Post birthday break

As part of the birthday celebration, my friend D and I planned to take off to a spa break for a night away from the mad crowds that our families were ;)

We took off around 4 pm on the Friday and it was a fun  30 minute drive of giggles and laughter to New?.?Hall hotel and spa. It was a 12th century castle with a moat and wonderful woods and lakes around. There was an old and charming church in the premises as well..

We checked in and immediately took off to explore the woods. The weather was warm with an occasional cool breeze.After a lovely long walk, we changed to our swim suits and visited the sap. It was a small and cosy set up with a swimming pool, sauna and staeam room. We had the pool all to ourselves.. we swam for around 45 minutes and checked out the steam room a bit and went to shower and change for dinner.

Went down to the old and charming dining area..we were given sample wines to try before ordering get and to our shame that in itself made us tipsy! We ordered the area’s famous driftwood cheese, polenta cake for me as main, sea bass for D, and  for dessert we had dark chocolate parfait. While the food was different, adequately tasteful and service warm, the cost was a bit too high for the quality delivered. But we had a great time chatting and laughing and came back to our room around 11 pm.

We changed to our night clothes and as it usually happens with all of my friends, chatted well in to the night . We should have fallen asLet only around 2 or 3. A’s was my habit, I was promptly up at 6.45.

Showered , changed and went down for a really sumptuous English breakfast, fruits, pastries rounding it off with fresh waffles with maple syrup. We once again visited the well loved grounds, (especially since it was such a glorious morning with the sun shining brilliantly)took some pictures and checked out at 12 with the intention to come back around 4pm for the luxury facial that was part of the deal.

In the meanwhile, D had caught a really bad case of hay fever. So we we went to the pharmacy for tablets and eye drops . We ditched the idea of visiting Kingsbury grounds and instead opted for the local mall. We went window shopping, D purchased some gifts, we had some milk shake and macaroons for lunch and covered topics we had not yet managed like movies, books, travel etc. Around 4 we went back to the grounds , enjoyed the scenery a bit more, read our books and wen tin for the facials at 5.

It was genuinely one of the most relaxing facials we had ever had. We gave the feedback to the young ladies, took a picture of our rare rlaxed faces and smiles and took off home.

All in all, a small, sweet and overall fantastic break.

Out of the mouths of babes..

It being my birthday..we had all gone to Ask ? Italian for lunch. K keeps quizzing the young one on the value/ cost of each item so she understands the relative worth of goods and services. At the end of today’s quiz..the young one pipes up ‘What would be my value?’

I started thinking, as I wanted to tell her how precious she was at the same time..how difficult we find it to handle her cool, unemotional naughtiness and cheekiness. While I am thinking how to frame the answer..she again quickly pipes up cheekily ‘ Please make sure you say a value more than 50 pounds, so you do not hurt my feelings ok?’

You had to be there to see her expression and tone of voice..

K and I almost died laughing:)

Easter 2019 - days 4 and 5

Day 3 dawned bright and sunny and the plan for the day was to visit the heads of Ayr farm park.  We went there around 10 am and the kids had a blast for the rest of the day. The young one particularly enjoyed feeding a pony called Merry Legs. She would go to the open trampoline, visit the other animals, go on the slide etc but always check on merry legs every now and then and feed her from the palm of her hand.

The weather was unbelievable for scotland especially for easter. We then went to the nearby Ayr beach where the young one got messy building sand castles and spotting washed up Jelly fish while K and I took our favourite long walk along the beach.

We had determined that these 4 days were a complete holiday for the young one  - with no studies and no food restrictions and most importantly no telling-offs from mum. She had a complete blast but hand on heart I could say that she was very sensible and though she opted for junk, she did not go overboard. She was extremely polite to our hosts, cleared her plates after she ate, cleaned the sink and tub after her brush and bath, thanked them when warranted and was sweetly well behaved with no prompts from either of us.

What was even more endearing was how she teased the shy little boy out, gently coaxing him to open up and devising games that he would enjoy as well. Being 5 years older, she could have easily bullied him ( as most older kids do with her) but she was gentle, sweet and friendly throughout. She did not 'mother' him but was a good and caring older friend. I was super proud of her and so was her dad.

We went to Akbar's for dinner and it was a refreshingly good experience after our previous night's debacle.

Our host P had to leave for work the next morning, so we said our good byes and left the next day. Once again we stopped at the Gretna green services for some refreshments and then made our way to the Lake district. The weather was so glorious, that we wanted to make the most of it.

Once again, we had been to Beatrix Potter land a while back, but we loved it so we visited the lake again. I did not want the ferry but preferred to walk around the lake. The young one gaily fed the ducks , we had our walk, enjoyed the beauty of the blooming trees, the green grass and the rolling hills, chit chatted our way around the lake and drove back home knackered and ready to fall into bed around 9 pm.

All in all, a wonderful holiday ( the cheapest we had ever had but one of  the best :) and another one notched up to keep us warm and light on cold and dark days :)

Easter 2019 Days 1,2 and 3

Unlike the last 10 easters that we have been here.. this easter was a bright and sunshiny one and hence the best of them all :). Though our friends had all planned for Tenerife, we chose the path less taken this easter and planned to visit JK Rowling's original haunts at Edinburgh. One of our friends kindly invited us to stay with them at their house, so the matter was settled.

On the Thursday, the young one finished her mock test review and her badminton class and swimming session at DL. She has already finished her bronze level of swimming and loves to swim just like that any chance she gets. Once in the water, it takes  atleast an hour if not more before I can successfully coax her out.

She was excited since her friend D was visiting her from Shropshire. Unfortunately, D's dad was a medical director and had some urgent issue to attend to and could not leave till 6 pm. While the restless young one was trying to engage herself otherwise, D and her family came walking in, having luckily zipped through the non peak traffic window for easter.

And what a evening it was! We grownups had a fun time chatting and laughing and eating dinner and sipping our drinks till 2 am in the morning. The next day, D's dad mentioned how it had been a long time since they had laughed so much and how the tension of the meeting had drained away from him over the course of the evening. We felt something similar as well.

