One of the great things about living in London is that there is always something brilliant to do... even if it's doing not very much at all.
Often, on a rainy day - as we did this Tuesday - we'll hop on the bus, clamber up to the top deck, beg for the seats right at the front and see what sights we see. And we always see something awe inspiring. London is just like that, especially when you get to cross the bridges.
The Thames is a magnificent river, it's never the same no matter how many times you see it. It's steeped in history, saturated with myth and mystery and of course full of boats - sometimes really fast ones, which especially please Rowdy.
This particular Tuesday, cloaked in cloud of grey we marvelled at London's builders: the planners, architects, artists and engineers that created our beautiful city - from the elegance of the big wheel to the industrial beauty of the chinmeys at Battersea Power Station; from the curiosity of the statues of social science that grace Vauxhall bridge to Big Ben and its enormous bong, which we heard strike 10!
When you live here its easy to forget how beautiful London is, and what wonder mankind can create. The 80p bus ride on the No. 3, and the eyes and excitement of my children help me do just that.
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Time Out
Being a working mum means never having quite enough time just to hang out with my kids. Every moment somehow needs to be filled, accounted for, drenched in quality.
Last week(half term), in a quest for simple hanging out time, I escaped. Packing the kids into the car straight after school we braved the M4, M5 and A30. A stop for sandwiches, hideous traffic in Bristol and eight hours of Radio 4 later we arrived in Porthcurno, Cornwall. It was silent and foggy, my phone wouldn't have signal for a week. Perfect!
Jo stayed til Monday, some friends visited for a couple days, the rest of the time was just the Frog, Rowdy and me.
There were so many magical moments and we had so much fun it would be impossible to write it all down. It was also so lazy and laid back that it would probably be very boring to read.
So, what was truly awesome: reconnecting with my children and thoroughly enjoying their company; feeling no pressure to do much other than just be together: to find shells on the beach, to laugh at things, to sing songs, to practise the three times table, to read stories all afternoon, to put on a wetsuit and swim in the sea for one last time before winter; all in all just hanging out - where the what is not important but the who is.
And one last awesome thing: the huge, huge smile on Rowdy's face when he appeared out of the water slide at Penzance Swimming Baths - one I won't forget!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porthcurno
Last week(half term), in a quest for simple hanging out time, I escaped. Packing the kids into the car straight after school we braved the M4, M5 and A30. A stop for sandwiches, hideous traffic in Bristol and eight hours of Radio 4 later we arrived in Porthcurno, Cornwall. It was silent and foggy, my phone wouldn't have signal for a week. Perfect!
Jo stayed til Monday, some friends visited for a couple days, the rest of the time was just the Frog, Rowdy and me.
There were so many magical moments and we had so much fun it would be impossible to write it all down. It was also so lazy and laid back that it would probably be very boring to read.
So, what was truly awesome: reconnecting with my children and thoroughly enjoying their company; feeling no pressure to do much other than just be together: to find shells on the beach, to laugh at things, to sing songs, to practise the three times table, to read stories all afternoon, to put on a wetsuit and swim in the sea for one last time before winter; all in all just hanging out - where the what is not important but the who is.
And one last awesome thing: the huge, huge smile on Rowdy's face when he appeared out of the water slide at Penzance Swimming Baths - one I won't forget!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porthcurno
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
New Life
We tend to do our weekly shopping at Brixton markets. It's just so much more fun than the supermarket (and the kids love to go to Rosie's cafe for a hot chocolate afterwards as a treat http://www.rosiesdelicafe.com/about.html).
One of our favourite shops is Nour. It's a strange shop, stacked floor to ceiling with stuff: sacks of rice, bags of chickpeas, every spice you can think of and many you can't. There are huge bunches of parsley and mint and coriander (perfect for tickling little boys), fruits and veg dependent on the season and about 200 different chilli sauces. Nour is always full of customers so with two children, a scooter & a bike and my massive granny shopping trolley it can be hard to get round.
We were in there other day and the children wandered off, talking to the many staff I assumed. They were quiet which always makes me suspicious; generally they are up to mischief of some sort or another*. Today however there was no mischief, just kittens. Tiny, really tiny, bundles of fluff: white, black, grey, a spoldge of orange; four teeny scatchy, sniffy pink noses; a muddle of whiskers; all cuddled up together in cardboard box. The children were captivated; tentatively touching and stroking, as gentle as only a young child with a small animal can be.
