and, quite frankly, a year and a half in my lounge. So I googled and found that there was a water feature in Victoria Tower Gardens (I think the playground is actually called Horseferry Playground) and did remember, in the dim recesses of my memory, that I had blogged about a water feature being put in there some time ago. It wasn’t a swimming pool or even a fountain but it was nearby and it would have to do. What’s the worst that could happen on the way?

Well, the unlikely answer is that we would be unable to cross Westminster Bridge Road because of a barrage of naked cyclists. I had to think for a while about what the collective noun for naked cyclists would be. A bikepump of naked cyclists? I don’t know. I do know that I should have called this post London With a T0dger but that would forever have got me the wrong kind of Google searches. Plus, it wasn’t just one. It was many, many.

The World Naked Bike Ride has been a London institution for years now but I’m not sure I’ve ever spotted it in the wild before. I have a memory of maybe glimpsing the tailend, if you will, when I worked in Oxford Street but I’ve certainly never been at eye level to it before and it was indeed eye-opening. Not that everyone was fully nude, no no. One guy was wearing a high-vis but nothing else and another guy was diligently covering his shoulders in a thick layer of suncream. Just his shoulders tho.

The website warns that children may be disconcerted by the ride and I think that’s fair to say. I mainly found it amusing, especially as the riders were gathered right outside Nathan’s office, but the kids  – and I include CousinO in that – were a little perturbed. “It’s so inappropriate!” CousinZ shouted as we walked along Westminster Bridge with the riders riding freely in the other direction. Very freely indeed.

Anyhoo, that made the walk a bit more interesting and took the kids’ minds off their hot and aching feet. When we got to Horseferry Playground, it did indeed have an underwhelming water feature which the children mostly ignored, but it was nice and shady in there so a good place to play on a warm day. It also had a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, who Eva identified almost-correctly as “the leader of the Suffra-Gets”:

and some horse statues which reminded me of Artax from Neverending Story:

The playground has come a long way since the sad single slide we visited on New Year’s Day 2013. It now has a kiosk, selling quite impressively overpriced cans of Coke and ice creams and toilets that are accessible by paying 20p on a credit or debit card. Which is better than having to have change but I wonder if I’ll forget about it until the statement comes and ponder over what the weird 20p transaction might be. It also had disabled loos, which are free with a radar key.

It also still has a decently sized sandpit, a roundabout, swings, a slide, a wooden boat on springs and a swing that’s big enough for all three kids:

We stayed for an hour and a half or so before crossing Lambeth Bridge and wandering back along the Albert Embankment to Waterloo.

So, some old LWAT turf but unvisited since pre-pandemic times. It was really nice to be back and the South Bank always delivers when it comes to hipster food and something new to look at. I just wasn’t quite expecting exactly what we did look at….!

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“How to Make a Better World” at Chickenshed – 07/08/21

Posted on August 7, 2021 by katese11

 

Wow, Chickenshed…it has been a long time. It’s been a long time since we saw any theatre at all – I think I worked out it was 18 months since our last gasp of theatrical freedom before Lockdown#1. So it was brilliant to be invited back to the Shed to join in with their Festival of Fun.

The logo for Festival of Fun is a rainbow, which was pretty appropriate because it was tipping it down when we left the house:

But sunny by the time we got there. Everything had worked out super-smooth on the journey so we even had some time to kill. We wandered around the parks just behind Chickenshed and discovered there was a playground there, which I’d never noticed before:

It was a bit too soggy for Eva to play on but worth bearing in mind if we are ever early again (seems unlikely, I know). There’s also this random bit of Art Deco clock towerness:

Which fits rather nicely with the superb Art Deco escalators at Southgate:

I know, I’ve probably mentioned them before but Southgate really is one of the best stations on the whole tube network. If nothing else compels you to go to Chickenshed, then a visit to the space station surely would.

It is striking how, after so long cooped up, the kids aren’t used to the tube any more despite being born Londoners. I bought Eva a lollipop as her ears go funny on the Victoria line and, as we emerged out of the tunnel on the Piccadilly line, she could hardly believe that there might be a tube train that goes over ground, despite the fact she’s travelled that route loads of times before. “I can’t believe I’m seeing the sky on a tube train” she exclaimed, over and over again.

Anyway, the fairest of winds meant we had time for a pot of tea and a bag of crisps in the Chickenshed cafe before the show started. The cafe isn’t yet back to doing hot food but they sell ice cream, cakes, hot drinks and other snacks so it’s a good place to sit down for half an hour or so. Eva also had a wander around the Chickenshed garden to “get a bit of fresh air” as she called it.

Once I’d finished my tea, it was time to go in. Covid precautions are still in place so ticketing is contactless – the staff members scanned QR codes, either off phones or printouts – and there are gaps between allocated seating blocks. Plus masks on for the adults during the show and the usual hand sanitiser stations etc. Other than that tho, it felt like old times. Before the show started, we were given a quiz to fill in, that was taken directly from the source material for the show “How to Make a Better World” by Keilly Swift. The quiz helped you work out what kind of activist you might be – Eva filled in most of it before the lights went down but it was revisited during the show itself so there was no need to try and get it done beforehand. She got Animal Rights Activist, if that at all surprises you.

