With winter still lingering like an unwanted guest, the perfect tonic is definitely skiing. Blue skies, sunshine, great company, french cuisine, exercise, fresh air, apres ski (and no kids!), what more does one need to blast those winter blues away.
Morzine was the destination although the snow was rapidly melting so we skied all the time just up the road in Avoriaz. The last few weeks had been full on so it was really nice to get away on the ultimate of mindful holidays. When you're skiing you're just focused on the ground in front, when you're on lifts you're just peacefully admiring the view and the rest of the time you're just either eating or partying or exhausted and asleep. Pure escapism.
Thanks to Colin and Gordon for an awesome time! And thanks to my lovely family for letting me escape!
And then it was back to full on work for 4 days along with dance shows and parents evenings. Phew I need another break. And luckily I have one as we're off to Northumberland for an Easter break. Woohoo! Watch this space.
March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or so the saying goes. And I am most definitely ready for some prolonged warmer weather. We’ve had some lovely brief glimpses recently - Tanya and I escaping for a wonderful night in Newport-on-Tay at the amazing Newport Hotel, followed by South Queensferry and an overnight in North Berwick for her birthday; and then a weekend away for us all with the hillwalkers in Pitlochry. Lovely catching up with each other and with folk we’ve not seen in a year. And lovely to see the sun.
We've also had some birthdays with Tanya turning 21 and Ly turning 17 - celebrating with her first ever birthday presents. And I also popped down to see my Dad and the High Wycombe crew. Dad's still here - and seems much more content, but spends most of his day bridging the gap between sleepiness and sleep. And Emily is also bridging a gap between childhood and adolescence, she's growing up fast. She's also got sleep issues too; being half asleep in the morning when we want her awake, and then wide awake at night when we'd like her to go to sleep. It's a throwback to when she was a baby, only this time she has no excuse!
March feels like a season of change, the bulbs and buds appearing bringing some colour to the garden, brighter evenings and mornings (my cycle commute now firmly in daylight), and sunshine with warmth reigniting my soul after winter. I find myself making changes, re-evaluating things, making plans. It’s a great time to feel alive again after winter. So the coming weeks are a whirlpool of activity – a ski holiday and then a week in Northumberland for Easter. I can’t wait. March bridges the gap between winter and spring, and I smell change in the air. Exciting times ahead.
Smoked Haddock Ravioli - one of 9 courses on the tasting menu at the Newport Hotel
Apologies: For any of you Londoners reading this please accept our apologies for not hooking up with you during our whistlestop tour of the sights. There were simply too many people we’d love to have seen and really not enough time to see you all in. Next time we promise we’ll have more time!
7.15am Saturday morning and the gang of five are racing in a taxi towards Glasgow Central, having helpfully left their lunch and snack bag still sitting by the front door. Food can be bought we thought, but the 8am West Coast service to destination London could not be missed. A fairly uneventful journey, and we arrived to mayhem at Euston. Escalators and lifts out of order. Staircases shut. And, worst of all, Three mobile was down. Not a good start. Still we eventually found our way to Chalk Farm and thankfully Ly is on Vodafone so we managed to navigate our way to our wonderful Airbnb by Primrose Hill. Quick bit of food and gathering of bearings, then it was off into the hustle and bustle of the Big Smoke.
First up a short walk from Waterloo was the London Eye. I must admit, I had been pretty sceptical about forking out for the Eye (and I confess I was also pretty sceptical about forking out for the whole trip in general) but I have to say it was amazing. We’d timed it for the sunset and were not in the least bit disappointed as we pointed out the sights to the kids. A stunning perspective on London. Safely down and fleeced by a local tourist shop, we stood in awe soaking up the sunset and the atmosphere before crossing Golden Jubilee Bridge to see Trafalgar Square and heading to Covent Garden for what was the best sushi I have ever eaten at Sticks ‘n’ Sushi. By now the hustle and bustle and sheer excitement had intoxicated us all and we were all buzzing as we headed to Leicester Square for our underground ride home. Agreement that day one had been a hit.
