2014

I don’t want to go to school

Tuesday 9th December 2014Tuesday 9th December 2014Baggie

Once again I feel that I have to apologise for the paucity of updates and the hiatus between write ups. The trio of updates at the beginning of the month were supposed to have been backed up with some quick fire write ups. It is blatantly clear that did not happen. Life, work and the death of my NAS conspired to prevent that from happening. To somehow make up for this I am promising a couple of updates before the annual Bagnall Christmas message, that will appear on the Winter Solstice (already pre-written and scheduled).

So let me take you back before the last three write ups to the end of October. The Badger Moot ended on Friday 31st October and we arrived back mid afternoon. The more astute of you will recognise that corresponds to the beginning of the triduum of Allhallowtide, the eve of All Hallow’s day or more colloquially Halloween. In recent years the British have followed the path of our American cousins popularising the festival. Trick or treating and ‘guising’ (dressing up in Halloween themed costumes) has gained commonplace acceptance, indeed we were prepared with a big Halloween-themed bowl of sweets for the trick-or-treaters, of which there were at least half a dozen. Another of the common Halloween traditions is the carving of a jack-o’-lantern.

At the beginning of the year Éowyn was given some pumpkin seeds from Auntie Sally, and as part of our vegetable growing we grew them. Unfortunately, we suffered from a Pumpkin blight that killed off most of our crop, however one hardy individual survived and became the first jack-o’-lantern I have ever carved. Éowyn designed the face, and indeed drew blood weeping from its ‘eyes’ but Daddy got to play with the big sharp knife. I was quite pleased with it and as you can see from the photo below, it looked quite good lit with a tealight guarding our boundary.

The following weekend was the end of the half term holiday and thus marked the changeover between schools for our girls. By a quirk of fate neither had to go to school on the Monday. Amélie because it isn’t one of her days and Éowyn because her new school had an inset day. Therefore, with Lucinda and I also not in work we decided to treat the girls to a day at Legoland. With Ezra spending a day at Nanny and Granddad’s it gave us more freedom to enjoy the rides without having to worry about our little boy.

The weather was typical November drear, but relatively dry. Nevertheless we didn’t fancy getting a soaking on the Log Flume or the Viking’s River Splash. Without Ezra, Lucinda and I thought that we may be able to go on some of the bigger rides. Amélie was in the same frame of mind but Éowyn wasn’t interested and so while Lucinda and Amélie braved the Dragon ride, Éowyn and I waited in the drizzle armed with a camera to try and take a photo or their experience. Amélie loved the ride, she is so much more adventurous than her big sister, indeed Éowyn clung to me with fear on the Dragon’s Apprentice ride, which if you have ever been to Legoland you would realise is not exactly the scariest of rides.

Both girls thoroughly enjoyed their day at Legoland, Éowyn especially liked the fact that she was now old enough to join the driving school and drive an electric car around a more challenging course that the L-Drivers course that the younger children (Amélie included) have to negotiate.

The following weekend (I was at work – how unusual!) the family were invited to a firework party at Éowyn’s first best friend: Raine’s house. Lucinda drove to High Wycombe with the kids armed with fireworks. Unfortunately the weather had other plans and the rain threatened to put a literal as well as proverbial dampener on the evening. A little bit of rain never stops the British from enjoying themselves though and eventually the fireworks were lit. Lucinda could not enjoy them though because Ezra was clinging to her for dear life and Amélie who doesn’t like loud noises was nuzzled against her hiding from the explosions. Only Éowyn stood and watched them and Lucinda was trying to keep an eye on her to make sure that she stayed out of harm’s way.

So after an exciting couple of weeks, of holidays, Legoland, Halloween and fireworks and starting a new school, life settled down into its new rhythm. A drive to school across Staines and the A30 was replaced with a walk through the local park (as fate would have it enduring Autumnal rain-showers for the first few weeks) to their new seats of learning. The first week went relatively well. Amélie thoroughly enjoyed her new school while Éowyn remained indifferent, which was as good as we expected the first week. Then things changed.

