Rain stops Shakespeare, in the heat of our Summer?!?!

I took my mum to see "The Lord Chamberlain's Men" perform Romeo & Juliet at Wisley Garden's last night. They were really very good ... as much as we saw of them. The rain came down and the play was abandoned. Steely British spirit abounded, as did some serious amounts of alcohol (plenty of people were determined to have a very jolly night, alas I was driving!). Everyone seemed to have a really fun time which was almost as refreshing to experience as the rain. A very sparky teenager made the observation "Oh well, at least we're not up to our necks in sewage", a very good point well made! The outdoor events at Wisley are really worthwhile. I went to see the Music of Dirty Dancing with some friends a couple of months back and that was really fun (and dry and sunny) ...

Tug of (Dads') War

WOW! The guys at T & F's Sports' Day only had to be asked once to stand up, ripple their muscles and take their sides in the annual battle of testosterone. It's certainly a proven highlight for the dads. This year Si held back and chose his team wisely, and tried very hard not to make it look too obvious that he'd sided with the big blokes! Seriously though, much more hunger for the Dads' Tug of War title than the mums' egg and spoon race. No one could steal the glory from the kiddywinks though, all the children at the school looked to have a great time. The kiddies are still of the, "it's the taking part" frame of mind; apart from the big kids answering to the name of dad! I should add that this photo was not posed, the "bigger dads" just instinctively tried to intimidate the other team.

Sports Day

The big sporting event of the summer (for T and F anyway) took place yesterday. Freya did well in her sprint, but was hampered by being the youngest in her class and she has only been walking a few weeks, so her running is not quite there yet.

Thurston did well in his relays, but his team mates let him down. A poor start and the other athletes cutting him up did for him in the solo sprint, but there's always next year.

One consolation is that I won the Tug of War after making sure I was on the same side as all the fat dads.

Skittles Ad

Love this ad.........

Ski Iran

Very interesting article in this month's Outside about skiing in Iran. The skiing there is very good, with a long season and good snow. The old regime used to be very into skiing, but after they were overthrown in 1979, the investment has virtually ground to a halt. Since 1979 skiing has been seen as too Western, but the current regime just about tolerates it. Dizin is the main resort and the rich young folk from Tehran like to go there to let their hair down and apartments there go for about $250,000. For the women it is a place where they seem to get away with wearing make-up without fear of being beheaded.

On the above piste map, the first legend is for a mosque - very handy when skiing! Apart from the decrepit lift system, another downside of skiing in Iran is the lack of any real apres ski. The only drink you seem to be able to get in any of the resorts is tea.....

Broad beans can be exciting

Another vegetable that has successfully cropped in Si's veggy patch are the broad beans. Over the last 3 years we have found some exciting things to do with this much derided bean, really, and certainly a little imagination and effort can reap great rewards. Si has started lightly boiling them and then frying them up with some chorizo sausage to make a delicious appetiser. I'm not a sherry drinker but Si reckons sherry a perfect accompaniment. A real quick, easy, tapas style snack. They're also great in a cold salad with peas, mint and lemon. Whatever you do with them, avoid the larger leathery ones, or if you can't, then boil them up, food process them and stir in lots of garlic, chilli, olive oil and lemon. You should end up with a nice dip for crisps in the garden - if the sun ever comes out again!

10 days in yellow, and gone!

Rasmusson has been sacked by his Rabobank team. It may be the tip of a huge iceberg, but at least the wave against cheating and/or not taking testing seriously, seems to be gaining momentum. Si's predictions are proving scarily correct too ..... scarily because he did not have even the smallest flutter!

How gutted must Wiggins be?

His team "mate", Cristian Moreni, has failed a drugs test too, and that's the end of Wiggins' tour as well. The story is here. It's great that they are catching the cheats, or two of them, but how do these guys have the arrogance/ stupidity to believe they are beyond being caught - because they've got away with it for so long???

