Just a little grumble

As the weather has taken a turn for the better, I decided that the outfit I wore for the wedding earlier in the summer would probably be a little warm for the wedding on Saturday. But of course, shopping in mid-August for a dress to wear in early September is impossible because the shops are now full of their Autumn/Winter ranges.

However, I managed to get a summery wedding-type dress on eBay and as its forecast to be very nice weather this weekend, I think I've made the right decision. The only problem remaining is the shoes. I've spent the last two years wearing trainers and sandals, so I don't have a wardrobe full of suitable options, and the shops are now full of shoes and boots rather than wedding-type shoes.

I've gone in quite a few shoe shops over the past fortnight and failed to find anything suitable at all. And then on Tuesday, while browsing the M&S website, I noticed that they'd got a pair of sandals that would do nicely. So I ordered them and paid extra for them to be delivered this morning, as we'd be waiting in for our Tesco delivery anyway, thus not wasting any more time hanging round the house than absolutely necessary.

But this morning, I got an email from them saying that the delivery had been delayed and that they couldn't tell me at this time when they'd be able to get the stuff to me. "I hope this does not cause you any inconvenience". Of course it does, you fucktards! I've got a wedding to go to on Saturday and I have no suitable shoes to wear and now I have to wait till the shopping has arrived, pack the kids into the car, drive into York, try and find a parking place, and then trog down to M&S and see if they've got a pair in stock. And if they haven't, then trog round to the other shops and try and find something, just something that isn't a boot or a winter shoe or a croc or a pair of ballet flats that I can wear to a wedding in two days' time. Inconvenient in the extreme! Grrrrrr!

Feeling Wistful

In the past couple of weeks I've discovered that three of my friends are pregnant (with twins, in one case) and that two of my friends are engaged/about to get married.

Now while I'm delighted for each and every one of them, I'm feeling just a tad wistful. Mostly because I've realised that these really big life changing events (getting married/having kids) have been and gone in my life. And while I'd say I'm definitely in the "happier ever after" stage, I do miss the anticipation of these things happening to me.

My word, that is very philosophical for a Monday evening. I'd better snap back to reality and get Doug's tea on the go......

Strid Wood

Its August Bank Holiday, and as we're not insane enough to go away for the entirety of this mini holiday (18 million cars on the road at the same time in the great bank holiday getaway this year!) we were content enough to simply go out for the day on Sunday.


We headed for the Bolton Abbey estate - this was a favourite place to visit when I was growing up and I must have gone there umpteen times before, although the last visit was probably nearly 20 years ago. Having failed to do anything more than give their website a cursory glance and not bothered to refer to anything more than the rather sketchy map we got on entrance, we didn't really give much thought to what we were going to do, other than a rather vague idea of going for a walk.



So we set off for a walk round Strid Wood, the woodlands that surround the River Wharfe as it runs through the estate. The map had one half of the walk suitable for pushchairs and one half suitable for wheelchairs, so we figured we'd be ok to go around the whole circuit which was about 3 1/2 miles long. The only problems with this were that the "suitable for pushchairs" part of the walk wasn't really suitable at all - Doug had quite a job pushing the pram up some very steep, narrow, winding paths and Jacob found it quite hard going on foot.



Also, when we got to the Strid cafe halfway through the walk, it didn't really provide the sort of refreshments we were thinking of; the hot food Doug had been fantasizing about for most of the walk was only available at the starting point of the walk, back where we'd left the car. We made do with some cheese sandwiches and crisps which certainly gave the boys ample fuel to do the rest of the walk.



The second half of the walk was much better for pushchairs, running along the side of the river rather than at the top of the steep river bank, and Sam managed to walk quite a way while Jacob had a rest in the pram. Eventually we made it back to the car, Jacob almost tottering with fatigue - he'd walked the lion's share of a 3 1/2 mile walk - not bad for a three year old. He lasted just long enough to eat his ice cream and then fell asleep, not waking up again until 6.20am this morning.


Next time we go we'll probably plan a bit better and do a gentle walk down to the Abbey ruins, or just do half the walk round the wood. There's also other things to see on the estate - the village, Barden Tower, a kiddie-friendly farm that has a play barn as well tractor rides and a straw maze, the money tree and stepping stones across the river.

