The Mckendrys, part two

Our holiday japes with the Mckendrys continued with a lot of time at the beach, thanks to the fantastic weather. We spent Tuesday at Pett Level which was brilliant when the tide was out for hunting for crabs and beasties. History was made when I even swam in the incredibly warm sea.

 In the evening Moira reached into her bottomless store of dinner party games and we introduced the girls to Ibble Dibble, where a blackend cork is twisted onto the face of any player who makes a mistake.

 On Wednesday, with the sun still blazing, we had a cool walk in Powdermill Woods and then met up with two other families from school for a bbq and afternoon on the beach. We hardly saw the kids, who were in the sea for most of the day on inflatables.

 On Thursday, Rob had to leave us to go to Croydon to take his Life in Britain test, something he had to pass in order to be allowed to apply for a visa extension and, later, if he wants it, citizenship. He had been worrying about it for weeks, as failure would have dire consequences. While we was gone, the rest of us went up to Hastings Country Park for a walk along the cliffs and a picnic. In the afternoon, we headed to the seafront for a rousing and often hilarious round of Adventure Golf and then Pirate Golf. The girls loved it, no doubt because they are very proficient cheats.

 In the evening we celebrated Rob's successful pass with fizz on the deck, before walking into the Old Town with our beautiful girls for dinner at the Thai Bookshop.

 The Mckendrys then left us on Friday to drive west to Hove to stay with Fraser's sister Moira and her partner Jackie and to reunite with his mum Nancy, who is over on hols from NZ. We joined them all on Saturday for a lovely bbq, before our final farewells. Another fantastic visit with lots of laughs.

Here is a little film I made of our great time together.

Madonna, last day, Mckendrys so far...

A top last week at school, which began with us driving to London to take the girls to see Madonna in concert in Hyde Park. It was great fun meeting up with Ruth and Pete, and staying up late, but the flat nature of the venue let the concert down - too hard to see the stage and the girls on our shoulders, A LOT. Also the set wasn't great, not enough dance numbers and a great deal of gun toting. We have seen her three times before, so if there's a next time, it had better be in an arena.

 The kids finished school for the summer on Friday and baked cookies for their teachers. This coincided with  a brilliant change in the weather, just in time for the McKendrys' arrival from rainy Scotland.

 We started their week-long stay by dressing up for the annual Hastings Pirate Day. The aim is to have the most pirates in one place, to get the World record, once won by Hastings, back from current holders Penzance. We were also joined by Neil, Lorna, Archie and Eve, ever swelling our crew numbers. We had a great time walking through town, where it was those who were not dressed as pirates who looked weird, having fish and chips on the beach before being herded into an enclosure for the head count. The good news is Hastings has won back the ttitle with more than 14,000 pirates turning up to be counted.

 On Monday, the sun still shining, we headed to the beach for a long stroll and for the kids, and Neil, to swim in the sea. Onwards then to Bodiam Castle for a picnic and some light recreational archery. As you do.

Red Arrows Hastings July 2012

The view from our house.

Race For Life 2012

Aha. I have been running 5km for about 5 years, but plodded along a bit. I decided to up the pace by signing up for an actual organised run and getting a running partner. My friend Sarah, the one in the tutu below, is, by her own admission, highly competitive and always wants to go faster, farther, longer etc. As a result I have shaved a full 6 minutes off my usual time for this distance. Last night Sarah sensibly remained pure and alcohol free, while we enjoyed a great night in with our neighbours Janice and Roger, which involved Prosecco and wine, plus ribs and roast chicken. Did it hinder my performance today? Not a jot. In fact, I might include it in all future pre-race running programmes. This morning, while I busied myself with my running outfit - wig, leg warmers, tutu etc, Flo and Scarlett made lovely banners and signs to wave along the route. Sarah arrived and we walked down the hill to the park where Race For Life was being held, a convenient 4 minutes way. There was a great atmosphere as 1,700 women, dressed in an assortment of pink hues, gathered for a warm up and minute's silence. Cue floods, as many people, myself included, wept openly, at the memory of those we have lost to cancer. All the runners had numbers on their fronts, but on their backs signs dedicated to friends or relatives, lost or battling cancer. It was hard to stay dry-eyed when I read many of them. Two ladies in their 60s in front of us, dedicated their run to their 56-year-old sister who had died only 6 weeks ago.  

