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Changes at Hilliers

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

733We decided to avoid the potential holiday crowds in the New Forest today and went over to Hillier Gardens to make the most of the sunshine. I’m not sure when we last went but there have been a few changes in the intervening months: the wicker man in the children’s garden has been replaced by a giant spider, there are some pigs rooting around in the area adjacent to Ampfield Woods and, most excitingly for Emma, there is a new tree house replete with slide, scramble net and climbing wall – a definite hit. Sadly the early flowering rhododendrums and the magnolias were already past their best. I’ve put a few photos up on Flickr.

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Back to the Forest

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

As tradition dictates, with the clocks changed it was time to return to Fritham this evening for the first Tuesday night run of the summer. There was a cracking turnout with, if I counted correctly, 16 people running including a few new faces. The pace was a little faster than usual, particularly for myself, Neil Broderick, Ian Moran and Sam Massey, as the three of us had waited five minutes for Sam to turn up and get changed. Consequently, we spent the first three of the six ponds chasing down everyone else. 53 minutes is almost certainly my fastest time for that run!

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CompassSport Cup narrow miss

Monday, March 30th, 2009

It was the first round of the CompassSport Cup yesterday with our match being hosted by BADO at Pamber Forest (in the vicinity of Aldermaston). Christine retired from her run due to odd,baby related, pulls. I had a pretty decent run for once. My splits graph shows a sudden increase in speed from leg 7 onwards which is where I first sighted Ralph Street. In my defence, that was all it was, a sighting, and I didn’t see him again until 11 and then not again until 18. In fact, it was only from 20 onwards where I was actually chasing him (no chance of catching I’m afraid). I was fifth in the results but still over 5 minutes down on Dave Rollins who must have been flying. Emma managed to bring up the rear on the string course again but at least she was getting round under her own steam this time! Sadly (or not depending on your thoughts on travelling to Leicestershire for the final) SOC lost out narrowly to TVOC with SLOW having a clear win.

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Expecting

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

730Christine and I are pleased to announce that we’re expecting another child. We had the initial scan last week and with the blood test results also coming through clear we’re now spreading the word. Due date is 1 October although Christine’s adamant that’s a week early. When asked whether she’d like a little brother or sister, Emma is very consistent in her answer: ‘No’!

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Sold!

Friday, March 27th, 2009

727We returned from holiday to two offers on our house. One buyer then leapfrogged the other taking us to well within 5% of the asking price. With no further bidding we decided to accept the offer. However, the following day the other buyer came back with a higher offer again. Just a couple of thousand over but they also had the advantage of being a cash buyer. This is our first time selling and we were at a bit of a loss what to do. Asking around at work and a quick poll on Twitter seemed to suggest we should simply go for the highest offer. In the end though we did the honourable thing and stuck with the offer we had already accepted. Hopefully the good will this generated will help smooth the rest of the process. Now we just need to find somewhere to move to!

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Full Steam Ahead

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

736Looking for something to do today we decided to pedal over to Lakeside Country Park in Eastleigh. There’s a pleasant enough cycle path most of the way from our house and we could take a look at that endangered species, the Eastleigh golfer (the course at Fleming Park is due to close at the end of the month). What we hadn’t bargained on was the Spring Gala for the miniature railway with 10+ locomotives in full steam. Christine seemed to think it was my duty to take Emma for a ride. Emma wasn’t entirely impressed by all of the smoke and noise and wanted to get off the train before we had even started. She survived the 1.25 mile round trip including the tunnel although I’m not sure she (nor I) will be in a rush to have another go!

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Week in the Peaks

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

724From Ludlow we move to the Peak District for a short break. The location was mainly chosen so that we could make a day trip to visit Christine’s cousin Cath’s new baby. We’d made a last minute booking at a cottage in Tideswell. The cottage was homely enough but could do with a bit of touching up here and there. It did have an excellent collection of children’s books which kept Emma happy for the week. She might have enjoyed the videos as well but I could only get the DVD player to work!

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Weekend in Ludlow

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

721We’ve spent a very relaxing weekend in Ludlow with Christine’s old boss Russell Cheng. They have retired to a lovely old listed building in the centre of Ludlow from where we could make short forays out in to the town. I last visited Ludlow as a scout when, as a group of patrol leaders, we were remarkably allowed to find our own way to Ludlow from Hertfordshire and then walk from there to Shrewsbury, staying at hostels on the way. I have to confess to remembering nothing of the place! Particularly exciting for Emma was spending the weekend with Truffle and May (a dog and cat respectively). Emma perfected her ‘lie down Truffle’ which was needed frequently during mealtimes (perhaps related to Ann’s excellent cooking!). A small selection of photos are on Flickr.

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