There was a video intro to the whole thing by Keilly Swift herself, explaining that her book was non-fiction but Chickenshed were going to do a dramatic interpretation of the themes within the book. And that’s what they did. There was a loose kind of narrator character, called Prof, who introduced himself by saying how important adults were and how little children knew about anything. It got the reaction you’d expect. Of course, by the end he’d *spoilers* changed his mind and realised that children were a vital part of making the future better…but I’m sure you’re not surprised by that.

The show was very interactive, with ideas from the children forming a manifesto of how to actually make the world a better place. This was split into two parts – the first was on the subject of “People” and the kids in the audience shared their ideas, which were typed live onto a giant screen at the back of the stage. Eva was too shy to speak up at this point but she did pipe up for Manifesto Part 2, on the subject of “The Future”. Her idea was to invent a litter-picking machine so that there would be no litter on the streets. She had also previously mentioned another idea to me – “Fill the world with puppies” – but clearly she thought this might be a bit flippant in a show that dealt with weighty issues like climate change and discrimination.

If this sounds all very downbeat, be assured it wasn’t. The more serious bits were interspersed with high-energy songs and dances, such as one inspired by Frida Kahlo that I think was called “Paint Your Own Reality”. As someone who never could colour inside the lines, I really connected with that one. There were also some sketches, with typical Chickenshed surreal humour. Eva particularly enjoyed the one with the question aliens, who could only speak human when using one of their translation portals (which the non-alien among us could mistake for hula hoops). The aliens’ costumes were also very sparkly, which Eva obviously appreciated, and it was the aliens that hosted the “Which Activist are You?” quiz. One of the other sketches was to do with how different heritages could be interpreted through potato dishes, which Eva also appreciated as a big fan of most types of potato.

There was a mix of live and recorded music, with a small live band to one side of the stage and a live vocalist harmonising with the recorded track. It’s lovely to hear any kind of live singing again after so many months without music and theatre. I’m really happy that it’s back. The Chickenshed ensemble dance and act so joyously that it’s hard not to feel more positive about the world after you leave and that’s the message of the show too – yes, our children might be inheriting a world full of problems but they’ve got some great ideas as to how to sort it out. As we left, we were given a printed copy of the manifesto to take home so that the kids could start putting their ideas into action (tho “No, no, no!” might take some interpretation). It was the right balance of inspiring and entertaining without tipping into being overly worthy – there were plenty of laughs and Eva enjoyed heckling Prof (“Children know a LOT!”) as well as all the songs and dances. The run was sadly a short one so today was the final performance but hopefully it will return to Chickenshed some time in the near future.

We bought a copy of the book on the way out and Keilly Swift was there to sign it in person:

It was lucky that she had some brand new reading material for the way home because the luck we had on the way did not replicate itself on the way home. We got stuck at the bus stop, at Finsbury Park and at Walthamstow Central but the 90 pages lasted her the entire way. Plus another lollipop, obviously. She seemed to really enjoy the book and it certainly took her mind off all the delays.

And once we got home we even saw a real rainbow. I mean, it was very faint but you can more or less make it out if you squint:

And I almost forgot to mention that a new soft play and cafe has popped up at the back of Chickenshed, which we may need to try next time we’re visiting the Shed. And guess what it’s called? Yes, there was a bit of a theme today:

Plus Eva was wearing her rainbow wellies and the garden at HP stations has recently become adorned with hundreds of crocheted rainbows:

Seeing as rainbows are a symbol of hope,  it felt appropriate that we saw so many on a day when theatre finally returned to our lives. Hope is here….

Disclaimer: I received a free press ticket in exchange for a review. All opinions remain honest and my own. For more information about Chickenshed’s upcoming shows, have a look here. 

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Another Day Off – 22/07/21

Posted on July 25, 2021 by katese11

I say “Another Day Off” because all through these lockdown months, I’ve been idly daydreaming about that time in December 2019 when I took a day off from work and parenting and just wandered around Central London like a happy little Christmas elf. One day, I reasoned to myself, one day I would take another one of those. And so Nathan and I booked 20th July off work and made vague plans for lunch in London’s most holiday-like destination, St Katharine Docks. Our stretch of self-isolation beggered up those plans but we had a back up. The day off was shifted out two days – we wouldn’t be able to have lunch because it was the end of term and Eva would finish school early but dagnam, we were going to have food of some sort in a scenic location. So we did.

I worked briefly near St Katharine Docks before our office move so I was pretty sure on the walking route from Liverpool Street. If you want to follow it too, it’s about a mile and is mainly flat. It may involve some dodgy road crossing near Aldgate but other than that, it is a very pleasant stroll. Well, the kind of stroll I enjoy anyway cause there are things to see en route. And it’s not just the inside of my lounge.

