Saturday, what a day

Saturday began as many of our days have recently: the girls asleep upstairs and Rob and I in bed reading the paper, listening to Radio 4 and looking up occasionally to check out the view I can't imagine being bored with for quite a while yet. We did some food shopping in the morning and then came home for an afternoon nap to prepare for our night - dinner at home with Maggie, Popi and Peggy followed by an open-air screening of Hairspray in our local park. With dinner all prepared, I set about transforming my hair into a beehive and the girls's hair into anything requiring a lot of hairspray. The Popovics arrived and we sat out on the deck and ate dinner in full sun. (Our deck  is quite the sun trap, free from the wind that hits many of the homes here.) The kids finished eating first and raced off to play leaving the grown ups to chat. For about 5 minutes. The next thing we knew the 3 girls ran screaming down to the stairs to the kitchen, crying in panic, blood running down Peggy's arm and Scarlett screaming "Peggy's broken the window!"  While Rob (a trained first aider) administer pressure and bandages to Peggy, Popi and I raced upstairs to the 4th floor to find one whole pane of glass smashed in Scarlett's window. Shards littered the floor, the windowsill and, far below, the bonnet of our car. We shuddered to think of what could have happened if Peggy had fallen out the window too. Maggie quickly decided Peggy's cut was too deep for a homemade bandage and the Popovics left for the hospital. Our girls were very upset by all the panic and received praise for finding the grown ups so quickly and stern words regarding playing with windows. nonetheless it's a lesson I think all three learnt the hard way.  By the time I'd hoovered up the glass and Rob had cleaned up the MASH unit in the kitchen, it was almost time for the film and we decided to still go after all, to take the kids' minds off what had happened. Carrying a picnic of cupcakes and popcorn, a picnic rug and 2 beanbags we set off on the short walk to the park. Deciding to take a shortcut which involved running down a steep grassy bank, we headed fast downhill, Von-Trapp style, hand in hand. Within seconds Flo was down and I was falling after her, twisting my knee so badly, I screamed in pain and thought at first I had broken  something. Tears followed as I rubbed my leg and tried to work out why it was hurting so much. Having quickly decided it wasn't broken but was some sort of ligament tear or strain, Rob helped me up and I hobbled to where the film was just beginning and collapsed against a beanbag. All the time I kept my leg still I was ok, and we enjoyed the film enormously, joining in with lots of the songs and enjoying a glass or two of medicinal red wine. The journey home was painful and difficult and I had a shocking night trying to get comfortable while mentally mourning the end of my running career before it had really begun. I had only signed up for a 10k run this week and now I couldn't even walk.  What a day! I spent all day in Sunday either in bed, with Dr Lucy (Flo) in attendance with her dr's kit, or on the couch watching Moonraker (that's why we came back to England - the ubiquitous Bond movie). My leg feels much better today but I still can't put any weight on it without wincing in pain. Peggy waited 5 hours in emergency before having 5 strips put on her cut. Not even a stitch for her trouble.

A beautiful bank holiday Monday today. We've just had breakfast on the deck and are off to Dad and Alexandra's for lunch. Absolutely loving that I now talk to my Dad 3 or 4 times a week about not much, and that we have seen them twice this week. Maria and Lol and the boys (aka the Lary Spudkins) come back from a week in Menorca tonight and so we'll be catching up with them this week too. We met one of our lovely neighbours this week when Claudette from no. 100 arrived on the doorstep with a huge pot of lavender and a tin of shortbread. She lives next door with her husband Derek, 19 year old university student twin son and daughter and the 3 young children they foster. Lovely.

Cannot believe how happy we all are. The girls seem so settled in the house, with their things around them and it's hard to explain why Rob and I are happier than we've been for a long time. We are smiling a lot.

