just another morning here

But I don’t think it’s going to happen! 9am, maybe Have managed to fit most things in the car, so that was good.

Spent yesterday farting around sorting out the car, and then we had some friends over in the afternoon who are thinking of home educating their four children when they move house probably later in the year. I think all the children got on well, although we managed to be a bad influence with the Gamecube We had a good discussion too, Steve managed to get home from work which was nice – made us think all over again about they hows and whys of our home education, which is never a bad thing, either.

Last night I packed all the packable stuff, the boot is full, now I’m praying that the food from the fridge/freezer will fit in the front footwell. My friend who lives in the Borders finally got back to me so I’ve arranged to go and see her one day while we’re at Melrose. Anyway, those of you who are going to Melrose, see you later. Those who aren’t, have a good week, I’ll be back next weekend. And Steve, don’t forget to feed the hamster

Unbelievable as it was to some (!!) we made it over to the Science Museum for 10am, and despite having our friendly camera crew with us we had an enjoyable couple of hours there. Abbie really wanted to go back but we didn’t manage it, so that’s something for another time.

We ended up trudging the whole way across Kensington Gardens to find the playpark (although we weren’t the only ones!!) and all really enjoyed our time there – the park is lovely and there were some great games going on I think. Abbie especially enjoyed seeing Piers again!

Slight disappointment as Anna didn’t manage to rope Poppy into her TV thing, because despite having asked Kensington & Chelsea Council for permission and having paid £100 to get it, it then turned out that Kensington Gardens is royal property and therefore not under council jurisdiction anyway – so no filming allowed. Still, it was a relatively amusing episode for Alison and I plus an entourage of vaguely related children to have traipsed over to the lake and then be held up by a police car!

Lovely to meet fellow muddlepuddlers too, although it was too short! Maybe that was our fault – we headed off around 3pm for our river cruise – organised by the tv people so we didn’t complain too much, especially as they were chauffeuring us around as well. So that happened, then they did a bit more filming by Tower Bridge, and after that we were free to go (phew! We’re off to see the editing this week though, so that should be fun).

Thought we’d do a spontaneous evening London Eye ride, as it was a nice evening, but our plans for that were short lived too, when we got there and found that it had closed early due to a private function!

Ho hum – so that night ended with pasta & pesto cooked in the hotel kitchen. Steve & I tried out the babysitting and went out for a walk after the children were asleep, which was pleasant – ended up in Tescos buying lunch for the next day – how sad is that?!

But Steve was the one who went down to the library today with the children, so he had to cough up. Shocking really, as we live a minute’s walk from the library, but we’ve just been so busy!

A moochy day here today, I’ve been busy parcelling up ebay items, while the kids have done all sorts from watching Tintin videos, to playing outside, in the garage with clay, on the PS2, etc. Mollie has been around and they’ve been over to her house too – and Mollie’s mum and I had coffee this morning which was lovely. Somehow while Anna had been over there with Ruby (Mollie’s baby sister) she’d dropped homebirth into the conversation, and it turns out that we have that in common, amongst other things. I’m hoping that she and I will become as firm friends as the children have – I know from experience how nice it is to have good friends close by geographically, and most of mine have moved away or lived away to start with!

Went to Tescos this afternoon, then this evening Steve’s out … Joe read his books (again – so either it wasn’t a fluke last night or he’s memorised them since yesterday) and went to bed, while the girls and I watched a film and I did a huge pile of ironing. So I think it’s been a productive day.

Oh, and the director from A Different Life rang me this evening, and it sounds like there is a possibility of them coming up to London to film for a day while we are there, so guess which date I gave him?!!! Told you I’d get more puddlers involved somehow – hope lots of people are going to make it to the MuddlePuddle meet up, don’t let this put you off!!

Theoretical question for you all to end with … if you went out on test drive, and pranged the car you were test driving, would you expect to have to pay something towards the cost of repair? Just want a quick opinion poll!

A collection of random photos from the week …

Anna with a wallaby at Suffolk Wildlife Park

Jax’s bracelet making workshop in the MuddlePuddle communal tent

Couldn’t resist this photo opportunity, in an arcade at Great Yarmouth

Walking through Great Yarmouth took an exceedingly long time – the kids wanted to sit in every single ride that they clapped eyes on [sigh] but this one was quite sweet. The best one though, was one that still had a credit in it and when Joe hit the button they all got a free ride!

My 3 little clowns!