Summer Trip Update - Days 38-40

Another missing UK post! The last one, I promise. No photos....as iPhoto is playing up. I will do a post after with just photos when it's sorted. (www.ilikewindows.com!)

And so it's almost the last leg of the big journey. All the major events have been attended and now we are 3 days from flying back to Oman. I could really do with another week and can't believe it'll be a year before we get to enjoy being with Betty again...we really bonded this year :-D (anyone who has classic cars will understand this....others, including some of my friends I think, consider me nutty).

We made our way south from Yorkshire round to a campsite in north Kent, near Wrotham Heath. It was one of the longer journeys and it was warm! The traffic on the M25 was it's usual...slow, and so Betty was feeling it, the kids were also roasting in the back. I had to get out at a point in the fast lane when the traffic was at a standstill and open the engine bay so she could cool down!

So the campsite was really a base so that we could get into London for the dinosaur exhibition at the 02 and to see the sites basically. C wants to go on a London bus and to see the London Eye (he thought for a while that the ferris wheel at Qurm Natural park was the London Eye when we first came to Oman...bless). It was also a chance to meet up with my baby sis (...30 this month...not so much baby sis anymore...).

We got a train to London, all part of the holiday seeing as we don't have a train system in Oman! And then it was the Tube all the way to the o2. we hadn't told the kids what we were doing, we just wanted them to see the signs. There were a few signs but they didn't really notice, I think they were just enjoying the scenery! We reminisced about the concerts we had seen here...Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam and Roger Waters (twice).

Before we went in the children had their photos taken next to a dinosaur. Woo hoo...any way, we got talking to the photographer and she was from Arizona, earning a bit of money whilst she spends her spare time songwriting. She is Ngawara Madison and I finally got around to googling her and listening to some of her work. It sounds like Country is her style, not my thing but I'll listen to it (although Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers is one of my favourite songs to sing out loud, bizarrely enough! Sssh, don't tell anyone!). So I'm going to keep checking on how she's doing. In the short time we spoke with her, she seemed a really lovely girl.

We had a great tour around the exhibition...it would have been quite disappointing without it as the animatronics weren't fabulous, I suppose it has to be quite straightforward being a temporary exhibition. The lady taking us round was great, good fun. Although she needs to check her knowledge...my 7 year old had to correct her at one point! ;-p

We had lunch at the Armadillo restaurant in the O2...the BEST burger ever. And then Baby Sis came along and got the kids all hyped up and excited, all that an Auntie should do, I guess! We thought we'd add to their ice-cream sugar rush and take them to watch Cars 2. In 3D. It was very good of course...but I fell asleep during one of the car chases. How random.

Next touristy thing to do was to take the Clipper boat along the Thames from the O2 to Waterloo (sis went her own way) and we went back to Wrotham Heath.

Next day, we were heading to Mum and Dad's and we stopped for a picnic and a flask of tea on the north downs, looking over north Kent. It's times like this that I realise we would be in the van every weekend if we were at home, but also that I do miss the UK, and we probably didn't make the most of it in the last few years. This trip has reminded me how beautiful our country is if you look beyond the news headlines.

Tonight's dinner was a takeaway with sis and her boyf. Mum and Dad joined us, it was a really relaxed and fun evening. This must be what it's like to have large family gatherings, loud and full of conversations and laughter. Although having a small family maybe makes me appreciate the times we do have, all getting together.


Oman-bound in a few days. I really will miss Britain this time.

Summer Trip Update - Days 35-37 - Deershed Festival

The next few posts have been languishing as drafts for a while! :-/ They'll be the last few updates from our summer trip to the UK and Europe. A super trip...we have been back two weeks and I'm still a little homesick.
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22nd to 24th July 2011

We usually try and get to a music festival in the UK whenever we are back. The last couple of years have been T-in the Park in Scotland and before we came to Oman we usually went to the V Festival, oh and we've done the Reading festival once - to see Pearl Jam especially. But we never really wanted to take the children to these events as it is so busy, large and basically we wouldn't relax. Personally, I don't think that they are kid-friendly events, although some families do attend, we'd rather not...until they're older at least.