So first off, you want to leave Liverpool Street by the Bishopsgate entrance and cross Bishopsgate in front of the Polo 24 Bar and Disappointing Wasabi. If your luck is in, the pedestrian crossing will be functioning and will allow you to cross safely. Our luck was not in but we made it across unscathed.

Next thing you want to do is go down New Street and into the Devonshire Place complex. Walk on through it and you’ll be greeted with a tree that is, quite frankly, giant by City standards:

Look at that! It outstrips the buildings. Not all the buildings, obviously. Once you turn right out of Devonshire Place, you’ll see two notable City buildings that are even taller than that tree. One looks like it’s sitting atop the other like a little hat:

Now this is really stretching my powers of building-naming. The hat is obviously the Gherkin (or the Harlequin Hospital if you’re of a certain generation of parents) and I’ve deduced that the one in front is known as the Can of Ham though I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone use that name. Still, a lovely gherkin-topped hamwich if the walk is making you hungry.

You can see the two grandiose white gates that mark the edge of the Devonshire Place Estate. Go through those and turn left, walking along Cutler Street and White Kennet Street until you come out at the back of Aldgate station:

More trees, shiny buildings and old buildings. See, I told you this was scenic. Now, the next bit is dead clever – there’s a thin alleyway to the direct left of the station called Blue Boar Alley. Take that, and you cut a corner off. It brings you to the front of the station, where you can either do a devil-may-care sprint across the road or go a bit out of your way to use the crossing by Peter’s Cafe. I used to do the former until I almost got hit by a bus coming out of the bus station so now mainly the latter.

Are you still with me? Good! Wohhhh, you’re halfway there! Don’t worry, we’ll get onto brunch soon.

Now, just duck down the alleyway next to the barbers labelled “Little Somerset Street” and follow it round to the left and you come out onto Mansell Street, which leads almost all the way down to Tower Bridge. Best to cross over early, as the crossing down by the Wetherspoons is a bit tricky and you wanna stick to the left of the street as you go under the railway bridge (past the sign for “Barneys Fish”) but all this will bring you out right by the Tower of London. At which point, you can take some touristy photos and discuss why one of the towers appears to have been rebuilt by some shoddy 60s architects:

Someone, sometime in the past thought that was an adequate restoration job. Anyway, some more manic road crossing over The Highway will bring you to the top of a flight of stairs which you can descend into the tranquil surrounds of St Katharine Docks:

Brunch time! We chose to go to Côte because it was fancyish but not too priceyish. Apparently there are no branches of Harvester in St Katharine Docks, or anywhere even remotely scenic. As much as I was craving the breakfast buffet, I was also craving somewhere that to eat that wasn’t a carpark in Chingford. So Côte it was.

And we went All Out. Because it was the first time we’d even been slightly Out in eight days. I had a coffee AND a juice and French Toast AND A sausage baguette. Crazy, I know.

If you’re insanely jealous of past Kate-and-Nathan at this point, let me tell you that the soy latte wasn’t ideal. I’ve experimented with a lot of non-milks in coffee as they can curdle easily and this latter had, sadly, fallen victim to that. If you’re wondering why I didn’t say anything, just check out the giant pile of non-non-dairy on my French Toast:

I think I might have looked a tad hypocritical complaining about the foam on my soy latte while also sticking my face in a pile of Crème fraîche. Besides, I still drank the coffee. And ate both my brunch dishes. It was awesome. The only regret I have about the whole thing was sitting outside rather than requesting a seat on the terrace, which had a view over the marina. But then I spilt my coffee over myself so it was probably for the best that we were away from the more civilised people.

After all that food, we needed a bit of a wander about. It really did feel a bit like being on holiday.

We walked around the dock and saw a bright red mini-Tower Bridge opening for the lifeguard boat, with the real Tower Bridge in the background. Wonder if this ever confuses tourists who want to see the legendary Opening of the Bridge?

After watching that for a bit, we crossed over a wobbly bridge and past the Dickens Inn, which is possibly London’s Most Flowery Pub:

It got a bit less pretty after that as we stumbled into the more industrial bit of the docks. Eventually, we found our way to the Thames Path and spotted a statue that, at first, looked like it was the side of Yoda’s head:

It made a lot more sense from the other side:

We’d somehow ended up in the Hermitage Riverside Memorial Garden, which was a new park to us even though we’d tried several out last time we wandered around Wapping. It was nice and peaceful, with only a smattering of semi naked men sunbathing on the grass, so we sat on a bench by the river for a while and rested after our epic journey.

But school pick up was drawing ever closer and it was time to find the 100 bus. On the way, we spotted another lovely water feature, which Nathan described as a “mini-Louvre”. You can’t see it in this photo so you’ll just have to trust him.

I don’t know why being near large bodies of water on a hot day is soothing as I wasn’t allowed to plunge into any of them but still, it had the right effect. Leaving the house for approximately five hours is as much of a holiday as we’ll have in July so I feel like we made the most of it….cause who knows when we’ll be pinged again?

 

 

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Sooo…..now what?

