Microadventures

It's the summer holidays.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Devon this year, and we had a very outdoorsy holiday.  There were all sorts of the most micro of microadventures, a concept I hadn't really thought about before I heard this bloke on Midweek or Start the Week and thought it sounded like a really great idea.  So it became the "hashtag" for our week on Dartmoor, because I am that much of an Instagram whore.

Wild Swimming in the Dart.  I swam in the middle of the river for a very, very freezing 10 minutes; the current is surprisingly strong, which really shook Lucy when she tried to swim back to the bank after this photo was taken. 

There was climbing on bridges. 

Lots of climbing on rocks in the middle of rivers, which meant I found a use for my incredibly ugly and generally not very useful pretend Crocs.

Other birdlife spotted include chaffinches, greater spotter woodpeckers, kingfishers and herons.

Shoreham Seawater Lido at Brixham.  Lovely.  Freezing.  Full of people.

Horseriding. 

Running on Dartmoor.  This the track through and around Bellever Forest.  It's not that wild but is much better for running on as it is well maintained, and means I don't end up tripping and hurting my ankle, miles away from any phone signal.  

We met some sheep.  They didn't have any wool for sale, but I have their website, and I will be buying some Bellever Blue and some Postbridge Pink.  Have a look for yourself here. 

There was traditional forced route marches in the rain.  Only one, because, with the exception of the last day, it only rained once.  This is unheard of for Dartmoor.  

Fantastic fun. 

The amazing sore bums of Ealing

I need a new bike.

While the kids are away in Dartmoor, we have been making the most of our child free time, and went  on a really long bike rides, because that's the sort of cool people we are.  We cycled down to church (waterfowl count: 0) (distance: 2km), hung around there for a bit serving tea and biscuits, then decided to go to Isleworth to see if Halfords was open for me to test drive my new bike.  I want a mint green Pendleton bike, with a basket and space for panniers and a bell, and I can apparently get one through work, although first I have to navigate Ealing's opaque cycle to work scheme website.  Seriously.

Our church is in Hanwell, which mean little to non-Ealing based readers, and right by the Bunny Park, which is on the Brent River, which has a cycle path along side.  So we cycled down there (waterfowl count: some moorhens and some coots) until we hit the Grand Union Canal, and then down to Brentford.  (waterfowl count: many moorhens, many coots, one heron)  From Brentford, we went through Syon Park, along the river and all the way to Isleworth. (waterfowl count: lots of seagulls) (distance: 9.5km)

Anyway, I sat on the bike, rode around the shop, had a fun time arguing with my husband about how many panniers I need, then we went to Richmond.  I do not like Richmond.  It is full of people wearing Fat Face and red trousers and braying and that makes me irrationally angry, so we did not stay in Richmond very long.  (waterfowl count: most seagulls and IDIOTS) (distance: 3.52)  We cycled back to Kew, again along the Thames, on a very, very bumpy, narrow path, with lots of people and nettles and thistles and things.  (distance: 6km)(waterfowl count: don't know, too busy avoiding joggers, dogs and other cyclists)

Kew is not quite as ghastly as Richmond, but it does have its share of idiots, although by this stage, I was really hungry and just a bit grumpy, and after the third rejected pub, I suggested that we just go and GET A SANDWICH FROM SAINSBURYS HURRY UP I AM STARVING, but we went to the pub on Kew Green and it was lovely, and I had a vegetarian Wellington thing, which is something I want to make now - it looked really easy, roasted veg in pasty, what's hard about that?  Famous last words?  (waterfowl count: a family of swans including teenage cygnets)

So then I made the cardinal error of looking at my Runkeeper statistics for the month, and by walking, running and cycling, I'd managed to cover 177 km, so obviously we had to cycle home along the canal the long way.  Turns out the long way is a very, very long way, and now my bum is really quite sore.  I think I'll be adding a pair of padded cycling shorts to my order when I buy my bike, and I really need to wear a sports bra when cycling on rough ground.  That would have been a very severe wardrobe malfunction.  (waterfowl count: at least 50 swans including some on their own (sob), two families with teenagers and two groups of at least 15 adults, tiny baby mallards with their mum, baby coots (so cute), baby moorhens (cute and so ugly), four herons, one flying cormorant)(distance: 25.5 km)

Percentages: (idea nicked from the terrifically funny Belgian Waffling)

25% adrenaline from cycling

25% sore bum (ditto)

10% joy of swans and other wild life

10% sunburn

5% gin

Where did you go?

