Blur in Hyde Park

There's not a lot of bands for whom I would pay top dollar to see live in concert but Blur is one of them. I was dead pleased that I managed to get tickets. So on a nice warm sunny day in July, I took Jenny, Robyn and her friend so go see them.
I would say this is the first big concert to which we have every taken Robyn. She and her friend left us and went up near the front of the stage where you tend to get squashed. It thoroughly worried Jenny but that's what Moms do.
It was a brilliant concert. Wish I had known the lyrics better as much of it was a big sing-a-long. I only regret that they didn't play "Magic America" which is one of my favorites.
One "game" the crowd played was pelting anyone that sat on someone's shoulders with plastic beer bottles. Certainly kept the view of the stage clear!

Tags: UK,Events

Le Mans 24hr Race 2009

In June, a friend and I drove down to Le Mans in his Audi TT and camped at the Le Mans 24hr race. I've wanted to do this trip for a long time.
It is rather bizarre to see a campground full of sports cars. The Friday night was one long party. It did get a bit frustrating when you want to finally get some sleep but the neighbours don't. Ear plugs are well worth it. Many people also stayed up all of Saturday night but it isn't nearly as raucous. The Stranglers played a concert that evening.
It was great to watch the race. My respect for the drivers has shot up numerous fold. There are four drivers to a team each doing two shifts of three hours. That's a lot of driving and the speeds are amazing.
There are loads of big screens around the track but the truth is you miss a lot of what happens. Watching TV is better of course but you miss the atmosphere which is worth sampling at least once. I don't think I would do the trip again. One brilliant way to do this trip is to stay at a B&B and take a bicycle for getting around the viewing points.

Tags: Travel,France

Turville

I have a friend who's into photography so we went on a little photo expedition to Turville. It's one of my favourite little villages in the area as you can do a nice walk up the hill to the old windmill for a lovely view of the valley. Best of all, the pub does some excellent grub.
  

Tags: UK

Stonehenge and Avebury Again

If you have two children, I think you find you do a lot with the first child and then forget to do them again for the second child. Or at least do them again when your second child can remember it.
At least that was what happened with us and Stonehenge. We realised that Kieran hadn't been there so we set out to correct that with a little field trip since it isn't that far away. And we went to Averbury too since that fits in well with the theme of ancient circles. The museum at Avebury is very good and there's a decent cafe for nice coffee.
It's an excellent trip but choose your day carefully. Stonehenge on an overcast day is a bit dull. You need sun or some dramatic cloud formations to bring pictures alive. There's inevitably a cold wind blowing over the Salisbury plain so be prepared for that. A car picnic is a good idea.
 

Tags: UK,Family

Brooklands Museum and Mercedes World

Our last activity of 2008 was go the Mercedes World and the Brooklands Museum. Just want to recommend this as a really good day out with the kids.
For Christmas, we gave Robyn a driving lesson at Mercedes World as a gift. There's no age restriction; you just need to be tall enough. While she was doing that, there's plenty of nice cars to check out.
Brooklands was of course a very famous racetrack in its’ day. The museum feels a bit tired and underfunded but the exhibits are very good and you can even have a tour of one of the first Concordes that was built.
Go on a warm day since there are many things to see outside or in a hanger.
    

Tags: UK,Family

Catching Up With 2009

Wow, it's December already and my last posting was ten months ago! And 2009 is almost over. I have considered killing this blog but rather than do that I'm going to make an effort to catch up by posting what we did in 2009. I've found a few people actually do read these ramblings, particularly my son! If anything, this blog has become more of a family diary and may turn out to be my only legacy.

The kids are now much older than when I started so I'm going use their names: Robyn (R*) and Kieran (K*).

I can't write a huge amount in one shot but it will be better than nothing. I'll try to find time to add more detail, correct grammar and spelling and spice them up with pictures later. I’m now using Windows Live Writer which makes it easier.

Agenda 2009

Clearly, I haven’t been too inspired to blog for a while. Three months in fact. Life has been a lot more quieter than tramping around the world. I still haven’t finished sorting out all our pictures from the trip.

The major theme for this year is getting serious about our careers. I’ve decided that I’ll stick with Information Technology. Specifically, I’m back to writing software and planning to have a go at freelance contracting. Jenny is exploring her options to combine her interest in food with education.

I’m also spending a lot of time in managing our investment portfolio and learning how to invest better. Of course, we got bitten by the stock market crash like so many others. However, with share valuations down, I’m very interested in trading.

We have lots of plans for changing around the house and how each room gets used. This also means trying to get rid of tons of old stuff. And then shopping for a load new stuff. And then doing a massive amount of decorating. The whole house needs painting and all the carpets replaced. There’s tons of DIY things to do but I’m waiting until it warms up a bit outside first.