The young ones completely sorted themselves out, despite meeting after almost a year. I went up to sleep at 2 am and could still hear them giggling and chatting till 3 am!

On day 2 all of us woke up around 9 am, had a leisurely breakfast of brioche bread and egg for the adults and nutella, brioche bread and cold chocolate milk for the kids. D and family left around 2 pm. We had our stuff packed and ready, so we cleaned up the house, locked up and left around 3 pm for our  drive of 4.30 hours to Glasgow. The weather was glorious, the young one needed her sleep, so she stretched out at the back with her pillows .. while K and I chatted, listened to music and enjoyed the drive.

We stopped at Gretna Green for a comfort break and then reached glasgow around 8.30 pm. The lady of the house, H was 8 months pregnant and the little boy was around 5 years old. Our young one, immediately struck a friendship and started playing with him while we had dinner and quickly went to bed.

On day 3, we had a quick breakfast and let H relax while the rest of us drove from Glasgow to Edinburgh. We had some lovely french toast, mac and cheese and milkshakes at Mimi's cafe at Edinburgh, took some snaps around Victoria street that was the inspiration for Diagon alley and then visited Edinburgh castle.

We had been there when the young one was around 3 and I fell in love with St Margaret's chapel and the stained glass painting of Queen Margaret there. So I took the young one to see the same, we then visited the crown jewels, the cannons etc and also the boy wizard shop on the way down.  We had some icecream and the kids played around for a bit.

On the way down we discovered we have lost our shuttle tickets..rare for K as he is usually diligent with stuff like this. We walked down instead and visited the Elephant house where JK Rowling wrote her HP drafts. The young one was the first to spot it and she seemed quite inspired by the whole visit. We then made our way to Victoria street- the museum context store, took some pics in front of trhe chamber of secrets mirror and the hogwarts school desk, bought a souvenir pen for the young one and walked further down the road to anothermerchandise shop and a disney store to buy a batman doll for the little boy who had been patiently doing the HP franchise tour for the sake of our young one.

Throughout the trip, the young one used this pen to write int he notebook gifted to her by D. She was spinning a story of mermaids under the sea..

We then visited Greyfriar's Kirk cemetry and managed to spot the names McGonagall, Tom Riddle and Helen.

We managed to then visit the porto bello beach for the little boy and given the weather was glorious , we had a good time at the sandy beach.

Drove back home, changed out of our sandy clothes and both families went to to Rishi's for dinner. A worse experience in dining we had never had. The food was bad, delayed and the service confused. The kids nodded off even before we could make our way back. We chatted a bit and went to bed happy and tired.

..To be continued

Letters to my young one..9

Chellamma

You know what has been going on for the past few days.. You have worked so hard, harder than anybody else we know ( because they say so and you gave up reading, tele time, free time etc and I, who  has always taken pride in working hard, am amazed at the kind of work ethic and stamina you exhibit). You come back from school, read a bit for pleasure/ go on your bike for some time if it is sunny  and sit straight after on maths, every single day. You work for 4 hours straight with your friends on a weekend  , come home and sit straight after, working at Maths again for 3 hours. The maths concepts are being taught at an exponential speed and you work hard at it because you like to understand the concept , explain to daddy and then do your sums. You do not like to rush, especially when it comes to Maths.

All this effort, despite knowing that you have already got in to a school , so there is no desperate drive for it.

You simply want to do it.

At class, you help your friends understand these concepts because you are so clear about them.When discussing something in real life, like time for a flight or change to be given or percentages achieved you clearly explain these to us and give us the answers.

However, your scores, though above average  , are not at the top of the class. You know the concepts earlier, you know them well but when it comes to timed tests, your mistakes become inevitable.  Children who have learnt from you, who have made half the effort as you have, score better than you.

It breaks my heart to see that all your effort means only half the result. But, that is silly, ordinary, insecure me. You my darling, never let the smile leave your face. You are proud of the bits you got right, you want us to help you avoid mistakes and with that, you are done and dusted. You pat yourself on the back and give yourself a half-an-hour bike ride as a reward for all your hard work :)

Not once, not even once are you jealous of your friends or bitter about your results.

And that gorgeous smile and silly jokes and sunshiny confidence - none of these miss a beat!

Because, in your head,  tomorrow is always going to be better and you are simply going to try again.

Hats off!

You tell me often that I inspire you. Kannamma, let me tell you, I have been inspired by many people in the journey of my life, but none more than you. I live with you, I see you, I made you , I scold you, I love you and yet... I sit amazed by your extraordinary approach to life.

Surely no credit to me or your daddy. We teach you little things, you take them and make it something much more than what we give.

Some day sweetheart, all these seeds will flower and bloom and that day - what a garden you are going to have. I will learn from you and wait patiently for that day and mend my broken heart with your smile.

Love you da thangame!
Amma

The imperfect crime

So, one of my close friends is from Gujarat and she had cooked a bitter but very healthy spinach almond cake that is supposedly good for kids. She had given some for us. I came home and warned the cheeky one that it was a bitter Indian cake but I would really be happy if she ate it.

Astonishingly surprisingly she said ‘ fine amma’ and took it to her room upstairs. I did hear a small thump but I though it was the birds on the roof or some such thing..The empty plate came down after a few minutes and all was well.

Two days later, K happens to look up while sitting in the conservatory and a small shape suspiciously resembling the spinach cake could be seen clearly on the conservatory frosted glass roof.

He takes the CM aside and asks her twice..’ Did you really eat the cake?’  Wide and innocent puppy eyes take centre stage and a vigorous defence of her righteous self ensues....till the shape on the roof is pointed out!

So, the CM had very stealthily and with great planning, carried the cake upstairs, tasted a small bite, concluded eating the cake was too great a sacrifice for a mere 9 year old , taken an executive decision and thrown it out of the bedroom window not realising that it falls right on the conservatory roof, the dining room adjacent to which is where we all spend most of our time in!