Next morning we were up early to head to Chinatown ready for Chinese New Year celebrations, arriving at a perfect time to get a view of the parade and then to join the masses to shuffle round Chinatown and soak up more atmosphere. At Shaftsbury Avenue we’d taken as much as we could and headed to Buckingham Palace via Piccadilly Circus and the Mall for some 'quieter' time. We were now in full London tourist flow and the kids stopped to feed the squirrels by hand in the Green Park whilst we gathered our breath. Then it was a quick visit to Hamleys which brought back childhood memories for me before we dashed over to the Natural History Museum for a late lunch and a date with the dinosaurs. Not enough time to fully appreciate the Natural History Museum before we needed to dash on to the Royal Albert Hall and the Cirque du Soleil. The show just blew us away. They were literally unbelievable. Incredible talent. Then it was a final pit stop for a late pizza at Da Mario in Kensington before getting some shattered children home for some kip. Definite agreement that day two had also been a hit.
Final full day and we were up ready for early action with a short sunny walk along the canal to Camden Market. A wonderful morning spent browsing around the endless shops and stalls before a quick bite from some of the many eateries and a dash to the underground and a trip up to the Sky Garden at the Walkie Talkie Building. A gentle hour spent enjoying the sights and the breathtaking views over London (Tower Bridge, Tower of London, The Shard etc) before down we descended to the Docklands Light Railway. The kids (and Tanya) loved riding the automatic train, before our destination of the Cloud Cable Car over to the O2. Again this was timed to perfection with the sun setting as we glided up above the Thames. A view of the future at the 02 and we realised what country bumpkins we are before grabbing more street food at the Food Hall in the Design Centre. And then another weary, broken 3 kids and 2 adults rode the underground home again. Agreement that day three was, yes you guessed it, a massive hit too.
Final morning and we took it easy packing up and a walk up Primrose Hill to say goodbye to the Big Smoke, before heading to Euston for the West Coast service to Glasgow.
Phew, it was epic. Despite my previous non-London fandom, I have to admit I loved it. It was intoxicating, exciting, ever-changing, atmospheric, delightful, futuristic, charming, and well yes, a tad expensive, but worth every penny. London we rocked you and you rocked us. Boom. And yes, we’ll be back. Thank you, you've made memories to last for us all.
Everyone's top moments: Me – The views from the Sky Garden Tanya – DLR/Cable Car Ly – The London Eye Emily – Cirque du Soleil Niomi – Cirque du Soleil
All change for the gang of five on the 8am to London Euston
One of Niomi’s favourite phrases is “It doesn’t matter!”. As adults we spend an awful lot of time trying to, and getting our children to, behave to norms. Anything outside those norms is deemed ‘unusual’ or ‘different’ and is often thought of negatively. Niomi is a little unorthodox but she’s equally mostly a very, happy little thing so will often pronounce “it doesn’t matter”. Trying to take a 3 foot toy rabbit to school – “it doesn’t matter”, drinking her juice with a teaspoon – “it doesn’t matter”, wearing a princess dress in the snow – “it doesn’t matter”. And she’s right. These things really don’t matter. As parents we often think they do but really, where’s the problem? With a child or with our concept of normality? Some things do matter – hitting others, behaving unkindly; but the vast majority of what we think does matter really doesn’t.
I’ve been listening to a podcast by Michael Singer (author of The Untethered Soul) recently – its fundamentally all about letting go of our emotions, not getting hung up on things, letting things flow. There’s much truth in this. Our need to try and control our own personal universe that in reality is far from within our control, is a very worthwhile thing to challenge. We surround ourselves with things that aim to increase our pleasure and decrease our pain – distracting ourselves from our reality; rather than accepting and letting go, and enjoying each moment for what it is. I have much to learn from our recently 9 year old Niomi, as we all have much to learn from children in general. Children just live for the moment and are so much more accepting of difference and change. Honestly, much of all that we try to attain or do doesn’t really matter. Happy Birthday Niomi!!
