Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Longleat Tiger

Friday, January 28th, 2011

887I had last week booked off work and, as we were at Longleat on the Sunday, we thought we’d look at the option of staying on at the adjacent Center Parcs. Mid-week term-time the prices are pretty reasonable. Sadly though, it’s Monday to Friday and, having decided we couldn’t face packing the car for a week on the Sunday morning, we actually ended up driving back to Southampton for Sunday night! That wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if we hadn’t spent much of the journey back up north again sat in a traffic jam approaching Salisbury. It was, however, pretty wet on Monday anyway. Thankfully things cleared up for the rest of the week and we were treated to blue skies for the next couple of days.

(more…)

Four wheels better than two

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

875Ever since we borrowed the Broderick’s cycle chariot back at Easter we’ve been umming and ahhing about getting one ourselves. The big question was, given that prices range from around £60 to £800, how much would we actually use it? Finally caved in last week and bought a Phillips Cleveland on eBay last week for £90 (about half price). It has the benefit of having a hard base but no fancy suspension or add-ons to turn it in to a running buggy or such-like. We picked it up yesterday and took it for a quick spin around the cycleways of Valley Park. The attachment to the bike isn’t as robust as the axle hitch on the Chariot as it just clamps on to the frame. It’s a fine line between attaching it far enough forward that the frame is thick enough and having it not catch on my heel.

More of an issue was the sibling rivalry going on in the back. At one point Duncan was banging Emma over the head with a spade (of the bucket and spade variety I hasten to add! Today Emma insisted that I took her to the supermarket in the trailer (and that Duncan didn’t come.) In the end it was just as well that Duncan wasn’t there as we got a bit carried away with the shopping. Thankfully there aren’t too many hills on the way home!

All things considered, I think it was a good move. The trailer makes less difference to cycling than having a seat on the back and I’m sure Duncan will appreciate it for his ride to nursery when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Most importantly, it means one of us can take both the kids out (providing they learn to get on a bit better!).

Highland Hash

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Now that Sunday’s courses are up on RouteGadget, the true horror of my run is available for all to see. My first problem was that I was still in “standing in a sunny field collecting car parking money” mode when I started (it had been a last minute reprieve which meant I was rushing to get out so that Christine could have a run afterwards). Three was where things started to go wrong as I just failed to pay attention to the direction I left two in and then tried desperately to make the ground fit the map around where I wanted to be.

(more…)

Emma’s logic

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

I was impressed by Emma’s demonstration of logic this evening. I had replied to a question of hers “Do pigs fly?” to which, with little thought, she responded “Do bats hang the right way up?”!

Testing Way

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

On Thursday night Christine, then Emma, then I, had been sick. Although Emma bounced back very quickly, Christine and I had spent Friday recovering and it was therefore with some trepidation that we set off for today’s Test Way Relay. Christine was running first leg for the Southampton Orienteering Club team, starting at Inkpen Beacon. As they had only two women in the team they didn’t qualify as a mixed team and hence she set off with around 15 men (the womens and mixed teams starting an hour earlier). It therefore wasn’t particularly surprising that she came in to the changeover in last place.

(more…)

Sprint finish on the beach

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

872Yesterday we headed down to the coast for the annual Dorset Coast Path Relay. We arrived at Lulworth Cove a couple of hours early so that the kids could expend a bit of energy before being bundled in and out of the car for the rest of the day. We didn’t have a particularly peaceful lunch on the beach as Emma was scared by the crashing waves and Duncan just wanted to crawl in to them!

(more…)

Family run

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

My brother joined us for tonight’s run from Wilverley. With Neil away on vacation, we had a fairly steady pace for a run south through the Inclosure and looping out to the west. Despite all the recent rain it was remarkably dry although we did get wet feet on a couple of occasions. As an added bonus, chips were ordered at the pub and an extra free bowl arrived.

(more…)

Welsh Holiday

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

869I’m just coming to the end of two weeks of vacation of which we spent the first 10 days on a family holiday to Wales. We originally had had various plans for an overseas trip but, apart from anything else, we’d failed to get Duncan a passport! In the end, we spent a week in a ‘lodge’ at a place called Timber Hill near Broad Haven in Pembrokeshire and then, because the original plan had been to find some mountains, up to a cottage in Llanberis for 4 nights.

(more…)