Many weeks later, and now it is the summer holidays, the children are away, work is but a happy, middle of the night screaming memory, and we have been to Austria and back again.

There has been all sorts happening: knitting, sewing, running, cycling, drinking gin, making jam, baking bread.  I contributed to the now traditional Outfit Along run by Andi Sutterland and Lauren Lladybird, which involved making a skirt and a cardigan, and a white tee-shirt.

The tee shirt is a Grainline Lark, with a lower v-neck, and cut in a smaller size, which is terrific, the skirt is a "self-drafted" one, where I had about two metres of the cherry fabric, and just wrapped it around my body, gathered the rectangles and shoved a waistband on it with a zip and a button.  I'm calling that a first design, obv.

Not much to say about the cardigan, except it's my third version of the Myrna pattern, and this time has no keyhole.  I altered the design to suit my personality and the v is much deeper than originally written, but it closes over my tummy and doesn't look too indecent, so I'm pleased with it.  Replicating my design change on the left side was a bit challenging, mind.  I wore this outfit to travel to Austria, with my red clogs, and it was very comfy and lovely.  It got a bit sweaty in the cardigan in Vienna, as it was pretty hot, much hotter than here, but I wore it a few times, especially in the evening.  I do really like it, and I've started yet another Myrna, this time in a lovely dark purple.  

I've made some other things, and as it's the school holidays, I might even be able to blog about them.  Who can say?

No Boyle, last time we did that you ended up telling everyone that you had a crush on the teapot from Beauty and the Beast

I've been busy sewing today, working on my Made Up pledge for Karen and the National Literacy Trust.  To be completely honest, the first bit wasn't a challenge at all - I've made this pattern three times and hacked it to make tee shirts for the girls, so I knew that it wouldn't really take very long at all.  

In fact, the two dresses took me from half ten this morning to about ten past one.  Super fast sewing, even with cutting them out last night.  I also made Hattie some pyjamas too, because I am one overachieving mother today.  Tomorrow, I'll need to make something similar for Lucy as I can hear her starting to feel a bit miffed that her sister has something she doesn't.

Stars for Hattie.  It's a bit big at the moment, but the size below fits perfectly, and I'd quite like it to last until next year.

Spots for Lucy.  Again, a bit big, particularly in length, but it should last her well.

`

The pyjamas were made out of the leftovers.  Funny what a difference the light makes to the colour in the photograph.  The two things are in the same fabric!  The pants are a bit of an odd fit because I had to cut them against the stretch, but they are fine for sleeping in.  I called them sleep shorts, so I suspect Hattie will try to wear them outside before too long.  

It's funny how different two similar fabrics can be.  The stars are a very structured jersey without much drape, quite thick and much better at holding a shape. The spots is a lot more drapey and thinner, and has made a lovely floppy, floaty cool dress for Lucy.  I bought the spotty fabric from a shop on the Goldhawk Road last year, when I met up with a load of sewing people, and gorgeous (then) blue haired Llauren Lladybird.  The shop is owned by one of my parents, as in someone from school, and I'm sure he had other colours.  I'll have to go back and check.  Oh the hardship.

 I'm sure I wrote a blog post about my last trip, but maybe not.  It was fun anyway, and I bought a small (large) amount of fabric, some of which I've used, most of which I haven't.  It feels good to take 4 metres out of stash.  I photographed a portion of it today.  It is getting a bit out of hand.

My sewing resolution is to turn at least half into garments before August 2016.  Should be doable. 