Though lots of lecturing on the importance of being truthful and not cheating happened, K and I can’t stop laughing (carefully only when the CM is not around) at the sheer childish innocence that runs through all of her actions and thoughts..even when it is in the planning of a petty crime!

Letters to my princess 8

Ammulu

What a year this has been so far!

You wrote a competitive exam, came out and said ‘Amma, I did really well..they will definitely want me. English comprehension, mental maths, maths problems and creative writing..I did really well’.

I advised you not to be over confident and viewed your comments with lots of scepticism. I also said that there were limited spaces available, so it really depends on how well the others had done. But you insisted, very innocently and as a matter of fact ‘ But I did really well amma!’

And guess what, it turns out you did do really well. Not only did you get an offer, we have also been led to believe that you have a chance of cracking the scholarship exam next year ;) (they only offer scholarships from next year, for senior school)

What confidence in a 9 year old and with what grace! What I do not fail to remember kanamma is how much you have worked hard for this! You are no born genius. You are the youngest in your year, you have convergence issues in your eye and your high energy leads you to prefer swimming and cycling to sitting still and studying. Yet, here you are, never giving up, always persevering, ever resilient  after failures and mummy’s reprimands and full of optimism and that bubbly happiness deep within you...

Your teacher reports the same ‘ popular, resilient and persevering’ . Your head teacher says you ‘ work uniformly hard at anything give to you’. What life skills pattuma!

Not just this you also managed to get in to the county selections for your favourite sport - badminton! As always , when you walk into court, the other kids look down upon you due to your puny size and innocent , naive friendliness. But then I see everybody’s reaction transform in front of my eyes as you start playing  :) I have always showed you Susan Boyle’s BGT video and the audience reaction , to teach you not to care about comments and put downs but go and reach for the stars. That is exactly what you do and how!

The other kids are competitive, aggressive...so I suggest to you that may be you should copy some of that and you turn to me and say clearly ‘ Amma, I love the game and I want to enjoy playing it well.. I do not want  pressure or competetion or aggression. I believe I can win like this as well’. Wow. So clear. So clean. Am so glad you are who you are. In fact I am in awe of your indomitable spirit and clarity of thoughts.

You win ovations from your teachers and class whenever there is a creative writing task and you are zooming in maths as well. You are eager to be independent and very eager to start cooking.

But, keeping to time is still a battle. When a class tarts at 6 pm or school starts at 10 to 9, time does not magically stop and wait for you to skip and dance and chat about your class mates and their shenanigans. You have to be ready and in the car by a certain time!

The years roll on, you grow mature and kind and absolutely lovely but this lack of punctuality does not seem to improve!

When do you plan to win this one chitlu?


Love you to the moon and back

Amma

New year’s eve

Day 8, I was still down with fever and cold. So just another lazy day for all of us, K and the young one were knackered from their squash session late night the day before, so we just had a leisurely breakfast, packed up and lazed around till half 12 when the taxi came for the pick up back home.

After an uneventful flight, except for my fever and cold, we reached home in time to welcome 2019 the next day.

Day 6 and 7

Day 6 saw me wake up in sniffles but still go to the spa , check out the jacuzzi, the sensory showers, the sauna, halo therapy and Indian head massage with foot message with Himalayan crystals. Still not satisfied, I also went to the beach side tent for back and leg  massage treatment by Sandra - as it had rave reviews. The weather was quiet chilly the whole of this day and I paid dearly for my over enthusiasm. Sandra’s tent had transparent views to the beach (which meant some wind was let in through the plastic curtains )she did a professional job but the wind caught up with me and I fell terribly sick.

K and the young one sensibly enjoyed in the hotel, swimming in the heated indoor pool, resting and enjoying the sea view. 

The next day , day 7 was extremely sunny and while I spent the whole day looking at the sea wistfully from the balcony, K and the young one went swimming and snorkeling in the Calheta beach, looked at fishes, ate dinner, generally had fun and came back to take me for a walk on the stones reaching in to the sea for a 20 minute view of the sunset with some music. 

We ate dinner in the room as I was still sick with fever, cold and body aches.

Day 7 did not start very smoothly. There were some ‘ troubles’ and like we have all done with our parents, the young one said she was walking out on us and went out of the room. I was petrified but did not know if running after her was the right thing to do ( as I am always worried that as a pampered only child she should not grow up to be a spoilt brat), K wanted to give her 5 minutes and then get her back in..in the meanwhile ( ie, within 2 minutes)there was a knock on the door. The young one was back with her anger still carefully managed in her face but piping up childishly ‘ I only came back for my kindle!’. It was obvious, with all the stranger danger stories we had fed her, she had been terrified as well.

We heaved a sigh of relief, hugged her and spoke to her about how though as a family we may have fights , the love and safety a family provides could never be sought or procured elsewhere.  Fights and arguments are ok but walking out on a family is never ok.

At 9 , her anger is still very innocent and her indignant arguments are so funny and cute. But K keeps warning me that I should still try and keep a straight face as, for her, they are all very valid and serious arguments.

Day 5

Day 5 saw us getting ready by 6pm to take the taxi to  Funchal and catch the Porto Santo lime. Reliable Gilberto dropped us on time. The city of Funchal was lit up with Xmas and new year decorations and since the city rose up on a hill by the coast, we had a spectacular view from the board. But this was nothing compared to the brilliant illumination we were treated to , on our way back at 8.40 pm.

The first class ticket afforded us nice comfy seats and a buffet breakfast that was not a patch on the hotel breakfast of course, but was plenty sufficient nevertheless. The wifi on the ship did not work and it was quite windy and chilly on the deck, so we took hour long naps, explored the ship for the next hour ( all magazines and tele and cinema were in Portuguese with no subtitles), and then it was time to disembark. There was not much of a crowd so overall it was not a bad experience.

We had booked a snorkeling session with the mildly famous Maththias, as soon as we landed. He was on time for the pick up and he was wonderfully personable and chatty, especially with the young one. We went to a hilly terrain with a steep, golden sandy climb and drop to turquoise blue waters below. It was a natural lagoon which was calm compared to the slightly rough sea splashing on the rocks at its outer edge.

