Happy Easter 2011

A massively action jackson Easter weekend, as due to the continuing hot weather, we were able to pack loads in.  I awoke on Good Friday to Flo asking what that meant. When I explained that while Christmas is Jesus's birthday, Good Friday is the day he died. She asked her usual questions about  someone's death "Did he like cigaretting?", "Did he die in a car crash?", " Did he cross the road without looking?" etc. When I explained that actually he died when some people nailed him to a massive cross and popped him up on a hill, she looked horrified and declared, "You can't do that!!" Once the shock of the crucifixion had worn off, we drove to Maria's for an amazing roast lamb lunch served with caramelised tomatoes. It was a scorcher so after a spirited Easter egg hunt, we popped next door to Tina's to cool off in her pool.

On Easter Saturday, as I pottered in my garden, as has become my morning habit, I was chuffed to bits to see the fantastic wisteria and clematis in full bloom. Smashing. We packed a picnic and went to Summerfield woods, a new find for us and an absolute revelation. I 've written before about St Helen's Woods, where we often go for walks as it's a short drive away, but Summerfield Woods are only a short walk from our house. Bizarrely they are really close to the town centre and yet almost completely hidden as they sit behind houses, the law courts and museum.  I didn't take my camera so can't show any pictures here but the woods were absolutely magical like a film set of a fairyland. Beautiful trees, bluebells popping up everywhere, streams, a maze and a walled garden where we had our picnic. On Easter Sunday our neighbours ( and new best friends) Janice and Roger organised an Easter egg hunt in their lovely garden, complete with little arrows and signs and chocolate carrots hidden in the vegetable patch. The kids had to be quick because once again it was so hot, the chocolate was melting. I am not making this up.

Back home, other new best friends Cathy and Dom and their kids, recently returned from 5 weeks in Sydney, joined us for a meat-tastic barbecue on the deck. Despite complaints from us all that we would never get through 20 sausages, 8 burgers and steaks plus all the side dishes we made, we ate the lot.

On Easter Monday Janice and Roger invited us to their beach hut at St Leonards. The beach hut is a curiously British thing that may surprise and amuse Australians. It is like a garden shed, you keep at the beach, jammed full of anything and everything you might need in the event of any type of weather and natural disaster. We had no problems weather wise as it was another corker of a day. While Roger barbecued fresh mackerel, and took the kids out  on the rowing boat, in an hilariously girly fashion, Rob and I sat back and sipped cold prosecco, feeling that life wasn't so bad after all.

There'll be bluebirds over....

...the white cliffs of, er, East Sussex. Ok, so wrong song but right sentiment. 

We joined our neighbours Janice and Mathilde on a top day out along the coast to 

Birling Gap. It's a top spot, maintained by the National Trust and consists of tearooms and a bar and a row of cottages, some that have already fallen into the sea, due to cliff erosion, and a couple more looking like they're ready to go at any moment. This all sits on top of miles of amazing white cliffs, lapped by turquoise water. Down on the beach, where we picniced and soaked up the sun,  great chunks of white chalk litter the pebbles. We spent a very happy couple of hours eating, chatting and sunbaking while the girls ran about screaming. This seems to be the new way they express any delight. 

 After lunch we headed to the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre (home to the largest number of sheep breeds IN THE WORLD!) to see loads of newborn lambs, some twins and triplets, many just a few days old and one that was born an hour before we arrived and who we watched get up and walk for the first time. Its mother looked absolutely shattered after the birth (as you do) but seemed much happier after she'd eaten the placenta. Isn't nature wonderful? After more screaming by the girls, and a fair bit of squealing, we  got to bottle feed a selection of new baby lambs whose mothers couldn't manage it, one pair named Ant and Dec and another Kate and William.

In other news, I have my meeting at Bodiam Castle tomorrow to arrange my start date for volunteering there after Easter. I'm thrilled because my role on Mondays from now on will be driving the electric golf cart that ferries the elderly, disabled and fat, lazy visitors from the car park up the hill to the castle. As entertaining as this sounds, my motives are more practical. I think it would be lovely to work for the National Trust and I'm hoping that by starting out as a volunteer it might lead to a paying job. 