Éowyn started crying that she didn’t like her new school and wanted to go back to her old school. This obviously upset Lucinda and I think Éowyn sensed this and played on it a little more. It was time to be the bad cop and although sympathetic I had to encourage her to embrace her new school and try and make new friends. She would always have her old friends, indeed we have been pro-active in setting up playdates with some of her old school friends, but it would be fun to make new ones. As Éowyn was going through this transitional period the Ofsted report of her new school was announced and disappointingly it was grade 3 (requires improvement). It started to look as if we had made a big mistake.

Then a couple of things happened to help settled Éowyn. First, she moved up a level with her reading. At her previous school she would have homework once a week and although as parents you were encouraged to read with your child they were not given a new reading book until the teacher or teaching assistant had read the book with them. Her new school doesn’t give homework to younger children (which I am undecided whether it is a good thing or not) but they do read the comments that we make in her reading diary and give her a new book each day. This is really helping her reading, which can only be a good thing. The second thing that helped to settle her, was that she began to make friends and indeed was invited to her first birthday party.

It is now a month since they started at their new schools and Amélie is still enjoying her new school, in fact she says that she prefers it to her old school, which is great news. Éowyn on the other hand would still prefer to be at her old school. She is making friends and when we drop her off at school she seems very popular with a lot of the girls and they look for her. However, her new teacher is not her old teacher and obviously teaching methods vary and I think that is part of the problem. Not saying that either is right or the other is wrong, but Éowyn is having to deal with a different school ethos, different teaching styles as well as making all new friends.

It is horrible to think that your child is upset and not enjoying school but it has only been a month and these things take time. She is obviously a charismatic character as she seems to make friends easily and other children seem to want to be around her. She is clever, she has already earned a place in the gold book (a reward given out to the top pupils) but she is strong willed and that is probably holding her back from enjoying herself at her new school. We will hopefully have a catch up with her new teacher in the week and see how she feels that Éowyn is getting on and if there is anything that between us we can do to help our eldest with the transition. As always I will keep you across how it develops.

Well I think I have kept you long enough and I have to keep somethings for the next write up, so I will take my leave
Peace and Love

Baggie

PS: Another little funny from Amélie mishearing lyrics. One of the bigger hits of the year has been ‘all about that bass’ by Meghan Trainor. The lyrics are a little repetitive: ‘Because you know I’m all about that bass, ’bout that bass, no treble.’ Amélie, not really understanding what is meant by treble changed the lyrics to ‘Because you know I’m all about that bass, ’bout that bass, no cello.’ Not sure that she knows what a cello is either but maybe she has seen this smooth jazz version and added two and two together.

The Bagnall girls!

Looking innocent

Helicopter ride

Watch where you are going…

Read the sign!

In a big car!

First day at school

Sisters!

Happy to be going?

Off to playschool

Ol’ Blue Eyes!

Very happy to be going

Éowyn

Jack-o’-lantern!

Amélie

Whee!

Mommy and Amélie

Adrenaline Junkies

Waiting for my driving lesson

Which are the odd ones out?

Can we keep it?

Concentrating

Taking the more difficult route

The racing line?

The Badger Moot 2014 – Part Two: The Hollywood Party

Wednesday 12th November 2014Wednesday 12th November 2014Baggie

For those of you that have landed here without reading the first half of the 2014 moot please click here.

We returned back to Berwick Manor late afternoon as the sun went down. The kitchen was out of bounds as Adam and Lucy and Steve and Zoe prepared not only the evening meal but the decorations necessary for the Hollywood Party so we herded the kids in the TV room to keep them out of the way.

