“Portraits of Dogs” at Wallace Collection – 19/08/23

Posted on August 19, 2023 by katese11

We’re back in London after our trip to Turkey and what better to do than something really Central London-y? Someone on a local group had shared an invite for a “quiet hour” session at the Wallace Collection and I’d booked straight away. Eva loves dogs and dislikes noisy crowds so this seemed perfect.

Of course, Eva deciding to go for a sleepover the night before was not so perfect but I extracted her at 7am and somehow we got to Oxford Street before 9am. It was so early that I felt like I should be doing a 9-6 shift at Clarks. Eva wasn’t keen on this idea and I don’t blame her – it is Back to School after all and that was always crazy.

I haven’t been to the Wallace Collection before but had heard of it thanks to many confused people who turned up at the Wellcome Collection when I worked there. If you’re similarly unfamiliar, then just walk down Oxford Street, hang a right at the Disney Store and follow Marylebone Lane all the way up to Manchester Square.

There are some interesting things to look at on the way, like this floral building:

We arrived just in time for the first musical storytelling session of the day and were ushered through the building to the newish gallery downstairs. As it was a SEN session, there was a quiet space on offer for anyone who needed it but, as it was, we were fine  – it was all very calm anyway so no time out required.

The actual exhibition is quite small but there’s lots to see. We wandered around a bit before the storytelling started and I was very pleased with myself for dressing to match one of the paintings:

The storytelling was very interactive and I think Eva was a bit too sleepover-tired to interact much. She enjoyed pretending to be a dachshund in this room though:

I mean, give that girl any excuse to bark rather than talk and she’ll take it. After the storytelling, we worked our way backwards through the rooms as we’d skimmed over the “Royal Dogs” section. Luckily Summer wasn’t with us as she’d have something to say re lack of corgis but there were many regal spaniels, some of which were sketched by Queen Victoria herself. Apparently Queen Vic also thought this painting was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. I can’t argue:

Much as I love the doggos, it’s the parrot that really makes this painting for me.

After we’d seen every dog in the place – and read every sign – we went to the model making workshop where Eva made a cute little Schnauzer out of plasticine:

I tried to make a dog as well but Eva tells me it looked like “a scaly duck from Hell”. The green eyes only made it more demonic-looking, not less apparently.

Eva then made a wire and plaster model of a dog with some help from the staff who were running the workshop. Everyone we met was so nice and they really took time to make sure the model was working – right up to sending us home with a few extra sheets of plaster in case we needed to patch the dog up.

I think it worked OK and even survived the trip home, wrapped in some paper towels and a Pret bag.

We also bumped into some friends at this point, which was lovely. And not overly surprising, given they’re on the same LBWF SEN networks as we are.

Before we left, we made a whistlestop tour through the rest of the collection. There were a few rooms of armour on the ground floor, which I think Roo would enjoy:

And the upstairs rooms were beautifully decorated and full of paintings which toned with the very ornate wallpaper.

I might take the English Class students there at some point because it’s a very English place to look around and I think they’d appreciate it. If only my favourite Americans were still around…

So a fun morning out, especially for my little canid-enthusiast. It’s well worth going to see and spending some time in the rest of the house as well.

“Portraits of Dogs” is on until 15th October. Click here for tickets and more info. 

Posted in Token attempts at culture (museums) | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Touristy Turkey

Posted on August 18, 2023 by katese11

The LWAT Chaos machine has been on the road again and this time, it all went reasonably well. Our trip to Mallorca last year involved power cuts, thunderstorms, all-night delays and literally hundreds of mosquito bites. Our quick jaunt to Copenhagen darn near ended in a riot after three hours of delays and two flights trying to use the same gate…there was no actual riot but we did end up with Covid.  So when the worst that Turkey could throw at us was a small delay and a change of room, I call that a success.

We were flying from Gatwick again, which isn’t the most convenient London airport for us…in fact, it’s probably the least convenient. I think the drive home last year took an incredible four hours. But this time the drive went smoothly, parking was swift and we arrived at the terminal with a full four hours before the flight. Having said that, we did dodge an almighty bullet after I initially booked some very ropey-looking airport parking through a website called Best Parking Deals. The website itself was legitimate enough but it was just a price comparison site and what was billed as “Gatwick Park and Ride” turned out to be “Park and Ride for you” – the proud owner of 48 1*reviews on Google Maps. I only found out the actual name after I’d paid and booked and the confirmation e-mail, which told me I needed to pay an extra £5 “car park entry fee” and that set alarm bells ringing. I found the reviews, cancelled the booking and then went after the price comparison site for their £20 “admin fee”. You’ll be glad to hear that I got the money and spent it on the official parking, which was a little pricier but at least the car would still be there when we got back.

So, given we weren’t stranded in rusty minibus in rural Sussex, we had plenty of time to kill before our flight. We were travelling with an airline I hadn’t heard of before – Corendon Airlines – and their hand luggage allowance is pretty generous, compared to Airs Ryan and Wizz. We worked out that for 5 nights we could pretty much cram it into 4 cabin-size suitcases and take no hold luggage at all. That meant we skipped out the hour-long check in queue we had last time. It took a bit of measuring and masking tape on the floor to reassure ourselves that the suitcases were the right size but yes, sure enough we boarded a plane with one of these each plus a smaller “personal bag” at no extra cost. Go Corendon!

The extra time meant we could get some Turkish Lira, which I hadn’t had time to organise in the frantic packing-and-working week prior to departure. Eva spotted a Pret, which meant I could get us some free coffee and dried mango, and then we had a meal at WonderTree, which is where we ate last time as well. I’m not sure what meal it was, given that it was 3PM and we’d had brunch before leaving. I like to call it “linner” but I’m not convinced that’s a word.  Anyway, WonderTree has some good vegetarian options for Eva and some good meat/waffles/syrup options for Roo and even some healthyish options for people like me who don’t like to eat too heavily before flying (I had the Hawaiian beef bowl and it was yummmm…..last year, I had the hummus plate and also yum).

Although we liked the relaxed attitude that Corendon had around baggage allowances, we weren’t so keen on the relaxed attitudes toward departure times. Early on, a note had appeared on the screens saying we’d get gate info at 16:40….for a 17:00 flight. If that seems like a bad sign to you, let me assure you that it was. We were still sitting around at the gate at takeoff time and then once we were all seated and had had the safety demo, we were told that we’d missed out takeoff slot and had to wait another 30 mins. This wasn’t great for Eva, who gets very anxious before a flight and the sitting around with nothing to distract her wasn’t helping. Eventually I decided to just get my phone back out – having put it into flight mode and packed it away under the seat in front – and that gave her something to do. By that point, people were back out of their seats chatting to friends and queuing for the loo so a phone is not as contraband as you might think.

Anyway, she’s always fine once we’re in the air and we finally got into the air around 19:20. And were rewarded with some lovely sunset views:

All of this landed us in Turkey very late at night though. With the time difference, it was 2AM by the time we were hanging around a smoky part of Antalya airport waiting for our taxi. Roo fell asleep as soon as we got into the taxi and I was dozing, only to be woken when we made a “rest stop” halfway to the hotel at a neon-lit shopping centre. Our driver told us to go and get food but also told us – via Google Translate –  that the shopkeepers were likely to try and overcharge us. I was far too tired to even process any of this and my stomach was far too tired and confused to process any snacks. So I used the free loos and came back to the taxi only to find a small white cat had taken up residence around the handbrake.

At this point, I really did think I was hallucinating but apparently everyone else saw it too….and this would become something of a theme throughout the week.

Our hotel was a full two hours’ drive from the airport, including the rest stop. Along the way, we did see some interesting things but were moving too fast to get any decent photos. Eva – who did not sleep at all during the drive – was fascinated by the Turkish moon, which hung super low in the sky at 3AM and was crescenty, just like the Turkish flag. It was pretty special but I definitely did not manage to capture its majesty.

It was 4AM Turkish time when we stumbled into the hotel to be met with some plumber-like intakes of breath from the man on Reception. This did not seem like good news. As it happens, it could have been worse but we’d been assigned one room for the four of us instead of the two we’d paid for.  It would be a tomorrow problem though, as sleep was becoming an urgent priority.

