Charlie's Worldback to England – part 3
Posted on September 16, 2012
We went out for Pizza for lunch – my mum and dad’s idea – lots of kids, vigorous exercise and then a treat – can’t much argue with that.
My dad sensibly peeled off from the park early to go back up to the town to book us a a table, but we were sufficiently early that we almost had the place to ourselves.
Back to England – part 2
Posted on September 10, 2012
The weather was beautiful, so we made the most of the local parks and my parents garden (which has a teeny freshwater crayfish in the brook that runs through it), playing with the kids and generally having fun. We made good use of the village shop and bought all kinds of yummy treats – thats the one good thing about living in a village – the trusty shop, which sells all kinds of esoteric stuff, including some yummy Kentish beer 🙂 Read More
Trip to the UK – Part 3
Posted on February 24, 2012
It was still freezing cold, but we refused to be couped up indoors – I only had a week and I wanted to get out and about with the kids as much as possible.
We went off to the duck ponds for a wander around – there was still a little bit of snow around and the lakes were still frozen several cm thick – probably more in the middle
Brrr! Read More
Holidays, part 5 – flying lessons
Posted on September 1, 2011
My daughter Ella is very special. Well, I would say that, wouldn’t I?
She also has a somewhat ‘relaxed’ relationship with gravity. As a ballet dancer, that’s a pretty helpful talent to have. She can jump and spring like a mountain gazelle.
There’s something else she can do.
Fly.
Holidays, part 3 – Groombridge Place
Posted on August 26, 2011
Groombridge Place (http://www.groombridge.co.uk) is only 30 mins drive from my parents house. I’ve been there before about 4 years ago with Ella, not that she remembers really, just snippets here and there. It’s a pretty cool place – an old moated English country house and beautiful gardens that also has an adventure playground and an ‘enchanted forest’ walk for children. Good enough to keep the kids happy for a few hours anyway.
Mangles Bay
Posted on June 26, 2011
I had a few spare hours yesterday as Jay was writing, so I packed up the camera and headed out to take some shots. I initially wanted to go to one of the jetties in Rockingham and get some more long exposure shots, but I’ve kinda done that to death for the moment already.
So I wandered over to Mangles Bay, where the boats are moored with the aim to get some boaty/long exposure/moving sky style photos
Fremantle
Posted on April 14, 2011
I love Fremantle. It’s the closest thing to a town with charm here.
For all the beauty and space and cleanliness of Western Australia, its all a bit new, which means that most places near here are modern and somewhat lacking in character. Ok, totally lacking in character.
Perth is the same, most of it is pretty new, and the bits that are older have been somewhat overwhelmed by the modern stuff. Shame really, I’ve seen some pictures of the city in the 50’s and it had all the charm of Fremantle.
Tripski – part 3
Posted on March 8, 2011
We went to see some of my close friends mid week.
They live not too far from where I used to live in England. Not too far away from where Ella and Henry were born and grew up.
Ella remembers the place, her old friends, her school and snippets of the old house. She’s sometimes a bit sad about it – I kinda feel bad as I sort of took all that away from her. She only kinda likes where she lives now, but she has the amazing Royal Ballet School opportunity that she would never had had in the old town. I hope that makes up for it. Henry was only tiny at the time – all he knows it where he lives now.
Anyway, it was a filthy day, dreadful weather, and we had an hours drive. So what happens?
Accident on the motorway.
So we’re stuck in the car not moving for 2 hours whilst they do their thing. I don’t know why the police dont clear away accidents faster, its such a dreadful drain on thousands and thousands of people’s time. I mean, once the people are safely out or on their way to hospital – take the scene photos, make the notes and get the road open again asap, rather than dragging it on for 1/2 a day as is the way in England.
Ella was so patient, she’s the easiest going child ever. Henry was asleep for all 2 hours and woke up just as we were getting going again. This is what we had to look at for 2 hours.
So we had some fun with the wide angle 🙂
We eventually got there 3 hours late, but Pat and Nicky were happy to see us, as was Anna, their oldest and craziest daughter. They’d had a new baby since I saw them last time – she was so cute 🙂
Anna didn’t stop moving this time, so no photos at all, plus it was so dark, that even inside it was hard to take photos. Baby M provided lots of wide eyes and big smiles though 🙂 She’s so cute!!!
Was great to catch up with them – Pat came back from work and we had a lovely dinner and chilled out – the kids played beautifully and had a lot of fun. Then, before it was too late, we were heading home again, the kids stocked up on Cadbury’s Mini Eggs for being so well behaved.
Did I say I have awesome kids? LOL!
Tripski, part 1
Posted on March 5, 2011
So, as you know, I went to England to see my beautiful kids. England, land of the village pub, the Darling Buds of May, long summer evenings, rambling footpaths and history going back millenia.
Well, it wasn’t like that. The sun didn’t shine. It rained all the time. It was freezing. The cloudbase was 3 feet above the ground – so much so it didn’t really get light a couple of days. But hey, it was February and it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
More to the point, it wasn’t why I was there.
My kids
I had a lovely time with them – they’re so utterly amazing. But then I’m a little biassed. Their little faces when I knocked on their front door is the best thing ever. Every time. It’s like the biggest light ever comes on. Probably like seeing kids faces at Christmas, but times one hundred.
They’re so cool.
Here’s a few pics from the first few days..
A little fun with the 10-20 wide angle
Now some more normal shots.
Next post – the cousins. Well, a couple of them anyway, there’s a tribe of them we didn’t get to see this time.
stormy weather
Posted on January 30, 2011
We’ve been on cyclone watch for the last few days as tropical cyclone Bianca has been making its way down the Indian Ocean from the tropics and is forecast to swing inland right over Perth today.
Well I think its petered out and although the wind is increasing and the sky is looking very dark all of a sudden, apparently its not scheduled to be the roof lifting monster that was once feared. In fact, you can hardly see it on the weather radar.
Good! Being next to the ocean like we are here, we often get storms in the winter and just occasionally in the summer too and we’re well used to be battered by some pretty strong winds, but I don’t want to go through that kind of thing if I don’t have to!
Anyway, yesterday, out of the blue, we had thunderstorms arrive and they left a trail of destruction across the state – north and east of us got pummelled by this thing – causing damage everywhere.
It kind of missed us, we got some rain, lots of rumbling thunder, amazing skies and that was pretty much it.
Well, being the photo happy snapper I am, I had to get a shot 🙂 Cool, huh?
Later in the day I thought we were going to get the most amazing sunset – the clouds were just too thick though, but the skies were still very interesting, even if they didn’t glow and shine like I expected.
One minute it’s too hot, the next, nature decides you need a storm, the next its 38C again and then that very afternoon, a cyclone rolls over. Australia, never a dull moment.
Charlie's World 