In At The Deep End

so may as well spend some time catching up here

Monday was quiet, with lots of nothing much (although K has now reached level 4 stage 10 of BBC dance mat typing ) until E arrived for a sleepover This served the double purpose of making my children and E very happy and saving her from a horribly early start and then a day in hospital waiting for her brother to have surgery. A video bribe got them all snuggled into bed on time, but then they chatted a bit too long and too loudly and we ended up putting L into our bed to break up the party a bit. Having saved E from an early start, I think she got one anyway, as I heard voices before 6 and they were all well and truly up by 7. Ho hum. Tuesday was correspondingly a rather touchy kind of day, although I think they all had fun anyway. We got to swimming in plenty of time, only to find that there was no teacher. The lifeguards looked at one another for a few minutes, wandered round the building a couple of times, asked us if we were expecting Fiona (err, no, it hasn’t been her for a while, but recently it keeps changing) and then finally one of them announced that he was Ben, he was also a teacher and he proposed to do the lesson, if that was alright with us. It was, so he did. We looked at the time and decided to split what was available between the two classes, so the first one would start late and finish not quite so late and the second start late and finish on time, but both would miss out a little. He dropped the pool depth (last week it was stupidly shallow) and asked the kids to slide into the water to check it was okay, which it was. Then he took one look at how small most of them were and jumped in himself, shorts, tee-shirt and all I couldn’t help this week, as I had A tied to my chest, but I stayed at the edge and called encouragements, which seemed to help a bit, if only by telling him their names Ben proved to be great, actually. He chivvied them just enough, splashing the ones who were being precious about getting wet and helping the ones who were falling behind in a way which made it fun rather than humiliating. I do think for children this little and inexperienced a teacher in the water is the way to go. A helping adult in the water as well is even better - if Vix can’t do it regularly then perhaps I need to find an Anna sitter…
No news from J’s parents so we brought E back with us and had lunch, then watched a video (Cheaper by the Dozen) as everyone was flagging a bit. Halfway through the video E and L started to do somersaults on, off and over the settee, so I guess they still had some energy! Then we replaced the trampoline bungee, played in the sandpit, rearranged the climbing frame, pulled weeds out of the patio and generally pottered in the garden until Bob got home and ’s dad came to pick her up. At which point we fed the kids and bundled them into bed early, hoping for a less crabby day today
The morning went by in a whoosh of nothing much (again), then we picked up a parcel (assorted French resources and a Junior Scrabble game ) and went to a nearby town for a HE trip to a fire station. There was to have been a meet at a park first, but since it was raining nobody was there and we spent the time looking for a mobile phone accessories shop instead, trying and failing to find a replacement charger for my phone (it might be useful for KH trip on Friday to have a phone I can use!) and eating lunch on the hoof. When we got to the fire station there seemed to be rather few of us and we had to ask the fireman who was waiting to start the talk to wait a bit longer, as we were sure there should be more people. We were just about to give up and start anyway when they arrived - having been at someone’s house in the next street they were bound to all be later than those of us who had come further Will try to get the boys to help me write about the tour. It was fun and we have photos The high point for the children was the very end, when they uncurled a hose and let the children all have a go at squirting it. Of course they all got soaked, but they had a great time!
Everything finished just about in time for us to throw damp children into the car and rush back for gymnastics, which brings us back to the title. J and K did the warm-ups and about half of the activities, then J fell on his elbow (embarrassingly out of a soft play barrel, not off the p-bars or anything exciting like that) and ended up in the office with ice on it while the manager came to fetch me. He was desperately upset, not helped by being so tired to start with, and it was very hard to see whether he was really in as much pain as he appeared to be iyswim. He fell on the outside of the joint, but the pain and swelling were on the inside. Fingers all working fine and able to grip, but lots of pain and whingeing if asked to lift arm at all We decided to come home as soon as K’s session over, keeping it iced in the meantime (only 5 minutes or so anyway) and then see whether we needed to drop off excess children and go to A&E or to leave it and see. He should have been at Cubs for investiture this evening so not a happy bunny Got home to find Bob had cooked tea and J was hungry so we ate tea and then had another look at the elbow. Much more swollen now Strapped it for him (with a strip of hemp terry bought for nappy making as the bandages got absorbed into some dressing up a while ago and haven’t been replaced ) which he said helped, and then decided it was better to get him to A&E now and be sure, rather than wait and possibly have to miss out on going to KH. They left over 2 hours ago and I’ve not heard anything…

