When I was a kid, my dad was often unemployed so a budget family day out whatever the weather was to make up a packed lunch, jump in the car and go and explore all the tiny lanes in the area, generally as impassable as possible. Bonus points for an “unsuitable for motor vehicles” route.
In retrospect, this wasn’t the most environmentally friendly of activities but it was cheap, practical in the most typical of British summers and had a certain spirit of adventure going off the beaten track. It is probably telling that my father used to rally drive in his youth.
It occurred to me, while going down an ever narrowing track (which according to Tom Tom was the fastest route – the map manufacturer probably didn’t factor in the cow crossing) that these days we recapture that simple childhood joy with our sat nav devices.
While on holiday on the west coast of Wales, I don’t think we’ve been taken the same route twice and the sat nav has been taking perverse delight in sending us the most insane way possible. Our best so far has been a side-trip through a “ford” which after 3 days of solid rain more resembled a fast flowing river. The Almera coped, fortunately.
Still, it’s lots of fun and we’re finding some really pretty little places we’d never have known about if we were navigating sensibly with a proper map. We do need a “be f-ing serious, Tom Tom” button for when we’re towing, though!
gone to the supermarket and bought magazines for us all (Toxic and a Star Wars magazine for the boys, New Scientist for me) and then they spent some of their pocket money on an Indiana Jones toy that was in the sale.
made a list of all the activities we’d like to do or try in the holidays (okay, most of it is wishful thinking, but if you can’t make grand plans on the first day of the holidays, when can you?).
practised basic handwriting skills for five minutes (Akra Jr is keen to earn his pen license next school year, but his letter formation is terrible for an 8 year old, so we’ve bought some handwriting exercise books and Li’l Bhaji is joining in too).
A couple of weeks ago, I received a selection of NÖM Naturally yoghurts for review. (For the record, I always like to be sent free stuff – especially if that free stuff is edible!)
Unfortunately, the week they arrived I was still recovering from a nasty cold with an evil sore throat and completely deactivated taste-buds, so in the interests of a fair taste testing this blog post has been delayed somewhat. My apologies.
If you’re anything like me (a completely brand-oblivious person who spends most of their time in the supermarket in a zombie-like state) you’ll be wondering who NÖM are. Apparently, they are an Austrian dairy who have a UK dairy based in Shropshire. They are committed to using natural ingredients in all their products and have recently launched two new product ranges to the UK market: ‘Naturally Creamy’ – a split pot yoghurt similar to Müller’s Corner, and ‘Naturally Good’ – multipack yoghurts in smooth and layered varieties.
The first thing I noticed was how sophisticated the flavours seemed to be. In the ‘Naturally Creamy’ selection I was sent Senga Strawberry, Alphonso Mango & Passionfruit, Morello Cherry, Granola and Granola with Belgian Choc Chip. I assumed I would love the Morello Cherry and I wasn’t disappointed – a lovely rich yet natural cherry topping. The Mango & Passionfruit was equally delicious – both tart and sweet at the same time.
The Granola was surprisingly extremely good – I didn’t expect to like it at all, but it was rather nice (even without the additional Belgian chocolate – that made it even nicer!) – a bit like eating a crumbled up cereal bar with yoghurt. I could happily substitute my morning bowl of cereal with one of these.
My least favourite was the Senga Strawberry. To be fair, I am not a huge fan of strawberry-flavoured food items, I find them a bit too sweet and cloying. This variety wasn’t as sweet as some strawberry yoghurts but still felt a bit like eating a spoonful of jam with my yoghurt to me. I’m sure that this reflects my personal tastes rather than on the quality of the product, though.
I was also sent the two varieties of the ‘Naturally Good’ layered yoghurts: Morello Cherry and Senga Strawberry. These appeared to be the same flavours as the ‘Naturally Creamy’ split pots, only with a slightly thinner yoghurt and the fruit flavour at the bottom. I don’t usually buy layered yoghurts – mainly because the kids actively dislike them and I never saw the point in having all the flavour at the bottom. I usually end up just mixing it all up, by which point I may as well have bought a smooth-style yoghurt!
Ultimately though, these are a high-quality range with an appealing variety of flavours. I would definitely buy from the ‘Naturally Creamy’ range again in preference to their rivals, Müller Corners. Apparently they are available from Morrisons, but hopefully more supermarkets will follow suit soon.
On top of still feeling wiped out from the recent cold-from-hell, I have been living in a war zone for the last week.
For some reason, sibling bickering between Akra Jr (eldest son) and Li’l Bhaji (youngest son) has escalated to epic proportions of late (presumably fuelled by end-of-term-itis). Akra Jr’s speciality is quietly spoken nastiness and vindictiveness designed to get a rise. Li’l Bhaji’s speciality is a particularly high pitched whine and then suddenly lashing out. They both excel at tale-telling.