Posted on July 18, 2021 by katese11

It’s July 18th and we stand on the cusp of Freedom Day. Except it really doesn’t feel like it. Swathes of society from the Cabinet to school kids to footballs fans are in self-isolation and daily cases are back at the kind of levels that saw us entering Tier 4 (remember Tiers?) in December.  It’s tricky to feel like tomorrow will be particularly freer than today is, especially as Nathan and I are on day 4 of 7 in self-isolation (the kids, thankfully, were out of contact range). It feels about as far from freedom as you can get, given we can’t even leave the house. But yet we’re pressing on with Freedom Day tomorrow.

I know that the vaccinations are helping to deal with the severity of infections. I know hospital admissions are down for now. And I know about the metal health issues caused by months and months of bleak lockdown and the devastating effect the lockdown has had on the arts and events sectors.

It’s just hard to cheer our new freedoms when the data is not cheering us back:

And what even are these new freedoms? We will still have to wear masks on the tube and all other TfL services. Institutions are starting to come out and say that face masks will still be mandatory, so it seems likely that days out this summer will still be masked and distanced, end-to-end. Which, I gotta admit, does not sound much like freedom to me.

So what’s actually changing tomorrow? Will nightclubs reopen so we can go to sweaty raves with thousands of other people, even as we have to still wear masks in Tesco? Will the PM tweet about the glorious conquering of the pandemic even as he self-isolates? I don’t have the answers….goodness, if I did then trust me…I would have Chris Whitty on speed dial. The most realistic scenario is that we will spend a few weeks wandering about over the summer in masks, basically still restricted, and then go back into some kind of lockdown in the autumn. My hopes of a “normal” choir Christmas season are fading as rapidly as my freezer is emptying itself of ice lollies.

If you have any more positive predictions, I would love to hear them! And enjoy Freedom Day…

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LWAT is 10!

Posted on July 13, 2021 by katese11

Blimey, I almost missed this one. It was only by chance as I was checking the date against our near-foolproof bathroom rota system that I realised it was 13th July 2021. And that meant it was ten years to the day that I started a blog that I didn’t think would get past ten posts. On that day, there had been a “hail of bullets” outside the convenience store that a preschool Reuben would later call “Number One shop” so I wrote a very nervy post about how great London was for kids, honest guv’nor. Then I hastily banged out another five posts on that same evening, about various parks we’d been to lately.

One of those parks was Hampstead Heath which, by happy coincidence, we visited again three days ago. This was the family shot I included on that first blogday:

It was taken in the children’s enclosure, which I did smile wistfully at as I went to the loos on Saturday (reader’s note – they close at 4:15pm. Don’t get caught short). I think the children are a bit big for the tiny wooden animals now tho. Here’s the update version, which we took for the purposes of being smug about arriving on time and beating our friends who lived closer…but again, it’s a happy coincidence that we got a full-family selfie for comparison’s sake:

I’m closer to the camera in this one but apart from that, I see no differences. Do you?

The skyline, however, has had a few changes in those ten years. This is the 2011 version. Look at all that space either side of the Gherkin!:

And updated for 2021. Safe to say it’s a bit more crowded…:

 

As tenth birthday celebrations go, this one has been a bit lame…but with Covid cases shutting down swathes of the kids’ schools again it doesn’t feel the best time to be doing anything too adventurous. And there is one more good reason to hark back to Hampstead. After all, that was the day when I took the photo that would become my logo for the next decade:

Some would say it might need updating, given the toddler will be a teenager next year…but he’s a bit more reluctant to pose nowadays. Ah well, happy birthday LWAT and let’s hope the eleventh year is a bit more exciting than the last couple have been!

 

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Adventure Island Revisited – 12/06/21

Posted on June 14, 2021 by katese11

I know this seems like a quick turnaround from our last visit but back then we were celebrating Eva’s birthday. Roll on June and lo and behold…another kid had a birthday to celebrate! Fortunately the fairground gods were smiling on us –  a loosening of restrictions and a shift in the weather meant we could take one more kid and a lot fewer layers than we did in May. The lighter-travelling was lucky because this time we were going on the train. You see, it might be a re-hash of a lot of things but that bit’s different, isn’t it?

Talking of hashes, the first stop was for some hash browns  – and other breakfasty items – at Liverpool Street. I’d planned to get brunch in Southend but I think the tickets we had were only valid from Liverpool Street after 10 so we had some time to kill. Eva, in a rare burst of early-morning energy, was out of the door by 8:35 so we hit Liverpool Street with time to get some brunching in. As it turns out, I think the 10am restriction only applies on weekdays but that was just one of the aspects of the train journey I got confused about so who knows? I haven’t caught a lot of trains lately.

I did know that a good lefty liberal like myself should be boycotting Wetherspoons because of the way they treat their workers and the whole supporting Brexit thing. But dagnam, they do a cheap breakfast and it’s right there at Liverpool Street. And just look how posh it is! The last of my resolve slowly slipped away at the thought of bottomless coffee and we slipped through the Track and Trace into the world’s fanciest Spoons.