Oh joy. It’s a probable broken elbow He has a cuff and collar for now and the earliest appointment available for fracture clinic is Friday morning…

or vice versa

Wednesday was a day with nothing planned apart from Gymnastics and Cubs. We could have been doing Drama, which I know the boys would have loved, but I decided at the beginning of a new term of it that it was too far to travel really and that free time is more valuable to us just now. Besides which, this term we’d have had to miss as many as we made, which is silly. Still, I know a few people were away this week so we could probably have gatecrashed and I did consider it, but we were all too tired to bother really, and then a courier arrived with this which is supposed to be the children’s Christmas present but looked so good we started it straight away It’s good, but not quite as great as I’d hoped from all I’ve heard about it, tbh. I suspect there could be a lot of play value in it as the children get the hang of it - and more if we find someone else who also has a set and put them together some time
We had to pop out to pick up a parcel and some bits for lunch so did that while I had the energy, but by lunchtime I was feeling decidedly ropy, so when A slept I dozed in front of Wimbledon, while J, K and L flitted about and amused themselves We got to Gymnastics on time, although I’m not quite sure how as J was still hunting for his Cubs uniform 5 minutes after we would normally have left the house. The boys looked to be having a good time, while L and A pottered and munched (A works her way through vast quantities of fruit each time the boys are at the gym ) and L played on Cooking Mama 2 and chatted to the older girls waiting for their gymnastics session. Then we dashed back home to eat a superfast tea, but not quite fast enough (stir fry, with rice pudding which we left for later as we ran out of time) and set off at about the time we should have been arriving at Cubs. It was only a Rounders session, though, so not a problem, and K, L, A and I stayed to watch and play in the (school) playground rather than trying to get home and back again in the time left. J hit the ball a couple of times, I was relieved to see and seemed to be enjoying himself even though it was the first time he has ever played a proper game of rounders (we’ve tried at home, but it’s tricky with so few people and such a large proportion of them tiny!), but I spent the time getting progressively more bunged up and sneezy
Came home and ate rice pudding (yum!) then managed to get children to bed eventually, swallowed anti-histamines in an attempt to convince myself I only had hayfever and got myself to bed too.

On Thursday I would happily have stayed in bed, and I think the children would have been fine with that too, but we had to get to Tots because the father of one our toddlers worked on the Phoenix lander mission and was coming in specially to give us a talk I took Lemsip and antihistamines to cover all bases and get us there The A14 was slow and then the car cut out in a scary (and horribly familiar) way, but fortunately recovered itself and got us there safely.
Once we got there the children were happy and apparently the talk was good (and they did some cool craft too) but I had to stay in the hall in case any other families arrived so missed it and gradually felt worse and worse as the morning wore on and the drugs wore off Drove home in a bit of a blur and realised halfway that I probably wasn’t safe to drive, but no option really…
Got home and took A straight to bed, where we both slept. J was a star and kept the others occupied for me, then helped me get tea (pasta and jar - very easy option ) and they all got themselves ready for bed, then we snuggled in the big bed together until they were each sleepy enough to go to their own bed. Bob got back about 11, I think.

On Friday we had planned to go for a walk and a picnic with Emma and her boys, but just as I was thinking I should phone and cancel she phoned me to say one of the boys was ill so they needed to cancel anyway. So we had another lazy day - we tidied the children’s room so that we could hoover it and then they used the big empty space thus created to build Megafort structures While I dozed In the afternoon J tried out a new PC game while K and L played and A and I dozed And sneezed. And blew my nose.
We had expected to see Big Alice (with the invalid tent) but put her off because I really didn’t feel like seeing anyone (hope she wasn’t offended) so when Bob got home I ran myself a nice hot bath in an attempt to unbung my ears and nose a little (didn’t work, but the children were thrilled to have a nice deep bath to play in after I got out) while he cooked tea for children, then we had takeaway curry (another attempt, which worked a little) once the older three were in bed. A was still very much around, though, so we had to pay the baby tithe