Julia vs Vianne

A blogger I like, Amanda from Bimble and Pimble, always starts her posts Amanda vs whichever pattern she's been wrestling with this week.  While my relationship with sewing isn't quite on that combative level, my knitting has been properly rubbish recently.  I think it's annoyed that I'm spending more time sewing and writing, and is in a sulk.

Vianne and I have a complicated relationship.  I started it back in June, and made great progress, until I really looked at the lace and realised that my decreases sloped in different ways and it was just a big hot mess.  Even I can't live with that level of ridiculousness, so I ripped it back, including the bit that was OK, which was a mistake, but I was pretty cross.  I'd already altered the pattern to make it with a plain back, because the lace back didn't look right to me.  It looks nice on other models, but it wouldn't work.  Also, I like to hide the backs of my dresses, because invisible zip nightmare.

So then it waited in my knitting bag while I did other things - mostly the Weather blanket and sewing, and then I took it to Greece.  I don't know if you've ever knitted in 40+ degree heat? It's not a good idea.  Anyway, I got the body finished, and I got one of the sleeves finished, and I got the other sleeve started, and I ran out of wool in the middle of nowhere.  So it went back into the knitting bag until we got home, and then yesterday I finished the cast off on the button band, and today after finishing my essay, I sewed ribbon round the button band and made buttonholes and sewed on buttons, and now it is done.

It looks a bit weird on the hanger, but it fits OK.  Bit big around the shoulders and back, and the sleeves need to get narrower much, much quicker.  I'll try to take modelled picture later. 

Button band looks OK, as does the lace.  I won't tell you how long it took me to make those buttonholes.  Ages.  

Grey and white spotty ribbon to give it a bit of extra oomph.  I like using a contrasting colour. 

I also made Hattie some stripy pants.  

And put a freaking bird on Lucy's.  

So there you go.  It was a tight match, but I won in the end.  Ain't no knitting going to stop me.  Or something.  And only a month late, the outfit along outfit is finished.  I'm going to wear them both tonight and see if Simon can take a photograph that doesn't make me look like an idiot. 

I'll distract the file clerk. Apparently he's really into bird-watching, so talking to a woman should blow his mind. And talking to this woman? It could kill him.

Long time, no blog.  Something to do with the summer holidays, going on holiday (Greece, and lovely, thanks for asking) (no, there was tonnes of money, and the cashpoints worked) (no, no riots in Stoupa, and Athens was a hot shithole, but I suspect it always was), the NASENCO course essay being due in September (nearly 2500 words, thanks for asking) and general STUFF and THINGS happening.  The children are away, and I am missing them a great deal, but also really appreciative of the time without them, particularly on Sunday morning after drinking my body weight in gin the night before.  I passed out in my clothes.  It was not good.

I'm supposed to be going for a run now, but my phone is nearly out of battery and I need to charge it before I go out otherwise I will get in a real snit about not having music, so what better thing to do than update you on all the fascinating KNITTING and SEWING TOGETHER CROCHETED SQUARES that I've been doing.

The list for this Year of Projects is substantially the same as it was when created.  Quelle surprise, so I'm only going to talk about what I have done, rather than what I will be doing.  If you are massively into lists, you can see the whole thing in all its glory here.

Anyway.

Petrie top in Yellow Wool Cotton from Liberty - I've started this.  I used some of the blue wool from my Vianne as a hem facing, and with the yellow of the main body of the top, it looks like a minion.

I might rip it back.  I have to have a long think about it.

Finish the Vianne in time for the end of the Outfit Along - well, I've got the buttonband to do on this one.  I need to use slightly smaller needles for the band, so it's got that sewn on look I like.  I have made mistake after mistake with this one, honestly.  I buggered up the lace, lost my DPNs, ran out of wool half way down the first sleeve; you never stop making mistakes, you just make them faster and more irreparably.

Elwood mittens for Lucy - I've made one.  Look!