He got us all into two layers of snorkeling suits each as he was not sure how cold we might feel. The water was not very cold , so we wore our flippers, donned our snorkelling mask and went under. It was the young one’s first snorkeling experience and Maththias was the perfect coach. She loved holding his hand, following his instructions and exploring the magical underwater world.

We saw blue and black fish, a school of striped fishes, wonderful, swaying aquatic plants, shimmering star fishes and the high light - a delightfully playful octopus ( a rare sighting I believe ). In around 40 minutes, the young one felt cold and wanted to get out. She and I steed on to a sandy slice and changed out of our wet suits. K continued to explore and was rewarded with 2 huge red and black star fishes and an elegant dance and exit by the octopus. 

Though K and I had done snorkelling, deep sea walks and water scooters at Mauritius and hence the sea life we had seen was much more varied and colourful, the high light for us was this safe and gentle introduction to snorkelling for the young one with the right kind of instructor.

Maththias then chatted with us about how the octopuses, once they trust you are very mischievous, how a Murray eel will catch a finger and spin so fast that you would loose your finger and how he believes monk seals will return to poro santo once the octopus population, which is their prey is revived.

We climbed back up to the car, changed to dry clothes in hidden alcoves, took a picture with Maththias and drove back to a restaurant  in the area by the beach. On the way, Maththias also took us to a viewing point for a picture with a wonderful view of the whole island.

As he only accept d donations and had no fixed price as he introduced people to snorkelling as a passion, we paid him what we thought was a good price for a professional service as he was indeed extremely good.

He also spoke about his horse obelix which the young one was very keen to see. Unfortunately, while reversing in to the very narrow drive to drop the snorkelling gear off he scraped the car, which belonged to his friend. So, we thought best not to ask to see obelix as he was on the phone profusely apologising to his friend in Portuguese.

We had pizzas and the local breezed at a  simple restaurant and made our way to the beach. We walked along the beach from one end to another and while the young one and K wet their feet and three pebbles at the sea, I walked up and down with Sid sriram singing in my earphones, the wind tousling my hair and my feet sinking in the fine golden sand.

We walked back to the shuttle station and paid a Euro each for the 10 minute ride to the cruise ship. We relaxed, had a snack buffet and slept ..completely knackered from the day.

Gilberto was waiting to take us back to Calheta. We paused a minute to enjoy the magnificently lit up Funchal city view and then went to the hotel and slept.

I discovered the next morning that I had caught a cold.

In all, given that having chilly wind blowing in my ears is an absolute no-no for me, no matter how sunny the weather is..Porto santo in December is not a good idea.

K and the young one however had a great time and enjoyed the weather.

Day 4

Day 4 dawned with some trouble with the little one. The usual mischief and the testing of borders happened. As she is no longer a little one we had mutually decided to take hard calls to educate the young one on the link between cause and effect.

Consequently we cancelled the planned trip to Praia de Garajau and Christo Rei as she had wanted to go snorkelling. Also, breakfast for her was strictly fruits, orange juice, cheese,egg and hash browns with no pastry or cakes or cereal or pancakes, the fare she usually looks forward to on holidays.( This she suggested herself as she understood that we gave up the trip as well, for no fault of ours)

After a few failed but valiant attempts some genuine repenting happened and then some rectification as well. So, we took her to the infinity pool of the hotel as it was a fantastically sunny day. Though the infinity pool was not heated, the warm weather made it easy after a while, once you braved the initial baptism by ice cold water. The view of the sea, the mountains and the sun made for a wonderful family swim.

We then took a taxi with Gilberto Perreira, our taxi guy who we had disappointed with our late morning cancellation, to go to Leavada do risco. Levada are actually tiny irrigation tunnels used in olden days to get water from the spring to farm the hilly volcanic terrain of Madeira. In the modern day, following these tunnels leads them to the wonderful springs along the way and finally to the original water source.

It took 20 minutes to reach the starting point of the trail high up in the mountains. Driving through the clouds and looking down at the city on the slope brought back nostalgic memories of Ooty and Darjeeling  in the 1990s.

We were dressed for sunny weather but right at the top it was a tad chilly. We decided to brave it and started walking through the stunningly scenic trail.There were lush green mountains kissed by puffy white clouds , there were mini waterfalls seeping across the moss patched black rocks, fresh green trees all around and never was there not a sound of a babbling brook through the  pipe-like thin irrigation tunnels.

There were intertwined branches of trees forming brown and green canopies, steep climbs, flat walks and  stepped declines all in one trail. The weather got very pleasant after the first few minutes and with the gentle breeze and pristine mountain air, it turned out to be a fantastic outing. 

Be it wherever we went, even this remote hill trail which ended in a spectacular water fall, there was absolutely no garbage whatsoever. Majority of the visitors were civic minded and even at the end of the trail, we saw an employee of the Calheta municipality watching out for any stray litter.

On the way to the waterfall, we stopped at the Rabacal nature spot cafe, to sit amongst chirping birds , stretching trees watching mountains and peeping clouds to have a divine home made chocolate cake and tea. 

We visited the waterfall, took some picks and walked the 1.5 km back to the vehicle pick up point. Here a shuttle took us back the 1 km steep walk to the top where the taxi was parked, the same path that we had easily and pleasurably climbed down on our onward journey.

As always, I had a great time and the young one and K had a lovely time as well though they prefer beach visits to nature trails.

Once at the hotel, we caught up on some pending work, watched the breath taking sunset  from the balcony of our sea view room, wrapped ourselves in warm clothes and set out for dinner at the same place as the day before,

We had a leisurely dinner and rushed back to sleep as we were all knackered plus we had a half six reporting time next morning for our taxi to the Porto santos  line to catch the 8 am ferry to the island with the golden sand and  apparently warm waters.

Day 3

On day 3 we had planned a whale and dolphin watching trip with possible swimming with the dolphins for the young one. ( by the way the Madeira special almond cakes in the buffet this morning were out of the world!)