Of course, a few hours later Reuben’s urgent priority was breakfast. We hadn’t had much to eat since linner the day before so he had something of a point. Nathan was not on board with the whole waking up thing but the rest of us managed to drag ourselves downstairs for around 8:30 and that was it, we had started our day and our holiday.

So let me tell you a bit about our holiday setup – a little late into the post, granted, but I’m sure all that stuff about dodgy airport parking will come in useful to someone. I should point out that, even though this blog is still called London With a Toddler, we no longer own any actual children of the toddling variety. I’m working on stealing one but he isn’t responding as well to the trail of breadsticks as I’d hoped. No, ours are that much older now and so the kind of holiday we can attempt is a bit different. Do not in any way read this post and think it’s OK to leave your toddler unsupervised on a waterslide or drinking unlimited amounts of Coca-cola. Or if you do, just don’t sue me.

We were staying at Club Wasa Holiday Village, an all-inclusive resort which was right on the beach. It was far from luxury but, as I may have mentioned before, we’re not exactly high-class people so that’s OK. What I do look for in a holiday is the chance to swim all day and eat whenever we’re not swimming. And this provided both. Plus the aforementioned unlimited Coca-cola, which both kids took full advantage of and beer, which Nathan took full advantage of. I did try the wine once but just the once…enough said.

I’ve called this post “Touristy Turkey” cause I can’t pretend that we even scraped the surface of the culture Turkey has to offer. When Nathan and I visited in 2008, we took a boat trip and had a mud bath and saw rock tombs and all kinds of things but that was all before kids. Nowadays, holidays tend to be slower paced and involve a lot of relaxing and playing card games. Plus, August in Turkey is genuinely too hot to do much. Our previous trip had been in April and temperatures were around the mid 20s – this trip was 30C plus every day. I’m justifying myself a little too much here but I did have a conversation with a slightly pushy sales rep on that first morning – when I’d been up all night and slept for a few hours in a room that wasn’t what we booked. I’m not sure I was my *best self*. But no one really is when trying to explain that his excursions looked lovely but we were only there for 4 days and spending £200 on a 9-hour day out might be somewhat of a disaster if the kids aren’t in the mood for it. And chances are they wouldn’t be, not in that heat and with sensitivities to noise and crowds.

We did venture out to Alanya for one morning though. Normally on holiday we just potter around on foot but there was nothing in the vicinity of the hotel except for more hotels and a dual carriageway. So we ordered a taxi and for €15 he took us to Kızıl Kule – the Red Tower. Now, I’m not saying this wasn’t still a touristy thing to do but it was the only time when we all got dressed in actual clothes instead of swimwear so it counts as culture.

And what a lovely spot it was! Right by the harbour with a tiny beach and a great view of these pirate-type ships we’d been spotting on the horizon all week. It only cost 30 Lira each to go up the tower, which is around £1.20 so a very economical trip out. The observant among you will notice that I quoted the taxi fare in Euros and the entry fee in Lira and if you’re confused, you’re in good company. Although the official currency is Lira, it seems like Euros were accepted everywhere and even desired. When we asked prices in shops, we were always quoted in Euros which led to some confusion (10 Lira for a pair of sunglasses would be very cheap indeed) We were barely organised enough to get one set of currency, let alone two, but I had a look in my wallet and found €25 in notes and change that had been hanging around since last year. We ended up getting more Euros from an ATM in a situation that got a bit confusing but I’ll explain that later.

First off, the Red Tower! It’s a bit of a slog up to the top and the steps are massive, especially the first flight up. I’m still feeling that stretch in my thigh muscle two days on. But along the way, there are shady enclaves to sit and feel the breeze through the arrow slits.

We’d had a little paddle in the sea before the climb and I definitely wouldn’t recommend stone steps in wet flip-flops..but we made it almost to the top with no accidents. Nathan and Reuben went to the very top but Eva and I wussed out and hung around this level, which felt firmer underfoot. It meant that I missed out on the view from the very top but Nathan got a good shot:

There were also exhibits to look at along the way, including this catapult:

And, of course a sleeping cat:

After the climb we went for another paddle but that’s when I noticed just how much broken glass there was on the beach. It wasn’t smoothed-off seaglass but the proper jaggedy type which, again, I wouldn’t recommend with flip-flops. It’s a pity cause it’s a lovely sheltered enclave with a good view of the castle walls which run right along the cliff.

On Google Maps it had looked like the castle and the Red Tower were close together but seeing it in real life made me realise why it had suggested a 36-minute walk. It’s all built on quite the gradient.

So we didn’t make it to the castle but we did get cans of ice tea from the shop by the harbour and used the loos by a pretty waterfall (that’s not a euphemism) which charged us €1 each. Again, with the confusing currency. We then walked up the hill to the shops as Eva wanted a new swimsuit and along the way, I got some more Euros out of an ATM to pay for a taxi home. It only let me take a €50 note out tho, which meant we needed to make some change. Eva’s swimsuit was charged in Lira so we needed to buy something else to make change. I considered a new swim top for myself as my shoulders were quite badly burnt by this point but the cheapest was 700 Lira. So instead, I bought a €4 fake Nike t shirt to wear in the pool and felt only slightly guilty that the old man running the shop had to go to a different shop next door to get the change. The swim t-shirt worked a treat tho – no more sunburn after that.

This is where it all gets confusing though and I probably should have thought things through a bit more. We found a taxi driver to take us back to the hotel and he nodded when I said “Club Wasa” and quoted us 150 Lira. It sounded cheap but I didn’t think too much of it. A few minutes later, we pulled up to Kleopatra Beach which is meant to be a lovely beach but not where we’d asked to go. After some confusion and handing over my phone with Google Maps directions on it, he said he’d have to set the meter to get us back. Which was fine but we’d deliberately run down our Lira while shopping because everyone seemed to prefer Euros. And the meter was in Lira. As I watched it tick up past what we had left in our hand  – 280 Lira – I devised a plan. The outbound taxi had been €15 so it seemed fair to expect to pay the same on the way back. I used Google to convert €15 to Lira – 441 Lira – and when we pulled up offered this in Euros to cover the fare, which had been 360 Lira in the end. I felt cheeky offering a currency that was not his own but he seemed happy enough, especially as it was more than we should have paid. I was just relieved to have got back home.

Today’s post appears to be sponsored by Google but it is not. And it is definitely not sponsored by my mobile network, who were charging me a fortune to do all this googling. It’s also worth saying that I let myself down by not studying a bit of Turkish before we left as I do usually like to swot up. I’ve had a lot of my mind though, and this holiday kinda crept up on me (hence the currency exchanging at the airport). I never want to assume that everyone will speak English everywhere we go but I’m still out of practice at foreign travel post-Covid. We have been on a few trips in the last few years but everyone in Copenhagen spoke better English than we did (including to each other, not just to the tourists) and while I didn’t master Catalan for our Mallorca trip, my very basic Spanish did the job. Next time I will do better.

And yes, I would have been right to assume that English wasn’t widely spoken in Turkey. It was tricky when trying to negotiate a change of rooms to the two we’d booked as we had to wait for the English-speaking manager to be on shift, which didn’t happen till our second day. We did eventually get sorted though, so don’t fret too much about us. If I’d thought about it, I would have tried my luck with German as there were a few German visitors at the hotel and that might have been a bit more widely spoken. Most of the guests were Russian though and my Russian vocab really only extends to “yes”, “no”, “please”, “thank you”, “milk”, “happy”, “sad”, “woman” and “mouse”. None of which would have really helped in the whole room-swapping situation.

Generally, we coped well though with a bit of sign language, my two words of Turkish – “hello” and “thank you” can get you a long way if you combine them with an insane amount of smiling. At the hotel there was a woman on the beach making fresh gözleme and she seemed very charmed by my stumbling attempts to thank her in Turkish. Every day she piled more and more gözleme onto my plate and it was probably the best thing I ate while we were out there. It was so good. The rest of the food was kinda bland but there was fresh melon every dinner time, which was also lovely, and a kind of Turkish chilli sauce which pepped up the meat-in-sauce that was served every meal.

