Autumn

I love summer time, I love the heat and playing in the water, long walks on the beach, days in the park, I just love it all. I could quite comfortably say that summer is my favourite time of year, I dread cold and live for when it starts to heat up again. I can also state emphatically that winter is my least favourite and it is only the hope of the warmer months that gets me through those cold dreary months. Having said that, there is something about autumn that makes the dip in temperature worth it.

I do love reaching into the closet and pulling out the knit sweaters, the array of colours the trees show off during the season and the sound of crunching leaves under your feet. I felt for the last several years that fall was far too short, certainly disproportionate to the unfair length of winter. In fact I had started to feel like we only enjoyed a couple of days of leaf changing fall time before they were all on the ground, and the day after that covered in snow. Perhaps an unjust description but I desired far more autumn than I got, so I was happy to arrive in a place where I am told that it can last weeks and weeks. Helped I suppose by the fact that they don't really get winter, at least not the way I am used to.

I have been marvelling at the changing season for a couple weeks now, continuing my daily walks despite the locals insisting that it is so chilly out. I have happily watched as the leaves have slowly converted to vibrant yellow, orange and red shades and then hang onto to the trees long enough to be enjoyed in their splendour. 

Hoping that the kids would revel in a little fall learning we went back to Coate Water Park on Saturday to play in the outdoors. I felt that walking with a nip on our cheeks, the sound of rustling turning leaves, and crunching beneath our feet couldn't help but lift our spirits and  remind us how lucky we are to live here. Admittedly I probably should have ended the adventure before I did but for the most part they were good sports even allowing me to take pictures of them playing with the foliage.

So I might be a convert, still not a winter person, of this I am sure, but maybe, just maybe autumn is in fact my favourite season, and as there are still many leaves of all different colours hanging onto the trees I am hopeful I still have much more to enjoy.

A word about Priorities

As you know we went on a couple very exciting holidays this summer. These trips required preparation in many ways, cleaning, laundering, and packing. In the final moments of getting ready for our  journey to Scotland, after checking the weather for the last time and deciding that we needed to be brisk weather ready, I collected the necessary items from the kids rooms. Imagine my surprise when I reached into my daughters drawer and pulled out three pairs of socks, that's it, three pairs was the entirety of her sock ownership. As we were going away for much more than three days, you can appreciate my annoyance at the lack of mention of the sock situation. She has had no problem asking for plenty of  "needs" since being here, including, I might mention, at least three pairs of boots. One would wonder in retrospect what she planned to wear in all these new pairs of footwear. Clearly it was time for me to give a lecture about priorities.

Of course this led to me organizing my thoughts on the subject and taking a good hard look at my priorities right at the moment. Admittedly I acknowledge that priorities can change, circumstances will affect what we value as the most important, and that's probably healthy. I will be honest though, as I evaluated my own "needs" currently some of the steam went out of my teaching opportunity with my daughter. We moved into the most woefully furnished flat I could imagine, so many of my past couldn't live with outs absent. These missing items are even more obvious as we now prepare to move into an unfurnished place. The list of furnishings and appliances grows longer and longer everyday and yet the few times we have entered a store that could help with this I have left empty handed or worse with decorative items that in a few weeks I may be without a surface to put them on.

My kitchen is lacking in so many things that I have been used to having, aprons, tupperware, cheese cutters, and a rolling pins to name just a few and yet what I feel most sad not to have is fresh flowers sitting on the small window ledge in the kitchen.

Before we can move into the new place we need a microwave, vacuum, beds and as this is my computer desk. my husband certainly argues that we could count that as a must have.

Despite this my latest purchase was not something for the house it was to book another trip. So okay daughter I have not been setting the best example. Perhaps somewhere between Canada and England something happened to my own priorities but I stand behind this, no more new boots until you have socks to wear in them.

Cirencester

Last weekend we finally made the trip to Cirencester, a small town set in the English Cotswolds. It was apparently once second only to London in importance to Roman Britain. Admittedly we had been told many times that it was a place that we should visit, full of charm and beauty, and surprisingly only about twenty five minutes from our home in Swindon. Knowing that it was so close and therefore within reach of almost any day to go and see is perhaps the very reason why it took us so long to visit. However just a few short minutes walking it's streets almost convinced me that I could live in a much smaller city happily, and even the kids briefly considered switching schools again to take up abode there.

It is called the Capital of the Cotswolds however most people will describe it as a Roman built city down the road. It is full of Roman architecture and wonderful amounts of history. Right in the middle of town centre is a beautiful church that stands above the other buildings and always gives you a marker as a directional guide.

Located just on the edge of the shopping core of the town is a large park with what appears to be miles of paved tree lined walking paths. I find with these types of trails I am guilty of always wanting to make it to the next crest and then the next just in case the most amazing discovery is just past it. Sometimes you find treasures you would have missed if you had turned back sooner and sometimes you find more path stretching on in front of you. Although we found one or two hidden gems mostly what we found was the latter and sadly my children lost interest in the quest long before I might have. Perhaps I will have to return on my own one day so I can explore the trail until it's conclusion and find all that the park has to offer.