We came across the Deershed Festival through following one of our favourite bands, Admiral Fallow (a nu-folk band, similar kind of ilk to Mumford and Sons). Admiral Fallow tend to play the smaller events at the moment. We first discovered them on the BBC Introducing stage at T in the Park last year and have been following them ever since. We were a bit disgruntled that living abroad now, we'd never get to see them in the cosier, more intimate venues, the time before they make it big. (They are playing their first European gig this weekend...not long now before they're in the big league).

The festival was described basically as child-friendly and the list of activities that would be on offer says it all. Kind of like a huge village fete with extras. All four of us are keen and very amateur astronomers so we were especially interested in the astronomy events (my son's space question ...'what is there after space?'... answers on a postcard please).

"We'll have after-hours star-gazing, a cosmodome, themed kids workshops and cabaret plus some really ambitious plans which are currently in the hands of the Civil Aviation Authority. We can't afford everyone's favourite TV boyfriend Prof Brian Cox but we will have other experts with less floppy hair."

Bear loves arts and crafts and there were plenty of workshops and stalls...Other stuff included comedy, a Big Top, swingball, football, space hoppers, face painting, ukele workshops, milk bottle mask making, doodle walls, cardboard knights and fairies, clay modelling, story shows and so much more. Just have a look at the website under each category.

 I was so, so pleased that we had made it with Betty to Topcliffe, North Yorkshire for the festival. Already I was having a good feeling about it as some of the carpark marshalls happily waving us in were probably some of the children's grandparents. Seen that at Reading/T?! We found a perfect spot to park Betty and we got on with setting up the awning whilst the kids tracked down potential friends. From the website;

"We have a really spacious and beautiful parkland campsite. We will have specific camping areas for those with kids, those without, those who want quiet and those who aren't bothered who their neighbours are. In the family camping areas we will have loads of stuff to keep kids occupied whilst you argue over which bit of the tent goes up first....The average distance from the car park to the family camping is only 200m and this year we'll have porters armed with wheelbarrows to help carry all that clobber. If you have a campervan or caravan we have a spot for you too"

It's worth mentioning that the porters were scouts earning a bob or two. Brilliant!

My Dad often asks me if i'm happy. For some reason, I can never make myself say a definitive 'yes'. No reason to say no...I have my health, my family, a good and fortunate life, (as they say here, ma'shallah)... I think I'm just so distracted sometimes that I forget what being happy is about. Me: "I'll think about being whather I'm happy or not in a minute when I've fed the kids/washed up/bathed the kids/replaced the toilet rolls/watered the garden/sweep up 10 minutes after the maid has been (she's good, my kids are messy)... I  know I am, I probably think about it too much. Anyway, to the point...I have had the time on this trip to actually stop, think and realise the happy moments we are having...no distractions or chores. It's a buddhist belief that we are so weighed down with our possessions, our emotions, our ego, our very full and busy lives that we are swamped and forget what it's like to be rested, peaceful and relaxed.

The reason I write the above is that at the festival I actually had a overwhelming feeling of being happy, no strings attached, no material possession needed, just...happy. We were sat outside our tent, having finished dinner and the kids were playing with their new friends. There were families all around, there was a lovely warm friendly atmosphere, you could hear chatting and laughing, the sun was shining....bliss.

So to sum up the Deershed festival:

• Laughter, colourful, fun, bustly, friendly, lively.
• You could make conversation with a stranger and it would instantly be friendly...the likelihood is that they would be parents too...an instant ice-breaker. We met one family on the Friday, watching Hope and Social, one of their favourite bands, so we told them about Admiral Fallow the following night. we didn't see them in the crowd but I hoped they enjoyed it!
• You would smile as you pass other parents, for no real reason.
• Kids were being ferried around in wheelbarrows.
• One family had a homemade barrow.

  
• 
  

  

  Children's comedians. Genius, my kind of comedy! We watched James Campbell (hilarous!), who talked about how a farmer would bring back an escapee cow, the Wii, making friends, why grown-ups groan when they sit down...you get the idea. Can't find anything on Youtube so I may have to buy the cd...for the kids of course.