Eva wasn’t convinced. I’d seen a menu somewhere that said they did pancakes but this pandemic, app-ordering version of Spoons doesn’t seem to. It was all just various combinations of sausages, bacon, egg and beans, none of which she really eats. It was pretty perfect for the 12yo boys though and the service was super quick. I mean, literally a minute for the drinks to arrive after we’d paid on the app. The coffee cups were empty, which was disappointing but then I realised it was self service so you could refill without even having to ask anyone. As it happened, the boys ate so quickly we only had time for one cup but I still feel like it was pretty good value. Eva had an order of toast and butter….not quite the all-day fuel I had in mind but at least she ate something before we got on the train.

So yeah, I got a bit confused. Firstly, I thought the train was at 10:13 and we’d missed it after some faffing around with the ticket gate. The doors closed, leaving us on the platform and I sighed a bit before realising the door light was still green so we could just press it and get on. It was 10:15 but from *Platform* 13. That’s why I got confused. They’re every 15 minutes anyway so it’d be hardly a tragedy if we had missed it.

It was only once we were on the train that I realised our train was for Southend Victoria and our tickets were for Southend Central. My brain had run that query at some point when we were on the concourse but I think Southend Victoria was the only option I’d seen. I puzzled about that one all day before realising that the Southend Central ones terminate at Shoeburyness. I just assumed all Southend trains finished at Southend cause that’s where the land runs out. I didn’t realise that a) there were two different lines that both go to Southend and b) trains can run *along* the coast, not just turn right and plummet into the estuary.

Like I say, I’m really not used to the outside world anymore.

Anyway, long story short our tickets worked fine for the amended journey and the walk was maybe 15 minutes instead of 10 from the station to Adventure Island but that was fine and everyone survived. Close call with a pedestrian crossing outside the station because people in Southend cross on a red man and hapless kids follow them but everyone did survive and we made to Adventure Island on foot. The End.

Ah, did you want to know what we actually did once we got there? It seems like unnecessary detail given that so much of it was the same as last time but gwan then, I’ll indulge you.

As it happens, there were a few things open that hadn’t been in May because of the restrictions on being inside. The first thing we headed to was the Crooked House, which was one of those. I’m still not sure what actually happens inside that house but Eva went through it six times in total and the boys at least four. Something to do with stairs ar a crazy angle apparently.

From there, all three of them headed to the dodgems. Reuben’s friend C had unlimited dodgems as part of his annual pass so we added unlimited dodgems to Reuben and Eva’s wristbands as well. It was £4 for one go or £5 for unlimited so it seemed a bit of a no-brainer. Of course, when I was actually watching my firstborn driving a dodgem the wrong way round the arena I might have regretted that decision. Eva had to go on with Nathan because she was too small to drive so at least I was spared the experience of watching the second-born try to drive as well.

After that, we split up a little. The boys wanted to go on the first rollercoaster of the day – the Barnstormer  – while Eva chose the more gentle thrills of the Jumping Jolly Rogers.

Then they all wanted to go on the go-karts so I paid more money to shed more years of my life watching Roo’s driving skills. Nathan took Eva in a two-seater and, while they didn’t have much call to “Use Yer Brakes” they still went fast enough to top up the tiny girl’s adrenaline levels.

Did I mention it was absolutely roasting by this point? I persuaded all the kids to sit in the shade for a few minutes and have a drink before they went running off again. It seemed a lot less crowded that last time we went despite – or maybe because of – the glorious weather. So the queues were shorter and there were more places to sit down, which was good. They were whipping through these rides at quite a rate though.

And that didn’t stop as the boys went on Sk8borda, the Kiddi-Kosta and the Dragon in quick succession. I don’t quite remember what Eva and I did in that time but it probably involved the American Whip and it almost certainly involved the Crooked House again.

It was almost 2pm by this point but none of us were hungry for lunch because of the breakfast. I’m not sure how that worked with Eva’s solitary slice of toast but she was holding up OK. What I was craving was an icy fruit drink. The slush stands near the Go-Karts weren’t fully open yet so we roamed the park in search of a slush stand that could sell the birthday boy a cola slushie. Eventually the hotdog stand near the Rage came up trumps and we sat down in the shade for a bit with icy fruit drinks all round.

The main part that was unexplored was Adventure Inside. Eva and I decided to go and have a look while the boys went on Archelon. It was a bit…intense inside, being so hot and full of flashing lights and noises.

I kept my mask on but no one else seemed to be. And I’m not one of those people who love to moan about how I’m the only one following the rules and everyone else isn’t….but in this situation it really was true. There were no other masks to be seen. It was surreal, almost like we’d gone through a portal into a pre-pandemic world. After all, it did feel a bit like that when we went down this corridor:

Eva had fun though. There was an indoor carousel and Eva rode a horse that she christened Nightfury. Then there was a massive softplay frame, for under 10s only. The boys and Nathan popped up at one point to see if they could go on but, after some confusion, we established that they were too old. So they skipped back off again to go to the dodgems or something again and I sat and watched Eva climbing, feeling like we could be back in real life for a bit. Did we ever think we’d miss soft play?