Today, we're all pretty tired (Doug and I went out for a meal last night, as well as having gone out on Saturday night to the pictures - we're just not used to this pace of living!) so we're pootling about the house doing very little. A perfect way to spend a bank holiday, although I will spare a thought for those poor souls driving back from their 3 day holiday and spending most of the afternoon in the inevitable traffic jams :-)

Don't talk to me about sophistication, I've been to Leeds!

Starbucks have been around in the UK for some time now, as have the other coffee shop chains, so you don't often encounter that "can't I just have a plain cup of coffee? it costs HOW MUCH?" reaction these days.

However, yesterday, I did encounter what might be a peculiarly Yorkshire reaction to buying a Starbucks coffee: a rather cross, middle aged man demanding "just a white coffee", refusing to refer to their 'menu' at all, refusing to play their little 'fancy names for small/medium/large' game, glaring all the while at the barrista who was serving him as she went through the list of types of coffee and things they can do to your coffee so its customised to your every whim. "JUST A WHITE COFFEE" was his patronising response to her every enquiry.

I was tempted to point out that if he wanted just a white coffee, the cafe in BHS three shops away would probably do him proud, but then I realised that he was probably deriving some strange middle aged Yorkshireman pleasure from the whole exchange. "I'm from Yorkshire and we don't do ristrettos, americanos, bloody cappucinos or a (sneer) skinny latte. I JUST WANT A WHITE COFFEE. And don't talk to me about sophistication, I've been to Leeds"

:-)

Sigh

When Jacob was about 18 months/2 years old, he was an adventurous eater; if Doug and I were eating it, he'd have a go at eating it. Now at the ripe old age of 3, he's discovered the joys of being a faddy eater. Even when he likes whats on the plate (or at least, liked it a few days ago), he sometimes decides that he "isn't hungry", and will try and fill up on fruit and milk after the meal.

Now there are worse things to be filling up on, I know, but I tried to put my foot down at tea-time and make it clear to him that he can only have strawberries (today's dessert of choice) if he makes a decent stab at his main course. We had toad-in-the-hole, carrots, cabbage and onion gravy and apart from his rather love/hate relationship with sausages, he likes all of the rest of those things, so I wasn't best please to see him eat only the batter around the toad.

We've had tears, wailing and sitting on the naughty step. And that was only me! But I haven't given in and let him have strawberries or milk. I'm not sure that I'm taking the right approach, but we shall see.

Ahh, the joys of parenthood. On the flip side of things, 18 month old Sam cleared his plate, ate some of Jacob's and then polished off a big bowl of strawberries. No doubt in 18 months he'll be just as difficult as his big brother :-)

Acquisitive? Moi?

My new toy is an iPod shuffle. Lime green. I should have really bought it in Chelsea Blue, but the green one is fab and its absolutely dinky. I love it.

My previous Shuffle was getting to the end of its life - shutting down arbitrarily, losing songs etc. Anyway, I don't feel too bad about buying a new one. Ahem.

I've also seen these mugs in the Guardian magazine this morning. This photo doesn't really do them justice, but they've all got a different pantone colour on them and they're very striking:-


I must have them. Time to visit the shop on Gillygate that stocks them :-)

A sub prime what?

The most succinct explanation for the recent precipitous falls in stock markets worldwide came from Terry Wogan (that well-known economics expert) on Radio 2 this morning:-

"American Trailer Trash: pay your bills".

Marbling

Its a very rainy day in York today and as there was no way we were going to go out, we've spent some time this afternoon "making and doing". I made some potato printers out of old tatties and watched Jacob have great fun stamping out all over a big piece of lining paper (tip: lining paper is great for kiddies' painting as its thicker and cheaper than the paper you get in drawing pads).

And then I remembered that when I was a kid, mum would occasionally bring home up the marbling kit from her classroom and I absolutely loved it. Its ace:-


So I've been having a look online to see if I can get some for the boys. It's going to be expensive, but Jacob will love it (and so will I :-)

Rievaulx Abbey

Another weekend, another day out for the Family Winter. I've never been to Rievaulx before; when I was growing up in E Lancs, it was just a bit too far for us to go for a day out (at least, with my dad's driving it was) although we went to Fountains Abbey many times. For those of you who don't know, its a former Cistercian Abbey from the 12th century that fell into ruin following Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.

Anyway, we took advantage of the last day of nice weather due for a while to visit and it was well worth it. A very nice drive there - Sutton Bank, not the sort of hill you ever want to walk up - and an even nicer one back. Rievaulx is in a lovely spot, not quite as as spectacular as Fountains, but v peaceful and not quite as touristy as its near neighbour (ie it was much quieter).


