Fish

Last weekend we had a belated family day out in London. We had planned to do this a couple of weeks ago but the first winter colds got the better of us and we decided against it. The reason for the trip was firstly to see the Francis Bacon exhibition at Tate Britain, followed by a trip to the London Aquarium. The day started out in a rather fractious way when we arrived at the train station only to find that there was works on the line and a shuttle bus in operation. That didn't matter too much except for the fact that the train times did not correspond to what I had on my timetable. So after much ranting at the poor bus driver and anyone else who would listen we headed back home to pick up the car so we could drive to Bromley to pick the train up there. Finally after driving around the entire one\way system in Bromely looking for a car park that you could park in for more than 4 hours we finally parked up, purchased tickets and were eventually seated on the train and heading for the capital.

Charlie loved it on the train and the tube and was wandering around the streets of London taking it all in. By the time we arrived at Tate Britain it was time for lunch. We had a fabulous meal in the Tate restaurant and Charlie was so well behaved and enjoyed flirting with all the waitresses. Full of gorgeous food and wine we set off towards the exhibition with Charlie asleep in the buggy. It was an interesting and rather grotesque collection of paintings showing just how eccentric he was, not really what you would want hanging on your living room wall, but an interesting character nonetheless.

Once we had had our dose of art we headed along the embankment towards the Houses of Parliament and over Westminster bridge and arrived at the London Aquarium. It was great fun and having been to several aquariums around the globe I had not actually been to this one. Charlie was quite awestruck by it all and very annoyingly insisted on being carried around. I kept running off away from him trying to encourage him to actually use his legs as God intended. The Manta Rays and the Sharks were of great interest and we spent quite some time watching them gracefully gliding round the huge tanks. The favourite of the day however were these peculiar fish that looked liked a cross between a fish and a lizard and swam with their huge eyes poking out of the watching so they amusingly became the fish with the googly eyes of which Charlie thought was absolutely hilarious. Tea was taken on the platform of Victoria Station courtesy of M&S and we arrived home in time for Charlie to sink into his cot dreaming about fish.

Birthday Celebrations

I cant believe that it is a year since the big celebrations of my 40th birthday took place. Although this year was rather understated in comparison, celebrations were still the order of the day. As is often the case with my birthday, the weather was absolutely glorious and in fact it was probably one of the hottest days we have had in over a month with temperatures soaring to 20 degrees. So a group of close friends and family headed for the Grove Ferry Inn, a beautiful hotel and family pub situated on the banks of the River Stour and was a perfect setting for the day. A big slap up sunday roast was had by all and pudding in the garden to make the most of the sunshine. I was thoroughly spoilt with lots of lovely presents and the wine was flowing well. The kids really enjoyed themselves running in and out of the bushes and sitting in the little house.