Riots and Rabbits

Well this week has been a bit quiet to be honest. What with everything going on in London and having had a busy weekend on Monday and Tuesday we stayed at home and set up camp in the front room.

I've also been suffering this week with lack of sleep and a bit of an upset stomach, but we managed one day out.

I decided to go to Mudchute Farm, quite a big farm on the Isle of Dogs. As usual I checked the website first to see what it looked like and how to get there. They tell you to go to Crossharbour as this is the easiest station to access the entrance to the park and farm. What they don't tell you is that it isn't the easiest access if you have a buggy or wheelchair. The entrance had around 10 steps going up to it and when I got to the top there was a gate that obviously was there to stop animals escaping but wasn't big enough to fit a buggy through (unless it folded up). One of the down sides to travelling around on your own with children is you don't have that second pair of hands, it was impossible for me to fold up the buggy and hold Ava so I decided to look for another entrance. Ten minutes walk later we found another entrance - directly opposite Mudchute station! I could have stayed on the train and saved myself the hassle. That entrance was OK, but then I encountered another problem - the path leading to the farm was sand - pretty difficult to push a buggy on - gah!

When we got to the farm I was a bit disappointed, yes it is free but it just felt a bit run down. I needed to feed Ava so we went to the cafe and got a drink. Now, I know it was on a farm but the amount of flies that were in the cafe were unbearable. All over the serving counter and swarming round whilst we were sat having a drink. I've been to quite a few farms and never had this before. I also had to wait ages to be served whilst the blokes in the kitchen ignored me.

Even the animals are trying to escape

We left the farm and went off to find the play park they mention on the website. I have lived in London for about 15 years and I don't think I've ever felt particularly nervous anywhere during the day. But this park made me feel uncomfortable - maybe this was partly to do with what's been happening around here this week, I don't know but I do know I had to get Sam to leave pretty quick as I just didn't want to be there.

So all in all a bit of a disappointing trip out. But Sam got to ride on his beloved trains.......

Trams, trains and all that

Today was a momentous day in the Jennings household - Sam had been pestering to go on a tram for ages and one of his rewards on his reward chart is a tram ride. Last week he earned this reward so today we set off for Wimbledon to ride on the tram to Croydon.

It was a bit of a mammoth journey. Starting at Queens Road we headed to Barking and then got the District Line to Wimbledon. It would have taken less time to get the train up to Cheshire to visit my family! We had a bit of a pit stop in Wimbledon to have a quick look round the shops then to eat our picnic. Using the magic that is Google maps on my IPhone I saw there was a small park nearby so we ventured off to find it. Sometimes it is nice to not know where you are going and you come across pretty little places like South Park Gardens. It was a cute little park, complete with its own "Bar", seen here on the right of the picture which was a tiny little kiosk selling drinks and snacks.

A well earned drink after a long journey

Picnic done we headed back to the station and got on the tram to West Croydon. Boy was that an experience. I thought travelling by bus in Walthamstow was strange........ I had only ever heard bad things about Croydon, but wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt as living in Walthamstow I am used to hearing negative opinions about a place that is actually really nice. However, it was as awful as I had heard and we beat a hasty retreat to the train station and made our way home via Canada Water and Stratford.

If Sam ever asks to go on a tram again I will take him up to Manchester!

Sea Men and Mad Women

The things we do for our children...... So on the wettest day this week I had to go out, well i didn't have to but for a couple of weeks I'd been telling Sam about an event near Russell Square that involved the Octonauts. For those of you that don't know Octonauts are a series of books that have been made into a show on CBeebies. They feature a load of weird animals come sailors that investigate the goings on in the ocean.

I really didn't fancy going out today because it was pouring down but I knew Sam would be really upset if we didn't go. So we donned our (not so) waterproof coats and set off for the station (I drove, didn't fancy the walk there today). We made our way to Kings Cross and then walked to The Brunswick Centre which is a shopping centre/housing complex. We got absolutely soaked and I got a bit lost, by the time we got there I looked like Crystal Tips and felt like a drowned rat.