The young one did some tests and we set for whale watching. However we were told that the peak season was over and we may not see many whales or dolphins. Given that the price was expensive, we gave it a miss and took the taxi to Funchal. It was a 30 minute ride and the taxi guy offered a round trip.

Once there, we took the cable ride to the botanical gardens. While the ride with views of the shimmering sea and the orange tiled lovely homes were a delight , the botanical garden was a disappointment, especially for the price. 

We should have instead paid just for the cable car and got down at Monte palace which costs much less and is a much much more worthy site. It is interesting how the cable car ads below talk nothing about this but lots about the ‘ quiet dull if you are not into gardening’ botanical gardens instead.

We had some milk shake and banan crepe, next to a small cafe near the Monte gardens  and then caught the cable ride back down.  We then spent some time at the promenade, after which we caught the taxi back to Calheta.

The weather is chilly till about 9 am but then from 9.30 to 4 pm it is absolute heaven. Fantastic sun with a perfect breeze to deliver an hour ideal day!

Once at the hotel, The  young one and dad went straight into the indoor heated swimming pool while I rested. We all then went down the road to the manufacturing the gelato hotel. Their tomato,sauce base for the pizzas and pastas were as good as we had read in the reviews and once again I was struck by how genuinely friendly and welcoming the Portuguese are.

I made a mental note to make somewhere else in Portugal our holiday destination, the next time we are planning something.

Xmas 2018

I had wonderful memories of our April trip to Lisbon , so for Xmas when we were discussing options, along with Cyprus and Morocco, Portugal was once again on the list. I really liked the polite and friendly Portuguese and given R’s class timings on the 23rd, a jet to holidays to Madeira fell convenient.

The agreement was that the young one would do her maths and English for some time every day in the morning and nights and we will spend the day enjoying. Mum and dad will also support her and not watch tele when she is working. 

On the way to Madeira, the 4.5 hour flight saw the young one learning some wow words for some time and then watching tele. The 2 hour delay of the flight already gave us a wonderful brunch at the airport giraffe through the air

One vouchers.

We landed at the Cristian’s Ronaldo airport only to be greeted by for  sunny but slightly chilly weather with a roaring wind.

We reached the savoy sachchurum hotel which was around 40 minutes from the airport.The drive along the coast was adventurous with steep slopes, dark volcanic rocks and the absolutely roaring sea and howling wind.

The hotel was neat, the rooms were spacious and the service excellent. The room was facing the sea bang opposite and it was a delight to look out of the French windows during the chilly mornings and sit on the balcony during the wonderfully warm afternoons. We sat and chatted with a Madeira wine  between us and the roaring sea almost right below us in the late night post the young one going to sleep.

The bathrooms were a strange phenomenon. You could not see from inside but it was a crystal clear view of the goings on in the bathroom from  outside  them! The less said on the topic, the better it is!

The day we landed, we went for a swim in the heated indoor pool - we were the only ones in the pool and came to the room, ordered room service and went off to sleep.

The next day, we woke up late, had a wonderful buffet with a phenomenal spread , worked for some time and once the sun was high, went off to the tiny but perfect Calheta sandy beach. The water was the warmest we had ever seen in our travels. (Not even Dubai had such warm waters. I believe the volcanic springs may have something to do with this). It was shorts and t shirts weather, so we played in the beach for a while, walked along the promenade and on our way back had an early dinner at the new era restaurant. Food everywhere is healthy and with decent flavour.

Letters to my princess -8

Ammu

As usual every day getting ready in the morning is a battle. You get ready at your own pace and cannot be hurried. I was, yet again, reminding you how I was late for work and how it was not very nice of you to not feel bad that you were making me late for work.

You happily kept singing while saying -' I will try and get dressed faster amma' - while just not doing anything remotely of that sort! I was frustrated and I said ' That is very mean of you kannamma.. you are not even worried I am getting late and you are showing that you do not care by singing happily'. You blinked cutely and said ' Oh no amma.. I am singing because I am happy. And I am happy not because you will be late but because R ( that is madam is referring to herself!) is always happy, no matter what! La, tra lalala'. I did not know what to say but on my drive to work I could not stop the smile this memory brought to my lips :)

One other reason you are  always late is because you like to fill your mornings with chit chat with me. While dressing up, you said ' Amma, one of my friends wears a crop top in swimming and one other friend of mine at the holiday club wears a stringy cropped top and trousers. I am not sure if I like it or but is it ok to wear dresses like that?'. I said 'Kannamma, when you go seeking for attention through your dressing or otherwise, you will always end up getting the wrong sort of attention. Always be dignified and honest and kind and the right sort of attention will come to you. It will look like those who seek attention get it and are most popular but behind the popularity is lots of mean backstabbing. So, be careful'. As always, I do not know how to do light conversation and you and your dad do not know how to do a heavy one!

So, when I said this, you came back with ' T in my class , though he belongs to another section, always seeks me out to say hi and bye, even though we have no reason to speak to each other. Is that the right sort of attention amma?' I was gobsmacked! T is this nice boy who we also know socially. Though I was prepared to give the gyan, I was not prepared for questions! So, I managed to improvise and  said ' Yes pattu, as long as he does not force you to talk to him even if you do not want to and respects you and is a good friend to you, it is the right sort of attention'.

All sorted, you went to school chirping and skipping as always.

By the way, in an effort make you a tad more serious, I have started meditation sessions for you. We started 20 days ago and for the past 10 days you have been doing 10 minutes of fantastic meditation. (Before that I slowly increased from 5 minutes to 10) From day 1, you focused, sat still and took deep breaths in and out as though you have been doing it all your life!

So, my theory that you would have found it difficult to sit in one place, not talk and to not do anything funny will be impossible for you? - right out of the window!

What an enigma you are my chellame! But you are my enigma and the most sunshiny, brilliant enigma at that.

Love, love, love you da chellame for that and more!