Cute, isn't it?  Lucy loves it, which is the main thing.  I've trimmed the ends now, and started the ribbing on the second one.  That's the problem with knitting mittens and socks, the idea of making the same thing twice when there's already a perfectly wearable garment in existence.

Finish the &%^%^&^%&^ing Weather Blanket - there are 19 squares left to go on the Weather Blanket people.  19.  Less than a row.  And there are 21 to sew together, as I had a big push and did a lot of hungover sewing the other day.  Hurrah.

More soon.  And some sewing.  I will finish this essay in time to sew something before the girls come back.  Right.  Running time.  Yay.

Oh, one time I rode in a sidecar on a guy's motorcycle, and the sidecar detached and went down a flight of stairs

The Outfit Along 2015 is in full swing, hosted by the gorgeous Llauren Lladybird and the equally gorgeous Andi Satterlund and I've been umming and aahhing over my dress and my knitting.  I originally thought I wanted to make a mustard coloured Vianne cardigan with a 1970s duvet print Lilou dress, but I decided against.  Weirdly.

I think I'll still make it up, but in the Autumn.  It's not that summery at all.  I don't wear those colours ever, so it's a bit of a brave shot in the dark.  

I ended up choosing a different colour yarn but the same cardigan pattern and a totally different dress pattern.  This is a Francoise, still by Tilly and the Buttons, but a pattern I've made twice before, once badly in purple, once very happily in polka dots.  I used a special fabric, an African wax cotton print that I bought on the Goldhawk Road when Lauren came to visit London, so it's nice to use it for a pattern that has something to do with her.  

It's a lovely print; I was a bit wary of using an African wax cotton, given that my ancestors have not always chosen their best behaviour when dealing with other Africans, and cultural appropriation and all that, but decided not to be so silly in the end, and to celebrate the beauty of the fabric and the skill of the women who make it.  

Nice isn't it?  Bias binding on the neckline and the sleeves, because Julia doesn't do facings. 

This is me with a why the f are you mucking about with my camera face on.  You can't tell from the picture, but the bodice is a bit too big, everywhere but over my full bust.  There are 5 inches between my full bust and my high bust (FFS), so I should really do an FBA and use a smaller size.  Or rip the binding at the neckline out and then put a couple of darts in the back.  Or leave it as the only person bothered by it is me when I look in a mirror and I look like I might fall out of my dress.  

I have worn the dress pretty much solidly since I made it on Friday night;  I know how to live it up.  It's in the wash now so I can wear it again on Wednesday.  It's gorgeously cool and light to wear, I feel like I'm not wearing anything at all, while being perfectly, modestly dressed.  I'm going to buy a job lot of wax print and make a bunch of shift dress, and maybe make an Anna dress with the rest of the fabric.  Should be perfect for our Greek adventure.  

Eagle eyed readers may have spotted the bare bum of my older daughter.  She has a knack for photobombing. 

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.

Pinch punch and white rabbits and all that, and welcome to July.  It's absolutely boiling here in West London, at least 35 degrees C, and more than that in the Nursery, which is awful for the dear little things, and worse for us.  It should cool down soon, which will be a blessed relief.

Anyway. There's been lots of this:

Tall jugs of iced water with lemon, lime and mint.  Ringmaster Rosie black, red, white and pink tutu. Sweet Williams, on sale in the Co-Op for under £1.  Rainbow dress and matching pants for Hattie.  New paddling pool broken in. 

Pretty busy what with one thing and the other.  

We're going to see a kitchen designer tomorrow.  More on that later. 

My knitting is as boundless as the sea, My stash as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.

What a weekend.  We went to Paris very early on Saturday morning and came back on Sunday night.  I am EXHAUSTED, and the children are foul, as they would be with so little sleep.  It sounds so glamourous, 48 hours in Paris; does it break the spell to say that it was my grandmother's 90th birthday, and we didn't stay in Paris itself but in a small but anonymous hotel in her village, half an hour out of the centre?  Probably a bit, but we had a great time, and I have some photos once I get them off the camera.

