Unfortunately Saturday’s good weather did not extend to the entire weekend. Christine cycled down to Hursley for the start of her 10K. The rest of us followed later, arriving just in time to see Christine finish. Unfortunately we then had to wait about an hour for the children’s fun run to start during which time the rain strengthened. Emma went round in wellies and waterproofs and even then, wasn’t too happy with the rain driving in to her face. She was smiling at the end though and her medal went in to school today. No-one had much enthusiasm for attending the Hiltingbury Extravaganza in the afternoon though.
Fun (?) run
September 24th, 2012First London City Race
September 22nd, 2012
It may have been the fifth City of London Race today but it was a first for us. Christine was running first and the rest of us headed in to the race venue (Kings College Students Union) to pick up my number and drop off a bag. We managed to lose Emma there as she raced off up the stairs but turned off at the toilet floor whilst Duncan and I carried on up to assembly. We were eventually re-united though and headed out in to the sunshine to await Christine’s return.
I enjoyed my run. I didn’t make any major mistakes (no dead-ends for example) but I made a few bad route choices. In particular, in the Barbican my eyes just glazed over looking at leg 9-10 and I decided to head out and around the roads. Even then, I failed to take the shortest route to get out to the road. That said, I lost at most a minute and a half and that’s making the big assumption that I would have executed the straighter route correctly. I don’t know whether my eye sight is failing but, in general, I couldn’t make any of the fine route choice decisions whilst on the run. I also wasn’t too impressed by the dust, bricks and mortar that raining down on me in one stairwell as some adjacent scaffolding was being removed. Even more so when I discovered I had to go back that way again!
Christine had taken the children off to see St Paul’s whilst I was running and then we had a trip along to Trafalgar Square (not sure what the children will have made of the SlutWalk demonstration!) and in to the National Gallery (it’s Art Week at school next week). Duncan had largely shunned the buggy that we’d brought with us but we were thankful for having brought it when he had a short nap in the gallery!
It was a good day out, helped by some sunshine, and I’m sure we’ll be back for more in the future
Navigating the Test
September 8th, 2012
Iain McNally ponders his route to the finish.
I was on the third leg, from Stokehill to Middleton. This isn’t one I’d done before and I failed to recce the route which probably cost me a minute or so due to hesitations and two points where I set off down the wrong track. In both cases I realised my error within about 20 metres so no great harm done. From there the Morans (Ian and Tamsin) took the team down to Stockbridge. The Currie clan stopped off for their traditional dip in the Test at Chilbolton Common. The sun had brought the hordes out but it didn’t make the water any warmer!
By this point we were just 10 minutes behind my (unscientific) schedule. Kevin Bracher took us to Mottisfont and Philip Cooper from there to Romsey. Iain McNally was on the last leg down to Totton which is where things went a bit awry when he decided to check out the trout fishing possibilities. I’m not sure that it cost us any places but put us well over the five and half hours for the 44 mile route. The tide being in, Iain got even more intimate with the water on the way in to the finish. He didn’t, unlike one runner, try and build a bridge across!
Back to Dorset
September 5th, 2012
At the weekend we were back in Dorset, this time for the annual Coast Path Relay. Originally down to run the first leg in Lyme Regis again, we made our excuses as this year we would have to travel down on the morning of the event. We consequently joined in the action at Abbotsbury Castle where I helped with the hill up from the coast, Christine ran to the end of the castle, and I took over to the next road bend. We then went up to Hardy’s Monument for the kids to have a run around. Having met our team captain there, Christine picked up an extra leg to Kimmeridge Bay. I took over from there for my usual leg to Chapman’s Pool unfortunately this year without a hill team to help me up to Clavell Tower. By the final climb I was reduced to a walk and wasn’t travelling much faster than yet another KERNO hill team making their way back to the car!
Next stop was Studland Bay where the children had a good play on the beach and we enjoyed watching the displays by two Tornadoes and a Vulcan courtesy of the Bournemouth Air Festival. Sadly SOC had slipped some way off the pace of the other teams, not helped by a stray rock draining the oil from the sump of one of the team’s cars. There were still five of us to enjoy the final run along the beach to the finish line. We were greeted by a fly-by from a Spitfire and a Hurricane which perhaps reflects the more sedate pace of our team! The results speak for themselves.