Indoors and masked in that heat though was not much fun and so I persuaded her to leave and go to find the others. It all gets a bit hazy from then on but I know the boys went through Spooksville (“not that scary”) and C went on Rage on his own (“not that scary either”) and Reuben went on the dodgems at least once more.

I think Eva might have gone on her old favourite, Pharaoh’s Fury, and I think she’d gone on it with the boys earlier as well but I have no idea when that might have been.

It was 4pm and we were all done with Adventure Island. I had, as ever, the romantic notion of chips on the beach for our second meal of the day. I’m not sure what you call that meal but Reuben was not keen on the idea of “dunch”. As ever, my romantic notions were a bit flawed. Th beach was ridiculously packed, like one of those photos you see in the Metro when there’s been a sunny Bank Holiday. Again, I’m not judging because…yknow…we were there too…but it was pretty intense being so close to so many people.

We did put our feet in the sea, which was glorious after being in the sun for so long, but I wished I’d packed swimmers so we could have had a proper dunk. I wrangled all three kids in the shallows while Nathan was getting the chips and I’m pleased to confirm we were still mostly dry-clothed by the time he got back.

So we did manage to eat some chips on a beach, even though the beach was rocky and crowded and we didn’t have any ketchup or drinks….but those are mere details. Another #dayoutgoal ticked off.

One item of business was still outstanding  – Eva had been bleating for candyfloss as we were leaving Adventure Island and I’d said some vague things about “after chips”. She held me to that and our final stop before the station was at a snack stand where she and Roo got candyfloss, Nathan and C got ice cream and I got a blessedly cold Sprite. All of that sugar was enough to sustain us to get back up the hill to Southend Central which, as it happens, does have trains back to Liverpool Street. And a very scenic route it was too, with sailing boats and rolling hills and a ruined castle and all kinds of things that I couldn’t take photos of because my phone was out of battery. So I’ll elave you with this photo of the sign we saw on the way back to the station. Tells a story, doesn’t it?

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Wacky World – 02/06/21

Posted on June 4, 2021 by katese11

Half term is always tricky to fill up with hashtagpreciousmemories, especially when you’re working for half of it. So when I heard that Wacky World was coming to a field very nearby, it seemed worth the hefty price to entertain the kids for 90 minutes or so. And it was fairly hefty – £13.50 each for the kids and £2 for a spectator ticket for myself. I assumed my ticket would come with some kind of complimentary beverage or at least a seat.

Spoiler – I assumed wrong.

It was a bit surreal being anywhere vaguely crowded and inside after so many months of having to socialise outdoors. We all got our temperatures taken as we went in and gave our contact details for Track and Trace but apart from that it was almost like real life. Oh, except for the spectators having to wear masks once we were in. But that is just normal life now, right?

Luckily it wasn’t too crowded. We’d gone for the 5PM session so that might be why it wasn’t overly manic…but it was definitely crowded enough. There wasn’t anywhere to sit  -just a couple of chairs dotted about but they were quickly taken and the sightlines would have been pretty poor from them anyway. Towards the end, I noticed a thin balcony at the top of the Sports Hall that would have made a perfect viewing gallery for parents. Possibly even with some kind of cocktail bar as well.

Seating aside, the set up was pretty good. The kids were straight onto the bouncy castle and the only things they had to queue for were the ones where it was limited to two or four people at a time. Those ones could have done with a bit more staffing – there was a bit of a scene later on when I had to remove Eva from the gladiator platform after I thought she’d been on it long enough. She disagreed. But to be fair to her, it had taken her most of that time to even get onto the platform bit

That scene aside though, it went remarkably smoothly. It was a hot day so the kids got through a full bottle of water each, which I’d brought with me. There were signs around advertising drinks for sale but not a lot of staff to buy them from.  It definitely felt like they had a good stretch out and run around though. As well as the bouncy castle and the gladiator platform, there was also a twisty ladder that Eva never quite managed to conquer:

And a total wipeout that almost didn’t exactly wipe her out but might have swiped her (Reuben loved this one):

And even a couple of inflatables that I’m considering adopting for the home environment. If I could keep Reuben tethered and bouncing all the time, I think he’d be pretty happy. It just needs to be a pile of snacks and bacon sandwiches in the middle instead of balls:

And this perfect game for siblings, where each one is in a separate injury-proof compartment and there’s a large wall between them:

So despite a few aspects which could have been better (seating for spectators, a bit more management on some of the inflatables) it was a fun trip out and the kids definitely seemed to enjoy it. It’s moved on from Walthamstow now but there are more details here if you fancy catching up with it elsewhere.

 

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Lepe Country Park – 31/05/21

Posted on June 2, 2021 by katese11

 

This week, the stars finally aligned and we made it to Hampshire, land of our parents, for the first time since Feb 2020. And we managed to meet up with the Hollies for a glorious day in the glorious sunshine at Lepe Country Park. I’d never heard of Lepe before, despite growing up in the ‘hood, but it’s basically one of the most southerly points of Hants, straight down from Southampton and nearish Calshot. The proximity to the Equator is probably why we (spoiler) got so badly sunburnt…but we’ll get to that later.