Some things from the list:

A FINISHED OBJECT

It's Andi Satterlund's Miette cardigan, which will go with my two Miette skirts.  I made it with the wrong weight of yarn, DK instead of Worsted, which was a bit of a mistake, but it will be lighter weight for Summer.  I wore it today, and it was a bit too warm, but then it's been rubbish and humid in London today.

NB It looks better on than in the photo, but I am having a bad hair day so there are to be NO PHOTOS.

Stuff I am actually working on actually.

The Weather in the Streets blanket

Even slighter progress this week on this one.  I've got 18 loose squares now.

Yellow squares - 123/143 done - 20 to go
Blue squares - 63/72 done - 9 to go
Grey squares - 79/102 - 23 to go
Turquoise squares - 4/11 done
Red squares - 8/10 done
Pinky-Red squares - 8/10 done

Orange squares - DONE

Pink square - DONE
Purple squares - DONE
Dark Green squares - DONE
Pale Blue square - DONE
Pale Yellow square - DONE
Dark Blue square - DONE

Vianne cardigan - another Andi Satt pattern, this time for the outfit along 2015.  Because I am awkward, I am making it with a plain back. It's a good pattern, but I've never been one for masses of lace everywhere.  I knitted quite a lot of it on the plane yesterday, and it's coming along well.  Turns out I only have about 6 balls of the yarn I've earmarked for it, so I will use that up and probably (totally) buy more for the Petrie top.  



Stuff I am not really working on, but saying I am as it makes me feel less like a grasshopper and more like an ant.

Wisteria jumper - Still needing a bloody sleeve.
Hexipuff quilt - least said, soonest mended.
Peacock Mitten

It is doubtful whether these will be started this month.

Knitted Coco

Coraline cardigan 

Owls for Robin
Socks for me
Petrie top

These are not being started until the weather turns crap again.  I have no guilt.

Burton Bear Cowl for Hattie. 

Elwood mittens for Lucy.  

Rainbow jumper

A Little Birds jumper with no steeks .

Reknit an unwearably large jumper for Simon

These are DONE and are therefore my favourite projects

Myrna Cardigan
Hattie's cardigan
A pair of simple socks for the children
Garter Yoke Cardigan
An Owlet for Lucy
Lucy's Cowl
Hattie's Cowl
A Burton Bear Cowl for Lucy
Simon's socks
Boreal
A tiny jumper for Nicholas
Sparkly Owlet for Hattie
Ringo mittens
Aiken
Striped jumper for Lucy
Nicholas' POP blanket

Lucy ripples

Hattie rainbows

Miette for me

The new list is shaping up to be depressingly similar to the old one; ho hum. Fewer socks for the children though as they keep on growing, and it wears me out. 

What if he shows up with another woman? What if one of my sleeves catches on fire and it spreads rapidly? What if instead of Tic-Tacs I accidentally pop a couple of Ambien and I have to keep punching my leg to stay awake?

A while ago, my mum gave me a bunch of skirts to cut up for the fabric.  They are all from Liberty; back in the olden days (1980s), Liberty had a shop in Cambridge which sold skirts that had pre-elasticated waistbands, and were sewn up one side, so all you had to do was measure yourself and sew a seam.  We didn't have a sewing machine then as Mum didn't really care to sew, so she sewed and hemmed all these skirts by hand.  They are about as unflattering as any skirt can possibly be; loose elasticated waist, mid calf length, masses of fabric around the hips and bum, and generally pretty horrible.  The fabric though is just beautiful, so they are worth salvaging just for that.

This is the first one I rescued:

It's a lovely print, and I don't think you can buy it anymore; I can't even find it on the internet, although I'm not sure I am searching for the right thing.  If you can find it, please let me know.