Vacation Part 2
August 30th, 2012
We arrived back from Dorset with a week still to go before returning to work. We made a few trips out when the weather was kind to us, otherwise trying to get a few jobs done at home (including getting this blog back online). The day after we got back we didn’t go far – just a trip up to Farley Mount where the children’s favourite activity (after the play equipment) is building dens. It’s also an excuse for Christine and I to take turns at having a run.
After a day spent on back-to-school shopping, we decided to get out the National Trust cards one more time. This time it was for a trip to Mottisfont Abbey. The children enjoyed the Wind in the Willows Quest which meant that, when we had to retire to the house to avoid the downpour, we could play weasel spotting rather than admiring “Rex Whistler’s trompe l’oeil design in the drawing room”!
By now we were sufficiently rested for a trip to the Science Museum in London. It was a close run thing as the children’s favourite – the train/underground ride there or the museum itself! We started with all of the hands on exhibits which the children thoroughly enjoyed. I suspect Duncan could have played all day with the water in “the Garden”. We went to see the free “Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles” show where, as you can see, Emma go to be encased in a bubble.
The Google Web Lab was a bit disappointing: five exhibits of which two were broken, one had a long queue (the virtual visitors had half of the robots drawing in the and), and one just told you what you had (failed) to do in the others. When asked for his favourite bit of the museum, Duncan replied ‘the steam engine’. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn out to be a complete Luddite!
We spent the bank holiday recovering from our trip to the big smoke. Emma and Duncan even got to watch Emma’s Tangled DVD end-to-end in one sitting. (Duncan just about stayed awake for the whole thing although is breathing slowed considerably!) The forecast was set fair again the next day so we cycled over to Fleming Park to make the most of the paddling pool before it closes for the winter. With the sandpit and playground the kids could easily have stayed there for the whole day.
After a trip to my parents, it was time for Christine to return to work and Duncan to go back to nursery. Emma and I went to Manor Farm Country Park where she particularly enjoyed feeding the calves. I had to milk the cow though when they brought out the one that had given her a (friendly) head butt earlier in the day! Back to work for me on the Friday. Even that wasn’t too bad: 500+ emails reduced to three, setting me up for the next week.
Camping on Purbeck
August 24th, 2012
One day in and the weather forecast was set to be dry for at least the next few days: staycation over! The first campsite Christine phoned in Dorset had space and we started packing the car! Travelling down to Dorset on a Friday in summer is never the best of ideas and we had to sit in a few queues on the way down. The campsite (Norden Farm) on the outskirts of Corfe was much as we’d expected – lots and lots of caravans and tents but you did get a small playground and some scraggy looking farm animals to amuse the children. On our first full day we headed down to the beach on the Swanage Railway. I’m not sure the children were too fussed with the steam engine but they enjoyed the pirates (local Lions club members) on board handing out chocolate money. It was a bit overcast but warm enough to make the most of the beach and we ticked lots of boxes with sandcastles, ice cream, Punch and Judy and a tea cup ride!
On the next full day we walked along the ridge from the campsite to Corfe Castle (my Dad had recently purchased National Trust membership for us which we used to the full on this holiday!). The children enjoyed the quest, learning about castle life and answering questions to earn their ‘gold medal’ on the way out. The sun was in evidence and, with the children feeling a bit frazzled, I walked back to pick up the car so that we could head down to Middle Beach on Studland Bay for a couple of hours (also National Trust owned).
The National Trust card was also burning the next day. We parked at their Shell Beach car park and took the chain ferry over to Sandbanks. From there, we took the ferry across to Brownsea Island. We didn’t managed to walk round the whole island but we did manage to tick off all of the items on Emma’s latest trail including the peacocks and, more illusive, a red squirrel.
As the weather was still set to stay fair, we extended our stay by one more night and headed back to Studland Bay, spending our last day at Knoll Beach. We must have spent about five hours just playing in the sand with the occasional foray in to the water. We didn’t even have to resort to the rather swish looking NT cafe.
All good things must come to an end and, with rain forecast, we packed up the tent the next morning whilst it was still dry and headed for home. The journey home took a good hour less than that on the way there, reminding us of just how close this beautiful part of the country is if you travel at the right time! I think the best part of the holiday though had to be the fact that we left the pushchair at home. Duncan walked everywhere and with little complaining. Long may it continue!