On Saturday I had hoped to get to slingmeet but decided against it, in hopes that a quiet morning would mean enough energy for a party in the evening. Bob took J and K to their first astronomy club meeting, which they loved, and L, A and I pottered - and built a Mega Castle Then when Bob got back I went back to bed - sensing a theme here? It worked though, and I had enough energy to enjoy the party when it came around It was a big joint affair, beginning at 4 with children’s stuff, then morphing via food into a more grown-up party, with very cool live music I got to cuddle several babes of various sizes, including slinging a couple and demoing wrapping (then lending a wrap ) while the children also had a good time and Bob enjoyed newborn cuddles - one of his favourite things I faded out a bit in the middle, but rallied and then my second big fade coincided with Bob’s realisation of how late it was so we made our departures - thanks Gina and Dave - we had lots of fun

Today Bob took A, K and J to church, while L and I stayed at home (which meant L got computer time and I got to doze again) but then J decided he was so tired he couldn’t make it all the way home on foot, so I had to throw clothes on and go and pick them up in the car. Quick lunch, then the children watched Flubber while Bob pottered and I alternated pottering and reading - yay! I must be feeling better to have enough energy to read!

Hopefully tomorrow I might be able to make it through a whole day without dozing…

J has been a real sweetie while Bob was away
On Tuesday he brought me breakfast in bed: a biscuit iced (with writing icing) with a M for Mummy
On Wednesday it was a meringue with cream and an almond on top
Thursday was Tots so I was up first and he didn’t have time to bring me breakfast, then Bob was back on Friday (yay!) and today was almost anticlimactic, as he brought me a bowl of Fruit and Fibre, albeit with an interesting orange plastic spoon
He’s desperate to be allowed to use the kettle on his own, but for now I’m still saying he can use it as long as there is an adult in the room as well - not so much because I don’t trust him in using it, but because I am concerned about the others getting splashed - and I can’t forget the time that he did use it (without permission) and left the (cordless) kettle on a chair (why???) where K and L found it and L ended up with hot (fortunately nowhere near boiling, but hot enough to give her a shock) water all over her hand Am I being overly cautious? Apparently I was cooking fried breakfasts at 5, but then when I lived with my grandparents they were (understandably) hugely over-protective in this respect and I was not allowed to touch things like hot kettles or pans until I was at least 10

Weather-wise, today we’ve had sun, torrential rain, hail, thunder, lightning and fog.

Tonight, I was sat with my two colleagues (one American, the other Polish) in an Australian-themed bar, eating Indian food. We were watching Germany play Turkey in Euro 2008.

We left at half time in order to get a taxi and avoid any nastiness. By this point all our predictions for the score were already wrong (me Germany winning 2-0, Rafal Germany winning 1-0, Jeff Turkey winning 2-0)

Someone sat at the next table to us had a nice surf T-shirt on, I think from Hawaii. It had some English writing on the back, including:

• He who dies with the most toys, still dies.
• Speak softly, but wear a loud shirt.
• There are two ways to become rich: get more or desire less.

In the taxi on the way home we caught part of the second half because the taxi driver had a small portable flat screen TV thing propped up on the dashboard on top of the meter. We got home safely nonetheless, and Germany have just squeaked through 3-2.

I managed to delete an incomplete first draft of this, and I now have only a bit of time before we go out to Darmstadt to eat and to watch Germany vs. Turkey in a bar somewhere.

Last year we did 1584. The troubles with Spain were just rumbling, and the main thing was the change between Julian and Gregorian calendars. This year was 1588, so Armada fever. I was on the gate again, and we were telling the children to watch out for any Spaniards or Catholics. Some of my colleagues used err… colourful but probably authentic language that I didn’t think entirely appropriate to use in front of school children - racism and sectarianism are fine, but I draw the line at swearing .

There was occasional rain, but nowhere as bad as last year - there wasn’t the deep mud on the camp site or the track to it like last year. One of the other people doing the gate also does Sealed Knot or some other kind of military re-enacting, and he said if he ever wrote his autobiography it would be called Damp Wool and Wood Smoke. I managed to forget the poles that hold up the curtains in the tent the Haricots had lent us, and also all the poles for the small castle tent that the boys were going to have inside the main tent. So we all slept in the one bedroom, which was probably just as well as the nights got quite cold.

