Ofsted inspection, Easter and a trip to Peppa Pig World

Regular readers will no doubt have been on tenterhooks since the last write-up wondering about the results of Lucinda’s Ofsted inspection, and as I have attempted to sit down and commence this write-up on a number of occasions in the past month without success, there is a lot to catch up with so without further ado, I will get you up to speed with not only the inspection, but the Easter holidays as well.

With somewhat unfortunately timing the Ofsted inspection had been booked for the first day of the Easter holidays.  To avoid Lucinda’s inspection as to whether she would be a fit childminder actually being sabotaged by children (and our own children!) I decided to take the children out of the house for the four hours (yes four hours!) of the inspection.  A quick trip to annoy the people at work (although a lot of the people who would like to have met them were not in for one reason or another – therefore another trip is planned, over the summer) and then onto the perennial safe house that is Nanny and Granddad’s.

It was almost exactly four hours before we received the phonecall from Mommy to say that the inspection was over and we could head back to Staines Upon Thames.  Lucinda said that it was tough.  The inspector looked over the entire house and garden and wasn’t just concerned that the house was safe.  Lucinda needed to have paperwork in place for all eventualities to be signed by the parents of the child that would be in her care.  She needed to demonstrate that not only that the toys in the toy boxes were safe and child friendly but what aspects of learning that each toy could be used for, and demonstrate to the inspector.  In fairness to the inspector, she knew that it was Lucinda’s first time, and could see that Lucinda knew what she was talking about even if she was a little flustered and didn’t elucidate clearly enough.  The inspector wasn’t there to ‘catch her out’, and was somewhat forgiving if Lucinda didn’t get the full meaning of the question first time.

There were some recommendations but overall she passed and is now a registered childminder.  She will not be rated until the next inspection which will be within six months of registration.  Her registration came through not a day too early for he first paying job started that very week.  For the privacy of the child that she is looking after and Lucinda’s professionalism this will not be discussed on this website.

Since the first day of the Easter holiday’s was taken up with Mommy’s inspection and to allow mommy to relieve some of the stress that had built up over the inspection we decided to take the baguettes to Peppa Pig World the next day as a treat.  Both girls have been there before but this was Ezra’s first time.  He is quite a fan of Peppa Pig (or Georgie Pig, as he prefers to call it).  We arrived a little later than we wanted, heavy traffic on the M3 and a detour to pick up an Ebay purchase (a scooter for Amélie) added to the journey time.

Peppa Pig World is part of Paulton’s Park and although we have been a number of times we have not really explored the vast bulk of Paulton’s Park, just the Peppa Pig corner.  However, the girls asked to go on the tea cup ride as we entered so the big reveal of Peppa Pig World was held back from Ezra.  Ezra could not believe his eyes (and ears) as we entered Peppa Pig World.  His eyes were wide open and he just kept exclaiming ‘Wow!‘  It is very impressive as an adult so it must be a magical sight to a two year old.

We arrived just before the meet and greet of Peppa and George.  So we queued for a quick ride on Grandpa Pig miniature locomotive before joining the queue to meet Peppa and George.  Without wishing to spoil anything for anyone but it isn’t the real Peppa and George but people dressed up in Peppa and George costumes.  However, this means that Peppa and George are close to 2 metres tall, and when you are only 95cm that is quite scary.  It would be like me meeting a 12 foot high bipedal pig!  And so it was too much for our little son who nestled himself into Lucinda’s shoulder trying to avoid eye contact with the porcine giants.  The girls loved it though and ran to hug them.

We had decided before we went that since Amélie was going to have a scooter, and we were awaiting a scooter for Éowyn (also from Ebay) that Ezra would have a present from the on-site shop.  We had hoped that we work ask for a replica of George’s favourite toy: Mr Dinosaur, but we were going to let him choose.  We were hoping to do this towards the end of the day but since he was so traumatised by Peppa and George we decided that we would distract him with the Peppa Pig Shop.

