Wish upon an Eye lash !

Well, we are all back to work and school this week but have had a really nice time off together - it would be great not to have to go back but sadly there are bills to pay!

I'm going to have to squeeze one week into one post - I suppose I could separate them all out and put on different dates ( if I knew how)but here goes;

Monday

We spent the day in Ashridge forest which was wonderful. The kids were able to run around climbing trees and collecting sticks ( well more like large tree trunks which we had to sadly dispose of before we got back into the car - so we could all fit in the car!)


We then climbed up Ivinghoe Beacon , it's a bit like scaling a mini mountain ( not sure how high it is exactly but high enough to make you realise that you shouldn't have eaten so many Easter eggs).

Ivinghoe Beacon is also where part of one of the Harry Potter films were shot ( very fit film crew - that's all I can say!)


Tuesday

We spent the day at Colchester zoo. The strangest thing that happened was when we went to see the Orangutans.

There was a very large male Orangutan sitting in his enclosure watching the variety of strange human specimens traipsing past to gawp at him.He was 40 years old and had been born in captivity and so this was his home.He seemed used to this daily event of people watching and would not have been out of place sitting in a cafe with a cup of coffee.

His eyes surveyed all of us who entered and he did not seem at all interested or bothered by us at all.

He did not move but just sat and stared, this was until a particular woman entered.

The woman who was probably 40 + with dyed blond cropped hair , huge bosom, earrings galore, wearing a cropped T shirt proudly showing off 10 kids worth of jelly belly complete with Cubic zircona belly button embelishment and a skirt just covering the unimaginable waltzed in on 4 inch heels pushing a pram.

The Orangutan spotted this woman and instantly recognised her. He ran around the enclosure and stood opposite her at the glass where she was standing and pointed at her midriff.

She then lifted up part of her top and pressed her belly up against the glass. With this she then kissed the glass with her plump botox enhanced pouting lips where the Orangutan was, leaving cheap Superdrug lipstick marks and belly marks all over the highly buffed finish.

"Oh he loves me!" she stated to the now gathering crowd , it's my belly button - he's fascinated with it - I've been coming here for years!"

The next thing is all the children in the nearby vicinity were lifting up their T shirts and pressing their belly buttons against the glass for this great ape to see.

Thank God it was just her belly button !

Following this she clip clopped out of the enclosure pushing her pram whilst eating a jumbo sized portion of cheesy puff crisps shouting "See ya " to her trusty admirer.

I felt incredibly dull for one moment standing there in my trusty wet weather anorak , slacks and sensible shoes , my conformist grey stranded hair and well covered belly button watching my long serving husband mouth opened, tongue on the floor, in a trance like state with all the other husbands - this woman certainly knew how to make an entrance !

Note to self - There is no photographic evidence of the above as darling husband who had the camera was for some reason pre occupied


Wednesday

Yes, husband survived the night!

We decided to go to London by train - approx 1 hour away to see some of the sights.

We started off with a picnic in St James park near to Buckingham Palace. The weather was glorious.

As we sat on a bench eating our lunch, we gazed at the beautiful surroundings, cherry blossom trees, daffodils , ducks , baby squirrels chasing each other, the lake, fountains , strange man sitting in the middle of the fountain !!

To our amazement - there was a man sitting in the middle of a huge fountain in the middle of St James park - what the hell was he doing?

At first I thought it was perhaps it was one of the local intoxicated brethren cooling off , but no this man had an orange bucket and was moving around the fountain.

He didn't seem to be in any distress at all By now he had attracted quite a crowd - all looking at the "Nutter in the fountain ".

It was then we realised that he was actually fixing the jets of the fountain ( bit like descaling the shower head).

What a hell of a job ! Surely it would have been easier to turn the fountain off first , use a boat , clean the jets and then turn the water back on ? - or is that too easy !


After this excitement we then went on to Buckingham palace , Big Ben , Westminster Palace, Downing Street and then Hamleys toy shop (!)



On the way home on the tube Georgina had an eyelash on her face which I gently brushed off.

"Oh Mummy where is it?" she said. "Eye lashes are really lucky and when you find one you get a wish, I need to find it".

I love the fact that my kids still believe in magical things such as Eye lash wishes (!), Santa , the Easter bunny , fairies , princesses and dreams that will always come true. I never want them to grow up and want to keep them like this for ever!

It reminded me of when I was around 5 or 6 years old may be younger and my Mum had taken my sister and I to see my Aunt who lived in Manchester.

On the corner of a street was a shop that seemed to sell everything from food stuffs to tins of paint.

In the front window display of the shop was a beautiful doll dressed in a white sparkly outfit which had various glittery sparkly diamonds all over it. She was called "Wanda" and was holding a silvery wand with a star at the end.

I was a good reader by this age and clearly remember reading "Wanda the magical wishing doll ,with one wave of her wand all wishes will come true"

I began to think of what I would wish for - if I got one wish I could use that wish to wish for more wishes and so on. I could use my wishes to wish for whatever everybody else wished for - and so on. That was my logic anyway.

My last recollection was being shouted at by a growly old shop assistant who had grabbed me by the scruff of the neck because I was in the window display trying to get hold of Wanda's wand.

I was so near!!

I might just pull out all my eyelashes and see if that works - What would I wish for - Mmmm.

Thursday

We spent the day at home having the car serviced and general tidying up.

Friday

We went to Frinton - a lovely quiet sandy beach along the Essex coast line. It was a bit chilly but we managed to make sandcastles and had a good game of cricket. We ate sandy sandwiches and watched the world go by - lovely!

Saturday

Back to Tap lessons and a day at home playing games

Sunday - Today - It's snowing , Bonker the Blackbird still going strong bashing the windows despite the fact that the windows now hold the silhouette of the scariest eagle alive - perhaps I should stick a photo up of my belly button!!