Beetroot-tastic

Si has grown some beetroot this year and they taste amazing. We only ever cook one beetroot recipe which involves roasting them for an hour, sauteing with garlic and adding single cream. Served with pasta and grated Parmesan/ Gruyere it's a delicious, shocking pink treat. And something Si cooks better than me, along with his fantastic curries. I have been looking for some more interesting things to do with beetroot before the rest of ours get drowned and there is a whole cheery website dedicated to the shocking pink veggies. It looks like the creators have done a funky, fact full site for celery too; no use to us but maybe to someone out there.

Bye Bye Vinokourov - and good riddance!

"Tour director Christian Prudhomme says professional cycling needs a complete overhaul in the wake of the latest drugs scandal to rock the sport." Full story here.

Mr Prudhomme seems to be saying the right things: "The re-conquering of cycling has to be done with the Tour de France". Let's hope talk of an overhaul leads to action.

New Forest

Had a really great time down in Bournemouth. Forest on Saturday, beach on Sunday.

Action shot from weekend...

... or audition for Karate Kid XII?

Greg, she made it! As did the boys.

Scary sky: 3pm; 21st July 2007

The New Forest rocks; even in the rain when it's supposed to be the height of our Summer.

Big bikes and alleged cheats

Perhaps the Tour de France guys need to be issued with a silly bike and an extra passenger. If the leaders keep fueling doping suspicions and open themselves up to accusations of cheating, then the organisers may as well just turn it into a fancy dress/ silly bike competition. Such a shame that a great event can't prove itself clean, and that some of the big name cyclists can't even turn up for doping tests when they know how crucial it is to the Tour that it regains credibility. ALL riders should be behind restoring confidence in this great event and stop making excuses. How can someone, specifically Michael Rasmussen, be banned from representing his country in the Olympics but be deemed clean enough for the Tour; the organisers need to get tougher too.

Mooooo!

How to survive the floods

Stupid photo, but I quite like it. Any cycling photo........

Clarkie Case Notes 3

Plantagenet, Hazard Hill, Shiraz 2004 - Western Australia. I have to agree with the writing on the label: generous fruit flavour; versatiliy and definite drinkability. The liquorice and blackberry flavour were all there to taste. Given it's July 2007 and the wine is labeled up as 2004 it tasted, as advised, like we were sensibly enjoying it while it (or us?!) were still "young and fresh". A professional's tasting notes are here.

I need new jeans

I love the way they promise that if Chuck's jeans ever wear out, you can get the next pair for half price, confident in the knowledge that they would still be selling Chuck's jeans in 20 year's time.......

Holiday books

Chalk and cheese but William Boyd's "Any Human Heart", and Victoria Hislop's "The Island" both proved a great read. I found The Island a bit disappointing for the first 20 pages, but then I got drawn in and really ploughed through it. Also, it's set in the Elounda area of NW Crete, where we have enjoyed a family holiday, so it was nice to have some personal knowledge of the the area and to have actually visited the island of the title, "Spinalonga". It's a really touching story and full of emotion. "Any Human Heart " is really compelling. Apparently Boyd's focus is on writing books for men, and part of why I found the book so interesting, as a girl, was the way emotional and physical incidents are described and assessed from a male perspective; I think it's brilliantly written.

Some holiday tunes

Now that the sun seems to be shining a bit more it seems right to share some holiday tunes from last week. Si introduced Pacuare People to "Romantica" a couple of months back and two of their songs, The Gulf of Mexico and The National Side proved to be great for sunny (and rainy) holiday driving. You have to listen more than a few times to catch the words, or you can just sing or tap your feet along as you please!

A Dog's Life

When I used to live in France I rode my bike to work and there used to be horrible dogs on the way. It seems even the best suffer though. What gets me is that they are able to ride at great speed with only inches between their wheels and then a dog comes out in front and they don't seem to know what to do. Amazing that the bike was mangled and the dog just walks away. Surely that hurt??? Also, don't know what language the commentary is in, but love it when he goes "and smack!"