All I really did was cut the waistband off, opened the side seams with my seam ripper and undid the hem.  I felt terrible doing that; my mum's hand sewing was absolutely beautiful, and must have taken ages.  I cut it in a sort of A-line shape, and made a beautiful interfaced waistband, that ended up being far too small, probably because I can't measure and left far too much seam allowance, resulting in me losing about 3 inches off the whole thing.  Depressing.  Obviously, then I didn't have enough fabric for a proper waistband, so I found some corduroy and measured it around my waist, then added a bit and shoved it on.  It's not technically perfect, but you know.  It's going to be around my waist, and you can't really tell it's not been lined, and if anyone wants to have a look at the waistband, they are clearly a weirdo and will be told to bugger off. 

It looks alright, doesn't it?  I sewed the buttons on today, so much fun.  They are from my purple Garter Yoke cardigan, which lost two buttons and a third chipped, so I've bought new ones which I have to sew on.  All eleven of them.  

I might even finish the cardigan I'm knitting to go with this skirt before the end of the week.  The way the weather is at the moment means I really need it.  It's freezing in London.  Does this count towards the whole vintage pledge thing?  It's certainly vintage fabric.

That is not what I meant at all; that is not it, at all

Term has started, and things are starting to settle down.  I don't know why, but the last few weeks of the summer holiday are just so chaotic and stressful and everyone gets on everyone else's nerves, so I lose the will to write anything.

The girls went to tennis camp for the last few days, and I managed to get some sewing done - in fact I made two Coco dresses in two days, which is fast, even though it's a quick pattern.  I say made, when I mean that I sewed everything together and only finished them yesterday, listening to Benedict Cumberbatch as TS Eliot in Tom and Viv.  What a depressing story; it was brilliantly done, so that you had intense sympathy for both of them all the way through, but actually ended up disliking both of them very much indeed.

This week, I am mostly wearing the same thing, because it is One Week, One Pattern week, the brainchild of Tilly and the Buttons, and this year run by Handmade Jane, so all the bloggers, all the sewing, all the fun.

I'll do a roundup of outfits at the end of the week, bet you can't wait.  I like this idea; the only problem was getting together enough Cocos so that I can wash them occasionally and not wear smelly clothes.  

Hattie and I are off swimming.  I asked her what she wanted to do for our last Mummy and Hattie morning, so now I have to do it.  I'll miss our mornings together.  She has an original mind - at the moment she is making a big experiment which involves wrapping a scarf around a chair and pulling it around the kitchen.  Having an original mind makes her both loud and tiring, but never, ever dull.

There's Magic Everywhere?

Ah Disneyland Paris.  Where the American "how can I make your day better?" knocks up against the French "your day is of no interest to me."

It's really, really easy to be terribly world weary and cynical about Disney, Disneyland and all things princess, so I won't be.   Encouraged by my neglectful parenting, the children love all that stuff, although they were distinctly underwhelmed about the idea of a trip to Disneyland.  The reality of the thing was different, and they had an amazing time, and so did we.  The looks on their faces when we met the actual real Belle was worth the cost of the admission alone, and the firework display was fantastic.

The place itself is nearly 25 years old and parts of it really look it now.  Alice's Amazing Labyrinth is decrepit; the Queen of Hearts is supposed to jump out at you twice but doesn't, just shouts away from behind her hedge.  The paintwork is, in some places, distressed, in a manner that suggests neglect rather than a planned vintage look, and the attention to detail, which is meant to be the Disney THING, is sorely lacking.  There was a MASSIVE dandelion growing through Peter and Wolf's house in the Land of Fairytales, it just needed pulling out, plus why no Frozen ice palace?  There was fake snow, why couldn't they knock up an Elsa and Ana castle?

The trouble is, once you notice the flaws, it's really difficult to go back to being wide-eyed and naive about the whole thing again.

Thinking about it, all this degeneration was in Fantasyland, which is the most popular area, with the princess castle and the teacups, and the inexplicably popular Dumbo ride, and the rest wasn't too bad.  The Space Mountain ride properly scared both of us; it was far more extreme than we thought it would be.  The children were too small, and I was very glad that they couldn't ride it.  We did manage to smuggle Hattie onto the Big Thunder Mountain rollercoaster, by going on it half past 10 at night when it was properly dark and no one cared anymore.  She was only a centimetre or two too small, so I don't think it mattered that much.