One night I had three different types of cabbage, two of them pickled. You have to feel sorry for Nathan sharing a bed with me that night. The bright pink one was goood though. On the food front, you’ll have to forgive me while I become That Blogger for a moment and say that the vegetarian options were a bit limited. Eva was more than happy to live off chips for the week – with more chips from the snack bar in between meals – but there certainly weren’t the kinds of vegan burgers and sausages she has at home. Not that I would expect there to be! She had some plain pasta a few times and would have had the rice but one day there was bits of chicken in it and I think that made her mistrustful. The desserts nearly all had a wobbly kinda texture so we assumed they all had gelatine in and so were also not for her. She found a chocolate brownie type cake that she was very happy with though, so between that and the fresh melon she was absolutely fine.

After all our taxi shenanigans on the third day, we decided to have one last lazy day on the fourth and did nothing but eat and swim. Except that Eva decided she needed to become a wildlife photographer and disappeared off with my phone for a bit to try and film all the tiny feral cats that hung around the holiday village. It was the hottest part of the day so the cats were nowhere to be found but usually they were everywhere. I’m not a cat person but these bebbehs were kinda cute, with their tiny faces and their tiny mews. They kept Eva amused any way.

I mentioned waterslides briefly earlier and that was another source of amusement for both kids. It was just one slide – we chose to ignore the fact that the neighbouring hotel had much bigger and better slides –  but Reuben especially was zipping up and down it all day. He occasionally got frustrated with the lack of queueing etiquette from the other kids but I told him it wasn’t his job to police them and, sure enough, on the last afternoon of the last day, a lifeguard appeared and blew a whistle every so often which I think was meant to deter these kids from pushing in or climbing back up the slide when it was closed and things like that. I feel like it really needed a person at the top of the slide all the time though. It would have made things much easier.

There were a few niggles like that, as there often are on package holidays. Ice cream was free but only served once a day which caused more frustration and more violations of queueing etiquette. Tables for lunch and dinner were hard to come by and we had to eat on a bench one day until we learnt to get there before the doors opened.

There was at least one stand up fight over the lack of tables and I saw a British woman saying to a German “You’re not in Deutschland now”, to which the German shrugged and remarked to her dining companions that the British woman shouldn’t have been “zu spät”. It was a bit ugly on both sides and it was stuff like that which made some meal times feel edgy when they should have been relaxing. And also could have been solved by having enough tables for the number of people staying. Still, lovely dinnertime views though:

Sun loungers were also hard to come by – weirdly less so on the beach than by the pool – and we often just left our stuff in a slightly soggy pile while we swam but this is again pretty standard for this kind of holiday.

There are a few things worth mentioning about the return trip, in case anyone else is planning to do similar. Yes, we did have another 15-minute “rest stop” which was a bit nail-biting when it was two hours before the flight and we were still 40 miles away. It was a good opportunity to get snacks though, as an early start meant we hadn’t had breakfast – apart from some cake that Eva had stashed away the previous day and then presented to us in cups like a tiny Mrs Doyle:

It’s always good to try something new in a different country but it was quite amusing that the biscuit selection at the rest stop was the exact same ones that we have in the Turkish supermarket on our road. So we bought some of our favourites plus some pretzel sticks and more ice tea for not-quite-breakfast snacks. We later had some hugely overpriced chips at the airport food court but let’s not dwell on that.

On the airport side though, it’s worth noting that effectively you have to go through Security twice. As soon as you enter Antalya airport, there are scanners for your bags but this is before check in and you don’t need to dispose of any liquids at this point. There are also no bins nearby, so we ended up sending an empty ice tea can through the scanner in a tray. The stern looking lady insisted. After that, there’s check-in which we skipped because we had already checked in online and had no hold luggage. That might have been a mistake because at the gate, our passenger numbers were written on a short handwritten list that made me think we’d done something wrong. Also, everyone else at the gate had cardboard tickets. Whoops!

After check in, we had our boarding passes (on Nathan’s phone) checked, along with our passports before going through passport control and another round of security, this time with no liquids allowed other then 100ml containers. After that, we were free to eat the overpriced fries before going to the gate for two more rounds of passport and boarding pass checking. Thorough, confusing and slightly rushed but at least we took off on time. And we celebrated with a lunch at Greggs as soon as we cleared Customs the other side. We got the car back with no drama, ever thankful that we’d rebooked the parking, and let’s not talk about Dartford. We got home, that’s all you need to know.

A few blips aside, it was a pretty relaxing holiday and just what we needed after the rain-soaked July we’ve had in the UK. For a bargain-ish price it was a pretty good break and being able to travel with just hand luggage made life easier. Now to just get through another two weeks of rain before school starts….!

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

BBC Earth Experience – 08/08/23

Posted on August 9, 2023 by katese11

Ever wondered what it would be like to visit the Planet Earth? Well, now you can find out but be warned – you have to go to West Brompton first and that’s as tricky to get to as Mercury. Which is why we ended up getting off at Earls Court and walking the last bit – it was easier than waiting for a District line train on the Wimbledon branch.

Anyway, it worked out well because there was a Pret and a TARDIS:

Although the not-so-ideal part was that it was tipping it down, which made the short walk a very soggy one:

But it was easy enough to find and yes, would have been just a few short minutes from West Brompton. But I might not have been caffeinated.

We’d booked online for a specific timeslot so, once the Hollys arrived, we were straight through apart from a bag check. It was very smooth and, on a sunnier day, Empress Place might have been a nice place to hang out as there was street food and giant chess. This month has not been a street food kinda month though.

(Except last week, when Nathan and I ate street food far away from the street in Walthamstow Mall)

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this experience but it is essentially one large room with multiple screens showing videos in extremely high definition. It’s immersive in that the screens are everywhere but it’s not VR or anything that requires a headset, which is good because some of the assembled kids were not keen on the idea of putting anything over their eyes (Reuben tells me he gets “enough injuries on a day-to-day basis without VR”)

So we settled down in the middle of the room and started to watch. There were some seats and some large cushions but on a busy day it’s probably best to bring your own.

It really is best to settle in and relax because the film is quite lengthy. David Attenborough takes us through each of the seven continents, describing the wildlife and plant life on each one in his trademark soothing tones. I would be remiss if, at this point, I didn’t mention that I once met David Attenborough when I worked for Clarks….and he bought a pair of shoes called “Nature”. That truly was the best day ever.

How much your kids will engage depends on their age and stage really. Eva is interested in all things adorable and floofy so there was plenty to entertain her. Reuben put his hood up throughout the Australian section in case there were any spiders but other than that, he seemed to enjoy it. It’s hard to describe the scale of it all but it is massive and really draws you in. There were some very pretty bits, like this swarm of fireflies, which looks like Nature’s Goldschläger:

But then also some quite gruesome bits where the adorable floofy animals ate each other. But that is the natural world for you. We were all relieved when a tiny penguin managed to escape an elephant seal, except Eva who just loves seals and was rooting for it.

As well as the main room, there are two side rooms which are a bit more interactive. One is the Micro Life area, which comes with this warning:

You can guess which of my kids decided to stay away from this one.

Inside the room, it’s dark with a big red button which activates the screens. I wasn’t entirely sure whether we were doing it right but we certainly managed to make some creepy-crawlies appear:

The other room was called Water Life and had those motion-sensitive screens that you can just spend hours in front of, making pretty patterns:

After that, we went up onto the balcony where I think you could watch the full seven continents again but with different videos and different narration. I’m not sure how the narration worked, as there wasn’t anywhere where it sounded like there were clashing soundtracks going on…but I think it was different as it matched the video. The kids were a bit too hungry and tired to do the full reel again so we started to head out.

First though, we spent some time watching this giant screen in between the balcony and the ground which was almost like a flight simulator because it genuinely felt like you were moving while watching it. Reuben felt travel sick so couldn’t look at it for long but the rest of us enjoyed it.

There were two more things to look at on the way out – firstly, this 3D model of the Earth (spherical at the front, conical at the back…in mo way flat)

And secondly, a greenscreen booth in the gift shop where you could take photos for free with an animal of your choice. It gets e-mailed directly to you so ours went to Eva’s e-mail address and I haven’t yet seen it. I’m sure it was something special though.