Stevie scarpers

Following on from Si's entry - what was Gerrard doing throwing around leaflets? Going to hassle Putin seems a strange choice of hoilday for a newly married Liverpool player. Looks here like the man with the big eyes scared him back to Scouser-land pretty quick. Note to SG's lawyers: I realise that is NOT Gerrard with the BIG EYEd man but wow, has he got a twin?

The Man With The BIG EYES

You may have seen the story of the man with the big eyes going around recently. Basically, a very brave, or stupid man stormed into a Vladimir Putin press conference and started throwing leaflets around. Putin handled it very well, probably safe in the knowledge that the man would be taken out back and shot as soon as the conference was over. He told the man to give him a leaflet and then to sit down. As the man sat down, the camera caught the man with the big eyes, who seems to have captured the imagination of Russia. The full story is here.

Anyway, at first I thought the man must be from the KGB, but then thought he bore quite a resemblance to Karen's Grandad:

Gardeners in kilts

Do the children in Scotland laugh or look away like this when they see a man in a kilt? Or is it just kids "down sarf" that have the early gender-imprint that a man wearing a kilt (read skirt in their eyes) gets what he deserves. Apparently they make very flexible, rugged (and airy?) gardening wear when fashioned in a hard wearing design. Also Rich, our friend with the kilt business, made his first sale of his new stock - hopefully a sign of good things to come at his Sunday morning market stall in Spitalfields (plugplug). Dressing like Mr Incredible, by the way, is totally acceptable at any time of day - that is not a fashion police pixie in the picture.

King Gus

For those of you who know him as we do, you'll know the bear deserved his moment of glory. And why we were prepared to cope with the embarrassment of waiting his turn for him.

Cooler stuff than Nemo

We swapped the queue to find Nemo for a really great stunt show; I now know the trick of driving very fast, around a sharp corner, backwards - but Mr Disney won't let me share. Plus there is so much great stuff to enjoy with your children/ partner/ mates, that it would be a shame to tell rather than let you find out for yourself. If you enjoy crowds as much as we don't then definitely work around mainstream holidays - you then get to see Minnie Mouse this close!

Clarkie Case Notes 2

Glenhurst 2004 Cab Sav Syrah, South Africa. Originating in the Stellenbosch wine region. Delicious wine for food and apparently better with cellaring. Very rich, velvety taste with chocolate and strong berry flavours. If you don't like heavy wines then this would not be one for you. We thought it would go well with strong cheeses, but we did not have any to trial that thought with. We had some great wines in France last week, and some may appear as Clarkie Case Notes inthe near future, but there really are some great South African wines available at reasonable (less than £6) prices. Our £1 French bargains yet to be reviewed. Glenhurst 2004 is available from TWOS.

The Holiday Spectrum

From beautiful, peaceful bolt hole to fun filled, all a go, incredibly fun Disneyland. A great time had in both destinations; though I'd bet my lucky Disney Dust that the bolt hole will see more of us over the coming years. Top Tip - if you plan to go to DL Paris any time soon -the Finding Nemo ride is about a 110 minutes wait more popular that the Studio Ride so if you are faced, as the doors open, with a 5 minute wait at both, go and find Nemo first. No queues on the river ...

Meeting Donald

One of the less successful parts of our trip was meeting Donald Duck. Thurston didn't want to know and Freya was traumatised and started screaming her head off. Well worth queueing up for!

Disneyland

Back from France and a fine time was had by all. At Disneyland Freya put herself up for sale with all the soft toys but there were no takers so we had to bring her home with us.

Plaits of temptation

Thurston's discovered the boyhood joy of pulling plaits. The temptation of his Anglo- Danish friend's long hair has finally got the better of him. As a result he got his first social barring with a retracted invitation to her birthday party; friendship soon restored though, so his social exclusion did not last for long. Next time they meet the Viking helmet may be out of the cupboard and dusted down.

Buzz Barby

Buzz Light Year comes to the rescue while the host fills the glasses. I promised Clarkie Case Notes but amidst the fun and games of a 3 year old's afterparty, there were no serious observations made; just silly photos taken (and a couple of kilts flogged?! ). All thoughts of a Californian TWS were pleasurably forgotten in the long awaited sunshine. Great night guys, sorry we sloped off early suffering relly fatigue.

