Nearly there

The EFG sent me this photo from a pit-stop they had about 40 miles south of Jedburgh.  They have arrived in Cupar, and are safely at the YFG's god-parents' house for the night, and another friend, Ruth, has come to see them too - a lovely surprise.  We have known Ruth since the EFG was a baby - she made her marvellous Christening gown.

They will do the last leg of the journey in the morning and should hope to arrive in Aberdeen before lunchtime so that they can get the EFG unloaded and unpacked, and squeeze in a quick trip to Lidl before my sister comes back to Cupar for the night.  We thought that the EFG should take advantage of my sister being there with the car to stock up on a few tins and packets whilst she has the opportunity, as she will be carrying her shopping on foot or on the bus in future!

I think she'll be seeing a good few fields of sheep in Aberdeenshire.  The agriculture at home here is far more arable, and I know of only one field of sheep in the vicinity!

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that this might be the car park at the Jedburgh Woollen Mill, but it might equally not be!  I shall ask when I speak with the EFG.  The WM was a favourite stop of my dad's when he used to drive up to Cupar to see us, and I know that my sister was going to use his route, rather than ours which used to involve the A66 and the M74.  He preferred the A1 most of the way.

The YFG is feeling a wee bit lonely tonight, but it hasn't stopped her getting her sewing machine set up in the EFG's room, on her lovely big desk and beginning a new creation of some kind. I'm going up there in a minute to see what she is up to!

London town

Now I have the full story and some pictures to share - they seem to have trekked all over London!  These are the EFG's pictures, but I know that the YFG has some more which I haven't got my hands on just yet - so maybe there'll be a few extra ones another day.

This is one of the guards at the stables end of Buckingham Palace, apparently.  There's been a lot in the news lately about the guard entertaining the crowds at the front facade by doing various unapproved moves instead of his proper behaviour - an ex-army relative here today was very disapproving and reckoned the chap's behaviour would have cost him his job in his day, but we may hear in the news what is going to happen to this chap once it has been investigated.

The rear view of the palace, after the tour, and one is allowed to stroll in the gardens.  They enjoyed the tour and the YFG bought me a guidebook so I could "see" it all too - very kind of her.  The EFG thought of my shopping bag tendencies and brought me a "Buckingham Palace" jute shopping bag.  I shall look just the thing in Aldi and Lidl with that - I shouldn't think Her Majesty pops in there too often, although with her Germanic heritage, she should probably have a look!

The memorial out the front - quite splendid but not a great photo.

Lunch was taken as "afternoon tea" at Brown's Hotel - very posh indeed and quite a surprise for my two country bumpkins, but they behaved impeccably and thought it very nice - although they said that they couldn't manage it all!  Apparently there were sandwiches and pastries to begin, scones with jam and cream and then blueberry tarts [below] or Victoria Sponge - and they stalled at the cake course!  

A very generous piece of Brown's Blueberry cake.  Love the white linens.......rather risky with blueberries, perhaps - they must have a good laundry service!

They also went to the Tower of London to see the Sea of Poppies for Remembrance of the First World War, they popped in to Covent Garden to see the shops and the market; Harrod and Fortnum & Mason were also investigated, and numerous tube journeys made.

The evening at the performance of War Horse was magnificent, they say, and they had a wonderful day.  My sister splashed out and really spoiled them, and they are very appreciative.

Today, the EFG is off.  I have about another 90 minutes with her before I leave her with my sister for their journey north.  I guess that the last 18 years has been the time I was given to make my mark on her, to bring her up the best we could, and now is the time to let her go, and to trust that we did our best to show her the right way to follow, and she must learn to march forth in her own style now...John Rosemond says that we have brought up our children successfully if we are able to help them out of our lives and into fully independent lives of their own.

She'll be home at Christmas.  I shall make plans to spoil her just a little!

It's really happening

Homeward bound

I'm hoping that the girls are homeward bound now, but I haven't heard from them since just before WarHorse would have started at 7.30pm - I imagine that they are on the Tube somewhere, heading back to where my sister parked her car!  The best guess we have for them arriving home here is well past midnight!

Through the wonders of modern technology, I know that they have been on a Buckingham Palace tour, been to the Tower of London and seen the sea of poppies there, had lunch at Brown's, been to Fortnum and Masons AND Harrod's [I suspect quite a lot of window shopping!] and they have brushed elbows with the actor who plays Moriarty in Sherlock!  I suspect that might have been the high point of the day........!!!

The YFG is back to school in the morning, so I need to go and make her packed lunch, and then I am going to potter for a short while - I may have a nap until they get home.  Last day with the EFG tomorrow and we have a list of stuff we need to do.  Hope you are all doing well xx

Norwich today

We went to Norwich in the car, and left it in the Park & Ride, travelling into town on a new bendy bus!  The driver said it was his first day on the P&R but we really hoped it wasn't his first day driving a bendy bus.  The trip took about 20 minutes, and had a wee tour of the UEA campus as well on the way, which inspired the YFG afresh with her midwifery plans.