The event was really good, not too busy (and free!). A performer (better than the pirate one in the museum last week) got the children to tell him all about Octonauts and read one of the books, there were colouring activities and at the end Captain Barnacles appeared. There was then an opportunity for the children to have their photo taken, however Sam obviously takes after me as he didn't want to do it. We were given a goody bag with a free book and some masks and then headed out to see what the weather had in store for us. At the exit they were giving the mums 3 free chick-lit books which was an added bonus!





As it was lunch time I decided to treat Sam to a McDonalds (or Old McDonalds as he calls it). We went to the one at Kings Cross but first I had to stop to get some money from a cash machine. Probably a mistake in Kings Cross as within seconds a mad old lady had appeared and was trying to get money out of one of the machines with no cash card. She then decided to come up alongside me and ask me if I had managed to get money, being an honorary Londoner I ignored her then asked her to move away. Seeing Sam take the money and hand it to me she made some comment about "ooh children with money" I made a hasty retreat away from her and her long dirty toenails and bright pink lipstick.

After filling ourselves up with Happy Meals we headed home. There was obviously something in the air today as a woman got on at Hackney Downs and proceeded to tell me how irresponsible I was for leaving the pram with Ava in by the door. I tried to explain that the door she was by was on the opposite side of the platform for the first couple of stops and when she wouldn't listen I told her to mind her own business (I was sat right next to the pram btw).

One of my terribly neglected children.....












Was glad to get home and have a nice cup of tea today.

The Only Way is Essex

We ventured out into deepest darkest Essex to visit friends today. I'm not a very keen driver, especially when a journey requires me to drive on roads bigger than a single carriageway. But I really wanted to meet up with my friends and visit Maldon where one of them has just moved so I was very brave and we headed out onto the A12! It wasn't as bad as I had feared and thank goodness we've recently had our air conditioning fixed in the car.

We met at my friends house and then started out on a trek, sorry, walk ;o) to Promenade Park. The plan was to take the kids (8 in total) to the splash park but when we got there it was rammed. Not surprising really considering it's the school holidays and was it was so hot yesterday. We ummed and ahhed for a bit but in the end decided not to bother as we were worried we wouldn't be able to keep track of the younger ones. Also the queue just for the wristbands was huge. Instead we found a shady spot under a tree overlooking the estuary and had our picnic. After a brief walk around the park we headed back to my friends house via Morrisons (accompanied by lots of whinging) and bought the whingers water pistols and bubble wands and dispatched them into the garden while we sat inside and cooled off with ice creams.

A very busy splash park.............

Keeping cool

Picnic

Sam crashed out in the car on the way home and every now and again would fall onto my gear changing arm and dribble a bit. A good day was had by all and I hope to go back again soon - the only shame is the splash park is only open during school holidays or at weekends so i can't imagine it ever being quiet.......

Blackberry picking

After the weekend of camping I decided to keep the outdoor theme going and we went looking for blackberries today. It's not quite peak season yet but I was hopeful that Walthamstow Marshes may have some that were ready to pick. The marshes sit between Walthamstow and Hackney and are a little bit of the countryside in the city. They also have a couple of train lines running through them so it's pretty easy to bribe Sam into coming for a walk there!

We parked in the Coppermill Lane carpark and set off on our hunt. There were actually loads of them, unfortunately there were also lots of obstacles in the way - mainly nettles. We did find some that were within our reach, although I did suffer some blackberry picking injuries (a thorn in my finger and an insect bite on my foot). There were also an abundance of elderberries but they were completely out of reach and surrounded by nettles, very frustrating. It was incredibly hot and Ava decided to wake up from an all too short nap so we headed back to the car after only managing to get a couple of handfuls in the end. Mini apple and blackberry crumbles for tea I think....