Mums' Day Out in Bath

Just returned from a wonderfully relaxing day away from the children with a great group of friends in Bath.

I had not been to Bath for years, in fact the last time I think I was there was pre children when we decided to cycle the 17 miles from Bristol along the old tram-line.  It goes without saying that it took longer to get back to Bristol as the bikes kept colliding with numerous pubs for some reason......

Anyway, back to Bath.  I had explained to the children that I was going to be away for the day and Carys thought it very funny that a load of Mummys' were going to have a bath together.  This actually strengthened in imagery as my mobile calendar entry stated "In bath with school Mums" which Rhys found particularly amusing.

The bus journey was extremely civilised with a Danish pastry and glass of Buck's Fizz to start the day (however, being the Year 2/Reception massive, we hogged the back seats and also topped up our own supplies care of another sneaky bottle.)

Bath is a lovely city and I love the way you appear to be going nowhere off the M4 and then suddenly shoot down the hill into the lovely Bathstone clad architecture. I always have visions of being transported into a Jane Austen novel, where I have decided to take a social season away from London and take in the Bath spa....not that anyone particularly bothered to wash much then, but I'm sure I would have been different!

So - to the shops.  On arrival we (an expedition group of 7) quickly made a mental note of the mulled wine pit-stops and then headed off to grab some caffeine before finding somewhere we could book lunch.  We considered several places but some restaurants were already booked out by 11am so we headed towards a trusty Pizza Express which turned out to contain the rudest staff member this and that side of the Severn bridge (both of them incidentally).  The restaurant was closed but a member of staff had seen us and approached the main door as if to enquire as how they could help, when as nonchalantly as you like, turned on his heel and retreated into the dark recess of empty tables and chairs.  "How rude" and "Stuff them" were choice responses and instead we booked a delightful non-chain restaurant called Raphael, who again, unlocked their door, but this time took our booking and were most helpful.  Raphael Restaurant

Amazingly, by 12.30pm not one of us had coughed up any money relating to Christmas or otherwise and we proceeded to have a relaxed and lovely set-course lunch menu at Raphael Restaurant with friendly ambience.
To start, I had a smoked Chicken Caesar salad, with slow roasted plum tomato, croutons and shaved Parmesan and then went on to the Fish of the Day special, which was Pan-fried Hake with a creamy tarragon sauce, set upon a Leek and Chive mashed potato....superb and all for £11.95!!    Naturally we all felt the need for some liquid refreshment and with a few extra bottles of wine added, the venue made for a fantastic lunch experience.

We headed off for mulled wine shortly after and took in the early Christmas spirit (bustling crowds, prams - I mean "who goes shopping amongst 1000's of shoppers with a bulbous 3-wheeler cross-country pram?...oh yes....I must remember, I am in Bath) and the happy clappers singing their joy to the world!  Twas quite nice but I was really rather enjoying my aromatic mulled wine to take much notice of the Christmas thing going on around me.

One of the best things I saw however was a young man playing on his Didgeridoo. Sounds a bit dodgy but he was very entertaining and when presented with a donation, even managed to squeak a "thank-you" through the tube. I was not able to actually capture "that" moment but have my posse to vouch that it was possible!

I called to check that the children had behaved for Daddy and upon receiving a good report, proceeded to purchase two of the largest caramel apples I have seen for some time, that were laden with white chocolate chips and marshmallows and a lifetimes quota of sugar...  Oh the irony!

We decided it would be rude not to have a little tipple on the way home, so good old Marks and Spencer's came up trumps with a French stick, some cheese, crisps and a lovely bottle of port.  A very chilled trip back to Cardiff followed with little left-over, I think just a few crisps and four mince pies.  I think I will need to have a little jog tomorrow though to feel better about my ability to eat, when everyone else has the will-power to say NO.

Thoroughly enjoyed the intoxication of "non-children day" but having said that, walked quickly home to see them before they crashed out for bed.  The icing on the cake was snuggling down to watch Strictly Come Dancing whilst Rhys completed the finishing touches to the Waitrose meal Deal!!   In the words of Gregg Wallace.... "Heaven doesn't come much closer than this!".

Whoo Hoo - we have finally agreed a sale on our house!

After nearly 9 months of being on the market, our house is finally going to belong to a new family in time for Christmas!   This presents us with a mega stress of packing and moving out before our new house is ready but we will have to work around that in the best way possible.....copious amounts of vodka.

The children are excited but also quite concerned that Father Christmas is going to go to the correct house on the night of 24 December!!