"The Sunday Times says of James, "Campbell's stand-up for kids has acquired almost holy status. Don't miss." James talks about everything that is relevant to kids and anyone who has ever been a kid. His show is aimed at children aged six, their parents and anyone who enjoys top quality comedy without swearing."

• Reasonably priced tickets and a very resonable bar
• The food stalls were a bit expensive but we'd much rather pay for authentic, local and wholesome food than an overcooked burger and fries at other festivals.



• We concluded that it was a festival for children but with music and beer for the grownups. Perfect.

The only disappointment was that some parents still felt like they could let their

children wander freely out of sight and without supervision. Yes, it's a child/family festival I know...but still....

I loved every minute of it but hubby isn't too sure about coming back next year. It was because of Admiral Fallow that we made it this year....would it feel different if we didn't know any of the bands? My attitude is that we came across a couple of other unknown bands as well as seeing our favourite so why not make that the aim of next year...finding some new music. The children had a whale of a time so why not come back at least for them.

Day 28 - 15th July - Happy Anniversary

C-Pops has had wicked hay fever pretty much since we have been here. He is susceptible to respiratory probs we think, having had croup twice and a cough every other month. (We have seen the doctor, don't worry. Asthma has not been diagnosed as the doctor thinks if we keep on top of it, it could clear without getting that far). Anyway, he's been wheezing and struggling with his breath after running. So he's back on the liquid Ventolin. He's also had itchy eyes which quickly turned in to allergic conjunctivitis. But he has been a brave boy throughout, barely complaining. He says he doesn't want to go to bed because he'll wake up with his eyes stuck together if he does. Joy.

We're camping near Arisaig in the Scottish Highlands with hubby's family. It's our 11th anniversary today. (It's Steel apparently. I like the modern one though, Jewellery). It's pretty cloudy and cool but hey it's dry!

We've had a lovely breakfast with posh coffee and we're off rockpooling on the nearby beach. It did end up with me 'escorting' my son from the premises as he was carrying out an almighty melt-down. Who says romance is dead?

I thought I’d listen to the radio to catch up with latest music (albeit overplayed chart music no doubt). However in the space of no less than 25 minutes, 2 songs were played. My god, it’s never-ending random chat with DJs and featured presenters (the showbiz correspondent for instance) talking over each other and just not being funny at all. So I now have the iPod on and so far, it’s been Beautiful South and Ashley MacIsaac. Love it.


Grampa's babysitting so we're off to dinner tonight in Arisaig. A table booked at Cafe Rhu.

Post-edit:16/7/11

Our evening was wonderful! We drove and left the car at the cafe. We managed to get a window seat and had a lovely view over the harbour. We had some beautiful wine and some amazing food. It was just gorgeous. The owner is also the chef, he's a South African who I think said has been here 4 years. His mother is Scottish.

So we had scallops, black pudding wonton, Cape malay Bobotie with veg pilaf and sambals, braised beef, chocolate and nutella torte (drooooooooool....) and cheese and bisuits and 2 bottles of 2010 Freedom Cross Pinotage from Franschoek.

We knew that we would walk back (about 2 miles!) and I'm glad we did. We passed the local pub with music floating from within so we had to stop by for a dram and a listen to some traditional live music. And that set us up for the walk back in the darkness.

A lovely day, happy anniversary, hon X

Summer Trip Update - Days 17 to 21

And so it seems we are well on the road trip now! I’ve bought the kids camper t-shirts with road trip on!

Our Uckfield friends waved us off from Thriftwood campsite near Sevenoaks and we started to pootle along on the M20 heading to Dover to catch the 1200 ferry to France. I couldn’t help but start smiling, especially driving through my home county. We should start to compile a soundtrack to the holiday!

So we arrive at Dover happy as anything, plenty of time to change some money, freshen up, have a coffee, buy a magazine (I bought Q incidentally… summer highlights plus 25 year anniversary celebrations…reminiscing when Spike Milligan interviewed Van Morrison for instance, along with an album review of REM’s brilliant Life’s Rich Pageant along with interviews with Mumford and Sons and Arcade Fire…they played Hyde Park on the 30th June. :-(   (That would have rated very highly on my must-see gig list.)