Ezra was so tired after his earlier excursions that we put him to bed before dinner and therefore he didn’t join in with the fancy dress but everyone else took the evening to heart including little Letty (a papoose from Dances with Wolves). You would think that with a subject as wide as Hollywood that there would be a variety of different costumes and indeed there was but great minds seldom differ and we did have a couple of duplicates: John and Steve both came as chimney sweeps à la Bert from Mary Poppins, and Lucinda and Lucy both came as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

As usual Adam and Lucy and Steve and Zoe worked hard to decorate the kitchen to help everyone get in the spirit of the party. There was a red carpet down the hall to the kitchen, a Hollywood style Walk of Fame and a gold curtain to stand against for the paparazzi photos. There were even three mini Oscars that were awarded to the best male costume, best female costume and best child costume as voted via secret ballot. Lauren won the Oscar for the best child costume as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series, replete with a hand-crafted spell book with every spell from the series; Zoe won the best female costume with her Mary Poppins outfit and I won the best male costume as Animal (from The Muppets). I felt a little bit of a cheat as mine was completely bought with no extra effort required, however I was very pleased with the outfit and was delighted with the win. You can see everyone’s photos below so feel free to make your own decision and whether you would agree with the Badger clan voting.

Tuesday was the Bagnall turn to cook, therefore we did not venture too far from Berwick Manor. We drove to the nearby town of Abbotsbury to have a mooch but primarily to buy a Christmas decoration that we had seen the previous day when we drove through on the way to Portland. A very simple idea, but it caught our eye, an enterprising local had made snowmen from three different sized cross-sections of logs. It will sit nicely in our porch for the yuletide, greeting our Christmas visitors. I promise to take a photo when it is in situ and post it on here but in the meantime here is a photo of Amélie choosing it.

We also took the opportunity to go for a cream tea. We had passed the Eggcup tearoom on the Jurassic Coast road many times over the last decade but had never gone it for a scone but this year we rectified that omission. Situated in Swyre directly off the Jurassic Coast road about halfway between Abbostbury and Berwick Manor it seemed rude to past it by. The scones were big and delicious the only disappointment being that there was no view of the sea (they are situated on the wrong side of the road for that). We bought the girls a slice of Victoria sponge to go with their drinks but for some reason neither of them like it, therefore Daddy had a Victoria sponge chaser to go with his fruit scone and jam! I would quite happily recommend a pit stop there if you are on the B3157.

A year does not go past without a trip to Lyme Regis and so it was this year. Lyme Regis is probably one of our favourite places in the world and if we are in the area we will visit. So although Wednesday morning saw the first downpour of the week the inclement weather did not stop the Bagnalls from going to the seaside. Our faith was repaid for although it rained heavily during the journey as we arrived the rain stopped and even if the clouds sat on the surrounding hills and it wasn’t until the afternoon that the sun came out we still headed straight to the beach to build sandcastles and collect seaweed for decoration.

The good thing about the weather being a overcast is that you pretty much get the beach to yourself. The day before, a number of the family went to Lyme Regis but because the weather was so good everyone in the area had the same idea and so the car parks were full. Indeed some of the family had to find an alternative, as there was simply no where for them to park.

We did not have any such problem and managed to park exactly where we went wanted. After a couple of hours building sandcastles and paddling (in wellies) in the sea we headed for lunch. A little café near the beach is a particular favourite and being creatures of habit we found ourselves there. Their lunchtime special caught both Lucinda’s and my eye: fish finger sandwiches. As we sat waiting for our lunch, Éowyn mooched around the shell and fossil shop next door. The girls profited well from their visit to Portland, not only did Auntie Margaret buy both girls colouring books and pens and made them cupcakes she also gave them some money to spend on ice-creams. Éowyn is a little savvy when it comes to money and knows that Daddy will buy her ice-cream so she asked if she could buy some shells. I tried to dissuade her by saying that there were lots of other shops if she would like to compare prices. She thought about this and decided that as long as she could return to this shop if she didn’t see anything else then she would want to return. An agreement was reached.

