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.

Coast and country

A bit of a lull in proceedings blogwise, due to life and its ability to get in the way of blogging. How dare it! After  more than two years in Hastings, I finally found the perfect Flat White last week in a small cafe in St Leonards. I wonder if the fact that the barista is a Kiwi made a difference.

We are well into Autumn now, dark mornings and evenings drawing in and the clocks haven't even changed yet. It's a gorgeous time of year, and last night we lit the fire for the first time since the Spring, which we all loved. I walked into the Old Town to meet a friend at the cinema in the week, but as I was early, I strolled along the beach to take a few shots of the fishing boats. With the blue sky and a chill in the air, it was a near perfect day.

In other news, Flo lots her second tooth last week. It fell out at school, but she managed to keep it safe all day so the tooth fairy could reward her. The tooth fairy has been rather tardy of late, and keeps falling asleep instead of leaving money under Flo's pillow.

An amazing full moon over hastings last week. It is quite a spectacle watching this huge orb appear to rise up out of the rooftops on the opposite hill, and has me totally captivated every time.

Rob went off on a boys' weekend away on Friday. Due to the complications of his visa application, that mean if he leaves the country he can't get back in, Giles and the other boys, kindly decided to make it a local affair this year. Last year, they all headed off to Budapest, where Rob, accidentally on purpose methinks, missed the plane and stayed an extra night. This time, Giles rented a gorgeous farmhouse in Crowborough, less than an hour from us, and conveniently about half way to my Dad's house, so after dropping him there on Friday evening, the girls and I carried on to Barming for the weekend.
The weather started out  a bit grim on Saturday, but we decided to head to Dover for a walk along the cliffs. Dad dropped us and Alexandra at Samphire Hoe, a country park at the base of the cliffs, created from the earth extracted in the creation of the Channel Tunnel. The plan was to do a circular walk around the park and then head to a clifftop cafe for a drink. The park itself proved to be very small, so Alexandra and I decided we would walk the whole way to the clifftop cafe, Alexandra certain it was 'just around that headland'. It was a super walk along a shingle beach, with the great white cliffs soaring above us, and huge boulders of chalk creating a vivid moon-like landscape. We walked and walked, but could not see the clifftop cafe above us. We asked a couple of people we spotted coming the other way, who assured us it was 'just a bit further'. Still we walked, then Alexandra slipped and fell in the slimy chalky clay, then Flo fell and cut her knees and shins. Then the sun came out and it started to get rather hot and tiring. We were wearing wellies and thick jackets and though everyone had been great up to this point, Flo's knees were hurting, Alexandra's ankle was killing her and we were still seemed to be nowhere near this allusive cafe. To complicate matters, we were unable to contact Dad to let him know we had changed our plans and were not coming back to meet him at the car. The car park where he was sitting, happily reading his paper, was in a mobile phone blackspot so despite several attempts to call him, we couldn't get through. We then found ourselves in a blackspot under the cliffs, but eventually I managed to call the kiosk in the car park and get the bloke to bang on Dad's window and tell him to meet us at the cafe. It was nearly 3 hours before we were eventually reunited at the cafe, after fighting our way up a steep hill through brambles, stinging nettles and lots of mud. Once there I let the girls order whatever they wanted for their patience and hard work - hot chocolate, ice cream and doorstep tuna sandwiches. The view from the top was stunning - we could see all the way to France - and it allowed us to look down and see that we had walked about 2 miles more than we needed to.

On Sunday, the valley below Dad's house was filled with mist, the sun came out and the day was spectacular. The girls and I did one of our favourite walks, down the track through the field behind the house, a look around the churchyard looking for new graves, plus looking for the names of old friends, then we always walk down the lane to the river for a game of Pooh sticks.

Walk over, we drove back to Crowborough to pick up Rob. Some of the boys were still there, so I got to have a quick catch up and a hug with Jim, MJ, Giles, Mike and Tim. They had evidentally had a great time judging from the empty wine and beer bottles, had eaten well and made use of the heated pool at 1am.

We arrived home to discover a massive leak under the floorboards in our boot room. As I type, I am waiting for a plumber to arrive with his wrench and his bank account details. I can hear the water gushing out, can see the floorboards are wet, but have no idea where the water is coming from and where it is going...

