This blog has moved

Dear lovely friends
due to a shortage of space, I have now stopped writing this blog and have set up a  new one at www.moreduthies.blogspot.co.uk where the thrilling adventures of the Duthie family continue.
xx

Rob's birthday

This week we celebrated Rob's last birthday with a 4 at the front.  He took Friday off work so he could lie in and eat doughnuts in bed, after opening his pile of pressies. After I had done the school run, we went to see Skyfall at the cinema. Daniel Craig's breasts deserved a credit of their own, being so large I wondered why he wasn't bothering with a bra. In the evening we went to the local Pizza Express for a birthday tea with Maria, Lol, Jack and Ethan, with cake number 1, then raced home to watch BBC Children in Need. Marvellous. 

But the birthday revels didn't end there, on Saturday we made up guest beds, moved tables and chairs, and I rushed about buying last minute bits for Rob's second birthday dinner. This one was prepared by our lovely friend Laline, who offered to cook an amazing south Indian fish curry with prawns. While she was below stairs in a pinny, finessing her food, preparing condiments and general being fab, I was upstairs relieving Champers bottles of their corks and pouring drinks for our guests, who all made the journey to Hastings from London - Helen and George, Ruth and Pete, Lorraine and Sprout and Deborah.

Laline's meal was amazing, lots of wine was drunk, cake number 2 was eaten, and we then played a 5 round pub quiz I had devised. I sensibly slipped away to bed at about 1am, while Rob, Helen, George, Ruth and Pete stayed up chatting until 3.30. Silly, silly, silly.  This morning after everyone had gone, Deborah popped in for a last farewell, fresh from her night in a pleasing local B&B. She thrilled the girls doing her infamous tongue on nose trick.

Finally a few shots from a very lazy Sunday. Lorraine (still looking in her 20s) and Sprout, also a fine looking man, on Hastings seafront. Plus a few shots of a typical Duthie Sunday afternoon - papers, fire, telly, snoozing, reading, games. Perfection.

Surrey all out

On Friday night after school we drove straight up to Surrey for dinner with Helen and George. As ever, Scarlett and Flo vanished into the bowels of the house to play with their cousins, not to be seen again until dinner time. And what a dinner it was, Helen serving an amazing pork dish that was shredded at the table and put me in mind of Peking Duck. Wine and conversation flowed, the children all stayed up far too late, but then slept in late on Saturday.    

After farewells, we drove the short distance to Ashstead, to Neil and Lorna's, to meet up with Moira and Fraser, who had flown down to surprise Lorna for her 40th birthday.They very kindly interrupted proceedings to have us for lunch - amazing homemade mushroom soup and homemade scones with piles of cheese, bread and ham. Zips set to groaning, we had a lovely long walk on the common, with Neil, as ever, in charge of children's entertainment, chasing the kids for hours through the woods, while the real grown ups walked and talked, something we never seem to tire of.

This morning we very emotionally honoured the 2 minutes silence at 11am for Remembrance Sunday and tonight Scarlett, and the rest of her school choir are perfomring at the White Rock Theatre in the Remembrance concert. V proud.

Suffolk

Another totally brilliant weekend in Suffolk, staying with Rick and Justin. With the half term weather proving to be total pants in the south east, there were only so many movies we could watch at home and in the cinema (loved Madagascar 3 and Hotel Transyvania), and only so many games of Who Am I? and Rat-A-Tat Cat we could play. So the girls and I headed off on Friday morning, leaving Rob to catch the train up on Saturday morning. It was an easy, traffic-free drive up and the weather on arrival was crisp, cold and sunny. We drove straight to Ickworth, the National Trust house and park, close to the boys' cottage in Hargrave. Being half term, the brilliant minds at the National Trust had set up a 20-challenge kids trail through the woods, which took us a couple of hours to complete and included loud singing, star jumps, spotting snails, solving maths problems and anagrams. By the time we finished, the sun was yawning in anticipation of popping into bed, so we hit the cafe for the world's largest slice of Victoria Sponge, a scone, clotted cream and jam and a pot of tea (yum yum).  When we left it was pitch black and we half walked, half ran shrieking back to the car, standing almost alone in the car park. Onwards then to Smart Fox cottage, where a huge fire was blazing, fresh pasta sauce was being created in the kitchen and all was well in the world.