New life: a miracle always, full of promise and excitement certainly. And also, the tenderness my normally rowdy, boisterous children showed with these kittens was a pure and instinctive display of the human desire to protect and nuture. A beautiful moment that left me silent too.
Only the promise of asking Daddy if we could take one home eventually lured them away. (We did ask, he said no!).
*silent mischief has included: feeding all the fishfood to the fish, turning the bath into a swimming pool and flooding the bathroom (the dining room ceiling still bears the brown stains where the water dripped through) and locking themselves in a cupboard!
One of our favourite shops is Nour. It's a strange shop, stacked floor to ceiling with stuff: sacks of rice, bags of chickpeas, every spice you can think of and many you can't. There are huge bunches of parsley and mint and coriander (perfect for tickling little boys), fruits and veg dependent on the season and about 200 different chilli sauces. Nour is always full of customers so with two children, a scooter & a bike and my massive granny shopping trolley it can be hard to get round.
We were in there other day and the children wandered off, talking to the many staff I assumed. They were quiet which always makes me suspicious; generally they are up to mischief of some sort or another*. Today however there was no mischief, just kittens. Tiny, really tiny, bundles of fluff: white, black, grey, a spoldge of orange; four teeny scatchy, sniffy pink noses; a muddle of whiskers; all cuddled up together in cardboard box. The children were captivated; tentatively touching and stroking, as gentle as only a young child with a small animal can be.
New life: a miracle always, full of promise and excitement certainly. And also, the tenderness my normally rowdy, boisterous children showed with these kittens was a pure and instinctive display of the human desire to protect and nuture. A beautiful moment that left me silent too.
Only the promise of asking Daddy if we could take one home eventually lured them away. (We did ask, he said no!).
*silent mischief has included: feeding all the fishfood to the fish, turning the bath into a swimming pool and flooding the bathroom (the dining room ceiling still bears the brown stains where the water dripped through) and locking themselves in a cupboard!
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
In search of Awe and Wonder
It's late, but I've been meaning to start this for ages and if I don't do it now I won't ever. There's never enough time. Too much of all the bad stuff but never enough time.
I decided to start this blog as I start a new adventure, to find awe and wonder in the world. Not in a religious sense but as a way to redress some of the madness that I encounter on a daily basis.
Why awe and wonder? Firstly, my friend Lisa, who is also a governor at my kids' school, has been looking for it in the classroom. She's done quite a lot of research and gave a truly inspirational presentation about what it is, why it's important and how to create it. I want some of that at home. Secondly, my husband has taken to calling me a 'glass half empty kind of wife'; not a label I'm totally comfortable with. And, perhaps most importantly I thought it would be fun. I've spent my whole adult life working in media, treating everything with cynicism. I live in central London with its hectic pace, intolerant bus drivers and lots of noise. And my 5 year old is so 'hip' she calls me 'man'.
It's time to stop, take a breath and discover some magic in the universe.
This blog, I hope, will help me record my awe and wonder discoveries. I'd love you to join in too. Please do share your experiences of awe and wonder.
I decided to start this blog as I start a new adventure, to find awe and wonder in the world. Not in a religious sense but as a way to redress some of the madness that I encounter on a daily basis.
Why awe and wonder? Firstly, my friend Lisa, who is also a governor at my kids' school, has been looking for it in the classroom. She's done quite a lot of research and gave a truly inspirational presentation about what it is, why it's important and how to create it. I want some of that at home. Secondly, my husband has taken to calling me a 'glass half empty kind of wife'; not a label I'm totally comfortable with. And, perhaps most importantly I thought it would be fun. I've spent my whole adult life working in media, treating everything with cynicism. I live in central London with its hectic pace, intolerant bus drivers and lots of noise. And my 5 year old is so 'hip' she calls me 'man'.
It's time to stop, take a breath and discover some magic in the universe.
This blog, I hope, will help me record my awe and wonder discoveries. I'd love you to join in too. Please do share your experiences of awe and wonder.
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