A proper update, since it's been a while
At the beginning of April ephraim and I spent a week in Spain with my Dad and stepmother. Usually when we go on holiday we spend a lot of time getting out and seeing things, but given my somewhat rounded state we knew that wasn't likely to be viable this time so didn't plan much. Consequently, we spent a week doing very little, save for lying about. It was much more enjoyable than either of us thought it would be, and I think I might understand the attraction of relaxing holidays just so long as there is an opportunity to get out and about at least once.
The once that we really got out and about was our trip to Cartegena. By a pure fluke, we ended up there on their big fiesta day - not only was there a lot going on, but all the museums and the castle were free to get into. Hurrah! Cartegena is one of Spain's biggest ports, and has lots of history and culture, as it was already established before it was conquered by the Carthaginians. So we looked around the Civil War Museum, the Castle (which was disappointing, save for the peacocks and the view), the port (complete with warships), the Roman amphitheatre and various other bits and pieces. And we went on a nice boat trip too. Lovely.
And there were parades. The first one that we saw was of hundreds of local women and children in costume taking flowers for presentation to a painting of Mary. There were bands and people wandering along chatting and it was all very friendly. If I'd had lots of film and a decent zoom lens there would have been trillions of wonderful portraits - I immediately thought what a target-rich environment it would have been for my photographer friends.
Having seen the first procession, we decided to stay in town until after dark to await the second one. I'm so glad that we did. This was one where all the local brotherhoods got dressed in their finery. The said finery tended to consist of robes and a pointy hat/mask combo that most people would associate with the KKK. The colours depended on which brotherhood they were with. They then paraded very very slowly, holding candles/crosses/crowns of thorns to some very eerie music. They took a few slow steps forward, paused, raised what they were carrying to the sky, paused, lowered it, paused, then continued. I wanted to hide behind a cushion!
In amongst the procession there were traditional floats with effigies of Mary/The Last Supper etc. These were clearly extraordinarily heavy. Some of them had wheels, but it still took about 30 men to pull them along. Others had to be carried, which took probably double that - and even then they could only manage a few steps at a time. Some of the float-bearers were barefooted, presumaby as a penance. Utterly astounding.
The other thing that was nice about the holiday was how well we got on with my Dad and stepmum. It had been about 18 years since I last spent that much time with them (that I could recall, anyway) and I wasn't without my concerns. However, (save for one embarrassing hiccup when I was served a "dinner" that I simply could not eat) it all went very well and I think it did wonders for our relationship. Hurrah for that.
In other news, ephraim and I have almost finished turning our spare room into the room to be occupied by our offspring, when she chooses to make an appearance. The Winnie The Pooh wallpaper is okay when I don't think about it (although it was a total bastard of a wallpaper to work with as it kept stretching and tearing) and I think it's all going to be okay. We have retained the double bed, so will still be able to accommodate visitors when appropriate, as we can move the Moses Basket into our bedroom overnight.
Speaking of such things, all still seems well with the little 'un. She is certainly very active, although I am a little concerned that she seems to be getting hiccups at least once a day - usually fairly shortly after I've eaten. That seems a lot to me. I shall have to ask the midwife about it as I can't find anything on the babycentre website and don't want to randomly google about it lest I find something that causes panic. I have now received confirmation that my transfer from Redditch to Warwick (for the birth bit) has gone through, so I am pleased about that - and not just because I'm being a snob. Now all I need is to get myself into their waterbirth class...
I went to see AC/DC, courtesy of the lovely Mr Horsburgh who had managed to get two tickets and offered me the second. They were really rather good, although I was still slightly disappointed as previously they had been the bestest live band evah whereas this time they were merely brilliant. I boogied about a bit, but not as much as I would have liked. Roll on Skynyrd later this month.
Last weekend I went south to see Mum on her birthday. She's wanted to play with Godzilla for a while, so we went up to Knebworth Park so she could have a proper blast around some of the roads that they used to use in the RAC Rally many moons ago (albeit on Mickey Mouse day), although they have now drained the pond that Tony Mason ended up in (I'm so glad we have that on DVD, as re-watching it gives me lots of satisfaction). Mum really enjoyed herself, and has now stepped up her lobbying of my stepfather to let her buy a Subaru. *grin* I spent the Sunday afternoon in a beer garden with some of the old Stevenage crowd, which was lovely.
The Porsche is back on the road. This is a good thing, mainly as it means that ephraim can stop nicking off with my car now.
Yesterday we met up with a bunch of lovely people at Hatton Country World for overpriced family type frolics. They have a very cool guinea pig city there, and as mr_h_r_hughes* pointed out, it was probably worth the admission fee just to hear the falconer describe how falcons fly up to pigeons and punch them out of the sky! All good fun, although it left me SO wiped out afterwards. I really wish I had more energy, as I still end up overdoing it even if I pace myself and feel okay at the time.