Still clinging on to mommy we entered the shop.  As soon as he saw the toys he struggled to get down and ran straight for the Mr Dinosaur display.  He picked one up and said ‘Mine!’  A decision had been made.  He clung onto the toy for dear life even while he looked at all the other toys in the shop.  He pointed to a lot that he liked but never put Mr Dinosaur down.  Indeed it had to be scanned with him still holding onto it.  In fact, he didn’t let go of it all day.  every ride he went on (and we went on most of them) he held onto Mr Dinosaur.  You don’t mind buying them a toy when they love it that much.

The girls were very happy around Peppa Pig world because both of them are now of a height which means they can go on the rides by themselves.  They felt all grown up.  Indeed Éowyn is not that far off being able to go on the more adult rides on her own, however she is more of a wimp than Amélie who has definitely got more of the adventurous spirit when it comes to roller coasters.

The remainder of that week saw me at work.  Football does not stop for Bank Holidays!  On the rare occasion that it does (there was no football on Good Friday) there is always another job that springs forward.  This time it was the Eurovision Song Concert.  Well not the Eurovision Song Concert (that is next month, and yes we are providing the facilities for the BBC for this prestigious event), moreover the 60th Anniversary Concert, that brought together past winners in a one-off special event.  It is definitely a change from sport!

The weekend remained sport-filled but Easter Monday saw me at home for a change.  Cousin Maddie had asked if we would like to go to Hounslow Urban farm for a day out.  The girls love being with their cousins so we said that we would take them.  We looked up reviews of Hounslow Urban farm and it said rough and ready but an excellent day out.  Maddie’s older sister Lauren asked if she could come too and so with all seven seats of the S-Max filled we headed around the airport.

The reviews were spot on, but the rough and readiness is part of its charm.  We arrived just in time for a meet and greet of the animals.  We sat on straw bales as the staff brought round a variety of animals.  The usual rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, lambs.  Then more unusual animals such as ferrets, tortoises, stick insects.  Followed by snakes, water dragons and lizards.  I enjoyed it as much as the kids.

From there it was on to the pig racing, where you got to feed the pigs afterwards.  A spot of lunch and a bounce on the bouncy castle before the highlight of the day: the owl display.

As with everything at Hounslow Urban farm it was somewhat rough and ready and extremely hands on.  We were introduced a Barn Owl and a European Eagle Owl. They asked the children to stand in the middle of the farmyard and asked them to duck when the owl flew towards them.  Obviously everyone ducked.  Then with their backs to the owl they asked them to do it again and none of the children ducked.  This was to demonstrate the fact that the owl is a silent killer and its feathers have evolved in such a way as to eliminate any sound.  The children didn’t duck because they could not hear the owl swooping in behind them.

They then asked the kids to lie on the floor on their backs.  They then got the owl to fly low over them so they got a mouse-eye view of an owl gliding across the ground.  A fantastic experience for the girls but the best was yet to come.  Despite the fact that the European Eagle Owl is one of the largest species of owl with a wingspan of around 6 feet (1.8m), they were so confident in the bird’s docility that they let the girls hold it.  Amélie was first in line and quite confidently wore the glove, only the weight of the bird was causing her discomfit.  Seeing her little sister hold the owl, Éowyn too donned the glove.  After seeing her two little cousins bravely hold the devourer of rodents Maddie held the bird but Lauren (who had been caught by the wingtips of the owl during the display) decided that she wasn’t getting any closer to that particular strigine beast.

I really enjoyed the day at Hounslow Urban farm.  I like the fact that it is rough and ready and I think the kids like that too.  I like the fact that you can touch and handle the animals (under strict supervision of course).  But what I liked most about it was the fact that behind the fun and the dirt and closeness was the theme of education.  Education about the animals and the respect that we should have for the animals.  I would thoroughly recommend a day out there, but don’t wear your best clothes and take some handy hand-sanitizer.

Enjoy the photos below and the hundred or so new ones on the Flickr pages.

Peace and Love

Baggie

 

 

Welcome to 2015

It is traditional for my first post of the year to look Janus-like at the year that has just been and one the one yet to come.  Who am I to stand in the way of tradition?