Will it ever catch on?

Our friend Rich has set up his business selling male "kilts" and has received his first shipment from Vietnam.
Best of luck to Rich with his business. After a couple of glasses of wine last night, I said I would buy one, but I don't think I signed anything and there's still time to get out of it.
Anyway, maybe they will catch on and I think they don't look too bad here.

Music and Dance

... sure can work together to get some happiness and laughter flowing. Here at Pacuare People we love music and dance. Our music collection is a lot more extensive than our freestyle and tango (learners) dance porfolio! There, have proved to Si that I can write a blog as it's meant to be - short and to the point. Though no point here apart from to say that if you like a private jig then get a copy of Feist's "The Reminder" and enjoy Track 9 - 1234. A Saturday morning staple for the juniors.

Legoland Discoveries

What a great day out Legoland was. I finally realised why people make such a fuss about it. I thought Duplo Land was about all the excitement you could have with a junior of almost 4; but no! With the rellies in tow we discovered Adventure Land and a host of other delights that we could all enjoy. Whacky races fire engines and the centrifugal water cannon ride definite highlights (we went on twice and it really was the best ride there!), though the most impressive moment was seeing Si actually manage to get his Digger under control. A moment he is clearly proud of given his action shot digger photo below. Believe you me, those Diggers take some concentration and dexterity. I've been in that hot seat and failed miserably.

We all had a brilliant day and big thank-you to NanaG+GrandyG who played taxi and patiently followed me on a magical mystery cross country route. Without you we'd have been train spotting for the day. Top tip for Legoland - definitely get some vouchers from somewhere as although it is a great day out, and the staff have clearly benefited from some of the best customer service training available as evidenced by their fantastic attitude, it is more than a little toppy. At £100 at least for a family of 4 the expectations to have a good time are set very high; come rain or shine. Luckily we had shine and a really great, happy day. And came home to Freya's first unaided steps, she was chuffed to bits with herself and continues to be so!

A week in review

Aussies arrive; Rain; Hanging out and catching up; Rain; Leisure Lagoon; More rain; Wisley; Picnic in the rain; London Take 1; Rain; Mercedes Benz World; Rain; London Take 2; Snow; Tiger leaves his class for new territories; Hail and Rain; Legoland; Well timed "on the way home" rain; Freya takes her first steps; Family Day; Sun!; Aussies leave but only to go up the road to Reading for a week; Sun!; We zonk out in the garden with a bottle or vin rouge; Evening sun (first for how long? A week I'm told, but hopefully not a one off). Plenty of highlights; no low lights.

It was a pleasure to have you here Family Van-Duin and it seems mighty quiet without you, our house now feels like an empty footy pitch, beats an extension. No rest for Pacuare People, an afternoon of recuperation before a TWS gathering. I can promise some decent Clarkie Case Notes for tomorrow. It's the Cork Master's son's birthday so he should get the good stuff out!

Le Tour

Despite the drugs and cheating, we'll still be glued to the Tour this year.
After winning a tidy sum on Landis last year, I'm not sure who is going to win this year, it looks pretty open. Vinkourov looks poor value at 2-1, the best he's ever done is 3rd and it seems based entirely on him winning The Vuelta last year. I prefer Valverede who is younger and improving, but at 5-1 not great value. The consistent Sastre and Leipheimer are both good value e/w at 12-1. But I could see a younger rider getting into frame this year such as Contador at 25-1.

Legoland

Off to Legoland yesterday. Good time was had by all. In our testing of family destinations this week, we did Wisley, London twice, Legoland and Mercedes Benz World.

Wisley is a nice place to take kids if they are under 5. Mercedes Benz world is great for boys over 5 and Legoland is great for kids between 3-8 (but not a cheap day out!)

First Steps

As any parent will tell you, when the little ones start walking it's a pretty exciting occasion.
Freya finally decided that crawling wasn't much fun anymore and started walking yesterday. Maybe she had been waiting for the house to be full as she had quite a big crowd for it. Much clapping all round and Freya feeling very pleased with herself.