Raising girls

When you have girls, all sorts of ultra-feminine delights await. This week, we took the girls to Bodium castle where they attended the Princess Academy. While Rob and I legged it to the cafe for a cream tea, the girls were put through their paces, dressing up in 'Medieval' costumes, decorating conicle princess hats, learning traditional dancing and, very important, how to curtsey to a knight. When we returned, we found them beaming ear to ear and being presented with a certificate and special seal of Bodium Castle, made of chocolate. I'm incredibly annoyed I forgot my camera as they both looked gorgeous. We also spent a few happy hours queing and then finally being allowed in to the school uniform shop on Tuesday. The uniform is quite strict so we had to buy the right pinafore dresses (even for Flo who will be in nursery school), blazer and games kit. Here are the girls modelling their new looks, post M&S shoe shopping adventure.

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Our new house

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day so took a view shots of our new house, including  my new favourite thing - a Union Jack duck doorstop.

patriotic duck

View of the castle from the back of the house

sitting room window

totally fab, though tiring, stairs

 sitting room

Photos at last

Here are some of my favourite photos taken this Summer at my Dad's, Maria's, Helen's, Rick and Justin's, in Scotland, France and Hastings

One of the brazen foxes spotted in Helen and George's garden in darkest Surrey

Spot the family resemblance when our 3rd cousin Zahra visited from South Africa.

Scarlett loves Scotland

With Moira, Fraser and Lily in the middle of Loch Lomond

The girls getting on like a dream with Lily in Scotland

Moira adding some bounce to proceedings with the girls in Scotland

The girls in Lavenham, Suffolk

Rick and Justin moments after saying 'I do'.

Dad and Alexandra at her 60th birthday dinner

The beach in Pas de Calais where we spent a few hours waiting to get Rob's passport stamped for  entry into the UK

A slippery customer at Jack's 8th birthday party

Rob punishing the children for bad behaviour at Bodium Castle

The girls on the East Hill of Hastings with the Old Town behind them and the collapsing pier in the distance 

Hastings is home to Europe's largest beach-landed fishing fleet

Scarlett with the crop of strawberries she picked at Smart Fox Cottage with Uncle Rick

Hastings beach

The girls in the field behind Dad's house and in front of the church where Rob and I were married and
Scarlett was christened

We're home!

We finally moved into our new home on Tuesday and it was quite a day. Our container and five men arrived at 9.30am and the unloading began. It took several hours to get everything in the house and we realised the full responsibility of a 4-storey house - those poor guys struggling with wardrobes and chests of drawers to the top floor somehow continued to smile through their sweat. Then the tedious unwrapping began. By 5pm it was clear that the job would not be finished in a day with bikes still to be assembled and another 50 boxes to be emptied, so two of the guys ended up pitching up again the next day for a few hours to finish up. We are now 75% organised, I would say, with our guest room/study the dumping place for all items of unknown destination. Our lovely new sofa is still some weeks away so the sofa shop are lending us another one until ours arrives. We also don't have a fridge freezer until Tuesday so can't start stocking up the larder for long lunches just yet. We are currently buying the smallest milk bottles possible and buying food day to day. We have re-discovered Britain's brilliant supermarket sandwich collections and can be happily found most days in a park, garden or on the beach eating sarnies with a punnet of strawbs. Our telly has been delivered but doesn't yet work in the living room, which is just as well as we have no sofa. It is currently residing in the kids' playroom where we watch it sitting on beanbags. Not that there has been much time for idling. On the day of the move I literally didn't sit down, or eat come to think of it, until 8.30 that night, by which time I could barely walk my feet hurt so much from going up and down the stairs. While they will take some getting used to, and are forcing us to become a house of shouting people, we are assured we will be rewarded with buns so firm you could play them in a steel band. Yesterday was hardware store day. While the kids wheeled each other around in wheelbarrows, Rob and I sourced UK 30 plugs for our appliances, bought a recycling bin, extensions leads and clothes pegs. Yes - you forget you need clothes pegs. We will today anyway as our donated (thank you Helen and George) washer/dryer arrives this afternoon. It was supposed to come on Tuesday so we were slightly alarmed by Thursday that the courier who picked it up from Helen's was nowhere to be seen. Not only did he have the very expensive item but also half the money Rob paid him to deliver it. We were half expecting to see it advertised on ebay the next day when the bloke finally emailed to say he'd had 'a rush job on in Paris. Didn't you get my message?". No mate, we didn't but Scotland Yard almost did. Talking of ebay, our newly purchased. second-hand dining chairs arrived on Wednesday (are you reading this Naomi?). They are four super 1960s teak chairs that need recovering and re-padding but only cost 50 quid. We are adjusting to all the new things our much bigger, and taller, house brings us. The best part without a doubt are the views from three floors, through huge bay windows, of the town, West Hill and castle. The sun comes streaming in through the back of the house and it is filled with light. This morning, I opened the blinds and Rob and I lay in bed agog at the view. In Lilyfield, our only bedroom window was behind us and faced out onto Steve next door's collapsed fence. As it was such a lovely morning, I hit the pavement for Alexandra Park, 2 minutes down the road, for a run. Today's agenda includes finally hoovering the house, and then we're going to take the bikes down to the seafront to ride along the prom, something you can do for a few miles towards Bexhill. We think of our mates in Sydney often and the girls talk about their friends constantly. Flo still hasn't grasped that we are not in Sydney and are not going back anytime soon. The girls are both giddy with excitement at starting school in three weeks and wearing a new uniform. Flo has 3 taster days at her new nursery coming up.

