Here, There and Everywhere.

We’ve had some more jaunts around and out of London - making the most of England while we can.  There are plenty of people to visit and places to see, and it’s looking far more likely that we’ll be spending the whole year in Britain without venturing ‘abroad’.  I love that word.  Makes me think of lace parasols and travelling on ships to conquer other nations, sipping tea...

Swanage

So there we were in Swanage with Ned (an old friend from Hong Kong) and Sarah, hosting our little band of 4, filling us with great wine and fabulous cheeses.

Swanage is great.  A beachside town (with sand!), where the boys played in the water while we sat (rugged up), watching them. 

We took a wonderful old steam train up to Corfe Castle and explored the ruins and then played oversize board games in a miniature model town.

Corfe Castle is pretty intact for a ruin, and has a great energy about it.  The boys put some medieval clothes on and charged up and down the hills for quite some time.

Later that night we had the boys babysat while we drank cocktails and beers, and checked out a band.

Finally, topped off the weekend with a visit to the Tank Museum, which far exceeded my expectations!  No guessing that the boys LOVED this - there were hundreds of tanks, a lot to climb and military gear to try on.  Well, we all enjoyed it, truth be told.

I quite liked the forest-like camouflage outfit myself.

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Sunderland v West Ham

The boys first football game in England, Sunderland v West Ham.  Playing at West Ham’s local ground in London, the fact that it was the last game of the season was no dampener.   The stadium was packed, the chants started before the first bounce (um, I mean kick.  Whatever it's called), and just kept on going.  Tyler really got into it, singing the chants too and laughing and looking around in wonderment at everyone.  The energy was high and it was a 3 – 0 win to Sunderland, so our part of the stadium was on a high.  West Ham were relegated which made for more joy for the Sunderland fans who comfortably stayed in the Premier League and could jeer at the losers.  Saw Pete’s cousin, Woody briefly before he went searching for beer with his mates.  Even the bus back to the train station was exciting as we were first on and top front on the double-decker with crowds all around.

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The extended Bowen clan and Little Harry Carter

Spent a lovely few days with Kim and Dave, my brother and sister in law, who live in Tamworth, outside Birmingham.  Pete ended up going to Sunderland instead as him mum had a knee replacement and his dad was poorly as well, but the boys and I still hung out with Kim (Pete’s sister) & Dave.  They have 3 daughters - Jo-Ann, Nicola and Leanne, all with partners - and Jo-Ann and Nikki both have kids of their own so when everyone got together there was quite a brood in the end!  With all the staggered ages among the 6 youngest children and a wonderful sense of family, there was never a dull moment.

How similar are we?

How similar are we?

There’s a castle in Tamworth town centre that happened to be having an exhibition day so we spend hours there, roaming around.   Squires helped you into armour, ladies of the court led us in dance and the children supported the band, playing instruments.   On the way there we saw eagle owls in the marketplace which was very different.  (They weren’t being sold, but were raising awareness of the local wildlife refuge centre.)

On the way home, we went via my sister’s place.  My cute little nephew Harry was having his 1^st birthday party and there was celebrating to do!  We chatted together about what he thought of his first year of life and his goals, you know.  He's making plans.  Going to be a big brother in October so he's feeling pretty good.