Merry Christmas 2015

Monday 21st December 2015Thursday 12th November 2015Baggie

To all our Friends and Family, and casual readers of this blog

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your love and support in what has been an emotional year. You gave us strength when days were dark.

Do not walk behind me; I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend for walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love from

Baggie, Lucy, Éowyn, Amélie and Ezra.

Merry Christmas from Éowyn, Amélie and Ezra

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees

Friday 18th December 2015Saturday 19th December 2015Baggie

I’m on a roll, you wait for ages for an update and then a second appears without warning! The previous revolved around mommy and daddy – for once – this one is back on track and is about the people you really want to read about: The Baguettes!

As one would expect for a write up around Christmas there is an awful amount of Christmas related shenanigans in the lives of the Bagnalls.

As per last year, our local garden centre, Vermeulens, opened their Santa’s grotto. This year it took on a little more of a personal significance. Vermeulens run the grotto for free but ask for donations for local charity and the charity chosen this year was Sam Beare Hospice who were so supportive with our family through Granddad’s illness. Indeed, it is the charity that we have raised money for on Granddad’s memorial page, (which you can find here).

Unfortunately, I was working on that weekend, so I couldn’t visit Santa with the girls and Ezra, but Lucinda met up with a couple of friends and their children so there was a big group of them going to ask Santa for all the gifts that you had no idea that they wanted and haven’t bought!

This first visit to Santa was the day after the first pantomime of the season. The local amateur dramatics society, the Riverside Players, put on a pantomime every year at the Memorial Hall in Old Windsor. This year was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Again, I was, unfortunately, working and so Lucinda took Éowyn and Amélie with Éowyn’s best friend Aaliyah (Ezra stayed at Nanny’s – he is a little too young to sit through a pantomime just yet). Amélie spent most of the show hiding under the chair, frightened of the Evil Stepmother – yet said how much she enjoyed it on her return. As with all of their performances, the Riverside Players pantomime was of an extremely high standard and enjoyed by all.

Since I was at work for both of those events, we needed to book up secondary events so that I could accompany the Baguettes, on my weekends off. Therefore the following Sunday morning we headed to Bocketts farm in deepest, darkest Surrey (Fetcham, near Leatherhead to be precise), to visit the Santa grotto there. Bocketts do not allow you to pre-book your visit to Santa; you turn up then allocated the next available slot to visit Santa.

Therefore, we set out nice and early Sunday morning to ensure that we were there as soon as Bocketts opened so that we could find ourselves in one of the early slots. Indeed, we turned up at 0915 and the girls were on the tractor-trailer (this is a grotto on a working farm) at 0930! The adults walked alongside the trailer for the short journey to the converted barn where Santa has set up his grotto.

You walk through to his straw lined room and plonk yourself on the hay bales arranged as seats in front of Santa. It was very well done, and he called each child (or group of children) up and opened his big book of presents and wrote their names down (even if he had a slight issue with our children’s names) and what presents they would like, before handing out a little present to them.

One aside to our visit was an event, which was a little strange and highlights the smallness of the world. A work colleague was looking through his Facebook timeline, when his niece’s husband posted a picture of their child’s visit to Santa. He looked at the photo and thought why is Baggie in that photo? Therefore, he reposted it on my timeline to confirm that it was indeed me. There, sitting on a hay bale next to Santa was my good self. His niece and her husband had taken their child to see Santa at the same time, and same place, as us. Two sets of strangers linked by a mutual acquaintance, mobile phone camera footage and social media. What a strange world that we live in.

So, two trips to Santa, one with daddy and one without; so it was with pantomimes. A second trip to the theatre beckoned, this time a ‘professional’ pantomime, Sleeping Beauty at Woking theatre. Again, Ezra stopped in with Nanny while Mommy and Daddy took Éowyn and Amélie, around the M25 deeper into Surrey.

