Ella and I had a great time at Euro Disney this Tuesday and Wednesday. The weather was amazing, the queues bearable (the longest we ever had to wait for a ride was 30 minutes) and the atmosphere happy and upbeat.
I had steeled myself for an onslaught of unbridled consumerism and in-your-face American-style Disney overkill but was pleasantly suprised.
I'm not denying that food and merchandise were expensive, they were. But the French are, well, French and so their Disney-ness was expressed with a smile and a 'Hello Princess' (for Ella, not me). They were charmingly free of faux enthusiasm, tending towards friendliness instead. A refreshing experience for any visitor to Paris.
Continue reading "Top five tips for enjoying Disneyland Paris" »
I'm 36 weeks pregnant now. The midwife came round last weekend to talk about having the baby at home. She was meant to arrive between 3.30 and 4pm but she didn't get to us until 6.45pm. I was her twelfth visit. She's a great midwife and looked after me when I was expecting Fington. She's been doing the job for years and is ridiculously experienced and knowledgeable. She really puts me at ease. It's a shame that good people like her are so stretched in their work through lack of support (financial and otherwise). And yet she doesn't moan, she carries on and gets on with her job. When is the midwife shortage going to get addressed I wonder?
Anyway, as husband wrestled the boys into bed, the midwife went through everything I need to know for a homebirth. When I'm in labour and get to the point where I can't talk during contractions then I need to ring the delivery suite and they'll send out the on-call midwife. She'll then get a second midwife or midwife assistant to come out and join her. The only problem is Fington was born very shortly after I got to the 'can't talk' stage. If that happens again we need to call an ambulance.
Continue reading "Planning the homebirth" »
A friend of mine just moved to the area and wanted a housecleaner. I said I would ask our cleaner, Ivana, if she was taking on new clients.
Ivana is from Poland and very hard working. She lives here with her 14-year-old daughter; they have a flat in the center of town above a funeral home.
She is worth her weight in gold. She actually picks up things when she dusts, instead of going around them. I can tell when she has vacuumed, the large worn Duresta sofa, which can easily accomodate 10, is slightly out of place.
She is not much on conversation. Her English is limited. The only time she makes a point to say something to me is when she wants a day off.
Continue reading "Conversations with a Polish housecleaner" »
My eldest son has an obsession with trains, if you have a like-minded child then here are two places worth a visit. They're both open all year round.
STEAM, Swindon: the museum of the Great Western Railway. Perfect for visiting when the weather's bad because everything's indoors. This site was once one of the largest railway engineering complexes in the world employing tens of thousands of people.The musem recreates some of the offices and workshops and takes you on a tour of how the trains were made and the Great Western Railway was developed. The exhibits are all hands-on and ideal for children to play with and explore. Some of the highlights are being able to walk underneath the beautifully preserved steam train 'Caerphilly Castle' and operate the signals in a recreated signal box. You can explore the cabins of a few other steam trains as well as some former royal coaches. A recreated station helps you understand what the age of steam was like (and creates some nostalgia if you're old enough to remember it!).
You don't have to be a train fan to enjoy this museum, it's an enjoyable couple of hours spent learning about a bygone era. And a flashback to a time when Britain was a world leader in industry and manufacturing (sadly no more...).
Continue reading "Days out in the Thames Valley - trains" »