The very first time I did Kentwell (pre-children) it was also 1588 and there was a pike drill, that I found scary and I had no idea what was going on. This time there was someone who’d been doing Kentwell for ages who was determined to have a proper pike muster at the weekends, so we had daily drill. I now know some of the orders, and also the value of wearing gloves (no splinters) and what happens if you drop the blunt end of an 18′ pike on your foot (it hurts).

I also learned a possible origin of the phrase run the gauntlet. Some people didn’t show up for pike drill one day, and the next day the rest of us were told to line up in two lines facing each other with a glove each, and the people who’d missed drill had to run up through the lines while we hit them with the gloves (in the spirit of camaraderie, of course).

There were a couple of teenagers on the gate too who’d been doing Kentwell since they were tiny, and they had their own swords. They sparred a bit with each other, but their blades were so notched through parrying that they were more like saws. One managed to get the other on his thumb and take several layers of skin off. He’ll remember to wear gloves next time.

As well as scaring children and bad-mouthing our various enemies, and giving a health and safety talk in Tudor-ese, some of the children came to us to look at armour and weapons. The most popular thing with the teachers was when they chose their most vexatious child and we put a helmet on them. “I know you beat your childer soundly each day, but when you do, do you use such as this?” Holds up warhammer. Teacher looks on enviously but says “no”. “Would you care to?” Scarce believing their luck, the teacher takes the warhammer and hits the child on the head. Some gave a gentle tap, but some were surprisingly enthusiastic.

I think my favourite bit was the military intelligencers’ tent. They had painted a huge map of the South coast and North France on silk (see Flickr photos), and made little clay ships. The whole thing was a bit like the control room charts used in WW2 with little planes being pushed around with small rakes. They managed to get across the fact that, given the prevailing wind in the Channel was from the SW to the NE, the British fleet would actually want to hang around off NW France and allow the Spanish into the Channel. If they started off between the Spanish and England (as you would with land armies) then they’d be trying to sail into the wind towards the Spanish and probably come to a sticky end. You have to appear to leave the coast undefended in order to defend it properly.

It was nice to meet new people, and to deepen friendships with people we’d met last year. J would disappear after he’d been let out of the school room with a small posse of boys. Unfortunately he picked up some eye-popping language that he used in front of us without any idea of how strong it was, which suggests that it was normal speech inside the posse. He soon learned its significance (not its meaning), and in general to be careful in what he picked up from other Kentwellies.

We got home on Sunday, fed everyone, put them in the bath to get rid of a week’s worth of dirt, then pack for Germany. I’m now in the delights of asparagus (Spargel, in German apparently) country near Frankfurt.

I ought to be in bed as it’s an hour ahead here, but I’m catching up on RSS feeds from our week away and came across these via TED.

• I shan’t introduce this video, just watch it.
• Probably out of date by now (it’s from 2002) but an amazing look at how humans and other animals walk, and how that can lead to incredibly simple robots that can walk very well.
• A blog about African ingenuity.
• To show I’m not a snob at least some of the time, a Daily Mail article by Brian Cox on the Large Hadron Collider and the science around it. An excellent quote from it:
  

  Your hand is nothing more than a complex, temporary arrangement of these three particles. The particles themselves have been around for the entire life of the universe. They are spending the blink of a cosmic eye in the pattern known as ‘you’.

Tomorrow night, after I’ve had another struggle to find veggie food in the Land of Meat, I’ll do the Kentwell stuff. In the photos of the Green Man in Katy’s post you can see Katy + A dancing, and Dave H’s friend Sam on his hurdy-gurdy.