Amma

Birthday 2018_Part 2

One of the dads was very thrilled to find a all day £2 parking which was so steep that as soon as we opened the door we almost rolled out sideways. Not wishing to rain on his parade, we all praised his resourcefullness and made our way to King Arthur's Cafe. Like all health conscious women, I ordered a tame chocolate milkshake and was happy with my lot while one of the mums ordered a sinful Butter scone with clotted cream and strawberry Jam. Not content with indulging herself she offered that calorific spoonful of heaven to us and that was it. There was a collective quick visit to heaven and back.

We then made our way by walk downhill to Merlin caves. The caves themselves were quite rocky and the kids and us enjoyed stepping on the stones to the other end of the cave to view the sea. Though we all wet our shoes while slipping into the water int he caves, we loved the adventure. We came out and built some cairns(stacked stones). There was something very peaceful about the process. The young one as usual was adamant about being original and did a three column stack instead of a single one.

There was a thin waterfall that was tall and elegant to look at and the kids played by the beach again. We then made the uphill hike back, were very pleased with ourselves and went straight back to Aruthur's cafe to order ourselves some scones! We also bought their famous cornish pasties from Pengena pasties. We had also packed some briyani and curd rice and those were dutifully consumed as well.

We then played some lovely music and drove through some extremely scenic routes to Dartmeet. Once again there were stepping stones and we had a lovely time listening to the playful brook through the stones and playing amongst the slippery stones. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we did not have the time to spend in the park nearby.

So, we all made our way back to Gloucester services, had our supper and said our good byes.

Reached home around 1 am and K impressively started at 7 am the next day to drive 3 hours to work as he had an important meeting.

Thus we wrapped the young one's last one digit birthday!

Birthday 2018_Part 1

As always for the young one’s birthday we had planned ahead to go to waterside Cornwall with two of our friends and their families. On the Friday, we took the young one to the Birmingham temple, had a good darshan (as it was also varalakshmi vratham on that day..), rushed back and packed for the 4 day trip.

In the morning, the  three families started together apprehensive of the traffic we might encounter over the bank holiday weekend. However the traffic was surprisingly smooth. We had a lovely stop as usual at the Gloucester services. I bought two Victoria sponge cakes for the birthday celebrations , one for the young one and another for one of the mums. The three girls were in the same grade ( but in different schools)and enjoyed themselves while the 4 year old boy and the 3 year old gi and rl trailed their older sisters wistfully. A usual, my young one being the naughtiest, was a hit with the little ones!

We then drove to the Weston-supermare pier. The children rode on the ponies by the beach and then made their way to the fair ground. The young one went on her first ever giant roller coaster and screamed non-stop but got down with a grin.

We all stopped at a near by diner for lunch and then the mums went on a long walk by the beach while the kids built their sandcastles.

We then made our way non stop to Cornwall, this not being a problem as the route was quiet scenic. The three girls came in our car and talked incessantly. I just plugged my imaginary headphones in (as the real ones were tragically left behind in a hoodie at home!)and enjoyed the view.

With some difficulty we found the place and it was a pleasant surprise. It was a lovely  huge accomodation spread out in separate lodges by the lake  and amongst a forest of  trees.  We had 2 houses booked, one with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and the other with 2 beds and baths. Those who live in europe would understand what a luxury it is to have a bathroom for each bedroom!

The place was furnished very well as well. The other two ladies were expert and extremely fast cooks and I was their able assistant. In no time they made fantastic sambhar to go with the piping hot idlies.

One of the mums had just returned from India and had brought vegetables from her organic farm. The flavour was unbelievable.

The kids took charge of one bedroom, one of the mums with her little one the other bedroom and I took the other bedroom with the other mum.

All the boys including the little one went to the other house. Both the houses had a fantastic jacuzzi as well.

So, I made sure I got up early and enjoyed the Jacuzzi. The dads readied their house for the young one’s birthday party by dutifully festooning their house with balloons and other party decorations. In the meanwhile, we all had toasts, chocolate milk and omelettes so the kids could go for their morning swim.

The young one already received her Harry Potter backpack from one of her friends and was thrilled. The mum said went for a lovely walk in the drizzle, watched the kids and dads swim and came back for a chat,some tea, pulao and egg masala. The dads were not expecting to have cooked food so were delighted. We all then dressed up and went to the other house for the birthday celebration , cakes , photo sessions and a lot of presents. (invluding a harry potter lego figurine, which alas, turned out to be Voldemort!)

We then drove  to kiz world. The dads and kids had a great time climbing ropes and roller skating while the mums went for a lovely walk in the woods nearby. 

We all then returned home to a sumptuous dinner  of egg masala for me, Maggie noodles for the kids and apparently fantastic chicken gravy for the rest of the crowd with cake to finish things off. We also had lovely  chocolate milk for the kids while they cosied up and read books or watched television in their room.

The kids formed a band called the jewelettes,named themselves after jewels and introduced a password for us to enter their room! Great fun for them but very annoying for the rest of us!

The next day , once again after bread and weetos and a birthday celebration for the mum with yet another fresh cake, we set off to land's end.

The weather was sunny and pleasant though with a slight wind. Post a photo session at the cliff edge, the kids and dads went for the 4d show of the dinosaurs and aruthur's quest while the mums went for a cliffside hill walk. For me, this was the best part of the trip as I really enjoyed the views from the cliffs, especially at the far end where the green and blue waters clashed and swirled down below.. The walk was good fun, especially with all of us chatting and snapping pics where we could.

We did not realise how time flew and with the sudden realisation that the dads may not exactly be enjoying themselves we rushed back, only to see that the kids were all fed, entertained and were now happily shopping for knick knacks that the mums would have strictly said no to!

Us mums then went off to have the famous Cornish pasties and returned for some scrumptious clotted cream icecreams bought by the dads ( milkshake for me!)

We made our way from Land's end to Portho beach. The kids had a good time playing in the waters though it was getting slightly chilly. As always, they found yet another dog to pet and play with.. We then changed the kids quickly, made peace with all the sand in the car and then made our way back to the lodges.