I digress!

And so we hit our next hiccup with Betty, Yes, it appears it continues. I kept this quiet (this is for the benefit of my Dad!) as it would be all I could do to stop him driving to Dover to come and get us and drive the van into the Channel I think. Well, if I haven't driven her in there myself.

The bus would not start when it was time to embark. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Our resident mechanic (whom I’m thinking of asking to be my Facebook friend as we seem to spend so much time speaking with him!). He guided the Captain (who was probably cursing his inferior lack of spanner/screwdriver set-ownership at this point) on how to check the connections from the solenoid to the starter motor and how to short it to see if the engine will turn over. Engine was fine (which was the issue last year)...

...so the very nice AA man was called out. He checked the ignition barrel, it was seized, probably welded itself in place over 40 years. He showed us how to hotwire my van! We obviously missed the 1200 but made the 1400 ferry. She’s feeling a little temperamental at this stage to me (much like I am to be honest…) ... last year’s shenanigans aside.

Destination: De Lilse Bergen campsite in Belgium.

We arrived after a lovely couple of hours driving. I waited in the van in the car park and kept the engine running. I was asked to turn the engine off by a rather irate lady but I had to tell her I couldn’t as it probably wouldn’t start again. So I drive around the carpark waiting for hubby to check in. Combining the facts that he was taking ages and that I thought I was seeing engine fumes in the back, I turned off the ignition.

It wouldn’t start again.

Hotwiring = 2 sparks and nothing else except a fuming husband who couldn’t look at me for fear of throttling me I feel. Correct me if I’m wrong darling… ;-x

We were towed to a temporary spot at 2230…by a golf buggy. At least there weren’t too many people to have a double- and triple-take. Like there were at 1000 the next morning when said golf-buggy came to repeat the procedure to get us to our booked spot. I was wheeling the luggage alongside it. Oh I laughed… :-/

Anyway, long story short, we managed to start to relax…although I had a migraine…One of the super staff at the site called the garage in his town and a mechanic came out the next day. He did his magic and she was brought back to life again.

We were even brave enough to venture into the nearest town, a rather run-down Gierle. We found a supermarket and stocked up. We happened to be in the only supermarket in town and the one that didn't take visa, mastercard or the topped-up currency card from Travelex. I had to stay in the shop whilst hubby ran in the rain to the nearest ATM.

As an aside, I have never seen such a high number of cows in the fields here. But the campsite shop and the supermarket did not stock fresh milk. ????

A saunter up a hill, weekend camping, Toad-in-the-hole cake

A saunter up a hill

The Captain is off to Everest Base Camp in April with 3 other guys. So he's been training intensely the last few months. He's been walking and running up a few of the 'hills' nearby and for the first time I went walking with him. Not to his level or speed though! Just a nice husband-and-wife walk... I couldn't help get worried when he put his camel-back on, adjusted his walking boots, set his heart rate monitor and GPS and extended his walking poles...

This is where we were heading...the highest point of course!

Did I mention my neeeeeeeeeew Camera takes black and white photos?!

At the bottom of the steps that appeared randomly halfway up

It was so worth it in the end, the views are always beautiful. I'm glad they still take my breath away.

On the drive back I saw the ruined claybuild watch towers:

Last weekend camping at Sifah beach:

Hubby had made friends with the Omanis that camped next to us. Mohammed on the left of the picture is his new BFF! He gave us loads of fish from their catch and even called hubby on Friday evening asking if he wanted more!

They caught a huge sailfish...it's my favourite fish so I didn't really like to see it there in the boat. BUT this is worth at least 50 OMR to these guys AND it made a good picture.

Once a month I manage to cook a half-decent dinner; February's culinary amazement was Toad in the Hole.  I got a recipe online from Queen Nigella Lawson. She comes to the rescue again. I have never made a good Toad in the Hole...until now. Although it did start to look like a massive cake! Nigella needs to be made a Saint.