Archives: paul

Once inside the British Museum Jack was keen that we find the Rosetta Stone. This surprised me a little, but I guess it is the sort of thing he will have read about. It’s the first time I’ve managed to get the the museum since they opened up the central area & it is very impressive – more s than pictures would have you think (because it’s about ‘space’ & such things are hard to convey on still images). Fortunately the Rosetta Stone was just on the right off the main central area, so that was an easy one… Then we did a round through ancient Egypt back down through Babylonian & bumped into the Children’s Museum Shop. After a good deal of flapping in there from the younger ones (which Jack & Louise avoided by departing for the loo & then drifting into the Greeks) it was decided that as time was pressing on (& it was pressing on & there was some squawking) that we’d best be moving on. Again Jack could have quite happily spent a great deal of time in the museum pondering things, but the family currents swept him along. For Louise’s curiosity it was left out of the gates, left a little & again, 1st right & along & there’s Senate House at the junction on Keppel Street. Her old window view of Senate House is a little obscured by building site bits & bobs…. There seems to be a bit going on – not least a great crane sicking out from the centre of the LSHTM, not that the admissions are in the building any more. Mind you – if they are building the place up (using the disused inner courtyard areas) then they might move admissions back into the building…. you never know…

OK – Catch a 29 on Gower down to Trafalgar – it’s a tourist spot – let the kids see. They might only remember the huge TV screen with China vs. USA basketball playing. They stood there a while by the fountains in a light rain… bit the rain became heavier & heavier & we decided it was time to retreat – back on a bus to Paddington. They’ve had a tiny glimpse of London – some museums, some grand streets & some central streets – but only a glimpse really. I wonder what they made of it – how it will figure? Jude might just have found it frustrating (museums & walking) Esme’s ideas would certainly be more abstract but I hope Eve & Jack came away with a little taste of interest (the wider world). Paddington was a food hunt for the tran home. We were evidently early enough to actually get seats (busy train) but not so early that the kids were bored & frustrated. The journey back to Oxford went really well all things considered.

Then next day, (Monday) unfortunately – it was time to prepare for heading home in the afternoon. We popped over to the local playground in the morning, & then (Louise) got most everything packed. Getting them to pay attention to the deadline of leaving was a little headed than we wanted & we missed the bus we planned to get, but we did get a bus in plenty of time & then there was that mammoth journey home (delays leaving us 45 mins late getting in (hey ho). On the Trans Penninnne train Louise noticed the ‘dour northern faces’ – Oxford was actually jolly friendly & cheery – it’s a good spot.

Oh, that’s nice: stuffy train & they’ve put the heating on… I know this as I’m sat on the heaters.

So, what of the weekend?

Low key – not much doing… A quite easy ‘never stop’ time rather than a frenetic & trouble ‘never stops’ time – which was quite nice. I needed to do a few jobs like, the garden, but didn’t quite manage this. We did tidy up & I did get a new vacuum cleaner (DC08) from the market. The old hoover had stopped… There was a shoe with laces on the bathroom floor & both the carpet & the lace were dark & Louise managed to hoover both, but unfortunately the hoover couldn’t eat the accompanying shoe, & the roller couldn’t turn for being caught up in lace & … well… the motor seemed to suffer burnout. It made a most peculiar noise when turned on & started smoking, so that’s not been used again. Shame really – that was a good DC07. So we have a cylinder dyson rather than an upright one now, which seems to be all well & good – seems to be working fine & all that. Forty pounds we could have done without spending, but still – you need something. And we applied a little tidying up – sorted a few things through & eliminated a bit of creeping clutter. Not that clutter will ever be defeated, but it’s good to feel a modicum of control in these things.

Holidays? Not finished whittering about these yet, have I? The Caption Convention went on to the Sunday but I didn’t bother with a return as we had said the the kids that we woould go to London & therefore we did. Sunday we did the London day trip. This meant that we had to be up early & organised (which we managed quite well) & off on the 09:38 to Paddington. Turned into quite a crowded train. We had 6 seats to ourselves to start with,, but relinquished a couple to a couple & their toddlers.

Arriving in the capital though the Westbourne Park, Royal Oak areas was interesting for me as that’s quite early London in my personal history; coming into town for the London Cartoon Centre Based at the Potobello Project from Royal Oak tube & then later working at the Kensal Rd LCC – passing Tresllic Tower. Had thery done iup those old asbestos riddled blocks at last? Were they really that bad in the end or was it just part of Dame Shirley Westminster shuffle?

We walked a bit more in London – a spot of Hyde Park to start with (handy playground for picnic prior to setting out proper) Down past Albert on the was to The Natural History Museum. Then realising that Sunday may not be the best day for a day out I London as there was a 45min queue to see the dinosaurs… hurumph. We went round the museum a little. Jude was disappointed, but he would not have the patience to queue & then be shuffled round with the snake of visitors the dinosaurs like everyone else. We made do with some marine life & mammals, but then decided that as time was not in abundance on a day trip we would skidaddle off elsewhere. A bus to the Centre of getting off past Piccadilly & walked though Chinatown, skirting Covent garden, then up to the British Museum. Brief stop before entering so I could nip off to Gosh Comics & grab some water to drink & then into the museum again. Esme, who had drifted off on the bus into town woke as we ascended the lift thing outside the museum (Maybe because Jack & Jude had a little squabble over button pressing)

on biggr is flickr

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).