I'm having a bit of trouble uploading pictures to the imac (too many I think) but until I get that sorted, here's a small film I have made of many (but not all) of this summer's jaunts, by taking a few seconds of film each day. I haven't edited any of it, so it's a bit rough, but I think captures the mood of our life here so far.

Today's the day...

...we pick up the keys to our new home. We are feverish with excitement and are packing up at Helen's this morning before heading down to my Dad's for lunch and to collect the winter clothes we have been storing there over the last few weeks. Then it's onto Hastings to the estate agents for the keys. We'll spend tonight at my sister's and then at 9am tomorrow the 20 foot container arrives. Because we're on a fairly busy road, very close to a set of lights, the council are putting out traffic cones tonight to stop anyone parking outside our house and are allowing the container to be parked on double yellow lines. We are amazed at this service, which also extends to the local traffic wardens in the area tomorrow being informed so we won't get into trouble. Brilliant! We've really enjoyed our last 3 weeks in Surrey. We went to another brilliant National trust property - Polesden Lacey. It was spectacular, not least because of its beautiful grounds, views across Surrey and kids craft area. Our old friends Giles and Lucy came to see us on Friday night with their kids Thom and Olivia, neither of whom we had met before. Giles and Lucy had met Scarlett as a baby in Umbria 6 years ago and again when I was pregnant with Flo. It was quite entertaining to watch the kids circle each other for a couple of hours before playing very loudly but happily together. Yesterday we took the girls to Hampton Court Palace. Their interest increased when I reminded them this was the location of one of their favourite Paddington bear stories and of course what child isn't fascinated by a king who had six wives, two of whom he dispatched via the chopping block when he got bored of them. How does the rhyme go, that helps you remember what happened to each of his wives - "Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived". We attempted an audio tour and chose the kids option but it was beyond dull (note to Hampton Court audio tour man, listen to the brilliant one at Battle Abbey), had a huge amount of fun in the maze (mainly by telling people who passed us in the opposite direction that we had come from a dead end), had a really long walk around the formal gardens, saw the famous grapevine (the world's oldest and longest) and took a horse and carriage ride around the grounds. We walked for miles so it was not surprising we all fell in to long, deep sleeps last night and enjoyed lie-ins this morning. can't wait to get the imac set up this week so I can finally put up some pictures from this Summer.