Sarah and I decided to join the 'Runners' group, as opposed to the 'Joggers' or 'Walkers', and am glad we did as once we set off, up a long, steep hill, it was clear many had no business being in that group and Sarah and I were able to weave our way ahead. A small triumph was catching up with and passing Flo's 27-year-old teacher Miss Wood. The rain cleared, the sun shone and we ended up at the finishing line in 30 minutes, 29 seconds, only sightly missing our goal of 30 minutes. My gorgeous husband and daughters were at the finish line with pink gerbias, pink Champagne and a huge box of chocolates (full marks Rob) as well as our lovely friend Jen. The 3 families then moved to the bandstand where we feasted on rolls and olives brought by Sarah's husband David. A really great day.

Sports for young and old

The week began with Sports Day on Monday. All the parents were herded into a sort of holding pen in the middle of the field, while the kids moved around us taking part in different 'Olympic' events - shot put, javelin, hurdles and sprinting. Most amusing were the 'javelins' which were made of foam, no doubt due to health and safety concerns, which were sent flying off in random directions with every breath of wind.

The weather has been hot and steamy all week, pouring with rain one minute, bright, hot sunshine the next. In spite of this, my friend Sarah and I have been running most days in training for our 5km sponsored run next weekend. I am also still going to kick boxing every week and am finding it really addictive and wish there was more than one class a week. By the end of the class I am soaked through and hoping to find someone in the street to fight with on my way home. 

On Friday the girls went to their friend Scarlett's 8th fancy dress birthday party (a third Scarlett joined their class last week, and we thought we had picked an original name). The birthday girl went as Dorothy, Scarlett and Flo went as a ladybird and a cat. However, in a fit of excitement, Flo had 'an accident' and was forced to change costumes part way through the party. Lucky I had a spare flamenco dress in the boot. Super Mum! The party was brilliant, in a village hall with a bouncy castle, face painter, games, dancing, a giant bear and a soft serve ice cream machine.

Friday night we left the girls with Natalie, aka Mary Poppins, their beloved babysitter, and walked to the Old Town to Boulevard Books. By day it is just that, a book shop, but at night the Thai owner  and chef and her husband put tables and chairs among the books and it becomes a fantastic BYO Thai restaurant.  We went with our new friends Sarah and David (not to be confused with other friends David and Sarah) and we had a huge amount of fun eating the best Thai food we've had since leaving Sydney. At about 11pm, we walked further into the Old Town to a club - a club! - to meet a group of friends from school, at the leaving party of other lovely new mates Jen and Matt. At the end of term they are packing their life into a Land Rover and moving to France to start a new life on a piece of land they have there. It's a brave move as they speak little French and the kids will have to start again at school, learning the lingo as they go. We had a right laugh, hitting the dance floor and staying out until 1am. Oh, we've still got it.

Weekend japes

A top weekend which began with our family movie night on Friday. We watched Forrest Gump on a video nabbed from the donations bag for the school Summer Fete. A late night and lots of tears for all. The next day was the fete itself and Rob and I were in charge of the coconut shy stall. We spent an hour in almost continuous hysterics, erecting our gazebo. We were apparently one if the fortunates as ours had flaps.  Within 30 minutes of assembly and erection, howling winds galloped across the open playing fields and toyed with our tent until it broke and collapsed. Cue more laughter. 

 We had such a laugh trying to help people knock heavy coconuts from stands with balls not disimilar in size and weight of ping pong balls. The girls had a blast running about with thier mates, spending money and getting sunburnt. We got home late afternoon, in time for me to prepare dinner for our special guests for the night, Martin and Drew, all the way from Sydney.  It was such a tonic to see them both, looking so well and we had a gorgeous evening together laughing, catching up and going over stories old and new.

 On Sunday morning, at 7.30am, with Rob and Scarlett still pushing out the Zs, Flo and I took the boys on a whistlestop tour of Hastings, stopping on the beach for this photo by the fishing boats.

 It was very hard to say goodbye to them a few hours later as they headed back to London for the next stage of their trip, a holiday in Croatia. It was lovely then to get a phone call from Adrian and Laline, inviting us to join them for a distracting walk along the cliffs at Fairlight, in beautiful sunshine and lots of wind. In the afternoon Scarlett and I drove to Maidstone to visit my Dad, who has been in hospital for 10 days. He was thrilled to see us, and us him, and we are hoping his drs will come to a conclusion about his treatment and cure soon.