We took our usual wander around Lyme Regis and it was little Ezra who spent his money first. Éowyn and Amélie spent their money from Daddy on their first day of the holiday. Ezra didn’t. He didn’t seem interested in anything on that first day and to be honest, when you are trying to help a 6 year old and a 4 year old choose their toys it was too tiring (especially after a disturbed night’s sleep) to try and encourage him to choose something. Perhaps he was just binding his time for as we passed a shop in Lyme Regis there were some knitted dinosaurs and he grabbed one. So we picked the three types of dinosaur that they had: A green tyrannosaurus rex, a blue stegosaurus and a red triceratops and asks him to choose. The red triceratops came out as favourite (my favourite dinosaur was the triceratops when I was a boy, too!). So Ezra had now spent his money it spurred the girls to spend the money off Auntie Margaret. The other shops did not have anything of interest so we popped back to the first shop and they bought their shells, to go with their mermaids before heading back to bass.

Thursday morning saw the Bagnalls visit another sandy beach and another one of our favourite haunts in the shape of Weymouth. With the weather warming up after the rain of the previous day (and heading for the warmest Halloween on record – in the UK) it seemed a shame not to spend the last full day of our holiday on the beach. Weymouth is one of the largest towns in Dorset and is a popular tourist venue in no small part due to its beach, low tide and warm(ish) sea. So we parked the car and headed directly to the beach and that was where we stayed for most of the day. Fish and chips on the beach added to the idiosyncratic Britishness of the day, especially when you consider that it was the end of October and we were wearing coats and wellies.

The last day of the moot coincided with Halloween and what a Halloween – the thermometer in my car registered 23°C on the drive home and as mentioned above it was indeed the hottest UK Halloween on record. We had to vacate the house and conscious about trying to miss the rush hour traffic around home we decided that a quick pit stop at Hive Beach and another drive along the Jurassic Coast road would be the last of our Dorset views for 2o14. Hive Beach had a disturbing, if somewhat fascinating sight: the decomposing body of a baby dolphin. It looked like it had been dead a while and had lost its head but Éowyn and I were fascinated – Lucinda and Amélie on the other hand were disgusted. There are photos on my Flickr pages here, if you are at all interested.

We made it back late afternoon in time to answer the door to all the trick or treaters. But you will have to wait until the next write up to see the photo of our Pumpkin carving.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS The photos below are of our family movie night party (feel free to judge the costumes yourself and see if you agree with the family). If you want to see more general photos of the holiday please see: Badger Moot 2014 – Part One.

Family movie night

Walk of Fame

Admit One

Bert, relaxing

The Award (and reward)

Bert and Mary

Maddie – Minion

Lucy – Dorothy

Steve – Bert

Finley – Clint Eastwood

Megan – Lara Croft

Zoe – Mary Poppins

Adam – Batman

Maddie – Minion

Amélie – Anna

Éowyn – Sophia

Lauren – Hermione

Lucinda – Dorothy

Mike – Gru

Sally – ‘get your choc-ices’

Bill – The Phantom

Diana – Minnie

John -Bert

Kate, Nolan and Letty

Baggie – Animal

Mike and Maddie

The children

Child – winner

Female – winner

Male – winner

Badger Moot 2014 – Part One

Tuesday 11th November 2014Wednesday 12th November 2014Baggie

A little delayed due to a couple of important updates but let me take you back to the October half-term and the greater Badger clan tradition of descending on deepest, darkest, Dorset (for the 11th time). As regular readers will know every year the descendants of Grandpa Badger (Lucinda’s Granddad) gather in Dorset for a week’s holiday. It is a great opportunity to catch up with members of the family that we do not see for the majority of the year.

As I mentioned above this is the 11th annual moot and the 10th at Berwick Manor in the Bride Valley, West Dorset just north of Burton Bradstock. This year’s moot was sorely lacking in Badgers (although there were two ex-Badgers) however there was a new addition to the clan: Letty Woodman, Kate and Nolan’s baby daughter, (our children’s second cousin) the first time myself and Lucinda had met her.