2013 was an extremely hectic year with much of what life can throw at you and so we were hoping for a more sedate 2014.  With 3 children life is never going to be sedate, neither however, was it hectic.  In 2013 life through many things at us including: births, deaths, marriages, holidays, big birthdays, and house moves and although my company relocated (and came under new management) there were no new jobs in the Bagnall household.  It seemed that life was not finished with the Bagnall household and does not conform to the convention of numerical years and almost before the Christmas decorations had found their way back into the loft and certainly before Lucinda had returned to work from maternity leave the news broke that she would have to find a new job.

2014 saw the opening of the new Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport and Air Canada, the company where Lucinda had worked for the past 16 years, was one of the Airlines that was due to make it their new home.  Air Canada though, took this opportunity to look at their accounts and decided to outsource ground control to the handling agency ASIG.  Lucinda therefore had two choices: transfer to ASIG or redundancy.  Since Lucinda had such long service it made sense to take redundancy and then apply to ASIG, hopefully be offered a similar position and try to negotiate favourable terms as an individual.

Thus the stress of returning to work after maternity leave was coupled with the uncertainty of redundancy and job applications.  Nevertheless, Lucinda took it in her stride, took the favourable redundancy package, applied for a position at ASIG and managed to retain her job share hours which ties in, as nicely as it can, with my hours.

My hours have just been ridiculous this year with the conclusion of the move from Chiswick to Uxbridge (doesn’t sound too exotic, does it?) and especially moving Premier League Productions and at the same time taking on another major client in the guise of European Qualifiers.  It is nice to know that we are busy (better than being the opposite) but it would be nice to spend some time with the family.  However 2015 is bring a new structure and hopefully this will free me from the coal face and move me to the management side of my role and thus free me from the shackles of weekend fixtures.

These upheavals in work life have obviously been coupled with the usual stresses of being the parents of three young children and the small matter of moving into a new home.  We had only owned our new home for two months before 2014 was upon us and with Christmas 2013 around the corner all we had time to do was unpack.  Therefore this year was the first chance we had to do anything major with the house.

The house felt homely when we moved in and rooms were allocated almost on our first viewing and a year on they haven’t changed.  Our furniture, however felt dwarfed in the bigger living space and although we didn’t want to clutter the space with furniture for the sake of it we have acquired a few new pieces including the extending table that was used to full effect for Christmas dinner.

We haven’t made too many changes to the house so far, indeed we have only really made three major changes:

  • The installation of photovoltaic panels
  • Painting of the exterior
  • New French doors

The installation of the photovoltaic panels was never a definite plan but something I have always been interested in, especially when I realised how much bigger the fuel bills were for a larger, older house.  When we investigated the various methods to acquire them and how much it would cost to buy an array and we decided that there was no better time than the present. We are earning about £800 a year from them, if this year is at all typical, and our dual fuel bill had dropped by £60/month.  At that rate they will have paid for themselves in less than 6 years (not including any energy price increases) and they are guaranteed for 20 years.  Could be a good little earner;  I’ll keep you informed.

The first thing that we noticed about the house when we came for our initial viewing was the colour.  The house is pebbledashed (something I am not too keen on) and was of the original mortar colour.  Not very exciting, it was a good job that the rest of the house was so good.  We decided as we stood in the driveway in those first minutes that if we  purchase the house that we would like to paint it.

After moving in, it seemed that painting the house was an unnecessary extravagance and we should just live with the colour.  Then the wettest winter in many a year hit (and parts of Staines Upon Thames became Staines up-in-Thames) and the one thing that we noticed (apart from the fact that we were not flooded apparently, we discover we sit on a 1,000 year flood plain) was that there were an awful amount of pebbles on the driveway.  The mortar was absorbing the rain and crumbling.  This then pushed us back to the idea of painting the house.  It would serve two purposes, the first brighten the exterior of the house but secondly and more importantly it would bond the mortar and pebbles and add an extra layer of protection against the elements.