Ozzie launchers and singing horses

TWS plus accompanying children + Ozzie rellies + Ozzie sponge rocket launcher= 1 rocket on roof; one guilty party; one hero and 14 laughing Corkies and Corky juniors. All will become clear but thanks to the rellies for the cool gift and long may TWS capers fill us with laughter. Talking of cool gifts - a soft toy horse on the end of a stick ( I am told that is what we call a hobby horse) really can be a great way of communicating with your neighbours out here in the burbs. Ours gave a very fine rendition of happy birthday over the fence tonight. We can teach those kids from Perth a thing or two about cheap, creative fun. Sadly for some members of the TWS no Brucey tonight, a missed 4th July opportunity. Though not everyone gets a private concert from a singing horse on a rainy Wednesday night - Happy Birthday Sennen-Boy!
Note:
The TWS hobby horse, more accurately Freya's hobby horse, has been quite the protagonist since its arrival in April. The stories it could tell about Pacuare People and nearby Neigh-bours. Boom Boom.

A big day for Tiger

No longer a Tigger, soon to be a Piglet - what huge excitement for a child of soon to be 4. But what great teachers he's leaving. Thank-you Jenny, Karen and Roisin for all the support, love and joy you gave our Tigger Tiger. He's loved his year and though his little face says it all about the excitement of moving on, you were each the right thing at the right time. And the Pacuare People's habitat has certainly benefited from your creative instruction, though the Pacuare Parents never got a look in on the take home krispie cakes, not ever. Afterthought - 16 hands, one bowl ...we'll take the artwork any day!

Maybe the sun will shine today

I hoped it would, and for much of the day it did. Unfortunately it was the "much of the day" portion spent at the office. The rain greeted me at the South Bank as I met the rellies for a ride on the London Eye this afternoon. Third time for me but still a joy to see London in landscape; a joy shared by the rellies more used to rashies, white sand and sunshine. Everyone should look up more when they walk the streets of London; there is so much to see that is more interesting than the pavement.

A song I love, from Wilco's Sky Blue Sky album (a true Pacuare fave) kept going through my head - "Maybe the sun will shine today" A very appropriate song for a family heading to Legoland tomorrow.

Clarkie Case Notes 1

Faldeos Nevados (snowy slopes); Bonarda 2004; Mendoza. Wine of Argentina. This wine can only be produced as result of carefully managed irrigation in an area of Western Argentina that exists as as semi-desert. Interesting wine today for three (loosely associated) reasons: 1. today I did actually witness, in the month of July (???), snowfall and hail stones from a capsule on the London Eye, and with much imagination could transport myself to a snowy slope; 2. carefully managed irrigation could work wonders for our flooded Pacuare Veg Patch; 3. the wine was enjoyed in conditions about as far from it's origination as could be imagined - snow and hail in July?? Anyway, the wine is rich and fruity and tasted great with Lasagne and a debate on the state of the NHS with our rellie nurse from Oz. A fine selection from The Wine Society of Stevenage (TWOS). The resident "tasters" certainly wish it had come in bottles of TWOS as our other bottle of the night failed to warrant record.

New babies

Today a dear friend of mine had a baby boy, actually, looking at the time I can see it was yesterday - 9.11am, on Tuesday 3rd July. Congrats to Kristie and Nick; welcome to Samuel James Mathers. Certainly a future lover of the great outdoors ...