On Saturday, we went up to Easter Wood for lunch and to get a few sacks of firewood to bring back to Hastings.  Justin let the girls take the controls of the tractor, which  they loved. The tractor also proved useful when Rick reversed the car, already stuck in mud, into a ditch. Once the car was retrived, and Rob was collected from the station in Newmarket, we settled into the hut in the wood (wood burning stove pumping out the heat) for homemade pumpkin and tomato soup with bread, cheese, giant pork pie and home made piccalilli. Fantastic.

Justin then changed into his action trousers, special boots and hard hat and became king of the wood with his chainsaw, making light work of a pile of logs for us.

Back at the cottage, we debated whether any of us could be bothered to make the short journey to nearby Barrow, for the fireworks, it being close to November 5. At the very last minute, Justin, Rob, the girls and I jumped in the car and arrived at just as the fireworks started. Health and Safety rules meant we were kept at  a precautionary 30 miles from the fire (yawn) but the fireworks were brilliant, and lasting only 10 minutes, we were soon back in front of the fire at Smart Fox Cottage in time for Strictly Come Dancing. A feast of a dinner - French bean and pork cassoulet awaited us - and once the kids were in bed, the grown ups enjoyed hilarious after hilarious rounds of Pit.
On Sunday, after heading to Frank and Debbie's house for an amazing roast pork lunch, it was time for us to start our drive home. Only moments after joining the M11, we ground to a halt and stayed that way for the next 90 minutes. Luckily our tummies were full, the girls had their DVD players, I had the papers and Rob watched Revolutionary Road on the iPad, so everyone was happy. The tailback was caused by a 12-car pile up, that we eventually passed some time later. We finally got home at 9pm, instead of the sat nav's predicted time of 6.30pm.   No matter, a wonderful and as always restful and fun weekend.

Perfect weather for walking, woods and welcome friends

Half term began last Thursday and continues all this week.  On Friday I met up with  three other mums and their kids from school and we had a great day at Bedgebury Pinetum, a huge forest with walking and cycle trails and loads of brilliant climbing frames and obstacle courses.  I took my two alongwith Darcie and Scarlett. As with any car trip containing more than one child, a loud singalong CD was the order of the day. Once at Bedgebury, the kids charged about, screamed, fought, laughed and played on huge swings, obstacle courses and ropes things while the mums gossiped and had a laugh. The weather was pretty dire, cold and grey, but it was a really fun day. As I lassoed 4 tired, muddy children back into the car, I noted how much flatter the back tyre was looking than when we left Hastings. Rob had spotted it the day before and advised me to inflate it on my way out, but with all the noise and chaos of the 4 kids, I completely forgot. 

As I drove out of Bedbebury, bound for the nearest garage, I scraped the curb edge with my semi-inflated tyre and the whole thing came down. U-turn to Bedgebury where a kind young man from the bike hire shop offered to help (literally he was a 19-year-old with baggy jeans you, and have never felt more like a middle aged drone). As soon as he got the Jack out however he discovered it was broken. Arrrgggghh. Luckily his car was parked right next to mine and using his Jack, he had the wheel off and my spare on in 10 minutes. The kids were brilliant, waiting patiently on a picnic table nearby in the cold. 

On Saturday, Dom, formerly of Melbourne, then of Richmond, then Hastings, now of Sydney's northern beaches, arrived for breakfast. Dom and his wife Cathy had become very close friends in our first year in Hastings, but set off for Sydney in August of last year in search of a change. It was brilliant to see him and find out how Sydney had been coping without us.

An hour after Dom left The Iveys arrived from Wimbledon. After a quick lunch we spent a lovely cold but sunny afternoon in nearby St Helen's Woods, seeing how much mud it was possible to get on wellies before walking them back into the house. As it turns out, a lot. Fire lit, games and white wine and pink Champers out. Get in.