It’s becoming rapidly obvious that me intervening in any way only escalates the problem, even if I’m concerned that someone is about to become hurt. Separating them just allows resentment to brew to explosive levels and making any sort of judgement of who is right and who is wrong is a complete mug’s game.
We only have a few days left until the end of term, and then they get the glorious experience of togetherness for six weeks – the voice in my head is already chanting “DOOOOOOOMED” at me.
Would it be really terrible parenting to set up a boxing ring in the garden, let them get it out of their system regardless of injuries and then declare the rest of the house a fight free zone?!!
This looks just what I need – I'm always getting frustrated that I haven't perfected the perfect playlist for the mood I'm in. Am trialling it, will let you know how I get on.
A mixture of crappy weather, a variant form of man-flu that had jumped the gender divide, a spontaneously bursting knee vein and running out of witty replies for concerned bruise viewers had left me without much oomph or inclination to do anything much. The week has mostly passed me by in a flurry of “not a lot” and “sort of staring out the window while intending to do something in a minute or two” – any commentary has been strictly of the 140 characters or less variety and I completely messed up my Project 365 by not actually taking any photographs for two days.
Still, it seems to be turning around. Last night, I took and passed my first two martial art grades and this morning the cold seems to have subsided a bit. We’re even due some sunshine tomorrow, remember that?!
Now all I have to do is catch up with all the chores I didn’t do at the beginning of the week. Then again… maybe I’ll stay lazy for a bit longer…
I think I’m beginning to understand know why there aren’t more women in martial arts. I’ve been going for just under two months now and have got past the initial burst of enthusiasm and have hit the long slog. It’s demanding – requiring more from me physically and mentally than anything else I’ve ever tried to do, and I suck. I can’t remember the last time I even allowed myself to suck at anything without just giving up and trying something else.
By far the hardest part though, is dealing with injuries, specifically bruising. Not the actual soreness or how long it takes to heal (after all, when I twisted my knee doing a step lunge during an aerobic workout hurt far more and still gives me occasional twinges now, months later) but rather other people’s reactions to that bruising.
The last class I had was a particularly tough one and the bruises fairly spectacular. I’ve had worse bruising from training before (no haematomas this time, yay!) but not quite so extensive or so obvious (last time was still long-sleeve weather and so were well hidden from the casual observer). I really wasn’t prepared for the amount of negative response I’ve had to this, to the point of several people telling me I should quit martial arts.
I haven’t really known how to react to these comments properly. I was already feeling disappointed with my performance in that particular class and to be honest, the criticism of my choice of activities immediately put me on the defensive. I have chosen to react flippantly, laugh it off… “oh these… they’re nothing”, but damnit, they’re not nothing and I am putting myself down each time I say it. It’s true that they don’t hurt much now, but yes it hurt getting them. They’re a badge of honour, I earned every single damn bruise on my arm and each one represents a hard-earned lesson. If I had come off my bike and got scraped up a bit, would people be demanding I stop cycling? Should I stop aerobic exercise because I twisted my knee once?
If I’m honest with myself, I am far more angry with my own response than the criticism itself. By brushing them off as insignificant then later I feel unable to say “actually, I’m really struggling with this class” out of fear it would give my critics more ammunition to use against me. At the same time, it’s been good for me, because I’ve been forced to evaluate exactly why I signed up to do martial arts and why I am going to continue going regardless of how difficult I find it.
So, for the record: I need to do this. Yes, I have something to prove – not to the doubters, not to the other people in my club – to myself. If I quit now… because it’s hard, because it hurts, because it’s embarrassing when I show up the next day bruised, because other people think I should… what does that actually say about me? If I quit now, I will lose all self-respect for myself and I will always regret it.
On one of the martial arts boards I read, one of the posters talked about training “mental toughness” and that’s a concept that’s really resonating with me at the moment. I’m discovering that Martial Arts is as much of a mental discipline as a physical one and learning so much about myself in the process. If I do get attacked and get hit, then I will not curl up into a ball in shock at the pain, I will be able to react and (hopefully) react hard.
I’m not doing this for approval. I’m doing this for me.
A couple of weeks ago, I received a selection of 
The Granola was surprisingly extremely good – I didn’t expect to like it at all, but it was rather nice (even without the additional Belgian chocolate – that made it even nicer!) – a bit like eating a crumbled up cereal bar with yoghurt. I could happily substitute my morning bowl of cereal with one of these.
I think I’m beginning to understand know why there aren’t