The seats were up in the gods and although afforded us a good view was a little vertiginous! This was my first professional pantomime at a theatre as an adult. Apparently we used to go to the pantomime as children with my cousins, but I have to rely on Nanny Fran’s memory as I have no recollection of these big nights out. Obviously, I have seen amateur ones, my dad’s employers used to put them on for the families of the workers when I was a child. My dad was very much involved in the productions, indeed one year he was one of the ugly sisters in their production of Cinderella. Therefore, I am no stranger to the Pantomime but since we have kids I have been working in the weekends leading up to Christmas and so have not been able to attend this family tradition. Now, my job has changed and I am actually off at weekends there will be more of these in the future!

The other great tradition of this time of the year is the ubiquitous school nativity play. With two children of school age then that means two nativity plays to enjoy. However, Éowyn attends drama classes after school and thus there was an additional end of term performance to attend. With a stroke of fortune, or just good planning on the part of the school we were able to attend performances of all three plays on the same day.

Neither of the girls had starring roles, Éowyn had been asked to be a narrator but had declined because there were too many lines to read, and she was the narrator last year.

Amélie’s play was based around a Christmas tree and the toys that come to life on Christmas Eve. Amélie was a dancing doll and had a song to sing and a dance to perform – along with the other dancing dolls. You could see the concentration in her face and she was obviously enjoying it. With nearly 100 children, all with roles to play it is quite a testament to the teachers and staff that the play was so entertaining considering the ages of the children (4 and 5). The main issue was the number of parents that stood up throughout the play blocking the view of everyone else. There is an inherent selfishness in too many people. By all means, stand up and encourage your child, and take a photo if you want but half a thought for the other 100 people who are also there to see their child and would also like to take a photo. Indeed, one of the mothers gave another mother a piece of her mind regarding her inconsideration.

Éowyn’s play was entitled ‘Behind the stable door’ and told the story of the nativity from the point of view of the animals that had been kicked out of the stable to allow Joseph and Mary to spend the night. Éowyn was in the choir. Now, I love my daughter dearly but she is not the greatest of singers so it was a brave move by the casting director. Nevertheless, she sang her heart out and it sounded more than passable. Perhaps because the parents watching Éowyn’s play have sat through a number of nativity plays by the time they reach year 2, there was very little standing and blocking of views; much more consideration.

The third play of the day was Éowyn’s Sense Theatre production of a highly abridged version of Annie. Now I don’t want to be disparaging but considering that for an hour a week for the last 12 weeks they have been practising this, and the children there all want to do drama after school I felt that the two nativity plays that we saw earlier on in the day were much more polished. Is that a testament to the teachers and staff of the school or a slight on the drama teachers I am not sure. Saying that, there were some very good individual performances and Éowyn was definitely putting the effort in and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. Shame she didn’t have a bigger speaking part, but she was one of the youngest in that group. It will be interesting to see if she wants to continue with drama and whether she wants to take it any further. You will have to watch this space.

Therefore, after two quick updates, all before Christmas I had better leave you there so that you can look at the photos and put your feet up while you drink your mulled wine and eat your festive nuts.

Peace and Love

Baggie

P.S. As was the case last last year, the International Space Station will pass over the UK at approximately 1730 on Christmas Eve. Therefore, if there are clear skies you can look up and wave at the British astronaut Major Tim Peake as he hurtles through space. However, if there are any children reading, at 1730 Santa’s sleigh will be visible in the sky as he rushes to India to hand out presents to the good boys and girls in that part of the world.

P.P.S. One more little astronomical note: If you are younger than 38 this will be the first time that you will have seen a full moon on Christmas Day. The last time this happened was 1977 and the next one will not be until 2034. So, again, if the skies are clear take a peek at the moon after the Christmas festivities and marvel at its fullness. Is it any coincidence that the first Star Wars film was also released in 1977? Nah!

P.P.P.S. Any guesses for this year’s Christmas Lyric title? Award yourselves 25 points if you said River by Joni Mitchell.

Elf and Safety notice

Oi!

Mommy and daughters

Amélie and Santa

Éowyn and Ezra with Santa

A gift for Ezra

Sibling fun

Feed the goat

Fun on the swing

Motorbikin’

Brrrmmmm

This is fun

Ezra on the slide

Look at Ezra’s badge

Driving a tractor

Amélie

Making badges

Tractor fun

Let’s make a sandcastle

Meeting Santa

Snowman display

Mommy and Daddy time: A trip to Vienna and a dinner dance

Friday 18th December 2015Friday 18th December 2015Baggie

Regular readers of this website may recall that I have been fortunate enough to have had a trio of wins this year. There has been the Emmy (yes, I thought I would throw that one in again), the signed Rugby World Cup ball (thanks England for being the first host team to be eliminated at the group stage heavily deflating any value that it has) but the first, and arguably the best, was the trip to Vienna.