Finally, Flo's quote of the week upon being warned to look where she was going. "I know, I saw it. I'm not blind - I've got ears!"

The festival of Moira

The Mckendrys hit The Stings this week, at the tail end of their south east Easter trip. Because Scotland's school holidays are quite a few weeks off our own, Lily goes back to school tomorrow (a week before Easter!?) so they left this morning at 6am for the drive back to Glasgow, arriving at 4pm.

 We had a great laugh, as always, punctuated by trips to Winchelsea and Rye (where Dad and Alexandra were the surprise guests), a picnic at Sissinghurst Castle, an afternoon drinks in Sedlescombe and the Hastings funfair dodgems and  ghost train where Moira's high-pitched scream stopped traffic. On Saturday night we had a family birthday dinner for Moira, the finale of which was Rob's signature banana cake. The girls entertained themselves mainly playing spies and riding their bikes round and round and round and round the deck. The weather was gorgeous for most of their stay and we got plenty of vitamin D exposure. We're looking forward to doing it all again up their way this summer.

Blackberry Woods

Scarlett, Flo and I, aka 'the adventure girls' have just returned from a short camping trip in the magical Blackberry Woods. After our many camping trips in Australia, we have a pretty high standard when it comes to campgrounds. Of course, we found some rubbish ones there too, but in general Australian campgrounds excel for their size, firepits and cooking areas and usually for their beach, river or lakeside locations. Blackberry Woods, near the glorious town of Lewes, East Sussex, didn't disappoint. Ok, so the loos and showers were rather basic, but the generous private pitches, the location, the adventure playground and the surrounding area were all top notch. It helped that we arrived during the mini heatwave we have been enjoying for the last week.  The big downer was that Rob did his back in again this week and couldn't join us, but it turned into a really fun girls-only trip. 

We settled for our USA 2-man tent over the big 3-room tent, mainly because I have never paid the slightest bit of attention whenever Rob assembled the big one and wasn't sure I'd manage it alone. Our pitch - 'humpty dumpty' -was perfect. A huge space for the tent, loads of room for games of boules, plus a lovely outlook across fields and woodland to the South Downs. With the pitches separated by woodland, it was private without feeling too remote or scary. After getting the tent up, and filled with our inflatable mattress and bedding, the girls seemed to grow up before my eyes and did that thing I have longed for, for so many years - they took care of themselves. While they headed off to the adventure playground together, I lay in the tent and read. A book. I know, that's what I said. In the late afternoon, we changed into anti-mosquito long pants and sweatshirts and headed off across the fields holding a rudimentary map, with child-like drawings of the footpaths to the local gastro pub, the Half Moon. We crossed a field, then walked through a wood, then crossed another field and then another wood and then came to a public footpath crossroads. Unsure, we headed east and arrived on a pleasant B road but with no sign of a pub. Upon knocking on a blissful-looking cottage door, we were greeted by a lady from Arkansas who happily drove us the last half mile to the pub. We had a great night colouring in, eating huge sandwiches with chips and salad washed down with fruit juice and cider, before being pointed in the direction of the correct footpath home. This took us, as the sun was setting behind the South Downs, across fields awash with gold, passed horses and long grass, back to the campground. I lit the campfire and we sat around it in our PJs, toastings marshmallows. A game of boules later, and a chapter of Harry Potter and suddenly it was 9pm, time for bed for all good campers. Unfortunately, at that exact moment I noticed our previously taut mattress has lost  a great deal of air while we had been away. While fiddling with the stopper, to fix the loss of air, the stopper itself was shot inside the mattress, which deflated in about 4 seconds, ahem, flat. Great. We resorted to using the duvets as mattresses for the girls and blowing up a loan Thermarest for me. The girls were warm and comfortable, but without the duvets for planned extra cover over my sleeping bag, I froze and honestly felt as if I stayed awake all night. Clearly not, as I woke repeatedly to remember bizarre, mattress-related dreams, and finally when Scarlett stepped on me on her way to the loo at 7.30am.