Almost there

This week involved more tooing and froing between Surrey, Kent and East Sussex. On Tuesday we drove to Dad's for lunch with our distant cousins Debbie and Zahra who were visiting from South Africa. We hadn' t seen them since Zahra was just over a year old - she is now 10 and as tall as an NBA basketballer so was quite changed in appearance. As ever, it was brilliant to see Debbie, who, unlike Zahra didn't seem to have changed at all. On Wednesday it was back to East Sussex to sign the contracts for our house. They were exchanged that day and our completion date is set for August 16, and we'll move in the next day. It will be quite a spectacle to see how a 20 foot container is going to park outside our house, double yellow lines and all. On the way back to Surrey we visited Chartwell, Churchill's house in Westerham. As well as the amazing kitchen garden, much of which was planted by Churchill himself, was the beautiful house and the girls' favourite, the Marycot, a huge playhouse complete with fireplace and kitchen. The gardener invited Scarlett and Florence to plant some lettuces in the garden which they loved doing. We toured the house, following the kids' trail along the way, ending just as the heavens opened and it absolutely chucked it down, so we were all soaked through to our underpants and had to run like mad to the tea shop to dry off with a pot of tea, scones and clotted cream. Yesterday we went to one of the few open air pools nearby, near Hampton Court. Surprisingly, it's open 365 days of the year but is heated to 26 degrees. In another bizarre twist on the 'Nanny state' we have noticed that it is not compulsory to wear a bike helmet on a bicycle, skateboard or even a quad bike, however when one is on a moving walkway or escalator in a shopping centre regular announcements remind users to hold the handrail and prepare to exit the said walkway. Good grief. Off to a Farmer's market now in Walton and then are seeing our old friends David and Sarah this afternoon.

Scotland's for me!

Just back from a brilliant 5 days in Scotland. As ever, our fabulous hosts, Moira and Fraser, and daughter Lily, had planned a full itinerary of events to keep us amused. They promised rubbish weather which, as well as delighting us (we've had enough hot weather to last us a lifetime), also sent us fleeing to the welly shop, grabbing raincoats on the way, full of glee that we could experience some top, unpredictable Scottish summer weather. Slightly disappointingly, the weather was wonderful - some cloud and the odd shower, yes, but overall, dry and warm. By day we visited a farm with jumping pillows, pedal tractors, and a maze in a sweetcorn field; a Highland Games (in which Scarlett and Lily excelled in the kids Junior Games); a stunning woodland garden containing Britain's tallest tree (which we managed to link hands around and hug); and a day trip to an island on Loch Lomond we hadn't visited for 18 years, where Fraser set up a bbq on the beach in full sunshine. By night, we dined on fine food cooked by Moira, and sipped Champagne, regularly relieved of their corks by Fraser. We had an absolute ball, laughing, playing the hardest Trivial Pursuit set ever, and lots and lots and lots of talking. Catching up with our bridesmaid and best man was exceptional, exchanging news, anecdotes and memories, but best of all was how well Scarlett and Florence played with Lily. Lily was more than generous with her toys, books, clothes - everything - and this was clearly the start of a friendship between our girls that will endure for years to come. Cream buns all round. We flew back to London this morning, several kilos heavier, but happy of heart, knowing that instead of our usual tearful goodbyes, when we are about to board a Sydney-bound plane, it will only be a matter of weeks or months until we see the McKendrys again. In other news, the people we are buying our house from are moving out more than a week earlier than expected. We are thrilled, but now in a bit of a mad rush to buy the final important things we need to get - a fridge/freezer and a telly. We spent a happy few hours in John Lewis (Kingston-Upon-Thames branch) this afternoon, pressing buttons and opening and closing doors and drawers, playing with iPads (that will have to wait for now - boo, hiss) and deciding what to buy. We left with a telephone, but plan to order the larger items on line. With luck we will be in our new house two weeks today. HUZZAH!!!!