Halloween 2018

Today was pretty low key for a Halloween, but we did 'the normal' thing of getting together with Sophie, Oscar and Emma and going round Danehill to collect treats. The girls went by themselves for the first time ever. Emma and I took Tryfan (who dressed up as the Grim Reaper for the 4th year in a row, i think!) and Oscar and their friend Aaron.

New couches

Our red couch in the TV area has had a good run here at Chalfonts but now its time to upgrade. We ordered these babies a few months ago when Martell's was having a sale and they finally arrived today. Woohoo!

The dog sweater of doom

Poor Winnie has had her big operation today, and now she has to wear this dog sweater so that she doesn't lick her wound. We told her it is better than the 'Cone of Shame' but I don't think she appreciates this 'Sweater of Doom' very much.

She tries to bite whoever touches it, but we need to touch it several times a day since she has to have the back part off each time she goes out to do her business. Rhiannon and Rhodri have developed a good cop/ bad cop routine involving treats and distraction in order to get the job done. 

Another glorious autumn day

And here we are on the Ashdown Forest once again

Pumpkin carving party

This was an event that the other American family in the village organized, and I was so happy to help decorate and participate! It was a first annual event open to the community at the Jubilee Green, and it was such a fun night.

Though at the time it was starting, it was all a bit crazy since Rhodri and the kids weren't home from Wales yet and we had the Czech family arriving to stay the night with us, and I had 6 pumpkins in the car that needed to be hollowed out before  the event!

Martina and Lukasz were great guests, though, and they kindly agreed to clean out all 6 pumpkins while I scurried around getting food etc ready to take over there. Anyone who volunteers to get up to their elbows in pumpkin slime and seeds is welcome to be a guest at our house anytime!

It was a chilly night but the bonfires were burning to keep people warm, and we had the built-in BBQs going for anyone to cook their food on, and music was playing from a wireless speaker, and it was all just really good clean fun.

Yoga rave

I got home this morning and I am soooo happy to be here. I really don't like the middle east at all.

Anyway, a couple of days ago I got a text message from my friend Corinne who invited me to a 'yoga rave' tonight at Yard Yoga in the Hop Yard brewing company just here in Forest Row. Sounded dodgy, but I figured after a long flight a good stretch out should be exactly what I need. It was in conjunction with a photography exhibition, so I went along.

It was amazing and fabulous! I wish they had these every week! There was a live DJ and an incredible Instructor, and everyone did each other's faces with UV paint. Then the main lights went off and the black light turned on, the music was pumping and it was absolutely incredible. I didn't take any photos of the actual event but it was really, really cool.

Afterwards there were drinks and socializing in the main reception of the studio, and then I met Rhodri to go out to dinner. What a great night!

My little spot

This chair is in the corner of the one bar inside of the Abu Dhabi airport, and I was so happy to see it unoccupied at the time of my arrival! I had quite a few hours to kill, and it was lovely to sit here and do some work for a few hours while having a beer.  In fact, the last time I came to Abu Dhabi (last Oct), I sat in the same exact spot and did the same exact thing. This is the view from my little spot.  Now I will have an overnight flight and get home on Friday morning.

MLC

I've been spending this week here at the Middle East & Asia Learning Center (MLC) which is near Abu Dhabi. Its just work, but I took some photos anyway.

I stayed on campus in a big dormitory type place. Not too fancy, but a very comfortable bed and an easy commute to the office - just about 2 minutes of walking. But I am looking forward to going home tomorrow night.

Splintering off

This is an unusual week now because we have all gone separate ways. We got in the car on Saturday morning and the family dropped me at Heathrow so i could fly to Abu Dhabi for a week of work out there, then they continued on up north to Birmingham where they met Nain and Taid for a pub lunch at The Owl.

Then the kids went with Nain and Taid up to north Wales and Rhodri drove back home to have a quiet week to himself. Rhods has so much work right now that he couldn't afford to leave for a week, but fortunately his parents were willing to come and get the kids. So now they are probably having the time of their lives up there getting spoiled rotten and enjoying the Welsh side of the family.

Brighton Birthday party

Friday afternoon is not a great time to drive to Brighton! It took us a long time to get there, but fortunately the staff at Globalls was accommodating and we were able to get our round of crazy golf in without too much hassle. 

We had fun in the car on the drive here, though, putting UV face paint on each other.

 We split into 3 teams of 4 or 5 to go around the course. Cat, Rhiannon, Blythe and I were the only girls so we formed our own team.

 After our round, we walked over to Pizza Hut where the staff had kindly hung up bunting and laid a party table for us. We had pre-ordered food and the whole meal was fabulously easy and effortless. Free refills of salad bar, soda drinks and ice cream were so fun because they are such a novelty here! We left around 8pm to drive back up to Chelwood Gate and drop kids off at their homes. A good way to start the half term!

Tryfan turns 11

This was a busy week as we have been finishing things up to get ready for the half term break which starts today after school. Today is also Tryfan's birthday! We will take all of the Year 6 kids to go play glow-in-the-dark miniature (crazy) golf in Brighton and then have a feast at Pizza Hut. Should be fun!
But first some words about our dear Tryfan himself as he turns 11.