 

Lepe is a happy combination of grassy picnic space at the top and shingle beach at the bottom. The car parking situation at the top is all a bit random – we ended up halfway up a verge – but the beach-side car park looked more straightforward, even if there was a bit of a queue to get in. Either way, the barrier takes note of your number plate and all you have to do is just pay through one of the machines before you go by entering your registration. The machines all take card payments as well.

So with the car wonkily parked up, we went straight to the playground at the top of the slope. Well, the kids did. I headed straight for the loos. It had been a longer-than-expected drive. The loos aren’t lovely but they’re free and the queues weren’t huge. For anyone who similarly needs to find them in a hurry, they’re next to the main building (the Lookout) but in a separate block.

The Hollies joined us soon afterwards and the kids all ran around the shady playground for a while before lunch. There’s plenty of climbable stuff and it wasn’t too crowded, even on a sunny Bank Holiday

We decided to eat before going onto the beach because we all know how messy beach picnics can get. There was a nice bench right outside the playground so we set up there with a view over the Solent to the Isle of Wight. Lovely!

There are no bins at Lepe so it’s worth taking bags for your rubbish and putting it in the car after lunch. It turned out to be quite a trek to the bit of beach we wanted so probably best we were travelling light. Eva and I also decided to go to the loos before going to the beach and this time the queue was huge. We were probably queuing for about 20 minutes but it felt longer in the heat of the sun and with Eva complaining. On the upside, Lepe was a proper doggyfneria and there were loads of dogs to look at to pass the time. There were a couple of tiny daschunds in the queue with us but they were nervy so didn’t want cuddles. Something that was crossed with a corgi pottered by on comically short legs, which caused the person next to us in the queue to strike up a conversation. I was feeling mildly uncomfortable with this talking to strangers thing until she revealed that she was from Brazil. Once I understood I was in conversation with a representative from the world’s chattiest nation, it was fine. I mean, I’ve seen my friend Cleverson in action on the tube or the bus, starting conversations with complete strangers. It’s just the Brazilian MO.

Eventually we were toileted and changed and started picking our way along the beach to where the others were. It was painful and slow going over the stony beach in flip flops and they were up by the sand pier, which seemed miles away. On the way back, we used a set of steps which came straight off the beach onto the end of the carpark and walked along the top. That was way quicker and easier, for future reference. But it was worth going further along the beach if we wanted to swim – the bit of beach right by the Lookout had a load of seaweed-covered rocks between the shore and the sea, which looked pretty hazardous. Out by the sand pier, it was an easy glide straight into shallowish and warmish waters.

I say warmish because it was oddly mixed. Parts of the water were really very warm and then suddenly, a current would whoosh by, bringing icy coldness with it. I wondered if the Isle of Wight was blocking the coldest water from the Channel and only the occasional bit slipped by. Or whether it was, as one of our party claimed, because someone was peeing in the water nearby. I hope not.

Still, it was pleasant enough to spend nearly an hour bobbing about in it and even Eva dared to join us, up to her waist and occasionally clinging onto my neck. It was sandy underfoot but she didn’t seem to trust me enough to put both of her feet down and disengage. The only time she forgot to be scared of the water was when she was gathering seaweed as an offering for the Sea Dragon. Then she quite confidently pottered around by herself but I kept her within arm’s reach, just in case. No, she’s still not a swimmer.

After so much swimming, it was time for an ice cream so we dispatched half the party to go hunt and gather, while Holly and I lay in the sun and I dried off. I had put some sunscreen on earlier but didn’t think to reapply after coming out of the water. At this point, feel free to judge me. But I would like to say that I’m suffering mightily from my lack of common sense. Two days on and I still can’t get dressed or lie down without a lot of pain. Remember to Slip, Slap Slop…don’t be like me.

The sea was getting ever closer so, in defiance of Mr Holly’s confident predictions about it turning back, we shuffled higher up the beach and found a patch that was almost entirely sandy rather than rocky. Result! That obviously made it easier for Reuben to bury his sister as well, upholding a fine family tradition of threatening to leave the youngest buried forever. Gotta be done.

Mr Holly and I decided to go for one last swim before packing up. By now the tide was so far in that the sandbar had completely disappeared and the warm bits in the water had disappeared with it. Thinking about it logically, it might have been the sandbar that made the water warm, rather than the Isle of Wight. Either way, the sea was suddenly a lot deeper and a lot colder than on the first pass. It took no time at all to be out of our depth and it was so cold my teeth were chattering. No wonder Reuben had only managed a few minutes the second time round. I didn’t last much longer  – it was very bracing but I was starting to lose feeling in my feet so figured it was safest to go back in. It took a while to get my breath back, which I think definitely means it was a properly cold water swim.

