Skip to main content

Somerset!

After 5 fun packed days in Somerset a sense of quiet descended over the house.  We got back last night, put the girls to bed and then smiled to ourselves this morning as 7am passed, 8am... 8.30... Izzy finally came down looking a bit bleary-eyed at 8.53am, followed by Abi at 9.10 - a minor miracle for her!  They have had a ball over the past few days, playing in the river, helping Fifi and Grumps, spending lots of time with Ben and Laurie and (most importantly for Abi) catching up with the pigs!
 
We planned to do a number of touristy things while we were there which we achieved - we visited Dunster castle where the kids got to bang the dinner gong and hear all about Victorian kitchens, we went to Dunster Show where we spent a fortune on the funfair and Glenn taught the kids a thing or two about archery (popping the balloon in the end!), we had lunch at the seaside (well, looking out over the Bristol Channel - almost the seaside).  We also spent lots of time catching up with family and eating mountains of cake - very nice.  The weather was as kind as you might expect for a summer holiday in the UK - what more can we ask for?!?
 
We got home to a house that is progressing slowly - you can no longer see our steels which is a definite plus, but we have scaffolding again as we get ready to install solar panels.  This next week is another lull in the eye of the main storm - as of Monday our kitchen gets taken out and we embark on 4 weeks of camp style cooking in the playroom using a microwave, camping hob and loads of initiative - can't wait...
 
The summer holidays have suddenly started to fly by with only 2.5 weeks now until they are back to school.  Izzy is very keen to get back and into Year 2 with all the social opportunities that will offer.  Abi is worried she hasn't done enough over the holidays and will find it difficult. I'm worried we won't get all the school uniform in time having looked at the website today to find that the vast majority of the new Juniors sports kit Abi needs is out of stock - arghh. Glenn is siding with Izzy and looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet in the hose again! 
 
I've been enjoying having some time away from work and the chance to both reflect a bit on my first couple of months and make the most of some lazy time.  It's also the chance to finalise details on kitchen etc - it's certainly having an impact on our bank account if not on the house as yet!
 
The girls have been inspired by all the recent athletics and gymnastics on TV.  This meant Ben, Laurie and Abi trying to hold Izzy above their heads in a team gym display, as well as everyone practising headstands in the garden.  I can declare that Amanda has the edge over everyone in this event so far!  Amanda and I took the four of them onto the Quantocks on their bikes which they loved.  They clearly didn't get the point about riding around puddles which meant that by the time we got back to the van (no major mishaps other than Izzy having her normal off) they were covered in Somerset red mud - another set of clothes destined for the bin then.  Glenn and I followed this up by taking just Abi out on her own - Izzy opted for the comfort of Amanda's house for the day.  We had a lovely ride and Glenn spent some time talking Abi through how to ride some of the trickier parts of the path.  Sadly it's clear she has more skill than I do in this respect already, although whether that's because she hasn't fallen off yet I don't know.  Laurie on the other hand ended the weekend by riding into a tree and bumping his face - guess he could do with some lessons too!    
 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Snow!

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, today it snowed... but more of that in a minute. Yesterday actually felt like a day of much progress. Despite Covid we managed to arrange a visit to Taunton School to have a look around with the girls and to meet the Headmaster. This was a massive relief as I had got to the point of thinking we would have to accept a place without ever stepping foot inside the school. In the end we had a very comprehensive, if a little deserted, tour of the school and the kids loved it, as did we. There may even be a small chance they might squeeze us in if we are there by the summer term - that is of course if the kids are back into school by then. The other news was that I managed to speak to Mr &Mrs Tucker - the people buying our house - and we tentatively agreed that we will try and complete during the Easter holidays which could have us moving in the third week of April. This does require everyone to have got all of what they need done, and that of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Showtime!

It's that time of year again, the Newbury Show, and this year I made a point of not planning on going with anyone else as that always results in dissatisfaction as we don't get to do the things we really wanted to do. The weather forecast was a tale of 2 halves this weekend, with glorious sunshine and summer temperatures on Saturday, followed by torrential rain and lightening for Sunday. Of course this meant that anybody contemplating the show made the decision to go on Saturday, us included. Given we knew the A34 would be a car park we took the back roads and despite the traffic being heavy it wasn't too bad - helped by the fact that we had already resigned ourselves to a queue. On getting there it was clear that the weather had brought out massive crowds and everywhere was packed, with the tents steaming and the poor animals looking like they'd had enough by lunchtime. We went into the pig tent and half the pigs had sensibly knocked their water buckets over to have ...
Post a Comment
Read more