The inner castle keep - the balcony above is the original level of the main floor, and this floor is apparently a later Victorian addition.

This was our first view of the castle this lunchtime.  The sun was shining beautifully, and it was warm.  When we came out at half three, it was much fresher and the clouds had come over.  The castle is beautiful on the hill, and it looks quite imposing - it's been there over 900 years after all.

There were extensive natural history exhibits, and they were really good for showing us the local wildlife - although I am not sure how local this enormous white pelican was.  In another room were some lions that had been shot in Kenya in 1908 - they were in surprisingly good condition being over 100 years old!

We sat in the Rotunda and enjoyed a cup of tea, sitting right next to this e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s teapot!  This is believed to be the largest teapot in the world, and it is in Norwich.......there is rather a collection of teapots in the castle - over 3000 of them!

There is a very interesting - and locally relevant - section about the Iceni and Boudicca.  This picture shows how the Iceni used to worship - at water sources and rivers, and often by placing valuable items into the water: this chap seems to be putting a knife into some marshy, reedy ground.

We paid a little extra to go on a tour of the dungeons - what an experience that was!  Down a  long flight of steps, and into some very damp-smelling and dank rooms far underground, a guide showed us the cells and vaults with some gruesome exhibits.  There were some plaster casts of heads there, and they were made after the executions of murderers who were put to death at the castle or in the nearby market square.  There was also a gibbet - a metal cage in which the murderers were put in later years as a method of execution BUT the bodies had to be left in the cage until it disappeared: the bodies were denied a proper burial.   In the deepest of the dungeons we heard a story about a monk, cousin to Henry III's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who killed his prior and was held there in the 1200s......if I have remembered it right!

There is an exhibition in the upper level of the Rotunda connected to the Royal Anglian regiment - it was heartbreaking to read the soldiers' letters home to their families and to read about those who didn't make it back.  There were pictures and memorabilia from the First World war in particular, and it was all brilliantly arranged.

We really enjoyed the day out, and would go back again for anther good look around - there was so much to see and do.  The exhibits in the keep were very interactive and there were lots of activities for children to do, so it would be great for all ages.

Beginnings

The 1st September is sort of another go at the beginning of the year again - the new academic year heralds a fresh start in a lot of ways.

We have heard yesterday that the EFG's accommodation issues are COMPLETELY resolved and she will be able to move directly into her permanent room on Saturday - hooray!!  No moving and mucking about on the 12th, worrying about being in two places at once as she had an induction booked for the same time as the moving van, and making new mates on the corridor twice!

Tomorrow the girls are off to London with my sister for a day sightseeing, and then the evening performance of War Horse, as I have already said [sorry - we are all quite excited about their day!] but it means that they are going to have a Very Long Day in the capital.  Hence we have scaled back our Norfolk plans and did not go to Norwich yesterday.  We're off today, we hope - and Blickling will have to wait until Easter, I think.

We're going to the Park and Ride, then we'll catch a bus into the city, where we are going to the Castle Museum.  W're doing this on a budget - by going in on the P&R, we get the museum tickets for just £3.80 each, rather than the full price.  Bargain.  We did think about going on the train, but with the tickets for that costing over £30 for the three of us, and losing out on the P&R discount, we thought that we were probably better off driving as it isn't really that far.  Hopefully we will have some decent weather today and can post some photos for you later.....

I plan to call in at an Aldi on the way home - the fridge is beginning to look a little bare, and that voucher is burning a hole in my purse!

Hope you all have a good day today xxx

Cooking for two

I knew that this year would be one of changes, and boy, we have had changes, and perhaps more to come.  Today, the 1st of September, is still just within the school holidays, but this week will take the EFG to Aberdeen, and the YFG back to school.  Gymnastics won't resume for another two weeks, so we have a little lee way with that, and piano lessons probably not until next week.

I have given the EFG a couple of "student" cookbooks to take on her journey, but it did occur to me that they might be very useful for the YFG and I too.  I will be cooking for two now, instead of four, and it feels strange already.  I have been preparing for it through the summer: whenever I bought meat, I packaged in one or two-person portions before I froze it, and the apple sauce has been bottled in smaller jars this year.

The YFG does love a bit of junk now and again [pizza and chips with her friend last night, for example] but she will eat most things [apart from courgettes and mushrooms, she would shout] so I am not thinking that there will be any major dramas.  I just have to think about things more carefully - freezing bread for her in smaller packages than whole loaves, for example, because a whole loaf would go off before she could manage to eat it.  We may not have roast dinners with joints of meat unless we have guests, perhaps, or we could cook a joint and freeze extra portions....we're going to have to have a go at this one and see what feels right.

I'm going to join in with Sue's storecupboard challenge once everyone is back in a routine - there are still some things to buy for the journey for the EFG and the YFG needs to think about what she is going to eat in her lunchbox this term - she may not fancy her last staple of cheese and tomato sandwiches this term.  We have a new budget to manage, and it will be interesting to see if we can go even lower!

Your comments and advice would be welcomed........