more holiday stuff

Caroline’s (next door) sister Marianne popped in on the Wednesday while we were away … or was it Thursday – I’m really not so good at this precision lark… It was pleasant to see her – not so surprising as she is Dr Susie friend & in a way responsible for our being there. She was dropping a friend off at the station & he needed to pick a couple of things up from the house. And then on Thursday, (yes definitely Thursday) we met Caroline (from Hebden Bridge) from the train station in Oxford. When Louise told her that we were planning this Oxford Jaunt Caroline had decided that she might come & stay down here a little with us which was very good of her. The train was a little late in (this apparently happens a lot at Oxford) so the kids were a little bored by the time she arrived – they were glad to see though. I’m not sure it helped Esme’s perception of ‘distance from home’ – alll these familiar faces. She kept asking about going to Hebden Bridge little things like that. As the holiday progressed she asked more about the playground near Dr Susie’s house though – she did like it there.

Friday Caroline spent the day with us.
We didn’t get back to the Natural History Museum, but we went to the Museum in the Town Hall (History of Oxford) which did have a few things that the kids could enjoy (dressing up). We also went to the Cafe there. Set out for the Botanical gardens though Christchuch fields – took a wrong turn & ended up walking along a very pleasant waterway path. Would have been more enjoyable if there were no boats or punts because Jack then got a serious hankering after boating. Not that there looked to be anyone under 16 (or 18) in a boat or there was anywhere that we could hire one from, but that matters not – he got himself a bit upset about that; which was a shame. He did come out of it & he was Ok after that – so that’s good. Naturally Eve & Jude spent far too much time close to the edge of water throwing things in – which meant that Esme was either ina pushchair or on my houlders & continuously complaining that she would be good & then completely not being good when she wasn’t… Hmm… yes it was a little stressful… That’s how things went a lot of the time though, so the levels of stress decline whe the stress is at a constant (if you see what I mean). We have wilful children & although this can be frustrating we’d prefer them to have will than to drone through life. Sanity & freedom is a hard balancing act.

We didn’t make the Botanical Gardens in the end (I didn’t know it was the desired destination or I might have had looked at the map). The wrong turn led us that merry dance – it’s a lovely walk, but it wasn’t where we planned to be.
So we took a back route back toward St Giles for the stocking of supplies & the catching of the bus & headed back to base., Pleasant evening with a cople of bottles of beer & wine (me beer, Louise & Caroline wine) Jack was late to bed as well, but he slept well. Louise was a little groggy in the morning so we didn’t manage to make the 10 o’clock opening for the Caption Convention (not that I’d seriously planned how to get there or anything. Fortunately I’d remembered the name of the venue correctly & we got there without much difficulty (in the afternoon) – The East Oxford Community Centre is “The stop before Tescos” (helpfully shouted out to the bus driver from the bus) on the Cowley Rd.

Time at the Caption Convention was all too brief. I guess all in all I got to say hello to a few people, but actual chatting seemed a bit of a push as n the end Jude refused to go back in& I was left with Esme, Eve & Jack while Louise & Jude went back into town to meet up with Caroline (They all went to the Ashmolean before Caroline had to catch a train home).