ETA: She sent it! I’m glad I’m paying for those drama lessons

It was a fun morning out but we probably maxed out the experience at around the 90 minute mark. There could have been a few more interactive things and a cafe definitely would have kept us there longer. It was the hunger rather than nature-fatigue which pushed out back out into the rainy West London day.

There didn’t seem to be huge numbers of lunch options around West Brompton and we had plans to go to the Tate Modern via the wobbly bridge. So we headed back to Cannon Street because a) it was on the District Line, b) it’s near the wobbly bridge and c) it has a Leon very nearby. Admittedly,. we did have to change at Earls Court again because there was no Upminster train showing but it all worked out alright.

Fuelled up on waffle fries, halloumi, grain salads and houmous we headed back into the rain for a walk to the Tate Modern. Along the way, we found some Morphs without ever really trying:

 

The Tate Modern was pretty packed, as it often is on a rainy day in August. Quite a lot of the exhibits were things I’d seen before – I think I last took Eva around 2019 – but we did see some interesting new things. There was a film installation where someone had remade a scene from “Imitation of Life” and played it side-by-side with the original. With the women all recast as Asian men, obviously. That’s art for you.

I also liked this giant installation of venetian blinds:

And this stack of radios, which were all tuned to different stations:

This is one of the exhibits that was a bit of an assault on the ears, with the out of sync “Imitation of Life”being the other. I mention this because I’m still slightly irritated that a presumptuous young woman told Reuben off for whistling quietly to himself as he looked at some of the art. Instead of maybe moving to another room of just accepting it as part of a very noisy museum on a busy holiday day, she chose to try and shame him for something that’s a bit of subconscious tic. I don’t know if it’s a ND or an RM thing but he’s been doing it a bit lately and it doesn’t hurt anyone, especially in contrast to a giant stack of detuned radios. I mention this, not to embarrass him further as he mainly shrugged it off but it was me that is still brooding over it. No, I mention it to make this stark point to my readers – if you see a teenage boy engaging with any kind of culture during his summer holidays, without being under duress and seeming to enjoy then for the love of all that is good and holy, do not do anything to mess with that,

Step away from the teenage boys madam. You go enjoy art in the way that you want to (may I suggest a sunny day in termtime?) and let him enjoy it in the way that he wants to. And here ends the lesson.

That small drama apart, we had a fine time. There was lots to look at, even if we didn’t understand it all. But some was just quite pretty:

And some of it was very educational, such as the display about inequality in art which Eva wanted to read every word of:

At one point, the Hollys and Reuben headed across the bridge at the 4th Floor to the other side of the building. Eva is a bit wobbly about heights and had already braved the wobbly bridge so she chose to stay where she was and read these panels:

Eventually we realised that we could just go down in the lift and back up the other side so we were reunited on the 3rd Floor of the Blavatnik Building, where there were computers for making your own art and projecting it on the wall. Did Reuben choose well here or did he choose violence? I guess it depends on whether you can tell what he drew:

I scanned the QR code so, happily, I can view that delightful picture any time I want to. Interestingly, when I took a picture of this window, my phone also tried to scan it as a QR code:

We were all definitely flagging by this point and the Tate Modern isn’t especially close to any tube stations…so we wended our way back slowly towards Waterloo to meet Nathan after work. Along the way, we stopped at a doughnuts and churros van to fuel up a bit, although Eva’s churros looked a lot like fries:

And, of course, the obligatory loo stop at the Royal Festival Hall and a quick climb on the red benches.

That seems like a good place to stop, before we all get too overtired and grouchy. Google Maps tells me we walked almost 4 miles and I think my feet would agree. Still, a lovely day catching up with friends and a tick in the summer holiday culture box. Success!

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Barbie at the Barbican – 06/08/23

Posted on August 8, 2023 by katese11

Yes, I succumbed to the hype and took Nathan and Eva – along with Eva’s BFF and her parents – to see the Barbie movie. We’ve yet to see “Oppenheimer” but we did see “Asteroid City” last week, which has some atomic tests in it (and Margot Robbie, as it happens) so we’ve pretty much done both. I chose a Sunday afternoon showing at the Barbican and I’ll be honest, there was pros and Kens so I’m gonna list them out for you:

Pro: The pun! This is 100% the reason I chose the Barbican to see this movie. It just had to be done, in my opinion

Ken: You will get lost on the way. I have never yet visited the Barbican without getting at least a little bit lost

Pro: When you get lost, you spy awesome stuff like this restored medieval church in the midst of all the brutalist architecture and the neon green lily pad water.

Ken: That opaque, unfenced water was a worry for me when I had a free range toddler and it’s not much better with an unpredictable 11-year-old

Pro: Comfy seats and a lovely red curtain to make it feel like a real Event showing

Ken: If you go to Cinema 2 instead of Cinema 1, you’re in completely the wrong building and it’s a long way to retrace your steps

Pro: They sell a special Barbie-Ken cocktail!

Ken: Other snack options seem limited

Pro: Not overly crowded, especially at the start of the ads and trailers

Ken: You may well be the only one who’d brought a child with you to this toy-based movie. People may stare

Pro: Gender-neutral toilets, some with cubicles and some with urinals

Ken: The ones without urinals only have three cubicles. Three!

Overall, a fun cinema experience and we all enjoyed the movie even if large parts of it seemed derivative of other films starring Will Ferrell (“Elf” and “The Lego Movie” spring to mind) It’s worth wearing pink, even if you’re the only ones because yknow….it’s a legit phenomenon. You might as well lean into it.

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Oxygen Freejumping – 05/07/23

Posted on July 23, 2023 by katese11

I’ve been blogging like a demon recently. Maybe because after a week of the school holidays my brain will be so sludgy that I can no longer form words beyond….”GIVEMECOFFFFFEEEEE”. But I have something to tell you about and, unlike our recent Shakespeare-in-Stratford jaunt, it’s both London-y and possibly toddler-y. It did involve Stratford but it was the other one – the one where you can change from overground to Jubilee with enough time to pick up a quick soy latte at the Petit Pret. Once again, I should emphasise that I am not sponsored by Pret but I really am maxing out that subscription. It was a school strike day, I had an afternoon of annual leave and we were on a mission.

Our destination was Oxygen Freejumping at the O2 Arena. Not, as Roo feared oxygen-free jumping because that would be a bad idea. But if you get there and you do spot Mr Flibble, I suggest you run. Freejumping is basically trampolining with a few extra bits but it does sound edgy and cool, doesn’t it? Especially if you’re trying to do it without breathing.

We’d booked “Peaceful Play”, which was a special session that’s run on a Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. I don’t think there are any specific requirements needed to access it but Eva’s dislike of loud noises certainly qualified us. The booking in and signing waivers was all very straightforward and we found the lockers but then we were asked to go to the briefing room, which wasn’t overly well signposted. It turned out to be some closed doors next to the lockers, with a sign saying “briefing in progress”, which was a bit anxiety-inducing all round because presumably we were meant to be in that briefing? A beeping from the machines every 10 seconds didn’t help and it’s worth considering these kinds of things when hosting sessions for children with sensory issues.

Anyway, there was no briefing in progress and the kids did eventually get let in and then released to play. From then on, all was smooth sailing. It was fairly busy in the park for the first half hour or so and then it emptied out as the previous session finished and they had the peace and space that the website promised. I sat upstairs in the cafe so had a pretty good view of where Eva was most of the time.

When I said it’s trampolining with extra bits, I am probably underselling it. There’s gladiator fighting, dodgeball and foam pits. There was also a ninja run and twisty slides and a giant airbag that they could plummet onto. It’s pretty similar to the Sobell Centre but I think that’s closed at the moment and the Feel Good Centre has changed their age restriction to under 12s. So it’s good to find somewhere that accommodates both kids.

It’s well connected by public transport – we could have got literally any mode of transport home, though the kids were sceptical about my suggestion of flying home from London City Airport. But, had we wanted to, we could have travelled by boat, bus, cable car, DLR or tube. We also could have eaten at any number of restaurants afterwards but Eva chose the same as she always does. I’ll leave you to guess.