SeaCity Museum
August 18th, 2012
We had been entirely inept in our holiday planning this summer and consequently the appointed time arrived and we had a) not had Emma’s passport back four weeks after sending it off for renewal (how much trouble can a five year old have got in to?!) and b) not booked anything in this country either. So our staycation started with a trip on the train to the new(ish) SeaCity Museum in Southampton.
It costs an arm and a leg to get in (if your not a Southampton resident) and we were grateful that the girl at the desk ignored Emma’s last birthday. Emma was primed with the obligatory museum trail which, combined with an assortment of flaps to open and close, kept her and Duncan amused in the Titanic gallery whilst the adults actually tried to read a paragraph or too. There were a few hi-tech hands-on exhibits which were well done although they tended not to support many hands so there was some queuing involved. It must be chaos if they have a school party in!
We then moved on to the “Gateway to the World” exhibition which was also well done. I certainly learnt a few things about the area even if the children didn’t (e.g. that there was a motorway spur road planned that would have obliterated much of the Portswood Road area). The last exhibition was “Titanic the legend” which wasn’t much to write home about but did give Emma a chance to do some colouring and make a paper hat (having given up on the trail).
By now it was lunchtime so we thought we’d sample the café rather than trek in to town. This proved to be a bit of a mistake. The food was reasonable but the service was pretty dire. The staff were well meaning but they seemed generally incompetent. After about 20 minutes of waiting for my quiche I went to enquire about it at which point it became clear that my order hadn’t made it from the till to the kitchen! During the intervening time we saw food go back uncooked, cutlery not provided and order numbers reused (or perhaps they were table numbers but we were given ours before we’d selected a table)…
We ended our trip out with a quick look around the adjoining art gallery (free) but Duncan was getting tired by now having been made to walk everywhere so it wasn’t long before we were on the train back home. All-in-all, a reasonable day out but not one we’ll be looking to repeat in a hurry. I’d have included more photos but for some reason photography wasn’t permitted in most parts of the museum (another black mark).
London 2012 Olympics
August 14th, 2012Unfortunately, it was rather a damp wait for the torch. We had some over-priced food to eat, had our photo taken with an unlit torch (Duncan looked particularly wet and grumpy!) and picked up some fairly naff freebies from the relay sponsors (Samsung/Lloyds/Coke). We watched the Isle of Wight ferry arrive carrying the (lit) torch and Emma may have had reasonable sight of it from my shoulders as it passed by on the road in front of us. We decided not to wait for it to return from its long tour of the city and the lighting of the cauldron.
Unlike many friends, we had been successful in the first ballot for tickets having bagged two tickets for the Women’s Modern Pentathlon. Unfortunately we didn’t get anything for the children so, whilst up in Monmouth, Christine took them to see some Women’s Football at the Millennium Stadium. The Japan vs South Africa match wasn’t the most exciting with no goals. Apparently the tip up seats were the most exciting part of the trip! The classic quote from Emma was apparently “Why don’t they just have a ball each?”!
Fast-forward to the last day of the games and, with Christine’s parents minding the children, we had relocated to London and were on a six o’clock bus to catch the train to Stratford. We were in to the Olympic Park shortly after the gates opened at seven which gave us time to explore a little and still get a good seat in the Copper Box for the fencing. I can’t claim to have any previous experience/knowledge of fencing but with every competitor having to compete against every other then there was plenty of time to learn the ropes. With two Brits in the mix there was also plenty for the home crowd to cheer for.
There was a reasonable break between the fencing and the swimming which gave us a chance to explore the rest of the beautifully landscaped park before hitting the aquatics centre. In contrast to the fencing, the 200m swim was over in no time at all. We then had to hot foot it across London to the final venue of the day, Greenwich Park, for the horse riding and combined event (running shooting). The horse riding was a lottery in every sense (there is a draw to allocate two competitors to each horse). The argument is that its a test of the riders skill to be able to tame any horse but some were definitely more obliging than others. There was one in particular that kept refusing jumps. Another competitor cleared a jump while hanging from the under side of her horse!
It was only as the last few riders completed their rounds that it became clear that Samantha Murray would enter the final stage in the mix for a medal. As the chasing start got under way for the combined event, the volume of the crowd steadily rose as she worked her way up and entered the stadium for the final time in second place. A silver for Britain in the final event of the Olympics! A fantastic end to a fun day out at the Olympics.
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