I’m frayed at the edges as usual – tired & so on. Back to the usual routine & it’s wearing. Jack is also adjusting his sleep patterns for the worse again. When the holiday started he was terrible. I don’t think it helped that although there were no TVs in the house, there had been one left (thought not to be working) in Jack’s attic space; he was never gong to leave that alone. It worked…. all it needed was switching on & tuning, so Jack had a telly in his room… I’m sure he’ll do his best to deny it but I’d say the temptation to watch it late at night was probably a little too much from time to time. He was verboten, but (in general with our kids) we do say, “Don’t” until we’re blue in the face with little effect. We allowed the trust though – it seemed the sensible thing to do & Jack was doing his best (& did very well) at being sensible. Toward the end of the holidays (when he was settling in) he started sleeping quite well for him. He had a light on, but didn’t have a radio, so it was quiet & if I’m not mistaken he got more used to this & was able to sleep quite soundly. It will have helped (I guess) that he banked up a good portion of tiredness to start with that he needed to work through. Back home now – it’s more usual habits. He went down to the library before tea to pick up another Terry Pratchet audio book yesterday & started listening to this (over watching telly, reading, or the Internet) & was still doing so at 10:20 after gleaming a little more time downstairs than I intended to let him have. He still wasn’t asleep when I (very very tired) went to bed at 11:10 (I’d been doing some data sifting in some spreadsheets for this ZUM! Database I’m attempting to create). Darn… Just realised I’ve forgotten to get the screen shots for the posting guide for dad off my computer to work on… never mind.

Back to the holidays… Ice Cream at St Giles… then what? I’m really not sure. Was that the day we went the the Tourist Information next & then went to Waterstones as Esme claimed she needed a poo & then didn’t & then Eve blurted about Ben10 books to Jude just after Louise had managed to calm him down from all his, “I want’s” & stress ensued so we just decided it was better to go home?

Might have been – but that might have been the next day… I don’t really recall. I shouldn’t point fingers… As I’ve said – Jack was OK for the most part on holiday but it took the younger three a while to settle into things & we do suspect that Eve was not so well at times (she’s not so quick to admit she’s unwell, but she’s harder work when she is because she’s less ‘together’ (being diplomatic).. It also seemed that Esme had an aura of excitement, giddiness & silliness that rubbed off an any youngster that came close enough to her. This tended to cause a giddiness feedback loop that was especially difficult to dissipate. I think on the third day we decided that it was foolish to leave the pushchair at home because she needed to be sat in there from time to time to allow giddiness overload to subside. When in the chair & in town she would at some point realise that she had not had an ice cream yet & holler until she was assuaged. She is only three & it is a difficult ‘boundary defying’ age for her (or rather for us).

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/monocat/sets/72157606709144600/”>holiday snaps</a>

Back to the routines of home. Esme is a little more out of sorts than usual – Louise suspects she’s missing the attention of the others as they go off to pay with their friends. When I cam home yesterday afternoon Jude was over at Joe’s (not Jo’s) & Eve was off swimming with Amber & Jack was playing with Ethan & Aiden. Esme had been having a snooze & was a bit groggy & clingy. She remained that way most of the time until bed (distraction being the only thing that kept her happy). Lilly came over to play for a bit, but then Jude back & demanded a game of catch, so Esme wanted to join in, dropping Lily. Tears from Esme until she gets her shoes on & comes out to play & Lily has to go back over to her house.
So… In Oxford… what did we do on our first day there? As usual my memory is all fuzz. We walked into town via the canal & it was lovely. The kids were a little bored fro tie to time, but on the whole they enjoyed it as it was a good walk with plenty to look at. We headed into the Centre & tried navigate to a couple of museums with just a tourist leaflet map. That worked OK in the end & we reached the History of Science Museum – or was it just billed as The Science Museum. It’s at that very decorous part of Oxford with the round building & big wall decorated with busts of greek philosophers (in a pleasantly grotesque exaggerated style). Jut off the side of there. It’s a great place proper museum stuff with display cases full of fascinating stuff, but the kids don’t have the time of attention span for this kind of thing. They whizzed through & were bored. When I say, “The kids” I’m not including Jack – he would have quite happily stayed a lot longer & studies a lot more, but the inertia of the younger ones only allowed for skimming. Jack was not included in “The kids” quite a lot of the time. It’s funny how that is developing.