And finally there’s family time and all the running around that involved. R* continues with Sea Cadets and is in three ensembles and a choir. She has both trumpet and singing lessons. K* continues with Cubs and is taking percussion lessons. He’s also in the local tennis club and plays tag rugby at school. At the moment, it seems like a pretty good balance of activities.

No much travel planned for this year except for spending the summer in Canada.

Thank-you America

It’s a great relief that Barack Obama has won the US election and we can begin the honeymoon now.

I’ve been following the campaign for the last year. Personally, I had originally wanted Hilary Clinton to win despite the dynastic issue. She had experience and balls and would be very capable. You knew what you were getting with Hillary. Once it came down to just Obama and McCain, I was inclined to side with McCain as I wasn’t impressed with Obama’s expensive policies and interventionist inclinations. He could talk but so what? He just didn’t seem to have a lot of substance. McCain had experience and enough chutzpah to not always toe his party’s line. The person in the top job needs experience and balls.

I finally switched to Obama when the candidates chose their running mates for vice-president. Obama made an excellent choice. McCain made a terrible choice. The thought that Sarah Palin might be required to act as president was just too scarey. But worse, it showed a bad decision making process and it made McCain look unreliable.

So I’m glad Obama has won and it’s a novelty to see a politician with rock-star status. I’m hopeful but skeptical. He has a fantastic political mandate for change but the expectation that he will put right the world is just too much and I don’t expect the honeymoon will last long.

At least the neo-cons are on their way out the door and I really look forward to reading about the shutdown of Guantanamo Bay. That symbolic event will demonstrate closing the book on Bush-era policies.

Tags: Politics

Back To School

The kids started school last Thursday. K* started Year 5 back in his old school. For R*, it’s Year 8 after missing a whole year. More significantly, it was her first day at high school – a major milestone. She also has to wear a uniform.

Tags: Family

Notting Hill Carnival 2008

Last year I said I wouldn't take the kids back to the Notting Hill Carnival. Well, we went again. This time we went to the adult day on the Monday. We also had the use of an apartment in Notting Hill right in the middle of the carnival area. The friends who owned it had taken off to France to escape the noise.

It was much bette this year. We got there early in the afternoon so we didn't have to wait for the parade to start. The only problem was that there are often large gaps between floats. We just kept on walking around and when we got tired, crashed at the apartment. That was great.

The only scarey bit was getting crushed in a crowd as we tried to get past a sound system. I don't think the kids liked that. The day was very cool and cloudy so it wasn't so great for photography either.

Verruca and Tea Tree Oil

I had a very annoying verruca (plantar wart) on my foot for several months. Never had one before. I ignored it while travelling and when I got home tried to treat it with with salicylic acid. It didn't help much and made it more painful. My doctor told me that there wasn't really any cure beyond the body healing itself in its own sweet time. My body was was definitely procrastinating.

So, along with using salicylic acid to remove the dead skin, I started dousing it with 100% pure tea tree oil once a day. Presto! The verucca soon abated and disappeared in a few weeks. I assume the tea tree oil has some effect on the body to heal itself.

So if you're stuck with a stubborn verruca, it's worth giving tea tree oil a shot.

Doctor Who Exhibition

On my birthday, we went down to Earl’s Court to see the Doctor Who exhibition. I've seen every episode of the new series. The exhibit was much as you would expect. Lots of costumes and artifacts and an interesting display of how they make the aliens. A TARDIS and K9 was there. Of course, the best bit was the Cybermen and the Daleks. Walking back to the car, we found a real police box on the Earl’s Court high street.

 Tags: UK, Family

Go Karting

Some weeks ago we took R* go karting with a couple of friends at Teamworks Karting in Reading. Karting is always good fun. Heck, I like any motorsport. This was the first time I had tried electric ones. It makes sense for an indoor track and at 10hp, they could do 40 mph down the back straight. Fast enough. However, they do lack the excitement of a revving noisy engine and the smell of petrol and fumes. It’s just not the same! Give me petrol any day.

The facilities at Teamworks were brand new and excellent. You can have up to eight karts on the track. It costs £30 for four 7 minute races. That’s plenty enough time.

Tags: UK

Year 4 Sex Education

My son was shown three sex education videos at school last week. He’s in Year 4. One of them included full cross-section animation of intercourse. If you ask me, he’s a bit young for that. I didn’t get a sex education talk until Year 7 and it certainly wasn’t animated!

Jenny watched a preview to check the content. I talked to him about the video both the evening before he saw it and the evening afterwards. Basically, he wasn’t much fussed about it and wasn’t very interested. I think he got the general idea already from watching animal nature programmes and this just filled in some details.

The UK has the highest rate of births to teenage mothers in Europe (which is still about half of the US rate). I doubt teaching children at age 9 about conception will help any. I would have preferred they left this topic until the end of Year 5.

Tags: Family