A Day Out

The forecast was gloomy and drizzly, and as I couldn't think of anything else to do with the children, we popped up to London. It's one of the things I love about where I live in Sussex - I'm living in an ex-farmworker's cottage on the edge of fields yet only an hour or so away is lovely London, which I must say, on a mild January day is remarkably pleasant. We arrived at Victoria having dropped the dog with my parents, and walked up past Buckingham Palace:

We managed to time it, by a complete fluke, to coincide with the horses also walking past:

The girls were enchanted :-)

It was then a walk up through Green Park to Piccadilly:

I only properly noticed the bark of plane trees when I was up in London last time, but it's quite spectacular:

And (not that you can see them in this picture) the daffodils were poking up through the grass...I should think it'll look gorgeous in a few week's time:

I had little success with food for the children at Victoria Station, as I had been banking on filling them up with Ixxy's bagels who seem to have disappeared, so it was a bit of an exercise to get something inside them before the whole visit spiralled downwards into disaster due to low blood sugar and slight thirst. They have extremely Catholic taste when it comes to food and trying to find a sandwich without mayo or heavens! tomato! is always a problem. Luckily Costa came to my rescue and after bacon sandwiches and a very large coffee for me, we headed to Waterstone's.

I have had to postpone my degree studies for now due to lack of time and headspace, and need to focus on the children and their studies. I'm ok with this decision, as the reason I was taking a geosciences degree was because I'd given up science at age 14, and was frankly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, and thought that if the children were going to be home-educated, the least I could do was gain a rudimentary grasp of things like electricity, atoms and chemistry. But I did really enjoy it and miss having something to take my mind off all the other things to worry about as I've discovered that I can knit/crochet and fret at the same time. In fact, I can pretty much fret while I do anything, so I thought I should get some inspiration for something a bit meatier, and I always find bookshops a good place to start.

I got a sewing book which has all the basics about any sort of stitch, hem, alteration, embellishment I could ever want and, joy of joys - a sewing machine troubleshooting guide...I think mine needs oiling! I also got a book on keeping ducks and geese, as I'd love to have a goose or two if I ever live somewhere with enough grass. It also had really cute pictures of ducklings and goslings. So, not exactly meaty stuff but it did get the old brain cogs stirring again and I could have bought loads of books about bees, which I think could become something for me to get my teeth in to as there are so many new methods and areas of research, plus I do own and work with bees so it would be very relevant. So, apart from Tristan being extraordinarily grumpy at the enforced company of his sisters all day (not in the least assuaged by a new Bernard Cornwell book) I think it was quite a success :-)