Some tips, in case you fancy this with your children.

Wait until they are at least 3, and able to appreciate it.  Hire a buggy if you don't have one; Hattie was a major pain in the bum the first day and a delight the second.

Stay in the Park hotels and buy a package; it ends up costing the same as a three day ticket.

If you stay in the Park hotels, you get access to a few of the rides early - from 8am until 10am.  This is why Simon and I were able to go on Space Mountain, and why we took the children on the teacups twice in a row.  We were also at the Small World ride first, and were able to have our third trip around the world in one of the first boats.

If you want to meet the Princesses, and why wouldn't you, send someone to queue up to get a time to see them, and take the children on the rides yourself.  It's better if it's raining, as no one wants to go on anything, and we were able to go on the Land of Fairytales boat ride, the funny little train, Snow White's adventure and Small World in the 45 minutes Simon was queuing up.  He gets 3G in France, so wasn't bored, and we were doing stuff and having a great time.

Meeting the Princesses is the best thing in the world.  A tip we were given, but left too late to follow, is to use your meal vouchers to have a meal with the princesses and other characters, and then top it up with actual cash money.  Apparently, this is well worth it, as Belle and Cinderella talk to everyone in the room and have photos taken and sign autographs, and it's magical for children.

Get up and going early, go back to the room for a sleep, then go back for an early meal and then a wander around the Park in the evening before the Disney Dreams Fireworks Extravaganza.  This was how we walked straight onto the Phantom Manor House ride, which terrified us, but the girls weren't bothered, and the Big Thunder Mountain.  Normally, both of these things have massive queues.

Try to leave your critical, adult brain at home.  Yes, most of the Princess stories are massively sexist and give unrealistic expectations.  Yes, Mickey Mouse isn't real.  Yes, it's a massive marketing exercise designed to strip you of all your cash present and future.  But it's also good fun, and if you can stand it for three days, go.

I'm not being sponsored by Disney, but wouldn't it be nice if I was?

In other news, I signed up to write for this site.  Do you think I am good enough?  I'm having a massive crisis of confidence about it.

PS I pinched the picture at the top from here, simply because none of my photos turned out that well.

What I did on my Summer Holiday

Back home again.  At least all the weather has stopped and there's no hurricane hanging around; it's lovely and sunny in Ealing today, which helps.

I don't intend to bore you rigid with 188 photos of our holidays, or a blow by blow account of everything we did.  If you have young children who are easily amused, I can highly recommend getting a boat to Bilbao (24 hours! You get a cabin! Get an outside one though!), driving to San Sebastien, going Eurocamping near Bordeaux and then bombing up the motorway to Paris and Disneyland.  

San Sebastien.  We were very relieved that the girls ate as much as they did; it would have been no fun at all going to Europe's gastronomic capital and having to hunt down a McDonalds.

We sat on the sea wall and watched the sunset.  After I looked over the edge of the sea wall to the drop to the rocks below, the girls came off the sea wall and sat on our shoulders instead.

The lake by our campsite.  Lovely and still; warm and shallow; bit like an enormous bath.  We managed to find a deepish bit - the water came up to my waist and the girls could paddle around with their rubber rings.

The Dune de Pyla.  Largest dune in Europe, apparently.  Quite tricky to climb too.  Good for the legs though.

A way to keep two children out of trouble on the beach.

The big bucket going splosh.  Fun being underneath, but not very nice if it takes you by surprise.

The smallest slide.  Hattie went up and down it about 50 times.  A day.  For 7 days.  

That will do for now, because other people's holidays are boring.  Also Eurocamps aren't sponsoring me, so I'm not going to say to much about it.  It was basic, but perfectly nice.  Better than I thought it would be.  We had a terrific time.