Magic Tricks

Toby has recently perfected the trick of making a coin disappear from the back of his fist and then re-appear from behind my ear.  He has had the patter down for about 6 months, also the re-direction stuff, but there is nothing like the sound of a coin hitting the floor to make you notice that he has failed in the 3rd skill involved!  So he is going one step better now and just pro-actively finding coins from the back of an ear.  It is very funny to see how delighted he is with this trick, and I am having to make sure that the coin is clean.
It is a shame tht the dedication that he has shown in developing this trick is harder to replicate in other parts of his life, for example homework.  I just have a box of tissues ready whenever he eventually starts the homework, some for him, some for Harry.  And a gin and tonic for me.
What I am really hoping will happen is that he will learn to pull homework out from behind his ear, although on second thoughts he is quite successful in pulling it out of my brain!

Surrey Country Fair and Horse Ploughing Competition

I was told about this event by the bell ringers who assured me that it was a great day out.  Further reflection would have made me think that maybe there would be less to it than the family admittance price of £22.00 would suggest.    Although admittedly, the horse ploughing (and tractor ploughing as well) competition was fascinating, especially for Theo, him being the only teenager walking around the huge field looking at tractors and all the differnt sorts of ploughs.  Spotting a judge (carrying a clipboard and wearing a tie though only showing 2 teeth in his whole mouth) I asked what are the criteria for really good ploughing.  They are: entry, exit, ins and outs regularity and a few others.  Previously I had not known that there was such a type of competition, but in fact this was a heat that would send its champions off to the British national competition, and then off to Europe!  Perusing the programme later, I noticed that the prizes were in the realms of the low tens of pounds.  So everything is in the glory.

We then went to get lunch and were surprised at the amount of money we were asked to pay for a cheeseburger meal deal. So all our money was pretty much gone with entry and lunch (why did we not bring a picnic?, or a lot more money?)  The event was held in the grounds of Loseley House.  A stately home near our house, the house is beautiful and so it is a pretty place to go, the weather was fab so lots of people were there, wandering around looking at market stalls and watching the obligatory falconry display, and fly fishing lessons on the lawn.  Then there was the dog agility demonstrations, including the area final showcasing the best 30 dogs (out of 750) and their trainers, most of whom seemed to be over 70!  I think the event should be re-named Senior agility as these ladies were running around with their dogs, coaching them through all the different obstacles hardly puffing at all.  Matilda plans to enrol Rudi, thereby ensuring a long healthy life for herself.  Many people were watching, although this could be because they also had spent all their money on lunch.  It was so warm, the only thing that indicated that it was not the middle of summer was that the sun was quite low in the sky. 

It is quite extrordinary how much English people love their dogs, and when they go to something like this they always take their dogs, and most of the dogs are different.  People are all dressed identically, but they accessorise with their dogs.

The next year...

As it is now more than a year since the last posting, there is no point going back too much, here is a photo covering the recent trip to France. As always, we have not taken some really good photos, and the ones we do have feature rather too many mountains. So here it is.


This is where we camped in Gavarnie, a village in the Pyrenees - a mountain range which forms the border between France and Spain. Gavarnie is mostly a place for day trippers - up to 2 million people a year go there. I would think that most of them are either in July/August or January/February so I suppose that works out at at about 100 000 people a week which would tally with the crowds we saw in our week there. One rainy day seeing people walk out of the village was like watching a crowd leave a football match. This is not to say that the place is horrible, it is not. It is staggeringly beautiful and the surrounding mountains are so huge that people look quite insignificant. We had an excellent guide book from which we did the 4 walks that it recommends in the area. What a great guide it was too. (They have quite a lot of other ones too). Here are some other photos of Gavarnie to get your fancy tickled.



The thing that I like the best about walking in France is the community feel - there are people of all ages, some really quite old and some very very young. We all walk along together. There were not a lot of English people at all - I suppose most English people do not want to see ice in summer in a different country (unless it it tinkling in a glass) when they can easily be cold at home!
But we loved it. Toby had a great time shushing down the ice like a champion.




Matilda achieved a dream of hers to ride a donkey (this had previously been a private dream, unexpressed as it seemed so impossible). Here she is on 'Charlotte', shortly after Charlotte took off at a gallop across a tiny bridge to return home. It was a miracle that Matilda did not fall off, and the donkey was only stopped by a very brave woman jumping in front of her and waving her arms authoritatingly. The donkey man had said that we were not to let go of the reins, but we assumed that was a standard disclaimer... Needless to say, Theo's donkey, although called Flash only moved if we wacked it. Toby had a nice one called Valerie.
We went up the river to the hotel (there is always a hotel in France, no matter how remote the place - and it serves a full 3 course lunch with wine)
So paranoid was I on the way back that I did not let go of the reins once, even though it was several miles and the donkey jogged the whole way. I have never been so tired ever.
The weather deteriorated at the end of the week badly causing the boys tent to flood. They thought it was hilarious and enjoyed sleeping in the car. Matilda was extremely jealous that she had to stay in the tent. As the boys tent had been rather a hotch potch owing to the mismatching fly (too small) and the hole in the groundsheet (the one from the nesting turtle on lady Musgrave island 15 years ago), it was no surprise that there would be trouble.
Other than walking, we ate crepes, trying 6 of the restaurants in Gavarnie and liking them all. Toby has been inspired to redecorate his bedroom as a kind of mountain hut and so far we have got brown themed bedclothes and hung up a snowboard. He is attempting to catch some big game ...