The Duchess of Hanwell

Today I arrived home to an unusual shaped package sitting outside my front door.  My brain does a quick check on whether I had ordered anything online and I realise the answer to the question is 'No'.  Was I expecting anyone to send me anything? 'No'.  I pick up the parcel to see my name on it and give it a shake only to find it is as light as a feather.  Intriguing.

I open it up to find a satin finished yellowy-cream paper scroll tied with a golden ribbon.

I untie the scroll and I realise I have received a dinner invitation from The Duchess of Hanwell (a.k.a Bing - sorry to ruin the mystery) for Cocktails and Hors d'Oeurves followed by an aristocratic dinner.

We were all told weeks ago to hold the 7th June free, but Bing wouldn't elude to what.  So dinner it is, but the question on the aristocracy of it all still eludes me.  What has this mysterious woman got up her sleeve and what is the reason behind the event?

At the bottom of the invite it states that 'Guests are invited to adopt an aristocratic title of their choice for the evening and to inform the hostess of any special dietary requirements'...

...Well Duchess of Hanwell, please consider this as my RSVP for the evening and I can confirm that I have no dietary requirements.

Yours Truly,

Lady Ruby of Jewellery Quarters

P.S. The menu looks divine.

Glastonbury, Donkey Rides and Goodbyes

The sky is blue, the sun is shining and it is practically t-shirt weather.  For my last day on holiday we spent the day in Glastonbury.  It's the first time I've been to this place, but in general it was what I was expecting; a quaint place surrounded by countryside, with the Tor Building looking down on it.

What I wasn't expecting was the hippie culture to be so predominant here.  There were people walking around without shoes, Gandalf look-a-likes sipping coffee outside cafe's, shop after shop selling merchandise promoting witch craft and the like.  There were also a couple of buildings that looked like they housed cults.

It was very interesting and a bit bizarre.  I did feel a bit like a fish out of water and a tourist as 'hippie' is definitely not my style.

The Tor was a trip up to the top of the hill.  During which we said 'Hello Sheep' to the majority of the sheep that were on the banks of the hill.  The sheep seemed to have been sheared in a rather haphazard way as though the farmer couldn't keep hold of them long enough to shear them properly.

At the top of the hill we were rewarded with awesome views and of people doing some unusual 'yoga'.  There was a lot of thrusting action going on that is the only way I can describe it.

The day ended with a re-visit to Weston-Super-Mare beach to maximise on the sun.  To have a play in the sand and another ride on donkey for Princess.

She loved it.  She was shouting 'Nimmie, Cerys, Donkey'  on the return trip back on the Donkey.

I had a great 5 days off.  Many thanks Carters for letting me join.  Miss you and love you very much Princess.  xx

Letters

Every morning on this trip I have woken up to the little voice of Princess and her chuckles as she plays in her parents room.  Then I hear the question that inevitably comes; 'Bubuts? Yeah?'.  These are the words to ask for breakfast.

Then the door opens and she sees me and I get a 'Hiya', 'Bubuts', 'Yeah?' and 'Slippers'.  Then the troughing begins.  For a 1 and a half year old she has a good appetite.  Take today for example.  She had 'Pumpets' (Crumpets), Cheese, 'Nana' (Banana) and 'Yot Yots' (Yoghurts).  But then the Carters enjoy food, so it's no surprise that she does too.  My fondest memory of Daddy Carter will always be a dinner, where he told me with big eyes and a big smile, that the Fritata Mummy Carter had prepared was made with 6 eggs and 6 sausages (And Daddy Carter if you are reading this, no you will never live that down!)

The game that has become mine and Princess' is to do with letters.  The letters come in a jar and for some reason the big blue eyes are always in my direction to open the jar.

The game between us is not really about learning the letters of the alphabet, but in actual fact learning about colours.  We managed to learn to pick out the pink letters, but that was it.