We spent today at a horribly disappointing 'wildife reserve' where we were promised a newborn lamb, but saw only a few pigs, tag-nut laden sheep and some ducks. That's 20 quid, I'll never get back. The  playground was very cool however with teepee, fort, tyre swings and tractors to climb on. We finished the day driving up to the top of Ditchling Beacon (somewhere Rob and I had cycled up during the London to Brighton ride many moons ago), the highest spot on the South Downs, to challenge our ice-creams to stay in their cones as the wind blew and the temperature dropped. Happy, happy days.

Shirts off, gloves on.

Something comes over the British when the sun shines. Moods are elevated, clothes are reduced in weight and waters are plunged into. It's brilliant. Thursday of this week recorded the warmest April day since records began - 23.5 degrees. This might seem unimportant until you appreciate that  three years ago, on the same day, Britain was covered in thick snow. So, this week, I joined the other short-wearing, milky-skinned and thinkers that summer had arrived, for a bun fight at B&Q to buy bedding plants, rose bushes, tomato plants and bags of compost. We all smiled at each other, pretended not to notice each others' naff Maori, or gaelic or Chinese-influenced tattoos poking out from ill-fitting leisure wear, and just enjoyed the warm weather. Being part Aussies, we, of course, had to buy a gas barbeque. We can't do charcoal. An afternoon and a morning passed while Rob assembled our new flimsy purchase and we christened it today with the help of our neighbours Roger and Janice, a few hundred weight of chicken, corn cobs, peppers, haloumi and 4 blankets that had to be distributed by 5.30pm because it was too cold to sit outside anymore. The evening ended with Rob lighting the fire so we could all feel our limbs again.
Also this week I dug a second, smaller, garden bed intended to be our vegetable patch. One of the things I looked forward to most when we planned our move back to the UK was having a go at growing our own veg, and keeping a well-planted garden, something we were very successful at in our big garden in Islington, but that we failed miserably at in Sydney. Everything we tried to grow that wasn't remotely tropical or heat resistant ended up fried, roots boiled to death. Yesterday and this morning I have planted tomato plants, raspberry vines and carrots. It's not summer yet, but we're getting there.

There's nothing like it

Totally brilliant spring weather yesterday and today - 20 degrees. Yesterday Flo and I began with a 2-hour garden session at the farm project we are part of. While I weeded the raspberry patch and then mulched the vines, Flo made what were essentially 'poo castles' out of the compost pile. After  a quick lunch at home, Rob dropped us off at the seafront with Flo's new bike and while she cycled, I ran. She amazed me by making it halfway to Bexhil and back, a good 4 miles, with me panting along beside her. Rick came by train last night from Bedfordshire for dinner - only 3 trains required - and poor Flo, try as she might, could not keen those big dark brown eyes open long enough to greet him.  Breakfast with Uncle Rick this morning had to do before he got 3 trains back to work again. 

Today was just as stunning so Flo, Rob and I (donning shorts and sundresses, sans cardis) drove into Kent to Sissinghurst, to the extraordinary house and gardens of 1930s gardening guru, Vita Sackville-West. It was a fairly long, hot drive, but through beautiful countryside, so we were disappointed to arrive and find the gardens and house and cafe and shop, all closed - Wednesdays and Thursdays are the only days it is isn't open! Silly, silly Mummy. However, we were able to do one of the walks around the grounds, passing fields of (mint sauce-loving) lambs,  tranquil lakes and got a stunning view of the gardens alive with daffodils, bluebells and snowdrops. It was absolutely gorgeous. We stopped for a pint in the sunny garden of a village pub on the way home, making it a near perfect day.