Sunday morning was all about the seafront, the funfair and a quick drink in the pub before a long lunch, red wine and newspapers before the Iveys drove away from Hastings once more. Hooray for the Iveys.

London

We spent the weekend in London, however the only evidence we were there is this photo of Scarlett and Florence looking deranged aboard a double decker bus. That's what travelling by bus in London does to you - sends you potty with frustration as you sit in traffic watching lights turn from green to red and back again without  moving an inch.
We began the weekend in Peckham Rye with the top and international Ed and Cass, she - NZ quilt maker and interior decorator extraordinaire, he - muso, brainy, advertising god. No pics due to excessive eating of tremendous sausage and lentil casserole, washed down with a lot of very nice Pinot, followed by a huge cheeseboard. Lots of talking, late into the night. On Saturday after pancakes and tea, we rolled our lardy bods onto the 345, which took us from Peckham through south London and over the bridge to South Kensington - our destination, the V&A for the Hollywood Costume exhibition that opened that morning. We arrived at 11am, keen to see Dorothy's red shoes, Catwoman's PVC catsuit, Audrey Hepburn's gowns and more. However, due to high demand, the next available entry time was 4pm! We tried to make the best of it by first visiting the shop, and then finding another permanent fashion exhibit where the girls marvelled at dresses from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Time for lunch, but as South Ken would never be at the list of  my top dining spots in London, we grabbed some rolls and got back on the bus to Peckham.
Back in the car then and on to Crystal Palace to see old Hastings neighbours Janice and Roger in their new abode. Quite different from the Victorian 4 storey townhouse they enjoyed here, they have moved to a much smaller, 1960s 3-storey townhouse in need of total renovation. It had tonnes of potential and with a huge garden, leafy surrounds, views to the north downs and a walk to very cools cafes, bars and shops, we totally got why they made the move. They will both have a lot more work opportunities there, Mathilde has a choice of brilliant schools when she starts secondary school next year and they feel much more as if they have found their tribe.

We dined on spectacular Moroccan chicken, with their friends Jools and Vlas,  and drank lots of fizz, while the girls played happily upstairs and watched X Factor. Yesterday we had brunch at fantastic Crystal Palace cafe Joanna's before heading back to Hastings in the drizzle, to light the fire and curl up in front of Downton Abbey. Autumn has us firmly in its grip, and it's rather nice.

Cold and dark

This is one of the favourite times of the year. We ordered our first load of logs of the season and have been lighting the fire in the evenings. The clocks haven't changed yet, but it is darker later in the mornings and earlier in the evenings.
Lots of social engagements this week, with the girls both on playdates on Tuesday and then two friends of Flo's coming over Wednesday. Their mums arrived after tea, cueing an unscheduled G&T or two. On Friday evening I organised dinner out with 10 mums from school. We went to the Old Town to the Thai bookshop I've mentioned before. They opened just for us, having been closed for renovations for 2 weeks, but it didn't take long to realise they were woefully unprepared for diners. Despite us having emailed our orders ahead, the day before, they still took more than an hour to appear. No matter, as it was lots of fun.
Saturday was a mixture of torrential rain and bright sunshine and, after a lazy start involving pancakes and papers, our friend Adrian came over to take some family photos of us. He knows what he's doing as a professional photographer, one of his photos recently included in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. While Rob and I were a tad uncomfortable at taking direction, the girls were absolutely in their element, posing for pictures.
 In the afternoon, Ruth and Pete arrived for the weekend from sunny north London. We had a hugely enoyable dinner and then watched the massive fireworks display, taking place just outside the window, celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.  For reasons that escape me, I have no photos of the fireworks. Or Friday night's dinner. Or Saturday night's dinner.
Sunday was another corker weather wise, cold, but sunny, and we enjoyed a lovely long walk along the seafront, to the Fishermens' Museum, around the Old Town and then to lunch at Dragon. Here is Ruth enjoying Scarlett's elite bumper car driving skills.