The Iveys come to town

A mixed week weather wise, with howling gales and lashing rain as well as bright, hot sunshine. The garden doesn't know whether it's coming or going. Plants are growing wildly out of control, but must be tamed. Oh yes, they will be tamed.  On Saturday morning, things were looking bright though blustery, a perfect day for being blown along the seafront to the funfair with our lovely friends the Iveys. Giles, Lucy, Thom and Olivia joined us for larks on the dodgems and a brilliant new ride that looks hilalrious when you are not the one riding on it, terrifying if you are. Scarlett went on with Giles and  had her hand over her mouth for most of the ride, so we thought she was about to throw up. She didn't. We had  a smashing lunch at Dragon, where we ordered most of the menu, before settling in for an afternoon of newspapers and  chit chat at home. Giles can never be too far from a Tv in case something significant happens somewhere in the world of sport, so he became extremely comfortable in Rob's armchair, in front of the telly, snoozing and snoring wild abandon. Dinner was a windy barbecue, before the kids disppeared off to their beds, the cheeseboard and red wine made an appearance and we spent a funny evening talking over An Officer and A Gentleman, a film that we knew far too many lines from. On Sunday, we woke to a downpour but as the rain cleared, Giles asked if, instead of walking in the woods, we could visit Pevensey Castle, the first castle he had visited as a lad. Bless. It's only a short drive away and we had a great couple of hours, clutching audio guides in a gale, exploring dungeons and turrets, before having a drink in what could be East Sussex's worst pub. Home then for roast chicken and more papers, before the Iveys drove back to London. We then all watched England lose in a penalty shoot out. Good grief, why do we bother?

Above is a short video of a great weekend.

Town and country

Half term ended with more wild and wet weather and saw us board the train to Brighton, an hour away. We were blown all the way down the main street from the station to the totally fabulous Brighton Pavilion, built for the highly hedonistic Prince Regent in the late 18th century. After initially muttering under our collective breath about the high admission price, we were immediately blown away by the gorgeous excess of the interior - the incredible decadent dining room, the superbly outfitted kitchen and the extraordinary music room. We spent two very happy hours, audio guides in hand, exploring all the rooms. The girls found it fascinating and it turned a miserable weather day into a great one.

At the weekend, I took the girls to Bedgebury Pinetum, a vast forest of walking and bike trails, a Go Ape highwire adventure course and loads of brilliant playgrounds. We had a lovely time walking from one adventure playground to the next, trying obstacle courses and swinging off things. Here is Scarlett looking up at  someone zooming overhead on a fly fox.

On Sunday it was Dad's birthday. Unfortunately, he hasn't been feeling great over the last few weeks, and has spent a few days in hospital. Despite feeling pretty rotten on his big day, he put on a brave face and met us all at the The Swan in West Peckham. It's a perfect village pub on a small cricket pitch, surrounded by fields and we had a lovely lunch before Dad had to head home for a rest. I'm pleased to report, he is feeling  a lot better this week and we are all meeting up again today for another pub lunch to celebrate Father's Day. Here he is with my brother in law Lol .

  On Thursday, Rob, our neighbour Janice and I drove through beautiful East Sussex and Kent countryside to Rolvenden, surely one of the area's most scenic villages, for the Midsummer Fair. This huge event is held in the grounds of Hole Park and is all about the food, the plants, the crafts and the lovely bowls of Thai food. It was also one of the few fine days we have had recently, so we ended our excursion with a stop at the smashing village pub, The Bull, where are returning for lunch today.

On Friday I got the train to London for a lunch to celebrate the publication of the magazine I have been working on since January. Everyone involved at the the agency met for lunch in Notting Hill, on the corner of Golborne Road and Portobello, one of my old stomping grounds.

After lunch I raced through London to Soho to meet Keith Austin, an old friend and former Sydney Morning Herald colleague. Keith is the East End personified, revelling in his strong cockney accent and turn of phrase over the years despite working in senior roles at leading newspapers populated by public school boys whose work keith corrected. Though still based in Sydney, Keith is in the UK for the summer, in part to publicise and launch his first novel, Grymm, a horror for young adults. A few jars in Cambridge Circus and I was on the train home before things got too messy.

Yesterday, Saturday, we were on the train London-bound again, tis time to Peckham Rye to warm the new house of our friends Ed and Cass. They are brilliant at buying places no one else could see the promise in, and then ripping down walls, repainting, sanding floorboards and voila! , they get an interiors spread in The Guardian magazine. Good for them. We spent a lovely afternoon with 20 odd of their friends feasting on roast lemon chicken. Several train changes later, we arrived home at midnight.