Home

Back this afternoon from a packed family weekend. Straight from school on Friday we all drove to Kent to spend the night at Dad and Alexandra's house. Alexandra mixes a mean G&T, while Dad's domain is the kitchen where he prepares a feast for dinner. On Saturday after a full English breakfast we drove to Chatham to Dickens World, a sort of indoor theme park devoted to the life and works of Charles Dickens who grew up nearby. It was pretty amazing, with old laneways, houses, shops and a river that felt like being on the film set of the film Oliver! There were live performances of Dickens' work, a scary boat ride that left Dad and Alexandra soaked and Scarlett and Flo in tears, holograms of the ghosts haunting Scrooge and a great 4-D film about Dickens' life that soaked us again. Back at Dad's we had a lovely lunch in the garden and then walked down to the church to check out the headstones of people who had been buried in the 16 yers since Rob and I were married there (the spot we stood in for wedding pictures is now full of new graves) and then carried on down to the river to play pooh sticks off Kettle bridge. Walking through the fields I used to go to as a kid with my girls makes me indescribably happy. We were having such a nice time that the girls and I decided to stay another night so sent Rob back to Hastings as he had to get up for work this morning. Today was Mother's Day so after a quick breakfast, Dad and Alexandra drove us back to Hastings, stopping at a great little market in Staplehurst where I bought plants for the new garden bed and an old foot stool, I plan to recover, for the bargain price of 6.50. We drove to Maria and Lol's for a smashing roast lunch cooked by Rob and Lol. Despite some friendly rivalry in the kitchen amongst the boys on the best way to cook roast potatoes and Dad's nursing hurt feelings over the new twosome in the kitchen usurping his usual role, the lunch was a triumph.


This afternoon, while Flo played some computer games and Scarlett and Rob took her bike to the park, I managed to get my new plants in the garden and read the whole paper. This week we're promised temperatures of 21, which bodes well for our mini camping trip the week after next.

Nightrider 2011

Not to be confused with the hit TV show starring The Hoff, Nightrider is a sponsored bike ride around London all night on June 11. I'll be getting on my bike for it and if you'd like to sponsor me - and let's face it, what kind of person wouldn't want to? - please press the big button below. 
I thank you.

Spring!!!!

The weather this week has been amazing here, dare I say unseasonably warm. I shouldn't really because traditionally trying to make any comment or forecast on British weather means that the weather will immediately change and return to the ice age. 17 degrees, no less. Like a perfect winter day in Sydney.  I have dug  borders in the garden and planted herbs and a collection of plants donated by Maria, to try to make something more interesting out of our rectangle of grass.  Tomatoes, beans etc to come. Yesterday I went on a long bike ride along the prom. People were out running, pushing prams, fishing off the beach and sitting in the sun with shirts off. Once I managed to force my breakfast back down at the freakish sight of an alabaster Englishman with his knockers out, I noticed two blokes in shorts - just shorts - jumping into the sea. The English Channel. In March. I can only assume two more men, in white coats and carrying a large net, came running along moments after I left this "only in England" vignette, to return them to the warm padded rooms they usually call home. In the park this morning I was positively gay with joy at the sight of the stunning display of daffodils, snowdrops, bluebells and crocuses bursting through the grass and among the trees in the wood. It was absolutely gorgeous. As ever, in Hastings, I am always brought back down to earth having to skid and slip my way through piles of dog poo that seem to be more prevelant here than on the Champs Elysee. Yet strangely I am yet to meet a dog owner who doesn't declare "Oh no, that's awful. I always pick up after my dog."