Tryfan is a very inquisitive, enthusiastic, sensitive person. He loves to read, play video games (especially FIFA), kick the football around with friends, tackle people in rugby, and he doesn't seem to be able to 'just walk' at all - he is always embellishing his movement with twirls, skips, shimmies, leaps and so forth. He is like a smiley puppy dancer. He almost always responds to requests with eagerness and prompt action, which I personally LOVE because he can be so helpful taking the compost out, hanging laundry up, emptying the dishwasher, hoovering the stairs, folding clothes, etc. Tryfs is good company as long as he doesn't have any reading material on hand because he gets really stuck in! Tryfan is also a very cuddly, thoughtful, polite, caring and generous soul who thinks about the well-being of others and goes out of his way to look after other people. The development areas that he has been focusing on are all related to being honest when confronted with uncomfortable questions and also taking his time to learn from mistakes. We sure do love him and are grateful to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday, Tryfan!

Orienteering

I found out that there was an orienteering event going on today pretty nearby, so I talked Tryfs into coming with me. It was great! We did a pretty easy course but it was good for building our confidence after a lot of years of not doing it.  The only thing was that it was really warm outside so we got extra sweaty.

Local art

Our friend Mary had a private art viewing tonight so I talked a couple of girlfriends into coming with me to it.  We were there for nearly the whole time, but mainly just socialising rather than admiring the art (though we did that for the first few minutes!).

One highlight for me was finally getting a chance to talk to the 'other' American family in the village, Sarah and Dwayne. Their youngest son Kelton was our babysitter for awhile so we know him, but our paths haven't really crossed with the parents. So finally I got some quality time finding out about their lives and all that. It was a good night actually, although my girlfriends didn't want to go out afterwards so we all just headed home around 9pm. Kind of bummer for a Friday night, but it was fine with me.

Welsh rugby and the M25

We watched Gabi play rugby this morning (actually it was around noon when he actually began playing) and the venue was inspirational. Rhodri made some keen and insightful observations as he watched the Welsh Under-12s practice and then play against another town, comparing the play with his experience in Haywards Heath as a coach. It was a gorgeous day and we made the most of it, knowing we would spend the afternoon in the car.

And indeed we did. It was all going find and then on the M25 we came to a halt for nearly an hour. There was a car fire and both sides were shut for such a long time.  It was kind of fun though because we got to walk along the center meridian and even walk out onto the motorway on the other side! Everyone was talking to each other and milling around.

Eventually we got home and prepared for the week ahead

Cousins in Caerphilly

We drove over to Cardiff (well, actually to Ystrad Mynach) last night to spend this weekend with Nia, Cris, Gabs and Val. We arrived pretty late at night but everyone was still awake so we had a joyful reunion and tour of their new house.  This morning was stunning and we all went for a walk up the hill behind their house.

The sky was amazingly dramatic - my favorite kind of day! Bright green fields lit up fleetingly below the fast moving clouds, and the air was fresh and cool. 

Winnie Flying Ears also had fun!

 It eventually rained a bit and in the afternoon we sat around with cups of tea and the indulgently thick weekend paper - bliss! Nia prepared a delicious feast for dinner and we all watched 'Spectre' together.

The Bus Pass

What a long saga this whole 'bus to secondary school' has been for us the past 18 months.
It started when Rhiannon got accepted to go to UCTC and I immediately applied for a seat on the bus (that was in March 2017), only to be told that there were no seats available and I needed to reapply in August. Fine, since she wasn't starting until September 2017. So I did that again in Aug and was told that she could go on the waiting list but they wouldn't know for sure until October 2017. Our friends up the road had been through a similar ordeal so they coached us in who to contact and what to say, but this method didn't work for us the way it had for them and Rhiannon ended up not able to ride the bus all of 2017-8 school year, even though the bus stops nearly outside our door and we live the closest to the school compared to anyone else in the village who gets to ride the bus. It was so frustrating to deal with the county transport authorities on this injustice that I handed the whole project over to Rhodri. Anyway, since he has been the one on the front line of school runs and so forth, he would normally be the person to actually take Rhiannon to and from school. We put a positive spin on this and have been grateful for the 'quality time in the car' to and from school, about 15-20 min drive each way. But still, so unfair! Especially since Rhiannon's other classmate got a free space on the bus and lives further away, and nobody could explain why this was.

We tried again this summer for a place on the bus for the year 2018-9 and had the exact same experience as last year at first. But then it all kicked off a couple of weeks ago, and all the people who had seats on the bus in our village were told they lost their seats. So a group of parents (including Rhodri) got busy sending in letters and involving legal authorities and all sorts. I kept well away (it happened when i was in the US in early Sept) but was glad that Rhodri was part of this. So anyway, school started with hardly anyone on the bus from the village, and instead a couple of elaborate car pools were set up and everyone was just about managing to get to and from school. But then! Today! In the post! Arrived a bus pass with Rhiannon's name on it. And she gets it for free, and she will get it for the remainder of her years at this school due to a sort of lucky technicality which was the reason that her classmate originally got it last year. So actually, she should have had a free bus pass last year and the transport authorities must have known that but not wanted to admit their mistake.
Whatever. We are all just really glad that she gets to finally ride the bus! Who knows what will become of Tryfan's situation if he gets into the same school next year...

Working hard on stuff

This week we have each been working hard on our own projects and this has been a challenge and a slog!
Rhiannon had to research a suspension bridge somewhere in the world, producing a poster that explained with drawings how they are designed to work; Tryfan was tasked with decorating a cardboard box for the Harvest service at school/ church; Rhodri has been scouring the planet for a company that can provide a particular type of jacket that has a set of qualities and sizes which are apparently very rare; I've been fighting my own battles at work...
What was really nice today was to hear the kids express pride in their work when it came time to turn things in.

Not everything is sewn up and resolved - the work continues! - but we are closing up projects for a couple days and heading to Caerphilly to visit Nia, Cris, Gabs and Val for the weekend so that will be good.