Reuben was complaining of a “lack of O2 in the O2” – turns out that Oxygen is just a name – so we took our fries outside to eat by the river. All the O2 we could possibly handle out there. Our Top Trumps darn near flew away.

So a half day’s AL well used and not too much of a trek from East London either. Admittedly, we did make a bad change at Hackney Downs which saw Reuben running ahead and catching the train where Eva and I did not. DOn’t worry, that kind of thing is alright nowadays. He’s not actually still a toddler…

For more information on the Oxygen Activity Park and to book tickets, click here

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“Romeo and Juliet” by East London Shakespeare Festival – 22/07/23

Posted on July 22, 2023 by katese11

Another week, another outdoor Shakespeare in the rain. Last week’s productions in Stratford-Upon-Avon did their best to rain on us and drown the actors’ voices out with howling winds but this week’s production really did bring on the tempest. We’re used to it by now though,

This was the second visit of East London Shakespeare Festival to Highams Park. Last year’s “Twelfth Night” saw us scrabbling around for shade and downing drinks by the litre to try and stay cool. Today’s “Romeo and Juliet” was a slightly different vibe but still somehow resulted in Eva going blackberry-picking in her Shakespeare dress. It’s contextual memory by now.

We had two camping chairs with us, so Eva and Nathan bagsied them and a big umbrella:

While I sat at the front on a blanket with a friend and a slightly smaller umbrella. Spoiler: we did all get wet but at last we gave ourselves a fighting chance.

ELSF always has a bit of a contemporary take on Shakespeare and this was no different. I mentioned in “Two Gentlemen of Verona” last week that putting the characters into school uniform helped make sense of their decisions and ELSF pulled off a similar trick here. Romeo (Nick Hardie) and Juliet (Emilia Harrild) were believable as teenagers, especially Juliet with her surly expression and Cherry DMs. Which is good, because the logic on display in this play is really very teenage – Romeo switches affections as sharply as Proteus did last week. And the whole “I’m gonna kill myself for love” is a bit of hormonal overdramatising if I ever saw it. On the way home, we were discussing how close the plot comes to being a Shakespearean comedy – it would only take Juliet waking up a few minutes earlier for it to become one of those “what a hilarious misunderstanding” type of farces. And I wonder why Juliet didn’t just run away to Mantua instead of faking her own death. But, as ever with Shakespeare, you can’t overthink it.

On the subject of Juliet’s age, though, there was a small tweak that I clocked in the first act – Juliet is described as being “not quite eighteen” rather than “not quite fourteen”. I assume this was to make the whole marrying-off plot less creepy but it was a notable departure. And Paris living to tell the tragic tale was another tweak although one that I’m alright with. I always thought Paris dying was a bit arbitrary and almost detracts from the deaths of the lovers. So him just exchanging glance with Romeo and walking off was an OK end to the character. He doesn’t really do anything wrong – although in this version he was played a little bit creepy- so doesn’t really deserve to die.

I mentioned that the setting was contemporary but it wasn’t as specific as last year’s 80s take on “Twelfth Night”. I thought for a while it might be set in the 90s – because of the DMs and the Nurse rocking out to “Killing in the Name”  – but I think that might be because my generation do associate this story with the 1996 version. And if you go too far down that road, a la Hot Fuzz, it’s a group version of “Love Fool” before you know it.

I mean, this production did have a version of “Angels” – which again, might be a reference to Claire Danes’ costume – but it kinda fitted into the Capulet party vibe and provided Romeo and Juliet with the opportunity to harmonise together, which was lovely. I did like the portrayal of the Capulets as being very much New Money and the Montagues as the old school, which explains the rivalry to some extent. Lord Capulet was exuberantly played by James Hyland and he really brought the energy to every scene he was in, including giving me a stinger of a High-5. The perils of sitting at the front!

Talking of energy, I really some of whatever Mercutio (Chris Knight) was on. The character is a complex one  – both personable and troubled- so playing him as a wild-eyed raver makes sense. The unscripted interjections of Romeo and Benvolio (“He’s always like this when we go out”)  helped to break up that long and slightly unhinged speech about Mab and he really went all out, pacing up and down the aisle restlessly while talking about madness.

The whole cast did well to keep the energy up, given how cold and rainy it was. They never lost focus or broke character even when they must have been freezing, especially Juliet in her wedding dress and bare feet. I missed the fight scene in the middle, as we were waiting for hot drinks in Humphreys, and I do regret that because it’s one of the best bits and where Tybalt and Mercutio really get their moments. Tybalt (Isambard Rawbone) was suitably cattish in the party scene and it would have been good to see him fight to the death. The small cast were seriously doubling up on roles and it was remarkable to see the fiery Tybalt also playing the calm and saintly Friar Lawrence. Sadé Philips made some very quick changes as both Lady Capulet and Benvolio, despite being really quite pregnant and it was impressive how she switched between roles as they are very different characters. Apprentice actor Caitlin Stevenson also seemed to be everywhere all at once – from the dignified Lady Montague to the It-Girl Rosaline – and Nathan tells me she even stayed in character during the interval.

One thing I really loved about this production was Juliet’s relationship with her nurse (Ursula Early). The nurse was played a lot younger than I’ve seen her in other productions – the aforementioned rocking out and a little light flirting with Friar Lawrence. I guess that if she genuinely nursed Juliet then she probably would only be in her late 20s or early 30s as she would have to have been of childbearing age when Juliet was a baby. And, as previously discussed, childbearing age in Tudor times was creepily young. Her relationship with Juliet in this was very physically affectionate and teasing and made a stark contrast to Juliet’s more formal relationship with her actual mother.

I’m glad they pushed through the rain and I’m glad we pushed through too. We might have been a small audience but we were certainly appreciative. We generally are whenever anyone brings culture to Highams Park. Eva loved it and watched the whole thing, despite being cold and in sandals. She did wander off in search of berries a few times but she tells me she was still watching.

There are still more dates coming up and so there are chances to see the production – hopefully on sunnier days. For tickets and more information, click here.

No disclaimer needed as I was a paying punter this time. All opinions still remain honest and my own though.

 

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A Shakespearean Jaunt Part 2 – 16/07/23

Posted on July 20, 2023 by katese11

My powers of self-control are as good as ever and I managed to ramble on for a thousand words about just one day in Stratford-Upon-Avon. So I cut it off and here’s your Part 2. I know…you’ve been on tenterhooks.

We had indeed made it to the correct Premier Inn in the end and fuelled up on their breakfast buffet before heading out to Shakespeare’s birthplace. We’d been past it the day before but the queues had been massive so I put it on the “tomorrow” list, which was increasingly filling up.

We booked online so got in almost as soon as it opened at 10. The entrance is in the modern building just next door and there’s an exhibition to walk through before you get to the birthplace itself.

It was quite crowded but Eva insisted on reading every sign in full so most of the crowds went on ahead of us. She was dressed for the occasion but it didn’t stop her putting on yet more Tudor-era clothing:

And dressing the dogs up too:

Her outfit delighted the other visitors – especially the North Americans who may well think that this is how British children dress all the time. And her ghost impression is really evolving from a Victorian ghost child to a Tudor one:

We learnt a few interesting facts as we walked through the exhibition, like how Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway seemed to be somewhat of a shotgun:

It’s not just my maths, right?

We then queued for the birthplace itself, in some very pleasant gardens:

In each room there are guides who told us about different parts of the house and how they were used. One of the guides in the glove making workshop used the phrase “kid skin” and noted Eva looking a little worried before explaining that it wasn’t made of human child, but a baby goat.

Knowing Eva as I do, I think my animal-loving girl was perturbed at the idea of killing a baby goat to make gloves. She probably wouldn’t have minded so much if it had been a human. In fact, she’s probably got a few names she could suggest.

The Shakespeares were quite well-to-do, as you can probably see, and liked to ostentatiously display their wealth through rich wall hangings and fine foods. The most impressive furnishings were on the ground floor so that passers-by could gaze in and feel envious. I’d be a little uncomfortable with that….I’m not saying it doesn’t happen in Highams Park but I don’t think I’d like it. It’s more of a North Chingford thing really.