The big smoke

I was in London again this week, to interview master chocolate maker, Paul.a.Young, the 'a' there presumably so we don't confuse him with the Paul Young who laid his hat all over the place in the 1980s hit parades. It's an enjoyable train ride through some lovely countryside and then along the backs of homes in London's suburbs, which I love perving at. I stopped at the Australian Embassy on the way to my meeting to renew mine and Flo's passports, a super efiicient, easy peasy process. I had a nostalgic walk through Covent Garden's back streets on my way to my meeting in Soho, particularly around Seven Dials where I started my career in journalism, as Editorial Assistant on Essentials magazine, at the time the second highest selling monthly magazine in the country. My first office on Earlham Street is now this luxury shopping mall. 
The Coach and Horses pub on the corner became our second office, until we moved up to Long Acre, where the Kembles Head pub (now a smart restaurant) was the nightly stopping off point for everyone at GE Publishing, until the entire staff was barred after the antics that took place at my leaving party. But that's another story.
Onwards then to Wardour Street, to the chocolate shop, where I was to meet Paul and watch him make me a bespoke chocolate. I had the chance to peruse the astonishing collection of hand made chocolates, before I was told the meeting had been cancelled and could I come again next week. Sure thing - it's only a 4 hours round trip from Hastings. I wasn't really that bothered. I got to eat lots of chocolates before leaving, had our passports all sorted and I get to go again next week. 

On the way back to Charing Cross, I stopped in at the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of images of the Queen. I love this image, made up of hundreds of small images of Diana, Princess of Wales.

I spent as much time as I could with Janice this week, in the run up to the removal van arriving on Thursday. I helped Janice pack and clean the house, and she and Mathilda spent their last night in Hastings with us on Thursday. There were tears at our farewell on Friday afternoon, but we have already planned a weekend visit to them at their new home in Crystal Palace next month.

I took my mind off  Janice's departure on Friday night, meeting 3 friends from school at the Stables Theatre to see a play in which our friend Lisa played two parts. Lisa is lovely, but not someone who strikes you as particularly funny, but she was hilarious in both her comic roles on stage. We all loved seeing her in what was otherwise a very intense and sombre play about a couple's problems adopting a baby from a junkie birth mother.

 On Saturday we were without Scarlett for the day and she headed off with a school friend and her family to a theme park nearby. I hung out with Flo until it was time for her to go to a friend's birthday party, and then the evening was all about X Factor. Awful but unmissable. Yesterday the weather changed for the worse, wild weather warnings punctuated the news bulletins, and we battoned down the hatches. I spent the day in my PJS and we devoted the whole afternoon/evening playing Monopoly with the girls, which we all loved. Rob is a ruthless property tycoon who cannot be trusted.

Back to normal

I was in London on Monday for some work I'm doing for a magazine. I had to interview someone in Vauxhall and got to the interview by walking along the river from Waterloo. It was a lovely day and took me along the river path opposite the Houses of Parliament, passing Lambeth Palace. Job done, I walked over Westminster bridge and up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square to soak up some of the atmosphere of the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. I was too early to see the parade but managed to see some of the action on a big screen in Trafalgar Square before being squashed and squeezed as I fought the crush to Charing Cross station. 

Here is a lovely shot of the girls with our neighbours Mathilda on her 11 birthday - September 11. Yes, Mathilda was born on September 11 2001. I can't imagine what a frightening day that must have been to become a parent. Mathilda is moving to London on Friday with her parents, our lovely friends Janice and Roger. We are thrilled they are making a move they have wanted for years, but will miss them as they have become our closest friends in Hastings.

Yesterday Florence lost her first tooth. She was absolutely thrilled and wasted no time popping the tooth in the pocket of her tooth fairy pillow hoping for a coin to appear overnight.

It was gorgeous weather so we walked into town for the annual Seafood and Wine Festival, held on the beach. It's our favourite event of the year in Hastings, with 50 odd stalls selling seafood, wine, cider, cheese, fresh bread and more. I stuffed my face with smoked mackerel and organic chilli sauce on sun-dried tomato bread. We also tried a mackerel wrap, fried octopus and fish gougons, washed down with local cider and beer. We met up with a couple of families from school, as well as Maria and Lol, and spent the afternoon on the beach in the sun.

In the evening we went into Janice and Roger's for pizza and wine while talking all the way through Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor. Very funny. However, let's just say that as a result of a thoroughly enjoyable day and evening, the tooth fairy may have fallen asleep and forgotten her responsibilities on the coin delivery front. Flo woke and was very cross to find no money left for her tooth.  Some slight of hand, soon fixed that and a coin miraculously appeared, moments after me helping Flo search for it.
As I type (it's 12.16pm on Sunday), Rob and the girls are in bed playing Top Trumps, I am still in my PJS and we are contemplating a second day at the Seafood and Wine Festival, with a different group of friends.