I am now starting to review the house and think about the horror of SORTING AND PACKING....will update with stress levels over the coming days and weeks :)

Night out in Oxford

Just returned from a night away with the girls in Oxford (school friends get together) and all of us thoroughly enjoyed leaving our children at home with "Daddy" for one night.

We reached the Premier Inn (great if on a budget) after a slight ½ hour detour....despite the Sat Nav, we chatted right through the directions until I noticed we were nearly in Cirencester!  After parking up and realising that the others were already in the bar, we then settled into a few thirst quenchers and proceeded to stay there until getting ready to go out.

I had booked a table at Joes Bar & Grill and we were not disappointed.

The cocktails were reasonably priced actually tasted alcoholic and the menu (not too onerous) displayed enough choice.  We all pretty much went for the burgers for which they were known for and again, thoroughly enjoyed the feast.  Service good, friendly and attentive without being too much in your face.

A great catch up, laughed and on times had to check my pelvic floor for damage but a tonic that everyone should do from time to time.  Good friends are ones which you may not see that often but its just like yesterday when you saw them last!

THE EFFIN' CAR

Effin' Car!!! Piddling down rain; forgot to take mobile; car broken down after being pampered at the garage recently for over £600. NOT HAPPY :(

Thankfully nice man in Waitrose Customer Service let me use their phone.  I was going to pop in there anyway to buy a pizza but felt particularly obliged after using their "press 9 to dial out!"


So, having drafted my sister to drive to our house and look after the children, my knight in shining armour turns up in the "other car" (we have to be a two car family for sanity's sake), and proceeds to tow me home.   Luckily I only broke down less than a mile away but in heavy traffic, limited brake power and a need to have to take the country route home, I am now sipping a tot of wine.


My throat is sore from inhaling petrol fumes (clearly a problem with the fuel line) and swearing profusely at the deaf machinery....whilst totally pointless, I feel that some choice words needed to be vented out before getting home to see the children who were delighted that my sister was able to put them to bed.    They also recorded their interpretation of Strictly Come Dancing on her' i-Phone whilst Mummy and Daddy were out - Brucie eat your heart out!


Who knows how much the next instalment of garage visitation will cost but lets worry about that after my organised weekend away with old school friends.  Will keep you posted.

Ahh - after the rant above - the car turned out to be fine.  The offending item was a dodgy fuel filter which had to be sent back to the supplier and no charge for the replacement thankfully.    Still had to fork out £35 for the car to be towed away to the garage though....should have haggled over that but only remembered after I returned home feeling thankful that we did not have to contend with another crippling bill!

The Camcorder

I knew last night when reminding myself to take the video camera to capture the singing delights of my daughters class that I should have checked the battery life.....did I?   Nope and hence I now have just the visual and audible memory of the lovely event this morning.   


The extravagant purchase of the family video recorder last Christmas is fast proving to be up there with other "ooohhh" purchases like the "hot plate" and the "juicer" when it comes to usage and versatility.  I distinctly remember thinking that I would spend time arranging family snippets into lovely motion pictures that could be emailed to friends, family and even uploaded onto YouTube but clearly I should have read the small print.


"Upon purchasing this item, you will probably use it all day upon opening to take footage of wrapping paper, the carpet and maybe a face.  Over time you will allow your young children to experiment with being David Attenborough in the garden. You will continually forget to download and images to clear the memory card and finally, you will look stupid amongst other parents (when at first you looked smug) when trying to get the impressive looking kit to work when a fly's fart would have more luck in kicking life into the battery."


And to top it all - my so called "Smart" phone refused to allow me to take a reasonable photo......oh why did I bother?

The joy of cake decoration!

I have fond memories of watching my mother make wonderful celebration cakes for other people and like the "Cobblers children who go unshod" cannot distinctly remember a specific celebration cake of my own. Clearly I am still bitter about it and do not wish to pass on my angst in the form of "birthday cake" memoirs!

I was foolish enough to ask what they both wanted and felt that it was all too easy to go and buy a tooth decay laden sponge from the supermarket so instead I created my own dental nightmare for the following requests.

I would like a Sea Adventure cake please Mummy!

Please can I  have a Princess Crown cake?

Please can I have a Chocolate Castle?

Wolfram Alpha Running Calculator

I often tease my beloved about his passion for geeky widgets but I must admit that this running calculator from Wolfram Alpha is a great way of providing a breakdown of your running (or in my case, jogging) prowess over any length of distance.

Just pop your details into the easy calculator which I had added to my page and away you go.  As I only have a basic Iron Man exercise watch and cannot afford one of those fang-dangled Heart Rate monitors, this is a great way to assess your run as long as you have timed your distance!

Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Running Mum