We explored every room, including the tiny loft at the top and, of course, the gift shop.

Once we’d left, there were a couple of other shops Eva wanted to check out, like the House of Spells just opposite:

And the old-fashioned sweet shop, where she bought some cherry drops:

I wanted to check out the Pret, which looked small from the outside but was giant inside. It could have fitted the Marylebone Pret inside it ten times over.

Once I had my coffee in hand, we went back to the hotel to pack up and check out. We left our suitcases at the hotel and went back to the Dell for more Shakespeare, this time with slightly less wind and rain. Did I mention that the Dell performances are all free? It’s a great way to get some theatre in without having to worry about getting anywhere at an exact time (especially as the performances we went to coincided exactly with out check-in and check-out times at the hotel)

Sunday’s show was “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and, try as I might, I can’t find the name of the theatre company anywhere- the RSC site refreshes as soon as dates are past and I can’t find any trace on Facebook or Twitter. Seeing as they were young people, I probably should check Snapchat or something. Anyway, if anyone knows do tell me and I’ll replace this whole rambling paragraph.

Where the previous’s day show had been fairly true to the text, this one took a  few more liberties. There were interjections that were definitely not in the script but they didn’t take it too far. The characters were dressed as secondary school kids and a blackboard formed an integral part of the staging, including hosting a picture of Crab – the famous dog, who doesn’t do much but somehow still steals the show. It was a clever move making them very teenage because the actions of the characters are pretty inexplicable and this way, at least you could write them off as hormonal teenage idiocy. Especially Proteus, who switches his affections from Julia to Silvia almost instantaneously.

I know the ending to this play is a bit controversial, so I’m not surprised they changed it. After Proteus threatens to assault Silvia, it somehow all works out that he’s forgiven by both Valentine and Julia and everyone gets married. That scene was quite visceral in this version, as was the fight between the boys afterwards so I wasn’t sure how they were going to come back from that. As it happened, they didn’t. The play ended with some new words and Proteus broken and friendless on the floor. I’m not sure how I feel about changing Shakespeare’s plots but I can definitely see why they did it.

After a dark ending, it was time for a random jaunt and we’d been eyeing up the chain ferry since the day before. It costs a pound for adults and 50p for kids, and it takes you across the Avon in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t where we needed to get to but it was a pleasant diversion and, as Eva said, “rather fun”.

That meant a stroll back along the opposite side of the river, taking in the sights and the flocks of “murder birders” as Eva insisted on calling the swans. I was still full from breakfast but Eva was hungry again so we stopped at the street food market for some deep fried halloumi and chips, just as Shakespeare himself would have eaten.

It was around this time that we had our third meetup of the weekend  – a bit of a spontaneous one, to go with the planned one and the complete surprise one. Rob is a guy I lived with at university and it’s relatively rare for anyone who’s lived with me to still be on speaking terms with me so he’s clearly one I should keep in touch in. Also, he was up for accompanying us to the last bit of our weekend – the Shakespaw cat cafe.

Now, if you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll know how much I like dogs. And there were lots of good boys and girls around Stratford-Upon-Avon so that was great for both me and E. Cats, I could take or leave. But Eva was attracted to their floofiness and for her, it was an essential part of the trip.

We’d tried and failed to book ahead because I didn’t realise that different tables had different time slots available. So top tip – if you can’t find a timeslot, try selecting a different table. Then we timed out cause it wasn’t quite 3 hours before our booking and in the end, we just visited as a walk-in and it was all fine. We sat downstairs in the basement and the cats tended to be upstairs on the ground floor but that was fine. Rob and I sat at our table and chatted while Eva scooted up and down the stairs in search of the elusive floof.

(I realise this photo makes it look like Eva is selecting a cat from the menu to eat. Let me assure you, that is not how a cat cafe works)

There was one particular floofy fella by the name of Hamlet who kept coming over to us. He had one of those squashy, GrumpyCat kinda faces but apparently thought that Rob was his new best friend. I was mainly trying to make sure I didn’t accidentally sit on one.  And yes, they did all have Shakespearean names including a Tybalt who presumably was the King of Cats.

The food was awesome by the way – I had the waffles with syrup and berries and the other two had waffles with lemon and lavender sugar. Eva was pretty drinking the lavender sugar neat. They also served tea in Shakespeare-themed square teapots:

It was a lovely end to the weekend and Rob drove us all the way to Leamington Spa to save us a train. We had a look at historic Warwick on the way and “Leam” itself is lovely – all cream-coloured Victorian splendour:

Even the station is pretty!:

We were very tired by the time we were dragging suitcases back up the steps at Walthamstow Central but it was totally worth it. And this weekend, we’re taking in yet more Shakespeare…but a bit closer to home….

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A Shakespearean Jaunt Part 1 – 15/07/23

Posted on July 19, 2023 by katese11

A few years ago I was reading “The Swish of the Curtain” to Eva and we both enjoyed the chapter where the Bishop takes the Blue Doors to Stratford Upon Avon and Maddie scandalises the dining room by telling everyone that the Bishop was her father and Sandra was her mother. Randomly, I had a photo of that very chapter in my Google Photos. Don’t ask why:

Although I don’t know many kindly Bishops, it did plant the idea in my head that a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon is something that every budding Shakespeare fan should experience at some point. I think my sister took me there when I was 13, probably to see Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I very much fancied taking Eva there too. I didn’t think we’d ever get round to it but the weekend where Reuben was away and I had no choir gig seemed the perfect time to have a girls’ weekend away and grant Nathan some well-deserved peace and quiet.

I planned to travel light but I never quite pull that off so we had a suitcase each, as well as a bag containing picnic blankets, snacks and a giant umbrella. This would be unwieldy at the best of times  but when there are no trains and we had to cram onto the bus to get to Walthamstow….well, it was lucky that no one lost an eye.

Two tubes later, we were at Marylebone which is a very neat little station and I’m not sure I’ve ever caught a train from there before. They had a Pret, which meant I could get my free coffee, but I didn’t exactly think through how to balance my coffee and Eva’s hot chocolate as well as all the suitcases. Again, we were lucky to escape disaster-free.

Also, this station needs more than 12 cubicles in the Ladies’. Just saying.

We were early enough that we could get a seat on the train without much trouble. I piled the suitcases around my knees so that Eva could have space to drink her hot chocolate. Standard stuff.

In “Swish of the Curtain” they have to take three trains to get from Fenchester to Stratford-Upon-Avon and it takes most of the day. I don’t know where Fenchester is – possibly somewhere near Colchester – but we only needed two. We changed at Leamington Spa onto a line that seemed to be called “The Shakespeare Line”. This was a good sign.

The train stopped at every tiny station along the way, including some that were so small they only had one platform. The weather had been variable during the journey and often seemed to be raining on just one side of the train but it was still looking dry outside when we finally got to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

That did not last. It tipped it down as we started walking and I only had the roughest idea of where we were going because my phone doesn’t do well in torrential rain. So we headed towards the town centre and quickly spotted Shakespeare’s birthplace. I knew our Premier Inn was a few minutes away from that so when I saw the familiar purple sign up the road, I walked towards it.

Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

It was only after we’d left our suitcases there, used the loos and set off again that the nagging doubts set in. Sure enough, I checked my phone – the rain had stopped by now – and it transpired that there was indeed another Premier Inn in the centre of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

It also transpired that I didn’t care that much. We’d sort it out later once we got some food. It would all be fine.

We lunched at Ye Olde Subway because Eva does like a bit of familiarity in new places and I believe it was where Shakespeare first ordered a footlong Chicken Teriyaki and a rainbow cookie. In fact, the Hearty Italian is thought to have been the reason he set so many of his plays in Italy – looking out, as we did, on a rain-soaked Henley Street, that bread transported him to the sunnier climes of Verona and Venice.

