The Boyf has been to stay this weekend and I don't mean to be boastful, but it's been fab!
On Friday we just had a quiet evening in, enjoying random Friday night tele and playing a board game about London that someone has left in the house. We had a slap-up meal of tuna & mayo pasta and finished up my fantastic bottle of local Kentish cider (note to self, I need another bottle). We then had a fairly early night as we had an adventure planned for Saturday.
Saturday was brilliant. I genuinely had the best day that I'd had in a while with The Boyf. We went to the Big City! This is not something I do very often and so the protocols of standing on the right on the escalators and not smiling at people confuses me. We had the most wonderful day, catching the train from a tiny, local village station and then getting off at Stratford, so that I could gaze across at the Olympics Park. We also decided to do this because the sun was shining and it was glorious so we decided it was a good opportunity to go on the Thames Clipper river taxi up from North Greenwich to the centre.
It didn't disappoint, we saw all the sites from the river and went under all the famous bridges including Tower Bridge with the Olympic Rings on it. We got off at the London Eye and went and got tickets to go on there later that evening. The morning was almost up and I was ushered back onto the tube to be taken for lunch at a pub in Black Friars. It was a grand little pub with Aspell's cider on tap and some of the most fantastic decor I'd ever seen. We had some fab sandwiches and chips and then it was time for the 'big surprise'.
We walked down through Temple, past Somerset House and then turned up off Embankment, by this point I had no idea where we were (my geography of cities is always horrendous, especially London) and as we walked up the road I suddenly spotted something that made me grin like I hadn't done for a very long time. He had taken me to see The Lion King. This was special for two reasons, 1) I love the West End and musicals and 2) I had never seen The Lion King (the film, yes I know it's criminal) before which is something that has bothered the Boyf since, well forever, so I knew he'd picked that specifically instead of just taking me to see something in London.
After a quick pitstop at one of the coffee house chains for an ice cold milkshake (it was hot, bloody hot) we went into the theatre. He treated me to a drink before we went in, bought me a little pot of pick and mix and the programme before we went and found our seats. They were fantastic. Right in the centre of the theatre, second row in the Grand Circle. Conveniently two tiny (but very well-behaved) children were sitting in the seats directly in front.
The show was...well, I don't even know how to describe how good it was. I laughed, I cried, I sung, I fell in love and I nearly exploded with joy, all in one show. I will definitely never forget it. All of the animals are represented with puppets/ head-dresses/ elaborate costumes that aren't just a standard costume of said animal and are very very cleverly done. There wasn't a single point that you just thought 'oh that's just someone dressed as a hyena' or something, you were totally immersed in the performance.
After the wonderful show we pottered up to Covent Garden, which I love and bought some dinner from the fantastic food market and sat listening to a man performing with his guitar before pottering around a few of the up-market shops. One goal I have in life is to at some point leave said up-market shops with a purchase (materialistic, yes, a bit). With the weather as it was, it couldn't get much better. Yet it did.
After yet another tube ride, we got back to the London Eye and had the most fantastic time. The sun was setting and it was all rather soppy and romantic. We were the only people that stood for the photo that gets taken of each pod so we decided to buy a keyring of said photo, one each, as we were both rather pleased that we still looked presentable by that time in the evening after our early start and the scorching temperatures.
After this we pottered round Marble Arch and Oxford Street before heading to St. Pancras for our train home. We were hot, exhausted and in need of a good sit down, but we were definitely happy, it had been a bloody good day.
Sunday was a far more relaxed affair and involved pottering around the local town of Rye, just over the border in East Sussex. It's a lovely little town with lots of cute little shops and we found a fantastic tea rooms before heading to the harbour for their 'Maritime Festival'. I have to say it sounded grander than it was, it was a bit more like a village fete than anything but the bands playing were good and we went over to the fish and chip restaurant for an unconventional but damn tasty Sunday lunch before heading home for a relaxed afternoon and evening. I did go and ride Venus in the afternoon and the Boyf did take some lovely photos, such as this one. She's a big mare but she's beautiful :)
I took the Boyf back to the station this morning so he can head back to London to work at the Paralympics and I pottered around being a fairly productive domestic goddess before a relaxing evening of catching up with X-Factor.
Not much planned for this week, odd jobs to do for work and the daughter of the Rochester Gang is hopefully coming to stay for a couple of nights before a big battle coming up at the weekend which I am really looking forward to.
The Kent Adventure has begun! Yes, on Saturday 4th August I moved down here to just outside the town of Tenterden. I have moved here for my placement (told you I got one!!) which is working as an Education Assistant for the charity I am working at. They provide residential trips for children from the borough of Hackney, as part of their primary school (mainly) teaching.