I was quite knackered from the day and went straight to the jacuzzi. The other ladies and one of the dads made Chicken Briyani and rasam. I made a quick egg burji for myself and the young one. Quickly we finished our dinner first and I made my way to bed. The others stayed up till 1.30 am sipping locally sourced liquer and chit chatting away. When did the kids go to sleep - none of us have any idea as the door was firmly closed and password protected!

The next day, we ladies chatted with tea for a while and then quicklye used up as much of the the left over food as we cooked and packed just in time for check out. Sadly, this is when we discovered the biking trails with the bikes for hire, the boats available in the lake , the table tennis table and the tennis court. The kids played table tennis for a while and then we left for Tintagel Castle at Tintagel.

..to be continued

Summer 2018 part 2

The next day dawned nice and bright.. but not the young one or her dad. They overslept and dilly dallied on the breakfast and by the time we stepped out it was 11 am. Globe theatre was duly cancelled.

We went around 12 to the Palace Theatre at Shaftesbury avenue for the 1 show and the lines were around the block! But thankfully it moved fast and by then the young one had on her Griffyndor Cloak with all the Hogwarts badges and her wand out!

Post the security check, we both went in , bought the HP play exclusive book ( 5 pounds! Day light robbery!) after giving K a kiss and a wave sending him off to the imax nearby. We sat in the Grand circle. The century old theatre was ornate, impressive and majestic. However the seats were so close next to each other and in front of each other that I could not but feel claustrophobic!

The drinks and eatables were astronomically priced but thankfully there was free water! We sat down to the first 2.30 hours of the show and what a show it was! Mind blowing would be an understatement. This was my first English theatre experience and it was fascinating. The young one kept comparing it to the movies and as she was wont to do kept spotting the strings and the optical illusion bits till I explained to her in the 20 minute interval how unlike movies, on stage, they have to get it right live and get it interesting and provide us an amazing experience with what can be done live.

*spoiler alert* #keepthesecrets

This is strictly for our own memory to re-read and enjoy.

Given the above, the 'incendio' effects, the papers arranging themselves in Harry's office, the duel between Harry and Draco, the flight of the dementors, the book case swallowing Scorpius and Delphini, the effects of the poly juice potion - Scorpius, Albus and Delphini to Harry, Ron and Hermoine , the bond binding Scorpius and Albus , the transfiguration of  Harry to Voldemort, the final battle between Delphini and Harry etc were absolutely awesome.

I loved the actors especially the ones playing Scorpius and Draco Malfoy. These two artists were so good in their act and also so graceful and athletic in the fight scenes and the cruciatus scene ( in the maze) respectively, that I became an instant fan.

This was not how I had imagined Scorpius at all and this was loads better. Rarely do we say this about any adaptation of a book and that says something about the actor!

They took 3 curtain calls finally and the third one was a complete standing ovation.

The young one was really good with her attention span and while I was worried she may be scared of the dementors ( they were absolutely fantastic!) flying over our heads - she kept trying to hi-five them :)

In the 2 hour bread before the second part, we nipped off to Saravana Bhavan and from there to Trafalgar square, the National gallery and Picadilly Circus for a quick photostop. We have been here several times , however the young one seems to have completely forgotten. Hence the photos now to remind her yet again!

We then took the tube back to Hangars lane and from there picked up our car and drove home with the young one sleeping in the back seat and K and I holding hands and chatting through the drive.

Reached home after midnight.

Another precious memory to draw from if and when I feel sad. My own patronuses :)

Summer 2018 Part 1

For this summer, the plan initially was to cover all of Eastern Europe and Austria. Prague had been on our list for a long time and so were Hungary and Croatia. However, the weather here, turned out to be phenomenally good, that we ultimately decided to stay put.

The last two weeks in July were off to a flying start. The young one had just finished her stage 6 in swimming and the instructor said her technique was so good that she should be able to finish off stage 7 in a week. 

The young one also started swimming just for fitness thrice every week as she enjoyed it so much. (Never competing always enjoying!) But what was astonishing was that she would go to badminton for an hour, swim full laps continuously for 40 minutes,read for pleasure at home for some time and then go cycling with our neighbour’s kid for 2 hours, play with our other neighbour’s dog and come in only after half 8 in the evening. 

She really enjoyed having an active holiday. I for my part made sure she was fed and watered appropriately and for some time I could feel the muscles rippling on her arms and legs :) ( Her eyesight continues to be an issue though :( )

She made friends with all the neighbours in our cul de sac and it was very sweet to see her wave hi to all of them, all grown ups and us sheepishly smiling as we have only ever exchanged Xmas cards every year!

Especially our new American neighbour is so fond of her that she sweetly drops notes in the letterbox especially for her with pictures of their dog and messages from her dog as well!

She went for one week of every day half hour swimming and came back having passed stage 7!

For three weekends she then had a friend S sleeping over at our place, she went for a sleep over with N and one of her new dance friends D came over.  

S and her enjoyed the first sleep over so much that they promptly repeated it the week after. Though both the families had planned a day trip, a sudden scheduling clash made us drop that plan and opt for a sleep over and a full day  with a trip to incredible 2 included, followed by sumptuous home made dinner and cake baking at S’s place.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the baking as well the relishing of the cake afterwards.

We also went to the new Lego land discovery centre with her and another couple. It was exactly as boring as it was in Atlanta  3 years ago exactly to the day!( As google photos helpfully reminded us). But what we did enjoy was the walk along the canal and lunch with the friends afterwards.

One other week, we had another good friend and their new born baby come over. Both R and I thoroughly enjoyed cuddling the new born and another pleasant day was notched up!

Over and above all this she went swimming 3days a week, cycled every day with her friend ( who, if R was not out by the afternoon, will start dropping notes in the letter box prompting her to come out as soon as she can,) In all it was all very sweet.