Jacob and Sam had a whale of a time clambering over the ruins and rolling down the grassy banks, Sam especially loved walking round - he's getting to be quite a tireless walker and didn't need to go in the pram at all. Jacob spent a lot of time accosting strangers and showing them his watch.


The long range forecast isn't looking too promising at the moment, but with any luck we can have another trip out next weekend. I'm thinking maybe Brimham Rocks, another childhood summer haunt.

Just a thought

One of the reasons I like my house is that it doesn't back on to any other houses. The four houses in our row are actually at the head of a block of other houses with longish back gardens, so our view is thus:-



It just feels nice and open.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

Yesterday was the first really sunny Sunday of the summer thus far so, naturally, we decided to go to the seaside. Us and everyone else in N Yorks!

We were stuck for an hour on the A64, only just outside of York, due entirely to the weight of traffic heading to the coast. Neither of us mentioned the possibility of giving up and going back home - we'd bigged up the whole seaside thing to Jacob and he was massively excited. Had we gone back home, there's every chance we'd have psychologically scarred him for life and in years to come, as a serial killer giving his defence at the Old Bailey, would have cited this experience as the reason for his homicidal tendencies.

Thank the lord for sat nav. When its not trying to take me to the park in the most circuitous route known to man, its actually v useful. It plotted a route to the coast that avoided the A64, and after a hasty U turn we were speeding along some of the quietest roads I've seen for a while, going through some of the prettiest and prettiest named villages I've seen - Buttercrambe, Foxholes, Fridaythorpe to name a few.


Anyway, we arrived at Hunmanby beach in fairly short order to find it was just what we wanted. Apart from a cafe and toilet block on the road down to the beach, that's all there was in the way of amenities. This might be the reason it wasn't the nightmare I expect that Scarborough became yesterday. But we'd taken a picnic (eaten in the field where we parked the car at the top of the cliff) and had brought everything we needed for a good day out.


Doug made yet another futile attempt to fly his kite (we've had it several years and its never been airborne for longer than 3 seconds), this time because it was a bit too windy for a little stunt kite. The boys and I walked down to the water and paddled along the coast. Sam didn't want to walk into the wind, so we were almost in Filey by the time I'd "persuaded" him to come back to our spot. He wasn't too keen on the waves, but quite liked paddling in the small channel of water between the beach and the sea proper; Jacob loved it all.


We had a great time - next time I'll remember to take my own swimming costume (its no fun when you're paddling and trying not to get your trousers wet), a football and some talc - the sand was impossible to get off with just a towel. Also, I think I'll buy Jacob a swim suit similar to the one Sam was wearing - it kept him suitably covered, but it dried v quickly so he wasn't walking around soggy. We inherited it from one of my nephews who is also a red-head, but tbh, its good for any child to be covered properly in such sunny weather - I saw quite a few kiddies wearing them.

I hope its sunny next weekend, I'd love to go again!!

Am I Abbey? No, not really....

My debit card expired on 30th June. I still haven't had a replacement.

I've made umpteen calls to the Abbey over the past month chasing it up and have had various excuses offered to me - its been couriered (twice) to my old address, its caught up in the postal strike, its in the post, it will be with you tomorrow, ooh we had a load of cards that just disappeared and we don't know where they all went (that one fills you with confidence, doesn't it?).

With the realisation that a month had passed, I rang the Complaints department and found out that the last time they'd got any record of a card being issued to me was 4th July. So, in a nutshell, every Abbey member of staff that I've spoken to since that date (and there have been a few) have lied to me.

Its one thing to assume basic incompetence, but you really don't expect to be lied to, at least not more than once. What gets me is the chap I spoke to yesterday who said that there was a card issued to me a few days ago and he could promise me faithfully that it would be with me today. I'm assuming that there's no way that Abbey can tell just who spoke to me, or they wouldn't dare to lie so barefacedly.

I've been putting off the obvious course of closing the account - its the household account so there's a fugg load of direct debits set up. I know that if you shift accounts, the new bank often offers to shift them for you, but when Doug tried that they fugged up almightily and we nearly ended up having a bounced mortgage payment.

Anyway, enough moans, I just wanted a big rant. Another big rant, if you count the one to the complaints dept at the Abbey....