It's a fabulous place, a 250 year old Georgian Mansion, set in 3 acres. I live in the old Coach House, which is on the site and a considerable part of the land is taken up by 2 huge raised beds, a poly tunnel and a giant fruit cage, which means that in terms of fruit and veg, the site is totally self-sufficient. We also have 11 hens and a cockerel that live at the back of my house, which provide a steady supply of eggs. As I am now responsible for the chickens on a day to day basis, I am allowed to help myself to said eggs, which is rather brilliant. I am also able to take produce from the garden, although a lot of my meals are included as technically I am a volunteer.
The House: Well, where can I start apart from it's gorgeous!!! Massive kitchen/ diner, living room and a cloackroom downstairs. I have a woodburner in the living room that is brand new, and my bedroom happens to be above this which is excellent. There are 2 double rooms, 2 single rooms and a bathroom upstairs. The house is older than the main house, possibly dating right back to Tudor times, as before the current main house, there was a Tudor mansion on the same site. It is full of beams, the kitchen is a proper country kitchen and I just love it. It's got all the old windows and all the doors are wooden with old latches on them rather than handles. It's also a traditional style Kentish house with the tile hanging over most of it.
My job is very varied and as well as helping with the teaching/ leading of various activities, I get to help in the garden and have been handed responsibility of the Tuck shop (sweets each day after lunch, although limited to one pack a day) and Gift Shop (set up on the last day selling various souvenirs) this includes running the books for the two ventures which helps to pay for it's stock and other sideline things such as the wild bird seed (oh, the feeders are my responsibility too) and chicken feed.
I've really enjoyed my first week and everyone is so friendly, over the summer the majority of groups are self-catered using the place to do their own thing rather than the taught groups, but this week we have a small group from Young Hackney, so it's a good opportunity for me to ease into the taught routine.
Today we greeted them all as they arrived, showed them to their rooms and then after lunch went on a 3 hour country walk. The weather was absolutely fantastic (although that made it thirsty work) and we all had a great time. Straight afterwards I went off to do something fabby (although I'm going to ache like billio in the morning...).
Guys, I have a horse!!!!! Well, the lady that lives in the nearest house to us (just down the track) has a horse and I'm riding her for her. Next Door actually have 3 horses, the big mare Venus who is 17.2hh (HUGE for those of you that don't work in 'hands high') and two small ponies for their children. Talking of their children I'm also going to be starting to teach ND's Eldest Child as in her words 'Mummy is a boring teacher', on one of the ponies.
I've ridden Venus twice so far and she's a delight, she's had all the basics taught to her but she definitely needs work on bringing those on and Next Door are glad to have someone who can do that regularly! They have a bit of a hectic life with 3 children under 8, one of which has disabilities which require a lot of time, therefore Venus' work wasn't that regular before. I'm very, very excited to have this opportunity practically on my doorstep and I can't wait to look back at the end of this year and see how she's come on. I'm also very lucky to have one of my old instructors from back at home currently living just over half an hour away in Kent, who has said that the opportunity for riding at her yard, or her coming down to teach me on Venus would be something to consider, which I definitely will.
Fantastic next few days planned, tomorrow the Rochester Gang (a mother and daughter whom I know from the Battle Re-enactment) are coming round in the evening for dinner (which we are picking from the garden) and a good catch up. Looking forward to the various antics that will inevitably happen with the two of them this coming year. Have said I will show them the chickens (not the mother, major phobia)/horses/bats etc to them too. Then, on Friday the Boyf is coming for the weekend and will be coming to see me ride Venus on Friday afternoon as well as helping me as I teach ND's Eldest Child on her pony before having an evening in. We're then spending Saturday day tripping up to London and probably be stereotypical tourists although this is the Boyf's treat to me and he supposedly 'has a plan', we shall see. Sunday is going to be spent relaxing and recovering from a busy week and weekend.
I feel that after the walking/riding combo (new Olympic sport, anyone?) it is time to go to bed.
Take care, one and all!
After a very very busy 7 weeks, my life is starting to get back on track and will soon have a normal routine and stuff!
The past 7 weeks have been pretty good though. Moved back home from Uni for a little while (more about that later) and have had some adventures. In this time I have done a couple of battles, one of which was rather wet and one was very sunny (makes a bloody change!). I have been to visit my placement, yes I actually have one (again, more about that later) and been on the Olympics hype.