We were having similar thoughts but Verona would have to wait for the next day because Ephesus was first on the itinerary. And that’s Ephesus via the Dell Outdoor Theatre, which is just down the river from the town centre, in a windswept Avonbank Gardens. It wasn’t ideal weather for outdoor Shakespeare, as it was fluctuating between blazing sun and the aforementioned torrential rain, but the Sweet Sorrow Theatre Company was persevering with “The Comedy of Errors” against the odds. There was a line about “they cannot hear us above the wind”, which caused great hilarity given the weather conditions but we could hear…just about. The umbrella I’d been carting about certainly came in handy but it turns out we needn’t have bothered with the picnic blankets as there are lovely RSC people on hand to lend you one of theirs.

Eva very much enjoyed the show and knew the story so it didn’t matter that we were a few minutes late. A friend of mine told me that Shakespeare actually wrote his opening scenes to be slightly throwaway so that latecomers didn’t miss vital plot points and that really worked in our favour. Of course, with “Comedy of Errors”, the only real plot point you need to know is that there are two sets of twins and mass confusion ensues. Then you can just sit back and enjoy the slapstick comedy and the goldsmith’s ever-changing accent.

I particularly liked Adriana, who was suitably overbearing and confused and the door prop for the scene at her house was very clever. I couldn’t always remember which Antipholus was which but a detail on their matching pink jackets gave it away – one had it on the right lapel and the other on the right.

Eva had chosen her spring beret to take on the trip with us instead of the usual summer trilby, on the basis that it looked more Shakespearean…and she wasn’t wrong, given that one of the Dromios was sporting one that was near-identical:

After the play, we were meeting my brother and his family for dinner but there was just one problem – my phone was almost out of battery and my charger was in my suitcase in the wrong hotel, which was quite some way away. So I went with the 90s solutions (1590s?) and used the last of my battery to tell him a place and time to meet. We’d already located the Shakespeare statue earlier in the day so that seemed like an obvious landmark, even if none of us quite knew our way around the town.

And, of course, meeting him there but with no way of contacting him if either of us were running late opened up the possibility of hilarious hijinks involving a gold chain. My brother and I do look quite similar and it’s almost certain that someone would fall in love with one of us, believing us to be the other one. I’m led to believe that kind of thing happens all the time in these kind of places.

One thing that did happen was that I got weirdly disorientated and kept finding myself places I didn’t expect to be. It’s probably just an unfamiliar town and bendy ancient streets but I got lost more than I usually do in new places. I’m gonna blame Puck because someone kept pointing those streets in different directions and he’s got form.

Happily though, we did find the family and set off looking for a wheelchair accessible restaurant, which is not easy in a town full of historic buildings. In our crazed wanderings earlier, I has spotted a newer development with a Nandos and some other places. The newness of it suggested DDA compliance to meet and, sure enough, an ASK fit the bill and fit us in. We had a lovely dinner and then a post-dinner walk down to Shakespeare’s grave to let the food go down. We didn’t see the grave itself because it’s inside a church and chargeable btu we did spot the memorial trees for Judith and Hamnet.

In case you’re wondering, we did manage to check into the correct hotel earlier on and even transport our suitcases from one to the other. But you don’t need the dull details of all that. You can just assured that Eva and I did find ourselves a bed for the night. And even bumped into a Highams Parker along the way.

It might sound like we packed a lot in already but there’s more to come….so I might just split this blog post in two. Try not to go too mad with impatience for the second part…For to define true madness, What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?

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Blur at Wembley – 09/07/23

Posted on July 12, 2023 by katese11

It probably seems like everyone you know, who is of a certain age, went to see Blur at Wembley last week. Well, we did too. I’d had terrible FOMO when all my friends seem to be at Pulp the week before so when a chance to see Blur came up, I grabbed it. The way we got the tickets was a little ropey but it worked- that’s all you need to know.

I’ve loved Blur ever since I was 14. Kinda against my will to start with, cause they were indie and someone I didn’t like was into indie. But I was weirdly fascinated by them and by the time of the great Britpop battle of 1995, I was fully bought in and I’d chosen my side. Around that time I remember writing a story – a teen romance where two people bonded over their love for Blur. Two years later, I met an extremely sweaty boy in a Blur t-shirt and the rest is history. Look, he wore it again on Sunday:

It has been washed a few times since that very sweaty first meeting…

So, this was all a bit spontaneous. It involved some cobbled-together and not entirely foolproof childcare plans (school night sleepover, anyone?) but everything fell into place and we were on our way to Wembley.

It’s hard not to feel a little bit awed by the stadium up close. We’ve driven past a million times and seen it from the A406 but it is a bit magic when you’re Right There.

Talking of Right There, that’s exactly where we weren’t in comparison to the stage. We were miles up in the Gods and, although Paul Weller was on stage, it could easily have been Phil Weller of Portsmouth for all we knew.

He did eventually play some songs we knew -“Start” and “Peacock Suit” – which made me think it probably was him. Nonetheless, it felt like it might not be a classic gig experience being so far away. On the flip side though, we were already knackered after a busy weekend so two hours of standing might have been a challenge and also, we were just lucky to be there.

It was almost dinnertime by the time Blur were on and we did discuss nipping to the bar at a strategic moment to get some nachos or something. “But you never know when they’re going to play ‘Popscene'” I mused.

Turns out they played it pretty early on…but I’m getting ahead of myself. First, there was one of the Britpop-era instrumentals as walk-on music. I want to say “Intermission” but I’m not entirely sure. It did give me hope for a nostalgia-filled set ahead though, which was only slightly dampened by their first proper song, new single “St Charles Square”.  I mean, there’s a reason they’re gigging and they’re not exactly gonna ignore the new material but I was craving something a bit more familiar.

“There’s No Other Way”? That’ll do it. And THEN “Popscene”. Alright!

From then on, it was just joy after joy as they romped through the back catalogue. There were some less obvious picks, like “Villa Rosie” and “Trimm Trabb” alongside absolute crowdpleasers like “Tracey Jacks” and “Beetlebum” (poor Beetlebum….gone, but not forgotten). Damon went down to the front row early on and greeted the crowd. It seemed for a moment like they wouldn’t give him back, which reminded us both of Graham singing “Please don’t kill our singer” on the Showtime VHS. But eventually he did make it back to the stage, leaving fans swooning as he did. He might be a self-described old man but he’s still got that certain something….a “twinkle in the eye”, if you will.

Graham got his moment too, with the crowd adoring “Coffee and TV”. It would have been nice to have a few more Graham-led songs, like “You’re so Great” but we’ll take what we can. I know the relationship between him and Damon has been rocky at times but it seemed all sweetness and light that night – all sage tea and kisses. Those boys!

I wonder if Damon was musing on all that history too, as he broke down and sobbed at the end of “Under the Westway”. Or maybe it was just all a bit much. It’s not a song I connect with too much – it was out the year Eva was born, when I was mainly listening to ZingZillas – but it was a very touching moment. After some musical encouragement from Graham, he rallied enough to do a lively version of “End of a Century” and  – as a special treat for us schoolnighters – “Sunday Sunday”, complete with giant oven.

If I had one criticism, it would be that “Parklife” was just too darn fast. Special guest Phil Daniels (gosh, who saw that coming??) struggled a bit to keep up with all the words and there were a few bits missing. Also, I am a little bit terrified of Phil Daniels after his recent “Inside No 9” appearance. Luckily he left his welder’s mask at home or maybe in the workman’s tent he emerged from.

There was a bit of a theme with the Big Hits that they weren’t sung with as much care as some of the other tracks. Damon didn’t bother to sing half the words to the “Country House” chorus and later threw out “boys” and “girls” with seeming randomness. I didn’t overly mind though – those songs weren’t the ones we were dying to see. So while it’s fun to have a song that literally everyone in the stadium knew, it wasn’t as special as hearing something a bit more obscure, like “Oily Water” or “Advert”.

As the sun went down, the gorgeous ballads started rolling out. This is one of the things I love about Blur – they can go straight from a riotous “Song 2” to a heartswoon like “This is a Low”.  The phonelights coming out around the crowd while the sky turned pink was one of those perfect gig moments.

They were off! But not for long cause they still had some big hitters to cover. As well as the aforementioned “Girls and Boys”, there was “For Tomorrow” and then they brought out the London Community Gospel Choir for “Tender”. Weirdly, this was the song that stuck in everyone’s heads the most – even as we walked back to the tube afterwards, there were crowds singing “Oh my baby, oh my baaaaaby”.

