Snowy Scenes

We love the snow. And when it started we went out for a walk in it even in the dark...

It was nice and thick in the back garden in the morning...

...and at the front...

But Sebert Wood School was open as usual even though nearly all the other schools in the area were closed. Fortunately the roads were not too bad by the time it came for my weekly trip to my Second Life in Shropshire. Mind you, when yesterday it looked like this at 'The Barn'...

...oh and if you are clever you can work out which flat is mine in this picture from the angles compared to the view from the bedroom above...

... my car had a bit of struggle getting m to the main road to get to the office. Time to get some new rear tyres with a bit more grip, I think!

Ickworth Winter Walks

As you can tell if you search this blog, Ickworth is a favourite place for us for walking, even in winter. And even when it is rainy like today. There are plenty of walks to do around the estate. We started with Gerldine's walk...

It's a good job we had wellies for all those puddles. And they are great for stamping on puffball mushrooms...

Geraldine's walk leads onto the Erskine walk, where the snowdrops were just coming out...

And then there's the Albana walk, which has got a couple of shelters you can use if it gets really wet. We call this one "Belinda's Cottage" after a children's story...

We followed this up with a walk around the walled gardens. From the far corner you have a great view of this mistletoe clad tree...

Yes, it was pretty wet, but we enjoyed our walk while the Sunday Roast readied itself in the oven at home. We were glad to get back in to the warm, though.

New Musical Instrument

We have a new musical instrument to add to our growing collection. Little W has started learning the piano now and Little Miss has added to her repertoire of piano, guitar and violin...

...yes she has just started being allowed to bring home her flute from school. What with Big Miss doubling up on electric guitar and drums, and Little W on ukulele, I think I'm going to need a multi-track recorder for our growing band!

Wii Fit Boy

It was Little W's birthday and we went out for a meal. In the middle of the restaurant he did a demonstration of the yoga poses he had been learning....

..from the Wii. He loves the games on it. Here he is trying to walk the tightrope.

But my favourite Wii Fit game to watch is the Ski-jumping. It's hilarious to see the poses! Here he goes...

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Walberswick Winter Walk

Here's another favourite spot for a Winter walk. On the Suffolk Coast, just across the river Blyth from Southwold is the village of Walberswick. Just by the car park at the beach you get this view of its near neighbour.

The two are separated by the River Blyth, which may be crossed either by the foot ferry that runs during the summer months or by a bailey bridge about 1/2 mile upstream.

It was a typical cold and windy winters day when we went, but there was some sun.

Sizewell is just a few miles along the beach, here lit by a break in the clouds.

I rather like the sign next to the emergency telephone on the beach, a strange relic from last century. I wonder if it still works?

The walk along the river is refreshing and the surrounding marshland is a National Nature Reserve. I was tempted to cross the bridge to the Harbour Inn, but it looked a bit busy.



But the fresh air blew some of the new year cobwebs out of the brain.

Boxing Day Walk at Redgrave and Lopham Fen

It was nearly 18 months since we last went there so I suggested we go to Redgrave and Lopham Fen for our Boxing Day walk. It's about 1/2 hour from Bury St Edmunds - just follow the A143 towards Diss and look for the brown sign for the road to the left through the pretty village of Redgrave and across the county border into Norfolk. There is a good choice of waymarked paths...

We chose the 6.5km Waveney path, but perversely chose to walk it in the wrong direction. We also neglected to tell the little ones how far it was. "Are we nearly there yet?", they said...

Hmm. Just about half way at this point. It was a lovely sunny day, but with a cold easterly wind. The wintry fenland landscape was picturesque.

It was pretty quiet, apart from the occasional bird call and the lovely rustling noise of the wind in the dry reeds.

Watch out for the wild horses that roam the Nature Reserve.

We eventually made it round and set out our picnic...

But it wasn't like Dunwich Heath last Boxing Day. They look a bit cold, don't they? Five minutes later we were all in the car with our turkey sandwiches!

The Twelve Promises of Christmas

"Let's go and see all our presents!", said Little W, excitedly. But here was a surprise. Yes Santa had been - the sherry and milk had been drunk and the carrot and mince pie eaten. But where were the stockings? And where are all the presents? Instead, each of them got an envelope where their stockings had been...

...with a letter...

Have you been good? A grumpy old man took your presents from me. I don’t know where he put them. Maybe your brother and sister can help you find them. With lots of love from Santa.

Each of them also got a picture and they had to put them together to find where the next clue is...

In all there were 12 clues to solve each made from 3 pictures. Try clicking on the image below if you want to try solving them for yourself...

But here was the really cunning bit. Each clue of three pictures came in an envelope with a statement on the outside...

...along the lines of..

If you promise to clean your teeth every day and night you may open this envelope for your next clue.

So by the time they found their stockings in Dad's car boot, they had all promised to...