Monday was a day of mooching. Bob left shortly after 8, later than usual but still before most of us were up (except L) and then we took our time to eat breakfast, watch tv, play in the garden, put on washing, read books, play on computer etc etc. I don’t think any of us actually got properly dressed A day of recovery, I guess. We did read Medecin d’un jour, which had arrived while we were away, so I guess that counts for something Oh and J dictated his account of what he got up to at KH; he’s hoping First News might publish it, but we’ve not heard anything yet
Today was swimming, so we dedicated the morning to lounging around and looking for swimmers. Nina and the Neurons came in somewhere too. L had a go at lessons today, so all 3 of them were in together, and I went in to help once there was someone able to take A for me. I think I arrived just in time for the teacher’s sanity He was giving them all numbers and as I got there he asked “OK, so who’s a number 1?” and almost all of them raised a hand. Sighing, he tried again, “Who’s number 2?” and again most of the hands went up - at which point he gave up and just let me deal with fielding the excess ones when he said go There were a lot of little ones today…
We stayed in the toddler pool for a fair while afterwards, then went to DB with Gina and co, where I failed to remember what I needed to buy, but got some bits for lunch anyway, then we went to the park and watched the children play for ages Suddenly realised how late it was, went back to DB, where I again failed to remember anything I needed and then came home, via the Coop to pick up eggs as J had decided he wanted to cook tea and it was going to be omelettes As well as eggs I found some meringues and strawberries on special offer, so in the end J cooked omelettes (in the microwave so he could do them pretty much unaided ) while I stir-fried veg to go with them, then we had strawberries and cream with meringues - A the fruit bat pinched half of my strawberries but at least was making “more please” noises rather than just screeching for more! Very nice
After tea I had to feed A, so the others took themselves off upstairs, ostensibly to get ready for bed, but in fact to prepare a surprise for me. A fell asleep and I managed to put her on the bed, so was able fully to appreciate their handiwork. The entire bathroom wall above the sink is now covered in decorations and patterns, done in soap crayons (thanks Alice!) and the utterly disarming message that I am the best Mummy in the whole world. How could I be cross, especially when J put his arms around me and said “It’s true, Mummy!”? They want it to stay there, but I’m worried the colour will set if left too long, so have promised to take photos before cleaning it off. I think it can stay until tomorrow though - I could use the boost
And so to bed…

Not sure where I was up to, but Monday seems a good place to pick up
We made pottage with roots and worts, lentil pottage and a mess of eggs for workers and cheesy farts for us (not enough crumb to make them for everybody) - started to get a few people coming to ask if they could eat with us even though not assigned, as they’d heard it was good - flattering but cheeky! We tended to say no as cooking for 50 over an open fire is already a challenge, but said they were welcome to come by and see if any left over
Started grain soaking for frumenty, to be made on Tuesday with wheat grain, milk, eggs, butter, honey and dried fruit - although in the event we forgot the dried fruit and used very ripe nectarines instead It was nice - interesting to see varied responses from school children (if they bring spoons then they can try food) as it was definitely not sweet enough for most modern palates if they expected a pudding. Pottage gets similarly mixed reactions - a surprising number really like it, but a few cannot stand it at all. When schools had no spoons then we tried to find something else they could try: dried apple rings, lemon balm or mint posset, leaves of herbs from the garden, even slices of carrot - tones of wonderment: “It tastes just like normal carrot!” Nothing like a full multi-sensory experience
We had a couple of patches of rain, which the tent stood up to very happily, and it was very cold at night most of the time, so we were glad to huddle together and drape cloaks over our sleeping bags. Getting children out of cosy sleeping compartment in the mornings grew progressively harder, however…
Wednesday and Friday were free-flow days, so early start as visitors arrive from 9:15 and can then go where they like but also late finish as they can go back and revisit as much as they want. Some nice groups, but also a couple of very large groups of teenagers who lumped around a bit and whose accompanying adults wanted to stay together - a shame as the beauty of free flow days is that small groups can move around more and so learn more and do things which interest them; large clumps of teens tend to just congeal!
It was nice to have a few children who were clearly special needs/learning disabled and equally clearly getting lots out of their day. History must be a very difficult concept in isolation, whereas experiencing it, hearing, seeing, tasting and touching brings it to life. Confusing for a few, but still fun, I think. I remember way back when I used to do KH we had a group of blind children and adults come round and it was brilliant thinking of ways they could experience everything
Saturday was a changeover day, with new participants arriving but old ones still around. This should have meant we were overstaffed in the cotte (having been understaffed all week) but actually left us with extra mouths to feed and no more people, as the new arrivals decided to let us get on with it. It was nice in a way and we managed to produce good pottage and the most delicious fromenty ever - and fed 60 + with half a serving of pottage left over - and also to make gingered bread in the afternoon but it was hard work!
The evening was to be summer solstice celebrations, so each station spent much of the morning preparing a green man - cotte had two as the children picked up on the idea of a green man to be burned on the fire and made a lovely one - very green but totally missing the point So we ended up with an adult one too, who very clearly made the point but also another point as his creator was in the middle of a divorce and took great delight in ripping strategic bits off the man to throw into the flames separately
The fire itself was rather graphic and the children thought it hilarious that there were so many willies everywhere! We had the story of the King of Oak and the Man of Holly and their battle, while the wheel of the seasons turned ever onwards, then all the green men were thrown on the fire and the musicians struck up for lots of dancing round the fire and in complicated circles and threads behind and then through the lines of dancers - lots of great pictures here to give you an idea. We took the children off to bed at about 10 but the revelry continued long into the night.
Since we knew by now that Biob would be leaving for Germany first thing on Monday morning we decided that it would be more sensible to pack up on Saturday night/Sunday morning and then leave as soon as we could on Sunday. In the event, I ended up on station in the morning as we were still short-handed, while the boys had a day off from the schoolroom and Bob went back to the campsite to pack up the tent. High winds overnight meant it was all nice and dry (and we were very cosy inside - I’m very impressed with the design) but sadly overenthusiastic help from other campers means we now have a tear in the canvas which I have not yet seen so have no idea how patchable it will be (sorry Helen) I’ve no idea how it happened but I’m cross because I loved the tent and want to use it again! It will be returned to us on Friday, I think (Alice took the tent in her car on the way back, leaving K to travel with us) so I’ll look at it then and see what I can do.
Meanwhile K and L did a bit of spoonmaking (still rather a lot of sanding to be done) and I took J to the butts to have a go at archery. He needs to grow a few more muscles but is now very keen to find an archery club, get his own bow etc etc
We then did some sneaky quick changes in random places and snuck out while everyone was watching the muster Got home in time for tea and baths, then bed for children and packing for Bob…