All that was left to do was an awkward under-the-towel change into real clothes, a trip to the loos and a trip to the parking machines. We spent five hours there, I think, and parking was £9 which was steep but far cheaper than a day out at Legoland. I’m not sure how fun any of it would have been in the rain but on such a sunny day, it was perfect.

On the way home, we took a bit of a diversion to Lyndhurst to see some church friends who happened to be holidaying in the area. The drive between Lepe and Lyndhurst was a super-fun country one with zigzagging roads and lovely vistas to look at (I’m quite keen on the countryside when I don’t have to actually engage with it). Of course, this being the New Forest there were also plenty of daft ponies who tried to wander across the road and cause pile ups. I’m pleased to say we avoided mowing any of them down but there were a few that looked like they were planning something. Both kids liked seeing the ponies but were disappointed to learn you weren’t meant to pet them.

We met our friends at Bolton’s Bench, which was a massive expanse of open land with free parking and more of the aforementioned ponies. There was a cricket match in progress and, for that moment in time, it looked just like the kind of England that UKIP bang on about. Sunshine, cricket, thatched roofs and greenery on a Bank Holiday Monday. So let’s leave it there before we get to the bit about the horrendous traffic jam on the M3 just as the sunburn was really starting to sting. That wouldn’t paint quite such an idyllic picture now, would it?

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7 Hours of 7 Incredible Things – LWAT is 700

Posted on May 17, 2021 by katese11

So, a landmark post. Normally I try and do something impressive for this milestones but we’re only just getting in gear doing “mildly active” things, let alone anything properly impressive.

But I have had two exciting trips out lately, and as happy luck would have it, I was out of the house for almost exactly 3.5 hours each time. So 7 hours of adventuring for the 700th post. That’s neat.

The reason I was Out Out was that I was, somewhat inexplicably, summoned to Guys and St Thomas’ for my Covid vaccination. I’m not sure why – I had the kids at Tommy’s but haven’t been a patient there since. So, in late February, I left Highams Park for the first time in 7 weeks to go all the way to London Bridge for dose #1. With more of that happy luck, my friend and neighbour was also adventuring to Guy’s at the same time for hers. It was a truly epic day out after so much confinement. I even saw my office building for the first time since March 2020.

And then last week, I went to Tommy’s for dose#2. Sadly without my vaccine buddy this time as she’d been there the week before. But it still felt like an incredible day out and for such an incredible reason…the needle that brings with it the prospect of more days out in the future.

There were so many things to see and do along the way but here are 7 Incredible Things I wanted to show you. Some good, some poignant….but all incredible in their own way.

1.Taking in some classic London views

 

Gosh darn, I have missed Central London…and look at the gorgeous weather I had both times to stop and gaze at these views.

2. The M&S Food Hall and Disappointing Wasabi

I must admit to being slightly overwhelmed by the M&S Food Hall at Waterloo. I knew I wanted something but had no idea what…so just wandered around in a haze, staring at the sheer variety on offer. I ended up with cold gyozas, an Eton Mess dessert and, of course, Percy Pigs. I was totally underwhelmed by the food stall we know as Disappointing Wasabi in Liverpool Street but underwhelmed in such a familiar “this is real life” way that even that was enjoyable

3. Seeing what’s changed in South London

South London was our stompaing ground for so long and we haven’t had a reason to go to Tommy’s for ages, even before lockdown. So it was exciting to see the new(ish) Mary Seacole statue. Waterloo also has a new entrance, which is (I think) where the old one was before the old one disappeared for ages because of the new development. But now the entrance is back and also, all this new development.

4. The spookiness of it all

Much as I loved being back in Central London, one very Central London element was missing – the crowds. Being able to walk over London Bridge or along the South Bank on a sunny day without a single person in my path was…unnerving. And Waterloo at 5PM? Deserted. All very strange

5. The Covid Memorial Wall

This was incredible in many ways, both good and bad. It’s hard to visualise just how many people we’ve lost to Covid but when you see the number of hearts stretching all the way down from Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, it really brings it home. I have walked beside that wall so many times – with dawdling toddlers or kids speeding ahead on scooters and even once when in labour – and it’s a long path. So many losses. And yet so much love expressed in the messages written on each one of those hearts. Not to be crass, but Vision really did sum it up….”What is grief, if not love perservering?”

6. All the Emotions all at once

Oh gosh, these were emotional days. Such a sense of relief that the end was in sight and gratitude to the amazing scientists that developed the vaccine and the amazing NHS staff who engineered the rollout. Sadness looking at the memorial and thinking of all the broken families this virus had left in its wake. General overwhelmedness of being out in the world. Nostalgia standing outside the hospital where I’d first cuddled my babies who (they tell me) are no longer babies. Just all the emotions.

 

7. The world’s smallest zebra crossing

Just to end this heartfelt post on a facetious note – what the heck is this outside Tommy’s?

So, the arm is packed *full* of Pfizer now and, if I’ve timed this right, you should be reading this on or after May 17th when far more freedom beckons (it is all about the 7s). Use it wisely, think of Michael Gove when you have your intimate, friendly contact and let’s never stop being grateful that we have it.

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