It was about this time that Lucinda was made redundant as Air Canada outsourced ground operations at Heathrow Airport to the handling agency ASIG.  With a nice little bonus in the bank it seemed to be the right thing to do to invest some of it into looking after the house.  So the house is now a Country Cream colour and certainly looks a lot brighter as you drive down the road.

The third improvement has been the replacement of the old sliding patio doors to some modern French doors.  Again it was one of the features of the house that we disliked when we first looked round.  We initially wanted bi-fold doors but apparently our opening wasn’t big enough so we comprised on French doors.  They give us the bigger opening that we wanted, bringing the outdoors in, as the architects are fond of saying, (although not what we particularly want at the moment) but also additional security compared to the sliding style patio doors and additional insulation from the modern double glazing.

Not a bad haul for the first year in our new home.  There are still plenty of things to be done, the most pressing in the heating system.  Last year we had a power flush to try to make the system more efficient and allow the radiators to actually output the heat that they are rated for.  The fact that last Winter was so mild (damp and windy but mild) it had sort of fallen to the back of our minds.  However this winter has already had cold days, and even colder nights and with a lack of heating downstairs, this has become a level one priority.

From a non-expert point of view it seems that there is so much gunk in the system that the hot water can not circulate around the lower half of the system.  Therefore we have hot water and a relatively warm upstairs but no heat downstairs.  This is coupled with single skin walls and a lack of underfloor insulation meaning that it can be unbearably cold downstairs.  Therefore, we have employed oil-filled radiators and fan heaters to attempt to make sitting downstairs bearable, which is denting the savings we would be accruing from the photovoltaic cells installation.

We have a heating engineer coming round in the week to see what he can do.  It might involve new radiators and pipework.  Hopefully not a new boiler but if it is needed, then it is needed.  To help retain the heat in the house we will also be looking at underfloor insulation in the coming year but that is going to be a big job and probably involve new carpets (or floor covering of some sort).  That however, can wait until the spring and be in place for next winter.

This past year has also seen our first attempt at cultivation.  Not in a self-sufficiency kind of way but just to see if we enjoy it and to help teach the children where our food comes from.  We were relatively successful with runner beans (there are still some in the freezer), potatoes, tomatoes and raspberries.  Not so successful with strawberries (squirrels dug the plants up before they had a chance to grow) and pumpkins (only one survived until Halloween).  The main thing was that we enjoyed doing it and managed to eat our produce so let’s see if we can do better next year.

The first event of last year that I would like to mention was the fact that in moving home we were further from Éowyn’s school but only a short walk to another.  Therefore, we made the decision to move sc

hools.  This was confirmed by the local education authority at michaelmas half term.  There have been tears and she is not enjoying it as much as she was at her old school, but we are confident that it will not take her much longer to settle it, especially with everyone returning after the Christmas break.

Amélie, on the other hand, is positively enjoying her new pre-school and looks forward to going to her ‘new school’.  The fact that both schools are a short walk from home and they can ride their scooters their, we think is a huge positive too.  There are also around 4 or 5 other families in the street with children of the same age so we feel more part of a community than we ever did at the previous school.  If only Éowyn’s best friend and favourite teacher were at this school then there would not be a problem, but life is not like that.

2014 has been another interesting year in the Bagnall household and I am sure that 2015 will just as interesting. Plans that we have will come to fruition and I am sure that this will be coupled with unforeseen obstacles that life will throw at us that will need to be overcome.  No doubt some things will go smoothly and others will be more bumpy; some things will fall into place without too much planning while others will fail despite being planned to the nth degree, and on that note I would like to leave you with this thought from Neil Gaiman:

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS.  2013 saw disappointment surrounding Comet ISON which strayed too close to the sun, denying us a promised ‘Comet of the Century’ experience.  January brings us, not a ‘Comet of a Century’ but with luck and the benefit of a dark sky you maybe lucky enough to see Comet Lovejoy that should become visible to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere from the 9th January reaching perihelion on Friday 30th January 2015.  Keep those eyes peeled.

PPS.  Geeky web stats for 2014 can be found here.