My voice was seriously hoarse by this point but luckily I had a packet of corporate-sponsored jelly beans in my handbag, which restored ,me a little.

After “Tender”, the night was almost finished. I know a few people left during “The Narcissist”, in order to beat the rush but they missed out. The concluding song – “The Universal”- was enhanced with mirrorballs, which made Wembley seem truly magical for a moment. It really, really, really could happen. And we were, in fact, in the next century.

Getting home was not so magical. I’d love to say we had a clever way to get around the crowds but no, we were part of the crowd. I’d planned to get some food from the vendors on Wembley Way but they were all shut and we were too far in to go back once we realised.

So we just shuffled, stopped when told and shuffled again. The only mildly intelligent thing we did was to go northbound one stop on the Jubilee line when we did get on the tube.

Rather than fight our way onto the southbound platform, we went to Kingsbury and spent a rather dull 9 minutes there. But at least we got onto a southbound tube, even if it wasn’t the optimal line and even if we still had to fight to get off it when we got as far as Green Park.

But these are minor details and just the kind of irritants you deal with if you insist on going to big stadium gigs.It was worth it. Monday wasn’t pretty but it really was worth it. The love I felt in 1995 has not gone away and, judging by last weekend, a lot of other people share that love too. Thank you D, G, A and other D. See you soon <3

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AquaSplash – 11/06/23

Posted on June 25, 2023 by katese11

It’s taken me two weeks to write about this but somehow my arm muscles are still aching so I’ve had a constant reminder that it is something I need to write about. It’s also a constant reminder that I need to change the name of this blog as AquaSplash is yet another activity that you wouldn’t do with a toddler. The minimum age is 6 and all participants need to be able to swim 25 metres in deep water. Luckily, the toddler is now a competent swimmer and also 14 so we were fine on both counts.

So AquaSplash is an inflatable obstacle course on a lake  – we visited the one in Chigwell. For readers of a certain age, think “It’s a Knockout” in water. For readers of slightly less than that age, think “Takeshi’s Castle”. The Ts and Cs said that you needed to have a certain level of physical agility to complete the course but….well, we’ll get on to that. It was Roo’s choice of birthday treat so I agreed to it but booked myself and the mother of his two friends on to the course as well so we could try and stop the three of them drowning.

Google Maps didn’t seem to think we could get to Luxborough Lake on public transport so my first plan was to get the tube as far as Buckhurst Hill and then order an Uber from there. I’d checked the uber app a few times as I was sceptical about whether it would work in Zone 5 but sure enough, the options were there. The lake is actually close-ish to three Central Line stations but I’d chosen Buckhurst Hill because it was on the Epping branch and there would be more trains going that way than around the Hainault loop to Chigwell or Roding Valley. I felt like this choice was justified when we got as far as Stratford and saw that all the upcoming Hainault loop trains were terminating at…well, Hainault. So far, the plan was working perfectly.

The uber part did not work. Although I got as far as “finalising” a few times, it never did finalise. Maybe it’s because I needed a 6 person car or maybe it was the area but either way, we were out of options. It was time for a mile long walk through some bits of countryside. Incidentally, there is a bus stop at Buckhurst Hill and the 167 turned up just as we’d decided to walk but we had no idea where it went so were reluctant to jump aboard. I’ve just checked the route and that was a wise choice – it goes nowhere helpful. There is a 549 route which is more helpful but that doesn’t seem to run on Sundays. So we walked and it looked a bit like that:

Incredibly, we didn’t take any wrong turns  – following Google Maps in the blinding sunshine can be a challenge and I doubted it a few times when it took us past some people’s garages and down an overground woodland path. Then we emerged onto a rugby pitch, dived into another woodland path and finally found a makeshift bridge over the River Roding:

Once you find the bridge, you’re pretty much there but it can be hard to keep the faith when you’re on a sport pitch, there’s no clear path ahead and one of the party has just walked headfirst into low hanging tree.

We got to the lake just in time. The Uber debacle had set us back a bit and we were already running to a tight schedule after church went on longer than expected. Luckily, we’d done our waivers already so all we needed was to change into our swimmers in the portacabins, get fitted for life jackets and attend the safety briefing. The changing facilities are pretty basic  – I didn’t even see loos anywhere- but we were safe to leave out stuff on a shelf by the lake as it’s so remote and unlikely that anyone would swing by and nick it.

All there was left to do was to swim out to the obstacle course, climb aboard and get started.

Now, one of those things was substantially easier than advertised and one substantially harder. If I say it was the bit which required participants to be “reasonably fit & healthy”, would you believe me? First though, the easier bit. Although the Ts&Cs described it as a 25 metre swim out to the course, it was nowhere near that – it was really just a few metres. But I guess they need swimmers of a certain competence and a length of 25m is a pretty standard competence test.

More than easy, the swim was positively blissful. After a long walk in the sun, it was lovely to splash around in the cool water and I could have happily stayed there all afternoon. I politely let everyone else board the obstacles ahead of me but eventually, I had to try it and this was the challenging bit.

Basically, you have to be able to pull yourself up by your arms only – there’s nothing to put your feet on so the undignified move involves getting your leg up at a 90 degree angle onto the float and then hauling everything else to follow. If you can do a chin up, you’ll be fine but I’m not sure I could do that in the prime of my youth, let alone as a decrepit 40-something. Also, my legs don’t bend the right way. My skinny child managed it with little effort but he has long legs and no body fat at all. Meanwhile, I had to get grabbed by the lifejacket by a lifeguard who must be used to this cause he managed to drag me onto it. No wonder my muscles are still aching though – that was more work than I did 14 years previously giving birth to the child. And about the same level of dignity.

Once on, I tried my best not to fall off cause I didn’t want to go through that again. So I did the easiest obstacles – climbing up the pyramid, back down again, over there a bit, back a bit. Fortunately, the instructors didn’t feel the need to shout at us to complete the course so they seemed relaxed about me being a bit relaxed. I ended up sitting on the widest bit of the course, dangling my legs in the water and supervising the teens from afar as they scrambled over the obstacles. They all did very well and I think they made it rounfd the whole course. The other mother did well too….it was just me that was taking the lazy option.

At one point, she did persuade me to go down the slides which meant a dip in the water (yeh!) but another struggle back onto the course (boo!) The instructor promised to help me after going off to sort out a kid in trouble…I was more than happy with that, bobbing about in the water not even having to tread water because of the life jacket. Again, I could have stayed there all day but he did come back and then I resumed my less-than-frantic assault coursing.

On a serious note (unusual for me, I know) it did occur to me when I went down the slide that cold water swimming can be dangerous if you don’t respect the water. We hear every year during heatwaves about people drowning after they’ve jumped into lakes even tho they can swim and I kinda understand it now. My head went underwater and when I surfaced, my breath was coming out in very short bursts because of the cold water shock. I had a life jacket on and plenty of things nearby to grab onto so 100% safe but it did occur to me that anyone jumping into a lake without a life jacket could find themselves breathless and unable to get their breath back. I’ve done tons of cold water swimming but I always ease myself in slowly, letting my body get used to it and taking as many slow breaths as I can. And even I had that shock when my head went under. Given that we’re in a heatwave right now, it seems like a good time to remind people to respect the water and respect the sea. There is more information here.

Anyway, back to the fun stuff and I’m happy to report that the three boys had a wonderful time. Us oldies had a few aches and pains the next day and maybe for the two weeks after that but it was fun for us as well, I think. I’m not sure I would do the obstacle course again but I am now very keen to join the HP open water swimmers that visit the lake every Saturday. Now seems like a good time to get started.

On the way home, we aimed for Roding Valley as we weren’t under any kind of time pressure, and it was a much shorter walk. We crossed into Essex – I’m not entirely sure where we were before – and wandered over another rugby pitch but found ourselves a nice beer garden before getting back on the tube. Some very well-deserved pints of lemonade and bags of crisps later, we were at this diddy delight:

Yes, we had to wait a while for a train but it was a short hop for us to Woodford and then the bsu back from there. Totally doable!

For more information on AquaSplash, click here.

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