For those of you that can’t quite remember the details: IMG provided facilities to the BBC to produce the 60^th Eurovision Song Contest for transmission on BBC 1. The 2015 contest was hosted in Vienna due to the previous year’s win by the Bearded Lady: Conchita Wurst. Apparently this hasn’t happened before but it is in the spirit of the competition the Austrian Ambassador hosted a send-off party for the UK entry at the Austrian Embassy. Invitations were strictly ‘invite only’ and along with the BBC personnel, four of us from IMG were invited to attend. As we entered the Embassy we were given a raffle ticket. Never say no to a free raffle ticket: the top prize being two return flights to Vienna on Austrian Airways and two nights in Das Triest Hotel (and a 1 metre inflatable Austrian Airways jet). This is what I won.

We decided that we would like to visit Vienna as the winter drew in and the Christmas markets begun. Therefore, we originally looked for availability at the hotel so that we could visit Vienna at the beginning of December. We also needed to arrange child minding, which would not only include two night, three days of care but taking them to school, picking them up and also taking Éowyn to her first ever brownies meet.

The first part of the equation seemed the easier of the two, however it was not to be. The hotel, Das Triest, despite its 72 rooms, had no availability for the early weekends in December. With my new role I only work one weekend in three, thus I was attempting not to book on the weekend that I was due to work. Therefore, it took a little toing and froing but eventually we managed to book a room for the weekend of the 14th November.

The second part of the equation was much simpler as Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz came to the rescue, driving down on the Friday and leaving on Tuesday afternoon they settled in for the weekend at chez Bagnall. Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz came to pick the girls up from school (they needed to know where to take them on Monday morning) and we showed them the church hall when the Brownies meet. They knew the way into Staines town centre, despite Lucinda’s map from the last time they visited, so all was set for us to leave nice and early the next morning.

We had booked an early flight to take advantage of the majority of the weekend and had prebooked taxis to take us to the airport and pick us up in Vienna to take us to the hotel. We were only away for a couple of days so those extra minutes and piece of mind were all important. So we left the house before any of the Baguettes woke, heading off sans children for the longest time we have been on our own since Éowyn was born seven years ago!

We arrived at Heathrow Airport terminal 2, the home of Lucinda’s previous job and she still knew quite a few people who worked there, so it was a good chance for her to catch up with them. After a good old natter we breezed through security and into the shopping mall that is the modern terminal building. I asked Lucinda and if she missed the airport. She didn’t have to think about the answer: she missed the way it was but not the way it is now and although it would be nice to be P.A.Y.E. she wouldn’t want to go back.

We landed at Vienna airport in good time and quickly found our taxi driver. Not only did we make the right decision in organising a cab for convenience the taxi driver was also very friendly and erudite, illuminating us with the history of Vienna and pointing out landmarks along the way.

We arrived at the hotel in good time, indeed before the room was ready and so we dropped off our bags and headed out in Vienna. The hotel was a short walk from the city centre and so we were able to take in the city without having to rely on public transport.

Initially, we had planned on a lazy weekend, taking advantage lie-ins and no disturbed nights from little nocturnal visitors but we decided that would be a waste of visiting such a beautiful city, therefore we researched the attractions to visit and in doing so found out that there was an exhibition of Edvard Munch at the Albertina. Edvard Munch is most famous for his 1893 painting, The Scream and is one of Lucinda’s favourite artists, therefore the list began.

Saturday, therefore became a day of exploration. We found the lay of the land, including a couple of the early Christmas markets. We also took a boat trip down the Danube canal. This was probably our one mistake of the weekend. The Danube canal was a former arm of the River Danube and a trip down the river Danube sounds may sound like we would be in for a scenic trip. However, the Danube canal is somewhat different. The arm of the River Danube was turned into a canal to protect the city of Vienna from flooding in the late 16th century and since that time has attracted the more industrial side of Vienna. Hence, the trip though nice was far from scenic, unless you like looking at the back of industrial cities.