The Ozzies- our week so far

As mentioned by Si (out goes the formality of Simon), our "rellies" arrived on Saturday morning, to rain. The rain has certainly been a continuing theme and luckily the jet lag and novelty of arriving in England (from chilled out, "life's a beach so grab your rashie", Samson, Perth) has yet to wear off. As a result everything we say and do is a Pommy inspired revelation and adventure; we are doing our bit for the rise of Pommy "barracking". In terms of things to do in the Woking area on a rainy day, with plenty of children: Wisley Gardens, the place still rocks on a rainy day and I applaud the new greenhouse (more so than Si - though Ms Crotchety "Wisley Whinger" did cause an enjoyment blip for me too); Mercedes Benz World (so cool if you are over 5 and happen to arrive on the day you can sit in the 316k Mercedes/ Mclaren SLK somethingorother with your two Ozzie twin-7 year old nephews); Nemo and the other fish at any garden centre that happens to tolerate browsing families on grey and grotty days; picnics under umbrellas (just keep the rolls dry and promise hot chocolate for when they get home); trains to London (children love trains, especially those taking them to a new place while they eat cake); Woking Lesiure Centre (the slides are worthy of any water park I've been to - not that I've been to many, though you can take your pick in Northern Crete); baking yoghurt cake and chocolate sponges; getting the neighbours around; music; laughter; story telling and wine. Gosh! What with outings, journal keeping, homework and creative ways of drying the laundry of 8, we've had a pretty kiddy happy 3 days - rain has not stopped play, yet!

Note1:

Regarding train travel; can we please place the "Bah Humbug to Children Travelling where I can see them" brigade in the same category as the Wisley Whingers. Five well behaved children looking out of a train window and giving an occasional squeal of delight is surely a sparkle of sunshine on a rainy day rather than a crime justifying further frown creases and angry whispers. If you don't want to travel with the future then please do enjoy a first class seat in the rush hour commute; a combination which is too cost prohibitive for a family outing to infiltrate your space.

Note2:
Have just re-read this missive - the statement "getting the neighbours around; music; laughter; story telling and wine" could become a "phrase of common usage" on Pacuare People. The short hand for such frivolity is TWS - the "Turnoak Wine Society". Plenty of TWS insights to come. It's the codename for a collection of like-minded friends getting together and having a good time. As for wine, tonight I can recommend the Buckingham Estate, Reserve Shiraz from Western Australia. I missed the "minty high notes" but the spicy berry fruit was there to savour; at a £3 discount from a certain chain supermarket I'm almost tempted to put down a bottle to "develop with age", though we don't seem to be very good at that in the TWS.

Note to self:
My next post will be short.

Pacuare - who, what, where, when?

Pacuare is the name of a very long, beautiful river in Costa Rica. It also happens to be the core of a "Coast to Coast" Costa Rica trip, run by various adventure companies, which I took in 2001. Cutting to the chase, a lot can happen in 6 years; specifically a meeting of hearts and minds and two gorgeous and fun (do I sense a hint of bias) children called Thurston and Freya (more on Nordic references at a later posting) - hence the Pacuare People blog, with a boy called Simon and a girl called Karen. Writing of boys called this and girls called that - a Pacuare music fave has to be Antje Duvekot and a personal fave for me is a song called Dandelion. Brilliant, though not if you're planning a land speed record around your local park. On a shuffle fuelled run her music and lyrics always distract me from the pace! As an aside, a song is about the only place a dandelion would find itself welcome in our Pacuare People habitat, thought I'll leave the gardening talk to Simon. And I am told entries are best kept short. I fear I got overly enthused with my first ever contribution.

Music For A Rainy Day

Hello Saferide: I Was Definitely Made For These Times
All the best music is coming out of Sweden these days and although this has been out a while, it's definitely a Pacuare fave.

What a Wonderful (Mercedes) World

We took the boys to Mercedes World in West Byfleet today and thought it was great. You don't get much for free these days, but we had a really nice couple of hours there. That's me in a Mercedes SLR, which costs £316,000!

A New (Aussie) Vocabulary 2

Barrack verb. Laura barracks for Freo Dockers and I barrack for Saints. Apparently.

Wisley Whingers

On Sunday we went to Wisley and went to the new multi-million pound greenhouse. We got told off by some old battleaxe for taking this photo and there were quite a few of the old RHS blue rinse brigade there.

I actually prefer the old greenhouse, which was hot, sweaty and full of plants. Maybe the new one will get more character once things start to grow, but it all appears a bit clinical at the moment.