Happy New Year from the Baguettes
Happy New Year from the Baguettes

Éowyn’s Sixth Birthday

So a busy few weeks continues with our oldest child’s sixth birthday.  Yes, Éowyn came into this world six years ago. Although six years, in the grand scheme of things, is not that long it is amazing to think how much our lives have changed in those years.  It is also difficult to remember that we once had a life sans kids.

Éowyn’s birthday, this year, fell on a Friday.  The Friday the week after 54 European Qualifying games.  Hence my ‘weekend’ this week was Wednesday and Thursday so it seemed a good opportunity to claw back some of the days owed me to turn it into a three day ‘weekend’ and tag Éowyn’s birthday onto the break.  With Lucinda unable to take the day off work it meant that I could take Éowyn and Amélie to school and look after Ezra, and then to be there to pick the girls up at the end of the day.

Despite it being her birthday, Éowyn did not wake any earlier than usual Friday morning.  However, she did declare that it was her birthday and she felt different now that she was 6.  She did not elucidate as to what this difference was exactly but good to know that there is a difference between being 5 and 6, it is too long ago for me to remember (the 1970’s!).

The morning, as most parents of young children can probably relate to, followed its usual routine of cajoling them to get ready and ushering them out of the door, so there was no time for present opening, that would have to wait until after school.  However, she had received her main present from Mum and Dad the night before, her first bicycle.  Yes, both Amélie and Éowyn received bikes for their birthday, I will keep you up to date with their progress and when the stabilisers come off.  That is a little way off yet.

We had asked Éowyn what she would like to do for her birthday and whether she wanted to invite anyone around.  It will not surprise anyone that knows our daughter that she wanted her best friend Aaliyah to come round and to go to the pizza restaurant (Pizza Express in Staines).  Éowyn rushed out of school doubly excited firstly because Aaliyah was coming home, and secondly it was her turn to take Marmaduke home.  Marmaduke is a teddy bear that is given to a member of the class to take home each weekend.  The chosen child then has to write a little diary entry of what they did with Marmaduke and attach a photo of them with Marmaduke.  So Éowyn insisted that Marmaduke came along to the restaurant.

Since Friday night, is usually movie night alternating between our house and Emma and Martin’s house we invited Emma and her kids Blake and Natalie along too.  So a table was booked for three adults, 6 kids and a bear.

We only live a short walk into Staines town centre so we decided to walk the kids to the restaurant.  As we started, we questioned whether this was the wisest of decisions, however apart from an attempt at walking on water by Natalie and Aaliyah (the mistook an algae covered pond for grass) the journey was uneventful and all six were very well behaved and we got to the restaurant relatively unscathed, if a little soggy.

I am not sure that the restaurant staff were fully prepared for the rumbustiousness of a table of excited children; however in fairness to our brood, they may have been a little noisy but they were not unruly.  They all ate well, although the prize for the best diner was Ezra.  He ate every crumb of his three courses and helped the others finish their meals too.  Not bad for an 18 month toddler, although he is a Bagnall and my son, so it is to be expected.

The one thing we had overlooked when we decided that we would walk to the restaurant was the fact that we have just passed the Autumnal equinox and so the nights are getting longer.  So by the time we had finished our meals and left the restaurant it was dark.  O.K., we live in a town on the edge of one of the largest conurbations in Europe so dark is a matter of perspective, nevertheless it was a lot darker than when we arrived, especially the walk through the park, that had Amélie holding on to her daddy very tightly

Éowyn still had a large pile of unopened presents when we arrived back home (safe and sound, I hasten to add).  She was kind-hearted enough though to allow Amélie and Aaliyah to open some of them, although not the big ones!  There were a few tears when I refused to extract some of the toys from their packaging but it had been a long day and it was the cue for Lucinda and Éowyn to take Aaliyah home and me to put Amélie and Ezra to bed.

There was a whole weekend ahead of them to play with their toys and another party to go on Saturday morning.  Georgia’s princess party, so they needed their sleep and so did Mum and Dad.

All it is left to say is ‘Happy Birthday Éowyn, love Mum and Dad’

Peace and Love

Baggie