Sick Bay 102

We have been hit by an aggressive bout of sickness this week. We can't blame the weather as Spring has sprung and it's getting warmer and lighter in the evenings each day. I think I mentioned my ear infection earlier, but everyone has been ill. On Tuesday Flo crawled into bed at 6am, complaining of a tummy ache, before falling into an abrupt deep sleep. A few minutes later she woke up vomiting all over our bed, me, the floor and the toilet. On Friday Rob started complaining that he felt full and unwell. By Saturday night he was doing relays to the loo. On Sunday Scarlett started hacking away with croup and by Sunday afternoon, durng lunch at Maria and Lol's, I started feeling a bit ropey. I was in bed by 5.15pm, feverish yet chilly, aching all over and drifting in and out of sleep. At 6pm Flo appeared in bed next to me and fell straight to sleep. Hoping for a good night's rest, Rob left her there and slept in her bed. I slept fitfully all night and stayed in bed most of today. It is now 4pm and I'm finally coming right. Onwards.

Florence is 4

Florence Elizabeth Mary Duthie turned 4 yesterday. She appeared at my bedside at an alarmingly spritely 6am, on the prowl for gifts. As I am suffering from an acute bout of sleeping sickness at the moment, (not helped by an ear infection) I was able to divert her with a film, which she watched patiently for an hour while we snoozed on. At 7am she started ripping into her presents and was most thrilled with a cardigan from Nanny because "It's just like Scarlett's!!" She was more uncertain about her main gift - her first bike. Scarlett got hers when was 3  and it was bit too big for about a year and at that age it was harder to get her to follow directions. Flo is the perfect age and we spent a lively couple of hours in Alexandra Park with her zooming about, thrilled to bits with how well she could whizz down hills, turning and braking carefully at the bottom to execute perfect turns. We stopped in at the cafe for a massive hot chocolate (it was freezing outside) complete with whipped cream and a Flake. After a relaxing afternoon in front of Sleeping Beauty, we picked up Scarlett from school and headed into town for Flo's birthday dinner, which had changed during the day from"fish and chips and burger" to "pizza". We played a few rounds of cards and did some colouring while waiting for our food to arrive and Flo was thrilled when Maria, Lol and the boys appeared in time for her banana cake with pink icing and strawberries made by Dad. Hip hip hooray.

During the week we also managed a trip to Camber Sands, a few miles down the coast. I hadn't been there since I was 19 for a day out with school friends. Camber is a massively long sandy beach which gets packed in summer but on this blustery spring morning was all but empty. After a run along the beach, we headed for the warmth of a cafe in nearby Rye, an ancient hillside town, with higgeldy piggeldy cobblestone streets and an old priory. 

In other news I have been elected to the board of governors at Scarlett's school, so that most amusingly (probably only to Fraser) Rob can now say he has shaken hands with the govenor.

Scarlett and Flos' birthday weekend treat

In lieu of birthday parties this year we promised the girls a special surprise day out on Saturday, chosen as it was about half way between their two birthdays. Flo, bless her, was convinced we were going to Disneyland Paris, not helped by the recent ad campaign on tv at the moment. Scarlett made me tell her the first part of the treat, so by the time we made it to London they both knew we were all going on the London Eye. We drove to Giles and Lucys' in Wimbledon to park the car and then caught a bus and train to Waterloo, using public transport arguably just as exciting to Scarlett and Flo as the big wheel itself. After about only half an hour of queuing, we were stepping into our glass bubble for the 30 minute spin over the London skyline. It was  a lovely clear day and we had great views for miles. My favourite bit was seeing the quads and courtyards inside all the big government buildings, whereas Flo was immediately mesmerized by a performance artist dressed as a lion back on terra firma. We did our usual face pulling, ruining the group photo of everyone else in our car, before coming safely back to earth. We walked along the south bank, running the gauntlet of performers including the world's most pierced woman, the lion and a very strange group of girls dressed in bonnets and pink frills and having a tea party. 

Best of all were the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck lookalikes who had Flo convinced we had indeed made it to Disneyland. All during lunch, she kept saying "Can we go back to Disneyland after we've eaten?" After yet more cuddles with the Donald Ducks (who we thanked warmly for saving us about a grand in airline tickets and Disneyland passes) we moved onto part two of the treat - the London Aquarium, which the girls loved but Rob and I found massively overcrowded, claustrophobic, hot and noisy. What a pair of miseries. It was also pretty lame on the wildilfe front, probably because we've seen a lot of the stuff in there, swimming around the beaches of Sydney. One display featured an empty mussel shell. Seriously. 