Then to the Natural History Museum (after a few false starts caused by parents being pulled in so many directions by the young & demanding. The natural History Museum in Oxford is great. There was a lot there & there was enough to keep the younger ones happy – Even Jude & Esme after Jude had managed to indulge in the calming influence of a little retail therapy…. Jude needs to satiate the ‘shop thing’ before he can relax & enjoy his surrounding – such is his need to ‘acquire’.

We spent a good long while there & as it’s not too big we could let Jack go off & explore as he wanted – and he did . In the end, when the others had finally exhausted all that we could initially provide (they were getting hungry & irritable) one of us had to go back inside to locate Jack & bring him out. I failed then Louise succeeded.

Then off down a side street to St Giles & into town but unable to get past a strategically placed kiosk with ice cream for sale.

From that day on Esme wanted ice cream every day . There came a point during the day when she would start whingeing for ice cream & carry on until properly distracted (difficult when she’s been placed in the pushchair) or satiated.

One of the tasks on the holiday for us was to not spend too much money as, (to be quite frank) we don’t have a lot of it. This meant some limitations & it meant some occasional frustration for the kids when they could not exceed the agreed budget. Jack was very moderate in his spending as he recognised he could accumulate some money & get something ‘larger’.

Annnnd back to work

….meh…

As is the way of things – we were getting more into the swing of things, but it was time to come home. I don’t get long holidays; not had one for a few years now, but it was good to give the kids a break from the norm, I just with that period of adjustment & excitement that causes then to be that bit harder to manage was a little shorter. Esme has definitely come out of this the wildest, but her spell also works on whomever is nearest to her. She has an infectious joy & mania that she passes onto Jude, Eve & even Jack… maybe me as well.

It’s been a good break. Not looking forward to work today – not just because it’s work, but because there are the problems on the sale (a little cloud that would occasionally follow me around when I let myself think about it (though balloon that goes dark, rains & follows you about – 6 panel comics idea if ever there was one) but there looks to have been some system problems from the weekend that were only cleared up yesterday (oh, joy – a grumpy phone to deal with all day.

So – what happened on our holiday to Oxford. Well, we didn’t take coats – not for ourselves – the kids had coats… So the rather heavy rain that greeted us leaving the station was a bit of a bad stay. We called Dr Susie (who so kindly let us stay at the house) & she said that she could pick some of us up., so we set out to a meeting point to do the ‘pick up’. Louise had the brolly I initially, but passed it to me as I took Jack & Esme (in buggy with raincover) up the ‘canal walk’ way & Louise took Jude & Eve on a theoretically easy jaunt to the pick up point. My passed on instruction on where to meet must have confused matters as Louise then went the wrong way, & it took a couple of calls & consultations on the soggy map printout to get her to the right point. All OK in the end – Louise arrived at the house before me – I came off the canal path a bit early – but it all worked out in the end. Dr Susie had even gone to the trouble of supplying us with a pasta meal & raspberries from her garden – treats!

She has a big house & we had the top (2nd) floor (floors?) with 3 rooms & another attic room. Jude & Esme had the largest room, Eve had her own room (as did Louise & I for the most part – nocturnal visits from Esme) & Jack had the attic room which was up a steep narrow staircase (no door) from Jude & Esme’s room. Plenty of space for our sizey family. Would be nice to have a house on this sort of scale as it could actually divvy up into a room for all (daydreaming beyond my means again).

How to describe the house? It’s seizable enough, but it’s stuffed to the gills. I think that she puts up students some of the year round – but I’m not quite sure… The rooms are still her kids rooms in some cases (Eve was in Polly’s old room & we were in one of her sons old rooms). It may be that she’s running more ‘open house’ for her friends & family’s friends & friends of friends. Her children are all grown up & she has a lot of … (for want of a better word) clutter. Lots of photos & cards hanging up & pictures/paintings & Asian puppets & …well… it creates a friendly atmosphere.

Setting off to work & setting out on holiday (I’ve a bigger bag with me that I usually take).

I’m ambivalent as to whether I am prepared of not. I’ve probably got everything, but I can’t be sure & do I need to be sure? We’ll get by. My biggest worry is how Louise will do with her aching back carrying large bag? She also has the difficult job of closing up the house before leaving and making sure the kids are ready & not running off to play at the last minute… this might prove harder.

Jude cut his toe – that might make things for troublesome for him… He was awake as I left this morning (I left later because I deemed it necessary) and he was in a sweet mood. He was nursing his toe when I went up to brush my teeth & I told him we had some plasters downstairs (don’t worry). He seemed reluctant to actually go downstairs though (it was just before the ‘magic’ 7 o’clock) so he started tidying up some Mr Men books. He was quiet & he was sweet.

Esme slept through the night on her bed again – stumbling up to Louise after I’d had a shower & actually staying asleep, (“Where’s daddy?” “He’ll be here in minute” “…”) She was still asleep when I left – hopefully she’ll sleep in a little – it’ll do her good today. I’m not convinced that she’ll be able to maintain wakefulness over a long train journey… mind you that could all pose problems later this evening when we’re trying to settle them all again.