Clean their teeth day and night

Help around the house when asked

Keep their rooms tidy

Do what Mum or Dad asks, straight away

Help set and clear the table

Be ready to go out on time without needing to be shouted at

Be nice to each other

Do their music practice, homework and reading without being nagged

Not moan when asked to go on a walk and

All keep all the other promises all of the time.

The back of the envelopes all had a message -“Keep this envelope, you may need it later”. And here's why... When they opened their stocking, they each had another message: "If … the … your … your … Dad … him … can", "You … rest … presents … envelopes … and … if … have", "Want … of … take … to … ask … you … them".

Big Miss figured it out straight away. You have to read from each message one word at a time. So, after a final promise on another card from Santa...

Well that grumpy old man turned out to be your Dad!. He said you can open this present only if you promise to share and use it only when Mum or Dad says you can (and when they’re not using it)

...they then got to open this present...

Yes we had a Wii Wii Christmas! But, best of all, I had got them all to make 12 Christmas promises!

Puss in Boots

Yesterday we had our (nearly) annual Christmas treat of going to the pantomime at the Theatre Royal. (I say nearly - we missed it last year because I forgot to book early). This year it is Puss in Boots...

We had a box in the Upper Circle...

It was great to see James Nickerson back as the dame (Nellie Gwyn)...

He was on top form. We thought that Princess Caroline (Abi Newberry) was quite funny too.

The baddies were Oliver Cromwell (Mark Stratton)and his henchman Hench (Dennis Herdman). Here they are clowning around with a plank.

Jack (Bradley Clarkson) and Puss (Helena Blackman) were the heroes and led the story well. There was some entertaining ad-libbing, for example when Jack asked the audience how to find the way. "Get a map"... "No there isn't a map in the woods"... "Get a SatNav"... "No your supposed to tell me to ask the cat".... "Ah. A CatNav!".

The real heroes, though, were the cats. No I won't spoil the plot by telling you how they defeated nasty Oliver Cromwell, but you won't be surprised to hear the story ended with a wedding and everyone living happily ever after.

As always, a really entertaining afternoon out; it got us well in the mood for Christmas. You can see more of my pictures here on Flickr; the show runs until Sunday 18th January.

Christmas Story

Thanks to my workmate Patsy for sending me this. It made us all laugh!


A Christmas Story for people having a bad day:

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

AAG Winter Social

I try not to write too much about my job here, but I had a really interesting day on Thursday last week. The Aspire Architects Group had a team-building away-day doing something completely different... We did a day of voluntary work at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums - a regular haunt for us when when the kids visit The Barn. We were at the Coalbrookdale site...

After an introductory talk, we set to work moving and repacking the museums' (Victorian) costume collection. While one team built new shelves and moved the boxes around, the rest of us learnt how to pack things to preserve them and were set to work. Here's my team with one of our first items - a ladies jacket...

We were a bit disappointed not to have any corsets to do, but we did get a pile of linen, a top hat and trilby alleged to have been owned by Captain Webb - a local man, famous for being the first person to swim the English Channel, some furs, tablecloths and a couple of banners for local Wesleyan Sunday Schools.

Well it was certainly a change from our usual line of work! And there was some satisfaction in being told we had done in one day what would otherwise have taken the staff about 18 months to complete. But then it was off with the gloves...

...to go and explore Enginuity...

... and then to enjoy a celebratory hog roast...

...at, and after which, copious amounts of beer were drunk. And I'm not going to say anything about the member of the team who managed to lock himslef out of his hotel room in the middle of the night wearing... no I really mustn't say.

You can see some more of my photos of the day here on Flickr.

Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre

It was a busy weekend, last weekend. On Sunday morning I took the kids to the Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre - better late than never. This year it spread from Angel Hill into the Abbey Gardens, and there were decorations dangling from the Abbey Gate.

We did the tour of the stalls, which were very busy, but the kids were really interested only in the fairground rides. The Ferris wheel...

provided a great view. So they had to have a ride on it, didn't they?

And then it was on to the gallopers...

Yee Ha, Ride 'em cowboy!

Bury County Music School Christmas Concert

Getting to touch down at 6:02 am on my return from my Indian trip on Saturday, meant I was able to get home in time to see Little Miss perform in the Bury County Music School Christmas concert at KEGS. Whereas last year she was performing in the Cygnets, this year she is in the Junior Strings. See if you can spot her in the crowd on the stage in the lower hall, waiting for their turn to perform...

The Junior Strings are led by the wonderfully enthusiastic and inspiring Kelly Jones. Here they are playing the Jazz Suite from String Time Joggers...

Well done them!

But Little W (and Big Miss) enjoyed the junior wind band best - we all got to clap and stamp in time to "We will rock you"...

It was so popular that they had to play it again! Great fun. Jet lag? What jet lag?