We finished the day back at Giles and Lucys' eating Indian takeaway and being very restrained on the drinking front - we were all in bed by 10.30pm.  On Sunday morning the kids played beautifully (read quietly) allowing Rob, Lucy and I to devote our energies to drinking tea and watching back to back episodes of trashy reality tv shows. Giles lifted several fingers by playing football, grocery shopping and throwing together a delicious lunch.

 In other news, the girls have now both learned to revolve their eyes away from their noses at the same time, a skill that is sure to come in handy later in life.

Deck cleaning - no, really - it's great

The weekend began with a highly satisfying afternoon of deck cleaning on Friday, using a hired high pressure hose. Few things have given me such cleaning pleasure as seeing years of damp moss, mould and grime being blasted off the deck, leaving it looking like new timber. The laughs continued at the school fundraising quiz night on Friday. Maggie put together a team of 8, which quickly dropped to 7 as Popi was bedbound. We soldiered on with Maggie and Adrian arguing throughout, at one point actually physically fighting over the question sheet. Rob was in favour of cheating and at one point even went off for a stroll around the room in an attempt to see the answers the other teams had put down, Maggie phoned home on her mobile to get one of the answers from Popi (what was detective Columbo's first name?) and Cathy, Dom and I smiled on inanely. All very entertaining.

 On Saturday we took the kids to the cinema to see Arthur and the Great Adventure. Arriving 10 minutes late didn't help us work out the plot I'm sure, but very soon we realised we were watching the strangest film of our lives. Rob and I repeatedly exchanged bemused expressions and hand gestures to indicate we should leave but the girls wanted to stay. By the end I felt I had a modicum of insight into what a 1970s afternoon in the company of Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda must have been like. Back home we took our annual birthday photos of the girls wearing the same pair of jeans and a t-shirt that will fit them by the time they are 18, to see how much they have grown.

 On Sunday the Holyoakes finally made it down from Surrey for lunch. After an absolutely freezing walk along the beach and a pint in the fishermens' club we retreated home to sit by the fire before a roast chicken lunch.

Scarlett turns 7!

Can't believe Miss S turned 7 yesterday. We started the day with a small mountain of gifts from us, the highlight being a Zhu Zhu Baby. These small battery-operated hamsters come in a variety of types and are apparently quite the thing as they zoom about the room making cute gurgling sounds. The add-on car and garage thrilled her completely. I also got an old VHS copy of the first Harry Potter film in a charity shop which she was over the moon about as we have started reading the series of books and are on the second one. I sent her into school with a huge bag of fruit for her class (no cakes allowed as it's a healthy eating award winning school), a Hawaiian lai around her neck and two large birthday badges. I then raced to Sainsburys to grab a few treats for the last minute birthday tea we pulled together. We are taking both the girls to London for their birthdays later in the month so decided we wouldn't have parties this year, but felt it was a bit sad not having some mates there to see her blow out her candles. Nanny and Grandad came too with a bigger mountain of gifts - all receiving wide grins from Scarlett - plus Maria and Ethan, and after lots of running around screaming (by me) I managed to get the kids into the kitchen for a plate of shepherds pie (Scarlett's choice) before the screaming began (by them).

I was very pleased with my baby bunting on the cake stand with Scarlett's vanilla cupcakes and we managed a few sparklers too. Happy birthday Scarlett.

In our house birthday time is also Oscar time, as Scarlett was born on Oscar night 2004. We missed them this for the first time in years as they are not on free to air in Britain anymore. Our neighbour tried to record it for us but we discovered, as we made ourselves comfortable in her sitting room for a Monday morning viewing (complete with Champagne and canapes), that she had recorded only the red carpet arrivals. Silence from us followed by small reassuring smiles as she was gutted to have let us down.