And gone again.....

Well that was summer, back to cooler days, though quite humid still. Amazing thunder storms last night, really good lightning displays, which is quite unusual for this part of Britain. How do I know how good the lightning was..... because the points for the train I was on got hit and we got to sit and watch it for an hour at 10.30 pm.... eventually arrived home at 12.30am. Not impressed. I seem to be jinxed when it comes to travelling back to Cambridge after conferences. My first memorable experience involved Dundee - which is only in Scotland, not far at all. No problem they told me, take a train to City Airport and there is a direct flight to Dundee. Got the train OK though it was 1.5 hours and 3 changes to City, arriving at a leisurely lunchtime check in, only to find that nothing had left since 6am that morning due to fog. Utter chaos. Eventually flight left only 2.5 hours late and arrived in Dundee. That was great - they have Scott's ship there (it was built in Dundee) and a great Antarctic exploration centre and it was absolutely fascinating. Recommended if you are in the area. Next day was on a 5pm flight back which didnt leave until 7pm (fog again), got the LAST bus to Liverpool station and didnt have time to get to Kings X to take the last train from there. Get on the train from Liverpool and find it turned into a bus a few stops out. This was a complete nightmare as the bus goes to every station on the way. So, at 1 am I arrive home it having taken over 8 hours to get from Dundee to Cambridge - I could have gone to Thailand for that!

Yesterday was a return trip from Frankfurt where I have been at the European Central Bank (ECB) giving some papers and the usual. Great trip, nice bunch of people. Then of course the plane was delayed, got on the train to Cambridge and 10 minutes out of the station points are hit by lightning. To add insult to injury it was only the point just in front of us, so all the other trains streamed past us for the next hour. Oh well, at least it wasnt pouring rain as I walked home from the station.

J had a tummy bug this morning, but by tonight is driving us all mad with incessant talking. M climbed up quietly to the special shelf to find interesting things like a razor with which she promptly tried to shave her tongue. Thankfully no real damage done, but I think it hurt like nothing else. Somewhat swollen tongue. We are worried about what she will be like as a teenager. Need a higher special shelf and a lock. Big M goes back to Aust on Monday for a couple of weeks to finalise a few house things and attend a conference at her old employers, the RBA. Then back here and its end of term time. Summer holidays. But it feels like it should be Christmas!!! Kids are getting all ready for end of term events, including being dracula and cinderella at their drama class plays, guess which is which!! Big M is busy making costumes of course - amazing what you can do with iron on hemming tape, running stitch and lining in appropriate colours.

Summer is Here!!!

Finally summer! Its actually been moderately hot this weekend, 32 degrees today - particularly for a place where we live in an apartment on the top floor which gets hottest of them all. And you guessed it everyone (bar the Australians) has been steadfastly roasting themselves on the lawns - expect to see lots of red lobsters walking the streets the next few days.
Some of our good friends left this weekend, so we had a lovely garden party in our spacious backyard (it really is lovely, more like a botanical gardens than anything else - the property is called southacre for a reason). The photos are taken about 8.30pm - note all the sunshine! We were very excited. Supposedly it will even be nice for the rest of the week. (We must have been here too long we are obsessing with the weather). Kids had a great time.

Ross and Deborah - badminton pros! 
Photo is Ross playing badminton on the back lawn and Andre looking after the children!!!!!! It is still light until after 10pm now, but of course we get the longest day next week (sad).

Andre doing quality childcare 

Jousting at Audley End

Today was a 1475 Tournament at Audley End. We had our favourite knight (who didnt win unfortunately); see http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/knights/. The knights competed in mounted combat skills and jousting and their squires in armed foot combat and archery. It was very impressive and extremely well done. Enlish Heritage is something well worth joining for anyone who will be here with kids. They have many events and great castles for clambering over. The kids had a wonderful time, lots of friends to play tournaments with and a plethora of princesses. There were jesters, including fire breathing which J was very impressed with, and strolling minstrels and falcons! Audley End House is an amazing place - very grand, must go back and tour the inside. Highly recommended activity. Oh well, back to work tomorrow!

Jousting at Audley End House 

Venice...why are we in Cambridge???

Here we are, back in gloomy old Cambridge after our lightning visit to Venice...sunshine, warmth, beaches. It makes a person wonder why they thought the UK was a good place to spend a couple of years! We had a very early start - up at 4am to drive down to Stansted and leave the car in the long term car park. Checked in no problems, had breakfast, then hopped on the train to the departure gates about 15 minutes before boarding. Literally 500m from the terminal all the power went out for the trains and we were left sitting in a concrete tunnel...they came and got us off, we walked back up the tunnel then followed the most labyrinthine and cofusing dash to the departure lounge...R had to run with little M on his shoulders. But we made it just in time. All got on the plane no problems, then the fog rolled in and we sat for 20min on the runway! We were beginning to worry that the trip was jinxed!


Piazza San Marco 

When we got in to Venice the guy who was supposed to take us to our apartment didnt show up and we were left sitting in the hot sun for a couple of hours. Eventually things did start to go right, apartment was really good, nice quiet spot away from the main tourist areas.
Venice is fantastic, lots of fun just wandering about. The kids had fun watching Italian TV - apparently it doesnt really matter what language the cartoons are in. We had breakfast in the Piazza San Marco one morning, wandered about the Palazzo Ducale, did a circuit of the Grand Canal on the ferry and went to the beach at Lido.

Venice side street...