As usual we can pick the keys up for the manor on the Friday afternoon, however with it not only being the last day of term for Éowyn and Amélie it was also their respective last days at their current schools, so we decided that it would be unfair to take them out of school denying them the opportunity to say goodbye to their friends. We also had to ensure that both girls had collected all their belongings since they would not be returning. Therefore, we did not set off down the M3 until well after 16:00 and perilously close to rush hour. We were fortunate, however, that although the traffic was heavy it kept moving and we arrived in good time at around 19:00. This gave us just enough time to unload the car and put Ezra’s cot up before Uncle Bill and Auntie Sally’s traditional Friday night curry.

The girls and Ezra are usually very good sleepers. Amélie will usually be the first to rise (perhaps a throw back to her early years when she would scream through the night – she was 17 months old before her first ‘full night’s’ sleep) but that is usually not until 0630 at the earliest. Now whether it was the excitement of being in a house with all their cousins, all five of us in the same room, or just being in a different place but none of us got a decent night’s sleep (indeed we didn’t get a decent night’s sleep all week – so much for a relaxing holiday). Indeed Ezra woke up about 0300 and sat chatting in his cot (which was at my side of the bed) for about 3 hours before falling back to sleep. In fairness, he didn’t cry just sat there chatting, and although, after checking on him, we lay there ignoring him it did mean that we were only ever half asleep. Ezra probably fell asleep just before 0600 and then Amélie woke up at 0630 – so much for a bit of a lay in!

Saturday morning, was the traditional mooch around Bridport Market. There wasn’t much to buy (as usual) but we enjoy the wander and bumping into other members of the Badger clan. I had also give the girls (and Ezra – not that he knew) £10 each for them to spend on their holidays. Bridport is home to a Toymaster shop and when we said that the girls could go it, their little eyes lit up with wonder and delight. ‘This is the best place,‘ Éowyn gushed. They ran from one aisle to another trying to decide what to spend their money on. Neither Éowyn nor Amélie have the full appreciation of what ten pounds can buy you these years and were constantly disappointed when they pointed to the biggest boxes and Daddy had to say that they didn’t have enough money. Nevertheless, after what felt like an age, both finally made a decision and wangled an extra £2.50 out of Dad. Normally, I wouldn’t be such a soft touch but Amélie had spotted a Barbie and Horse set that was half price (must take after her Nanny Fran spotting a bargain like that) and it seemed unfair that Amélie was allowed a little extra money and Éowyn wasn’t. For the record Éowyn, unsurprisingly spend her money on another mermaid (and a mini my little pony). Éowyn does seem to have an mermaid obsession and has countless mermaid related toys so when I saw her contemplating what to buy and one of them was a mermaid then there was only going to be one outcome.

Toys were left at Berwick Manor though as we headed to Hive Beach in the afternoon. Hive Beach in Burton Bradstock is the closest coastline to Berwick Manor and we always head there at least once a moot! We took Lauren and played the age old game of playing chicken with the tide. The usual and inevitable outcome transpired and at some point the tide won and there was a trio of soggy children climbing back into the car for the trip back.

Saturday may have seen us visit familiar haunts, Sunday on the other hand saw us explore a new corner of Dorset. In November 1943 notice was given to the villagers of Tyneham that they would be required to leave their homes before Christmas as the area was being commandeered by the Ministry of Defence for forces’ training. The last of the inhabitants left on the 17th December believing that they would return after the war. This never happened, and today the village is still part of the Ministry of Defence Lulworth Ranges and is one of the country’s ‘lost’ villages.

Tyneham is open to the public most weekends and all main public holidays and is free. The intervening 71 years have taken their toll on the village and many of the cottages are but shells. However the church and the school are in good order with St Mary’s church housing an exhibition on the history of the area and the school a wildlife project.

It was definitely an interesting place to visit and the girls Éowyn especially, we initially intrigued by the ruined houses. However, it is only a village and although Lucinda and I found it fascinating it did not capture the girls imagination. A tour of the village probably took about an hour and I would have liked to have stayed longer to take more photos but tummies were rumbling and so we headed down the road to Lulworth Cove.