Kentwell photos now on Flickr. I’ll write my view of things later, if I get a chance.

Hello,
My name is J and I am 8 years old. I have just been to Kentwell Hall in Long Melford in Suffolk, where I re-enacted being a Tudor. It was a lot of fun. Each day I had to wake up really early and walk from the campsite to the house to have breakfast. After that my brother and I went to the schoolroom, where we put on a big black hat and a cassock. Then we got out our paperbook and penicils (like a pencil but a different shape and with no paint on it) and started doing the work for the day. We did things like heraldry, all about shields, divinity, learning about saints and learning prayers, and some really fun stuff like how to kill your enemies! Each day we had a long break when we ate our pottage and bread for lunch and played outside, then we started work again in the afternoon. We finished work at 2 and had the rest of the time free to play or look around. I had a blade (knife) as part of my costume, but it was only for eating and woodworking. My brother is only 6, so he doesn’t have a blade yet.
Kentwell Hall is a place where people live as Tudors for some of the time and schools come and visit to see what we are doing. It’s open to the public at weekends and a few other days and there’s loads to see. School parties can go the house or the grounds; personally I think the grounds are more fun because there’s more to see that way. My dad was at the gate, where he frightened everybody by saying what they would do to spies or spaniards (this year is 1588 so the Tudors were really worried about the Spaniards) and made sure everyone knew where to go and what to do. In the afternoons he had to do pike drill, but because the pikes weren’t in good condition he got lots of splinters! My mum and my sisters were at the cotte, which is a Tudor house where people cook pottage and other things like that. My baby sister looked very cute in her Tudor clothes.
If you want to see Tudors at Kentwell for yourself this year you will have to hurry as it’s only on for another couple of weeks (until 6th July), but there are mini events too, at bank holidays. It’s really good, there’s lots to see and do, you can buy things from pedlars too and at the end of the day you go back through the Time Tunnel, which is just a dark wooden tunnel, to the 21st century again.
What did I like best? The Military Pavilion, where they trained people to use swords and things. Or the Butts, where I got to fire arrows.
What did I miss most? Playing on the computer.
I have some photos too. I will get my mum to attach them to this email.
J