Back and boiling

Well we’re back from our summer holiday, back from the drizzle and the cool, I’ve packed the winter clothes away again and I’m now sat in front of the fan roasting! We managed to pack rather a lot in, mainly eating and buying lots of vegan food and visiting friends and family. We seem to have acclimatised to the hot weather in Greece as we were all permanently freezing in England even when other people were walking around in t-shirts and summer skirts!
It was strange going back to visit all these familiar places with a child who hardly remembered any of them! I kept pointing out all the places we used to go together, the library, the hall where she did Tumble Tots but she just kept saying “sorry, it was a long time ago.” Well, I suppose two and half years is a long time when you’re only 6 going on 7. She did remember the music group she used to go to, mainly because it meant meeting up with her friend. We met him and his mum (who’s my friend!) in Costa Coffee and Junior was most annoyed to find that she couldn’t just pick up where she’d left off because 6 year old boys tend not to want to fraternise with 6 year old girls! It took 40 minutes of constant talking by Junior until he finally gave in and they ended up playing happily under the table. He did however draw the line at a goodbye kiss!
Another of the things that Junior did remember was feeding the birds at Redesmere which we used to do come rain or shine. She even remembered when the water had frozen over and the birds were all disconsolately sitting by the side of the lake. The weather was better for this trip.

Another place we revisited was the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. Although Junior had enjoyed (if that’s the right word) when she visited it at 4 years of age, she seemed to get a lot more out of it now she’s six, although she wasn’t so keen on the viewing platform with its views over Manchester.

Just a bit too high up for her!
Not forgetting that this was a holiday, we made sure Junior indulged in enough holiday type things, so on a trip to Trentham Gardens she did this

which turned out to be an excellent idea as she was nice and dry, whilst we got rained on! After her exertion being a hamster she then had a more sedate turn on the carousel – although she was so busy looking around I only managed to get a picture of the carousel and not one of Junior.

We visited the Cotswold Farm Park when we visited my Dad, where Junior got to hold a duckling and a chick and look at the other animals. Maybe someone can explain this to me, but what I don’t understand is how you can take your child to a petting farm and let them handle all these animals and ooh and aah over them and then go home and eat them? I just find it utterly bizarre, the double standards of it all or is it just that people can close their minds to the relation between the food on their plate and the animals they’re taking pictures of at the park? Guess I’ll never understand. Anyway, back on topic, Junior rushed around wanting to do everything including the ride on the zip cord. Sean wasn’t sure but as there was straw underneath for when she fell off (I knew it would be when), I said she’d be fine. She set off in a blaze of glory

but unfortunately the bump at the other end brought her crashing to the ground. Nothing was hurt but her pride and she furiously stomped off in a foul mood – oh, she’s so like me
We’re in the process of booking our next trip to England for December so we can see friends and relatives before Christmas. It’s strange because although I haven’t missed England whilst living over here, I did find the familiarity whilst we were over there rather comforting. The fact that I could pick up with my friends after not seeing them for a few years’, made me realise that I miss that easiness which comes with people who are on your wavelength. I couldn’t live over there permanently again but perhaps I could make the visits a bit more frequent!