I would recommend visiting Tyneham, if you are in the area as it is a fascinating part of our war effort. Indeed it brings it home to you that men from the village were off fighting in foreign lands to protect their homes, only to find that when they returned home that they did not have a home, or a village, or a community – the very things that they were fighting for. This is not only true of Tyneham where the village was taken over but many of our cities (and cities across Europe) that were destroyed by bombing raids.

As I mentioned above, many of the houses in the village are but shells but the church and the school have been faithfully restored (even if, in the case of the school it is a little contrived with the school work) and it was interesting trying to explain to 21st Century children the need for a ‘K1’ telephone kiosk and telegrams.

The unseasonable warm weather encouraged us to head to the coast to Lulworth Cove rather than head straight back to base. Lucinda and I would have liked to have explored the area a little more and walked the coast path to Durdle Door however three little ones had been patient around Tyneham and so after grabbing a spot of lunch we headed to the beach in Lulworth Cove.

There isn’t much of a beach at Lulworth Cove but the girls (and Ezra) found a bit of sand to build their first sandcastles of the holiday. For the second time this holiday they also ventured a little too far into the sea and the sea won. Prepared with spare clothes, we poured the sea-water out of their wellies and dried their feet, changed their socks and re-shod them in their shoes and headed back to the car. Walking up the road toward the carpark we had to pass through the visitors centre and their ice-cream parlours, the lure of which was too great. So, we sat on the wall eating our ice-creams before heading back to the car and home. The only downside was that somewhere between the beach and the car we managed to lose one of Amélie’s wellies. Not the worst thing that could happen but we did need to replace them, which we did the next morning.

When I was a child we would regularly visit my mom’s cousin, my Auntie Margaret (actually my first cousin once removed) but I hadn’t seen her and my Uncle Ray until we met at my Nan’s funeral last year. So, during last year’s moot we initiated another yearly tradition of visiting Portland and spending a day on the isle. After a Sunday night that was very much like previous two (Ezra waking up in the middle of the night chatting followed by Amélie waking up early) we set out from Puncknowle along one my favourite roads in England (the B3157 – the Jurassic Coast Road) towards Weymouth and Portland.

Auntie Margaret had made cupcakes for the kids and had left them undecorated for the girls to have some fun when they arrived. After decorating the cakes and colouring one of their pictures in their colouring books that Auntie Margaret had bought them we headed across the road to the junior playground over the road. The girls and Ezra had fun but it was aimed at kids a little younger that Éowyn, and even Amélie was probably a little too old for some of the rides so we headed a little further down the road the ‘big’ playground.

This was much more suited to Éowyn, but maybe a little on the big side for Amélie however one that enjoyed it the most was Ezra! In the centre of the playground was a slide that towered above me, the top was easily 2.5 metres (around 8 feet) high. Éowyn and Amélie were both a little nervous but nevertheless climbed the ladder to slide down. Their 18 month old brother had no fear. We tried dissuading him from going up, but he wasn’t having that, so as he made the climb Auntie Margaret followed closely behind and myself and Lucinda positioned ourselves along the slide. No need to worry, he loved it and as soon as reached the bottom he ran round to climb to do it all again. Auntie Margaret followed him down the slide and then back up the stairs behind him again. That was exercise that she wasn’t expecting. Ezra showed no signs of stopping so we decided it was an opportune moment to walk back to Auntie Margaret’s house and lunch.

The girls were on best behaviour and endeared themselves to Margaret and Ray by asking if they could call them Grandma and Grandpa rather than Auntie Margaret and Uncle Ray. As you can imagine both were delighted to have been asked and were very happy to agree to. We left mid-afternoon to return along the Jurassic Coast road to Berwick Manor for the family meal and this year’s fancy dress party. But you will have to wait until the next instalment for part two of the holiday and The Hollywood Party for the details and more importantly: the photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS Before you look at the photos below I must warn you that there is one that might break your heart. It is not all joy and happiness on holiday as Amélie aptly demonstrates below. Do not fear the long face didn’t last too long!