When visiting the tourist information page for Cirencester it boasts of an amazing shopping district with all the major department stores, which as a Canadian are still not familiar, along with a range of funky unique shops that one should stop in at. Truthfully I would say honestly this is not the city I would visit to do my shopping at, not with London, Bath, Bristol so close and offering so much larger selection. However we did find winding streets oozing with charm, and one or two stores that were quite easy to fall in love with. Notably, my son found a cosy toy shop filled with enough lego to satisfy even his desire, my daughter gazed dreamily in the window of the chocolate store, appropriately named Lick the Spoon, and I found one filled with ocean inspired house wares that gave me the wish to move into. 

Despite the fact that common sense caught up with us all and we realized in reality we wouldn't really want to live there I will say that I am sorry that it took us so long to enjoy what Cirencester has to give. It being such a convenient distance does mean we will likely haunt it's streets and parks again and by so doing find more that is noteworthy. Even if there is nothing left to uncover the things we already found are enough  for me to enjoy more than one visit there and to tell others to do the same.

  

Metropolitian Holiday

This past Monday was a bank holiday here in the UK and we decided to spend it in London. Opting to get a hotel, and theatre tickets we spent our time not exploring the history of the city but instead feeding our more trivial side. We arrived by train Friday afternoon and found our way to our hotel. Dinner at an Indian restaurant across the street and then Wicked at the Apollo. My Husband and I had seen this one before but this was the first time for our children and we were anxious for them to experience it. Watching my son perched on the edge of his seat and my daughter hanging on every word made every cent worth it.

The next day we spent most of shopping and learning the London underground in an effort to avoid using taxis, which we learned pretty quickly is not the cheap way to get around the city and certainly not the fastest. We each got some new items to bring home and loaded ourselves with bags from many stores not found in Canada. However the highlight of that day for me was definitely the play my husband took me to that night. Ditching the kids in the hotel with dinner, snacks and movie we headed off to watch Les Mis. Those who know me will appreciate how exciting this was. I loved Wicked, Phantom is amazing, really I am sure I would enjoy any theatre experience I have but Les Mis is something more. The curtain rising and the first few bars of music will quite literally bring me to tears, however I know that I was not the only one there in that state which helped ease any embarrassment I may have felt. Every minute of it was moving and profound for me, I anticipate I will attend this particular musical when ever the opportunity arises. 

The remainder of our time in the city was spent checking out landmarks of a sort. The kind that made us happy even if we weren't moved or educated. Our hotel was within a ten minute walk of the famous Abbey Road Recording studio and for a Beatles fan this was a pretty thrilling place to stop outside of. The walls and gate outside the studio are covered in messages from thousands of like minded fans leaving their thoughts on the iconic band. We saw the cross walk where the well known album cover was shot and witnessed the near hitting of several devoted people attempting to duplicate it by locals who are perhaps over the fetish. I couldn't help feel that the lack of enthusiasm  displayed by my own children reflected badly on the musical education I have contributed to their life.

It seemed only fair that after visiting a place that seem to impress only myself and my husband that we search out some that would get the kids excited. Happily that lead us straight to 221B Baker street to visit Sherlock Holmes. Believe it or not both my kids excitedly danced about and patiently waited to have a photo taken with his well know cap and pipe.

One of my sons requested stops was at Big Ben, I think on his radar because it showed up on Doctor Who of which he is a huge fan. Not one to quench a desire to see the more informative sites, we hopped on the train and headed over there. By way of information of those not familiar with London that is also the stop for the London Eye and Westminster Abbey. The London Eye looks as cool in person as it looks in all the movies and television shows that it shows up in. I am sure that the low point of my daughters trip was when told her we just didn't have time to wait in line for the trip around it. 

In order to lift her broken spirits we took her to the one place bound to put a smile back on her face, platform 9 3/4 of Kings Cross train station. In a true marketing genius kind of way they have built a trolley right into the wall and marked it clearly as the correct platform where they have photographers waiting to take your picture pushing the luggage through the wall. Once again more than willing to wait in the line to have their turn to sport a house scarf and have a run a the wall, my kids waited patiently in line while I waited somewhat less patiently in the crush of parents with their own cameras ready. Once your photo is taken they send you around a slight corner to the Harry Potter store to pick up your picture, a new wand and a back to school house jumper.

While out shopping my son begged and begged to visit the M&M store that is located in London, and after a few mis-turns and many minutes walk in the rain we finally found it. Having visited the one in Vegas also I should have already known this, but managed to forget until bombarded with it again, I do not like the M&M store. Floor after floor of all things M&M leaves me less than impressed. Despite my sons love of every ounce of M&M paraphernalia I feel confident in saying I don't need any of that in my house. In fact other the candy itself I can see no draw to fighting the massive crowds and confusion to go in there. I have been told that there is a store in Paris also and as the suggestion to visit it has already been uttered I imagine that despite my protestations I will find myself in another one of these stores again.

 I fell more and more in love with London the longer we spent there. The list of places we want to see doesn't seem to be shrinking, in fact I think we add new ones each time we talk to a local. It is full of historical treasures and more modern entertainment and all of it is captivating and beautiful to me.