It took me a couple of days to realise that she only got the game because Mummy Carter had got a few of the pink ones in her hand.  I put a few green ones in a pot and she started to put all the green ones in.  But that's as far as we got.  We reached the attention span limit and all the letters were on the floor again.

For the entire trip we have been trying to get Princess to say my name.  The first name was 'Tizzer', the name of the other godparent, which would get too confusing if we were both in the same room.  The next name was 'Aisha'.  Close but I think the one we have settled on is Nimmie (and said in a sort of Brummy accent).  I was getting ready to go out and I hear a little voice shout out 'Nimmie where are wou?'.  So cute.

Play

Princess always asks to 'play'.  Instead of being contained in her push chair, she likes to be out and about and running around with Ted-Ted in tow.  And getting into all sorts of mischief.

We walked along the sandy beaches of Weston-Super-Mare for what seemed to be miles, but in actual fact was a long time due to Princess stopping to do her frog impressions every now and again.

She hasn't quite mastered the art of jumping yet, so her frog impressions are based on her crouching and resting her hands on her knees and saying ribbet-ribbet.

She liked running around the sand sculptures but I think that was more due to the fact that there was sand around, rather than her being in awe of what she was seeing.

The best part of the day was seeing Princess ride a Donkey.  There were kids around that were scared to sit on one, but not her.  You ask her if she wants to ride one and her answer would be a nod of the head and a little voice saying 'yeah?'.  

Straight away she was calling out to it; 'Hello Donkey' and stroking its ears.  And when asked 'What noise does a Donkey make?', she would make a clopping noise to imitate them walking.

She rode little Reggie the entire ride on the sandy beach.  Not once asking to get off, which I was sure she would do half way round.

She really does love her animals.  I think we may have a little Ace Ventura in the making.

The Wookey Hole

The Wookey Hole was my choice for today's activities.  A place that was quite random.

The main attraction were the caves that were formed through the erosion of the limestone hills by the River Axe and the formation of stalagmites & stalactites (basically the rock growing up from the ground or down from the ceiling of the cave).

And the spooky part comes in by legend stating that it was home to a Witch who used to cast horrible spells on the surrounding village.  It was very dark in there and Princess was a little scared, but she was very brave and clutched to Mummy, Daddy and Hippo for comfort the entire time in there.

The random part was that the caves and the land was bought by a circus group, who formed a sort of theme park.  You have a fairy garden...

...a random tribute to Jurassic Park with plastic dinosaurs...

...Neanderthals...

...and a circus.  Although quite random, the circus was a lot of fun.  There was a hall of mirrors that did weird things to the body (talk about body dysmorphia).

There was also a circus show starring the kids that go to Circus School (yes there is such a thing).

Princess was engrossed.  I think all the colours and the fact that it was kids doing it had her captivated and clapping at the end of the acts she liked most.

I was a bit clicky happy as you can probably tell by all the pictures.  But it was a nice show and I was impressed at how talented they all were.

Little Stinker in the City of Wells

Today has been a fun day and I think the picture below summarises it.  It's a bit blurry but I just love the look on the little boy's face as he runs up to the pigeons and makes them fly away.

Today has been exactly how a day in Spring should be.  Sunny with a soft breeze in the air, trees blossoming with flowers and a 99 flake ice cream in my hand.

Today our road trip took us to the quaint little City of Wells.  Home to the Bishop's Palace and Gardens...

...home to the Cathedral that is a staple for any little city...

...and also the place where the vicarage live...

We arrived mid-morning to a bustling market outside the Bishop's Palace walls.

As we walked around, aromas wafted the air with the culinary delights on offer and the different Cheddar cheeses on sale that are common for this area.

One of the finds in the market was a book called 'Little Stinker'.  A story about a little fish called Percy who loves blowing stinky botty bubbles.  It was bought for Princess but I think it has more entertainment value for Mummy and Daddy.

Although I think considering the dirty nappy that Princess graced us with, which managed to stink out the entire caravan to the extent that we were in dire need of gas masks, has me questioning whether she is our own 'Little Stinker'.