I have now stopped working so am potentially up for midweek fun and frolics - so long as they are cheap and don't involve expending very much energy. The good thing about this is that I am now able to dye my hair a colour that is properly red. This makes me happy.
This entry is too long, so I shall stop. TTFN.
[*amended to reflect boglin's correction]
The once that we really got out and about was our trip to Cartegena. By a pure fluke, we ended up there on their big fiesta day - not only was there a lot going on, but all the museums and the castle were free to get into. Hurrah! Cartegena is one of Spain's biggest ports, and has lots of history and culture, as it was already established before it was conquered by the Carthaginians. So we looked around the Civil War Museum, the Castle (which was disappointing, save for the peacocks and the view), the port (complete with warships), the Roman amphitheatre and various other bits and pieces. And we went on a nice boat trip too. Lovely.
And there were parades. The first one that we saw was of hundreds of local women and children in costume taking flowers for presentation to a painting of Mary. There were bands and people wandering along chatting and it was all very friendly. If I'd had lots of film and a decent zoom lens there would have been trillions of wonderful portraits - I immediately thought what a target-rich environment it would have been for my photographer friends.
Having seen the first procession, we decided to stay in town until after dark to await the second one. I'm so glad that we did. This was one where all the local brotherhoods got dressed in their finery. The said finery tended to consist of robes and a pointy hat/mask combo that most people would associate with the KKK. The colours depended on which brotherhood they were with. They then paraded very very slowly, holding candles/crosses/crowns of thorns to some very eerie music. They took a few slow steps forward, paused, raised what they were carrying to the sky, paused, lowered it, paused, then continued. I wanted to hide behind a cushion!
In amongst the procession there were traditional floats with effigies of Mary/The Last Supper etc. These were clearly extraordinarily heavy. Some of them had wheels, but it still took about 30 men to pull them along. Others had to be carried, which took probably double that - and even then they could only manage a few steps at a time. Some of the float-bearers were barefooted, presumaby as a penance. Utterly astounding.
The other thing that was nice about the holiday was how well we got on with my Dad and stepmum. It had been about 18 years since I last spent that much time with them (that I could recall, anyway) and I wasn't without my concerns. However, (save for one embarrassing hiccup when I was served a "dinner" that I simply could not eat) it all went very well and I think it did wonders for our relationship. Hurrah for that.
In other news, ephraim and I have almost finished turning our spare room into the room to be occupied by our offspring, when she chooses to make an appearance. The Winnie The Pooh wallpaper is okay when I don't think about it (although it was a total bastard of a wallpaper to work with as it kept stretching and tearing) and I think it's all going to be okay. We have retained the double bed, so will still be able to accommodate visitors when appropriate, as we can move the Moses Basket into our bedroom overnight.
Speaking of such things, all still seems well with the little 'un. She is certainly very active, although I am a little concerned that she seems to be getting hiccups at least once a day - usually fairly shortly after I've eaten. That seems a lot to me. I shall have to ask the midwife about it as I can't find anything on the babycentre website and don't want to randomly google about it lest I find something that causes panic. I have now received confirmation that my transfer from Redditch to Warwick (for the birth bit) has gone through, so I am pleased about that - and not just because I'm being a snob. Now all I need is to get myself into their waterbirth class...
I went to see AC/DC, courtesy of the lovely Mr Horsburgh who had managed to get two tickets and offered me the second. They were really rather good, although I was still slightly disappointed as previously they had been the bestest live band evah whereas this time they were merely brilliant. I boogied about a bit, but not as much as I would have liked. Roll on Skynyrd later this month.
Last weekend I went south to see Mum on her birthday. She's wanted to play with Godzilla for a while, so we went up to Knebworth Park so she could have a proper blast around some of the roads that they used to use in the RAC Rally many moons ago (albeit on Mickey Mouse day), although they have now drained the pond that Tony Mason ended up in (I'm so glad we have that on DVD, as re-watching it gives me lots of satisfaction). Mum really enjoyed herself, and has now stepped up her lobbying of my stepfather to let her buy a Subaru. *grin* I spent the Sunday afternoon in a beer garden with some of the old Stevenage crowd, which was lovely.
The Porsche is back on the road. This is a good thing, mainly as it means that ephraim can stop nicking off with my car now.
Yesterday we met up with a bunch of lovely people at Hatton Country World for overpriced family type frolics. They have a very cool guinea pig city there, and as mr_h_r_hughes* pointed out, it was probably worth the admission fee just to hear the falconer describe how falcons fly up to pigeons and punch them out of the sky! All good fun, although it left me SO wiped out afterwards. I really wish I had more energy, as I still end up overdoing it even if I pace myself and feel okay at the time.
I have now stopped working so am potentially up for midweek fun and frolics - so long as they are cheap and don't involve expending very much energy. The good thing about this is that I am now able to dye my hair a colour that is properly red. This makes me happy.
This entry is too long, so I shall stop. TTFN.
[*amended to reflect boglin's correction]