With no matutinal visitors we eased ourselves into Sunday morning. A leisurely breakfast was a precursor to the only full day we had in the city. Unfortunately, the weather luck of the Bagnalls was in full force. We had hoped that the weather in Vienna would be cold and snowy, or cold and clear, or indeed warm and clear. Unfortunately what greeted us on Sunday morning was typical London weather, somewhat mild (for the time of year), low cloud and persistent rain. We had planned on visiting the Danube Tower to take in the view of the city but with such weather conditions we decided to head straight to the Albertina and the Edvard Munch exhibition.

We had found the Albertina, on our stroll around the city on the previous day and so we could take a direct path and thus avoid getting completely soaked in the process. Now I am not the greatest art lover in the world and do not appreciate it as much as Lucinda but I think I nailed it on the head when I said that Edvard Munch is the ‘Smiths’ of the art world. I appreciate his technique, lots of lithographs and woodcuts and I liked a number of his works and the hidden symbolism but overall it is quite depressing and an exhibition was just a little too much. I can hear the wails of outrage in the art world but that is my view.

We left the Albertina and looked for another place to shelter – a nearby coffee house replete with Austrian cake aplenty. Well it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?

After filling ourselves with Hot Chocolate and Strudels we again required somewhere else to hide from the rain. The nearby Schmetterlinghaus or Imperial Butterfly house attracted us in. The building itself was very reminiscent of Kew Gardens and perhaps it was the time of year but there didn’t seem to be as many butterflies as in other butterfly houses that we have visited. Nevertheless it was well worth the visit.

The rain eased off in the afternoon and we managed to find the remaining Christmas markets including the Vienna Magic of Advent Christmas Market at Rathauplatz. This was the biggest one that was open while we were there and only not completely magically because of the weather, it really needed to be cold and crisp, with crunchy snow underfoot. Nevertheless it was still a good excuse to get some soup in bread. Yes, it is what it sounds like, a round loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with Goulash soup. Delicious and you can eat the loaf/bowl afterwards.

We had until the early afternoon the following day before having to find our way back to the airport. I am more a fan of natural history museums than art museums and since we visited the Albertina the previous day we decided to take in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (or the Natural History museum of Vienna). Along with the usual dinosaur bones and ubiquitous taxidermological menagerie it also house the Venus Von Willendorf the oldest known representation of the human form. As someone with an interest in anthropology it was incredibly interesting to see this tiny carved figure.

So after a cultural and relatively relaxing weekend it was time to head back. We arrived back to Staines on the Monday evening so Ezra was asleep, Amélie was in bed, nearly asleep and Éowyn was awake waiting our return. They had had a fun filled weekend with Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz and couldn’t wait to tell us all about it. It seems that they hadn’t missed us too much while we were away which bodes well (Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz willing) for more weekend breaks for Mommy and Daddy.

Two weeks later we took advantage of the other member of the Bagnall family, Auntie Mary. Lucinda and I had been invited to the R.T.S. Christmas Dinner Dance by suppliers of mine at work and so Auntie Mary came over for baby sitting duties. It was a black tie event and it was very nice to dress up for an occasion – something that Lucinda and I rarely do these days. It was an excellent event with good food, John Lloyd as an after dinner speaker and entertainment, including pyrotechnic acrobats, scalextric, video games and dodgems. What was particularly good about the evening was that the fact that the other guests of the same supplier and thus sitting next to me on the table was my erstwhile flatmate and good friend Richard and his wife Salma. We whiled away the night catching up on the missing 12 years and promised not to leave it quite as long next time!

Before I leave you with some photos of our mommy and daddy time, the competition winning luck is rubbing off. At the R.T.S. Dinner Dance there was a raffle and I mentioned to the people on the table my luck at competitions this year. Didn’t think much about it but out of 50 ish tables and 10 prizes our table won 2 – an Apple Watch and a Panasonic Camera. No, it wasn’t me but you have to share the luck around – that’s how it works!

Peace and Love

Baggie