We had guests coming over from Scotland one week and that week was her bharatnatyam ISTD exam. The poor guests were subject to 3 performances but it all turned out good as she passed with a distinction and 94%

She had also gained a distinction in her LAMDA and singing exams so plenty of kindle books were downloaded and subway sandwiches eaten as rewards :)

As a build up to her birthday we also took her to London for one weekend. I had severe back pain but managed to accompany her to Buckingham palace and the tower bridge walk. I then let dad and daughter spend the rest of the day walking with the dinosaurs at O2 while I  rested.

The next day was planned for Globe theatre ( on her request!), followed by Harry Potter and the cursed child , this time just mum and daughter time...

Letters to my princess 7

Kannamma

Sweetheart, you are awesome! As you grow day by day you have a joy and happiness bubbling inside you that is phenomenal. You are always high on life! You always skip rather than walk. No matter how harsh  a critic I am of something you do, your repartee is ‘No, I am good and I know it’

Sometimes it is even ‘ Don’t worry amma, As I try harder I get better!’. As of this moment you are not the best in anything. You are above average in most things. But you are the happiest and the most resilient.You never give up and failures  and hardships are just another thing in life to frown a bit, make a joke out of and move on! ( wait, that sounds like a lot like your dad,come to think of it)

You are never bitter or jealous about not winning and despite being an only child, you are happy to share or even give away stuff!

You rush home from school, do your home work ( even as the neighbour’s kid A knocks on the door to come out and play, you say I will finish the work and then go amma, that way I enjoy more!) go cycling with her come back do some more work, read a book and go to sleep, with a smile on your face.

Some days, you play tennis or go for swimming in the morning, piano, a whole day of school, then badminton, cycling  and you still have energy to do more!

When I wonder why despite all this you are not a swimming champ or a genius at school, your daddy says it is because you enjoy life and never focus on winning but on the process of swimming, cycling,  reading etc. You do it for the sheer joy of it and not for today’s win.You do it at your own pace and do not like the pressure to win/ finish on time! not even God can make you do things faster than you want to! And you are not even naturally slow that you have to push yourselves too much to get to be faster. You just can't be bothered.

He is sure this will stand you in good stead throughout life. I used to be disturbed about the lack of drive and ambition but the sound of your wonderful, carefree, joyful  laughter makes me want to bundle the same and treasure the magic even at the price of giving up all the medals and glory!

Past 2 years, in sports day you never won anything being the youngest and tiniest and having eyesight issues. The teacher said you could have the day off if you wanted, but you always said you enjoyed sports day as for you, it was not about winning ( of course, it almost never is)but about enjoying the day with your friends. And then you came home with two medals having carefully planned which events to play to your reduced height and strength. You amaze me..just the resilience after two years of disappointment and the grace with which you handled it.

The other day you won an award for your studies but did not tell us, as we were at your friend’s place and she did not get one and you did not want her to feel bad! ( She is 11 months older to you, bullies you and is always competing with you). You are able to tell her ‘ you are being unkind’ when she bullies you but have the grace not to brag when you win. Hats off da kuttima!

You still do not understand that you make mummy late to work almost every day as you will not hurry up and you still do not know how to handle your emotional mum ( The other day I said ‘you are going to send us both (papa and I) to an early grave’ and pat came your  cheeky reaction ‘ Do I get the house? ’.

Everything is a joke or play. Being serious is not your forte.

You are a marvel and wonder. My sweet heart, I am extremely lucky to come home to you every day!

Pattumma, nee kalakuda!

Amma

Day 5 Lisbon 2018

The final day dawned sunny again. After a farewell breakfast we checked out quickly and left our luggage to be picked up on the way back to the airport. We then went to the Jeronimos Monastery only to find a long winding queue though we were there at 10.05 for a 10 am opening. Luckily, D's pregnant tummy got us straight in, into the fantastic monastery. This was easily the highlight of our trip and it came as no surprise that this fantastic building is a UNESCO World heritage sight.

The cloisters and the high vaulted ceilings in the Manueline style were a sight to behold. The monastery's library provided interesting insights in to the history of the monastery. The portals, the ceilings and even the pillars were all ornately and exquisitely detailed with stone work. The church to the side of the monastery had fabulous, tall stained glass windows. The gallery from the monastery enjoined the church and gave a view of the inside of the phenomenal beauty of the church from atop. We could not but spend a lot of time admiring the beauty and reminiscing about the ancient temples and palaces of India that have this and more but are not very well maintained, if at all.

We then walked across the park and along the Tagus once again to the monument of discoveries and the Belem tower. We then crossed the park again to visit the Pasteis de Belem Cafe, a cafe open from 1837 and famed for its pastries.  We packed some delicacies to go, grabbed some sandwiches from Starbucks next door and took the tram back to Praca do Commercio.

From here we took the famous yellow bus tram which is more modern , costly and hence with no pick pockets as opposed to the historic tram 28. It took the same route as tram 28 ,with an audio describing the various landmarks as we wound through the historic areas of Lisbon.

The most impressive buildings on this ride for me were the Sao Bento Palace which is the current Portuguese Parliament  with its traditionally dressed soldiers standing guard and the  Basilica de Estrela with its  domed roofs.

Sadly that brought us to the end of the Lisbon trip. We realised that, as is the case with  many European capitals, a Lisbon trip has enough for 10 days if not more and not a mere 5. We missed the Monserrate palace, the moorish palace, the count's house tour and lots more..

The friendly locals made me want to comeback again like I would, just for the locals and their lack of prejudice  to Italy ( Not Naples), Catalonia ( Not Madrid), Athens, Mykonos, Cyprus , US, Singapore but not Kualalmpur, Paris, Switzerland or Edinburgh.

We got off there and took the bus back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage and took the aerobus to the airport. We battled the terribly long security queue to the woefully crowded lounge and the amazingly inadequate food court to another long boarding queue to be seated in the flightonly to be told that the flight was delayed for another 2 hours. Luckily that changed and we took off and made good time and the arrival was delayed only by 5 minutes.

There was still the 2 hour  drive back from Luton which was thankfully uneventful. We walked in exhausted and flopped on to our beds around 1am but with yet more wonderful memories to sustain us through the daily grind.