Placement is finally sorted! It took a while but I am off to work for The Kench Hill Charity in Kent! It's rather a long way from home but I am major excited and feel it's going to be a rather good adventure. I will have a house on site, which will be occupied by other volunteers should there be any, supposedly there is going to be one other guy there for a shorter time than me, but starting a couple of weeks after I do so I will have a friend! The house is gorgeous and has a proper wood burning stove and everything. It also has the BIGGEST kitchen I think I've ever seen in a house, which would make Yorkshire Friend very happy indeed.
The job is working partly as an Education Assistant, which is what I was going for, and also partly in their Kitchen Garden, which is a very exciting role as I am keen to learn how to grow various fruits and veg for when I have a garden of my own, and this gives me a perfect opportunity to learn about that.
The lady that is going to be my boss is very lovely and made me feel so welcome when I went to visit for the day. The centre is small, which is what I prefer and is the ideal age range to work with in my opinion, which is the Upper Junior ages (most of the time) which is around the ages of 9 to 11. The majority of children come from the London borough of Hackney, as they are linked with the Local Education Authority and the children have generally not been to the countryside before so are taken to a whole different environment during their stay. This has led me to think about using the opportunity of working with children from an Inner City area for my Dissertation, as the contrast between Urban and Countryside life and the perception of the countryside that children from the different areas have is something I am very interested in.
I move to Kent on Saturday and am keen to start my adventure. Supposedly I have a few tasks to do in my first week, but not many as most of the staff are away, so my boss has said to use this time to explore the area etc, which I am very keen to do. Also, in another good turn of events, she knows someone that lives close to the centre who is looking for someone to ride their horse, so hopefully I will have something to ride whilst I am down there, which I am also very excited about.
Talking of horses, I have totally been on the Olympics hype. After missing the torch at both of my houses (Uni due to an exam and Home due to working a temporary shift at Loughborough Uni's Graduation Ball) I managed to get over to Loughborough with The Boyf so that we could see the torch. It was an exciting and rather atmospheric morning with lots of music and entertainment from local schools and bands etc. Sport is one of the big things in Loughborough, mainly due to the facilities at the Uni, so they made a rather big deal of the torch coming.
As well as seeing the torch, I have been madly watching the TV coverage, especially of the Eventing, this is because I was actually lucky enough to have tickets for the Show Jumping phase of the eventing, which meant that I was there seeing Team GB win their Silver Medal yesterday!
All 10 members of Team GB with their medals
They were my 19th birthday present from the Elder Basons and Mummy Bason and I had a fab time, even with the 2am start! It was an absolutely amazing day and a wonderful experience. The competition was very close all the way through and having one refusal or fence was make or break all competition. The atmosphere was electric every time a British rider came into the arena and when they finished their round the noise was deafening and the stamping of feet made me feel like the stands might collapse. We enjoyed seeing a few of the Cross Country jumps that were still up around the arena during the lunch break and came back with T-Shirts and Caps and big grins. The only bad bit about the day was our rather hectic journey back across London to the coach station due to 'Points Failures' near London Bridge Station.
One of the best things that happened was actually not to do with horses, but showed the truly global connections that the Olympics brings. We had been sitting right behind an American Couple, which by the number of Olympic badges on the lady's hat, had been to their fair share of Olympic Games, and we got chatting to them. They were really lovely and after I'd made sure the man's poncho didn't get trodden on, on the walkway of our row, and Mum held the lady's seat cushion steady for us, she decided to give us a present, which at first seemed odd.
It turned out she wanted to give us two bracelets, that were made by her cousin. She told us it was a hobby of his, and he likes to get them in other places in the world so sent 2 for her to take to London when she went to the Olympics to give to someone she meets and she chose Mummy Bason and I! It was such a delight and really made the Olympics even more special for us.
Our Bracelets
She had a tag on them with the name of her cousin and where he currently lives, and told us to find him on Facebook. We have done so this evening and have now been talking to him. In the past few weeks The Boyf has announced that he's taking me on holiday to Morocco next year as my combined 21st Birthday and Christmas present, so I told the man who makes the bracelets that I would take mine with me, and get a photo of it in yet another continent and country. After this he decided that as long as he can sort out the postage, due to his health not allowing him outside the house to the post office, he is actually going to try and send me some bracelets to take to Morocco, so that he can add the country and continent to his list permanently. Currently the bracelets are in 3 continents, 6 countries and 13 different US states. He makes no money out of this and just does it for the pleasure of seeing his creations in different locations. It was truly inspiring and the fact that the bracelets are red and white and blue and white means that they fit right in with our Team GB supporting to make the Olympics truly unique for us.
I have so much to look forward to in the next few weeks and months and cannot wait to get started now, just a shame that I haven't really done any packing yet, or even unpacking from Uni for that matter.
More blogging will happen quicker than it has currently, to tell all about said adventures!