I like watching the birds in the garden, particularly at this time of year. It’s somehow life affirming watching these pretty creatures busying themselves around our bird feeders. The girls love it too and are pretty good at identifying who’s who. Niomi particularly loves my book of all the different bird songs. Last weekend she sat opposite me, asking me to name the birds from their songs. I did impressively well – scoring 100%. She thinks I’m an ornithological genius. I haven’t the heart to tell her that actually I’m just good at reading upside down and can see the names of the breeds in the book as she holds it in front of her. Tanya and Emily clocked on to what I was doing and just thought it hilarious. Tweety tweet tweet – errrrmmmm….ringed plover. Tweet twit tweet – ah yes, that’ll be the red throated diver. I am the god of birdsong. Niomi did actually consider the prospect of me reading upside down but, I assume because she can’t do it, immediately discounted that as a possibility, so carried on amazed at her dad’s prowess. She also has some very interesting ideas about the birds. "There's a boy and girl robin" she said. "They're married. You can tell which one's a girl by her eyes." I must confess I've no idea if she's right.
A little later her less over-trusting older sibling joined me for the annual big garden birdwatch run by the RSPB. It basically involves sitting patiently for an hour counting the maximum number of birds of different species that you see in your garden. It always amazes me just how many, differing species and how many birds we see each year. Sadly the woodpecker and nuthatch that we’ve seen recently didn’t make a reappearance, neither (unsurprisingly) did the tawny owl that we regularly hear roundabout. But we did get plenty of goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, bullfinches, great tits, blue tits and a host of others. Watching the birds reminds me of the vitality of life in the midst of winter. And as January wanes, the light takes on a slightly brighter hue, the air feels slightly warmer and the first signs of life reappear on the ground. A bit to go, but the end of winter is now not so far away…
Quick round up of the last few weeks… Hogmanay was a blast. After saying good bye to the Gediks and Gurneys at Christmas, we quickly washed the linens and welcomed in the Rookes for a few days surrounding Hogmanay. There were some lovely walks, a trip out to see Wonka, plenty of games on the Wii, jigsaw-mania, food and laughter aplenty, a ceilidh in Bearsden for the bells AND the boys won the annual cranium contest. We smiled, laughed and enjoyed. It was most definitely another few days of festive joy. Thank you Rookes - you rocked our Hogmanay.
Then as the Rookes departed and to finish festivities off – I popped over to Edinburgh to see one of my best mates Colin before meeting the girls the next day to catch Wicked at the Playhouse. It was great catching up with Colin properly and we all loved the show.
All in all in was an epic and lovely festive season, full of everything it should be – wonderful, happy memories!
But since then the weather has turned cold, the days have seemed extra dark and I’ve been battling my mind to find some joy and motivation. Most definitely early January blues. Internally focussed, I’ve listened to lots of podcasts and meditated/yoga’d my way into 2024. I’ve tried to get out running, on the bike and for walks. We’ve met up with friends to enjoy the crisp fresh air, including a trip to Stirling Castle. Little by little I’ve crawled my way back to work and into life. And as the nights start to get shorter, I’ve begun to find my place in the world again. I can’t say it’s been an easy few weeks but I have much to be grateful for. And whilst I’m glad that the rollercoaster of 2023 is behind me, looking forward I also see plenty of change coming down the tracks this year as well. So I should buckle up and ride the waves, not try to swim against the flow. Deep breath….here we go 2024!
Happy New Year all - let's hope we catch up with lots of you this year!
Quick post on our Christmas here in Kirky. We had an awesome time with the Gurneys and Senior Gediks 😁💖. Lots and lots of Kirkymas magic and beautiful memories made. There was plenty of presents, loads of food, laughter all around and the occasional tear of joy. We sang, danced and made tiktok films to our hearts content. But importantly it was all that is good and important at Christmas - just spending lovely time together with those that you love. Kirkymas we loved you! Thanks to all the Gurneys and Senior Gediks for indulging my inner Santa joy, and making it such a special few days.
Vietnamese banquet courtesy of Ly
The Santa party
Yaas! He's been 😁
Santa brought a new friend
And a Taylor Swift poster (proper old school presents here)
