Charlie's WorldSummer holiday in England – final part
Posted on September 9, 2014
My time with the kids was coming to a close, so we went back to our favourite place – the woods – for another walk around and one last go on the rope swing.
These woods are a part of me, having grown up there and spent so much of my childhood and teenage years criss crossing every nook and cranny. And for my children to love it as well gives me great pleasure. I can’t even describe.
Summer holiday in England – part 4
Posted on September 5, 2014
The weather was a bit hit and miss, but I found a day that might suit our needs perfectly. It was scheduled to be warm and sunny in the morning and early afternoon, clouding over from the west, with rain in the late afternoon.
So we headed as far East in Kent as you can go (almost) to make the most of the sunshine.
Yup – a day at the beach! Read More
Summer holiday in England – part 3
Posted on August 30, 2014
The kids were a bit bored and we were struggling to think of something to do. As I was looking at the map I had an idea. I’d been reading Topsy and Tim books to Henry at night (books I and my sisters had as children) and one of them involved boats and locks and stuff.
The river Medway isn’t too far away and I thought a little walk along in the sunshine would be good. The kids were all ‘oh, Daddy, do we have to, it looks rubbish’ – but sometimes as a parent you have to be firm. So that was it – Ella had the map, we had a 20 minute drive to where I wanted to go and we were off. It was a lovely day but rain was forecast in the late afternoon, so I planned it so we should be back in good time before risking getting wet. Read More
Summer holiday in England – part 2
Posted on August 26, 2014
One thing I’ll never tire of is walking around the village where my parents live. The kids were relatively disinterested at first, but they soon got into it and we had a blast walking around, looking at the alpacas in the field (there were there 2 years ago too) and also peering at the posh houses. Read More
Summer holiday in England – part 1
Posted on August 24, 2014
Hello dear friends!
Apologies for the brief lull in activity – I’m about to make up for lost time, so bear with me.
I’ve been away, back to Blighty, to the Motherland to see my children.
Doesn’t seem that long ago that they were here in Perth with me.
Time flies.
Read More
England Summer 2013, Final Part – Minnis Bay
Posted on September 14, 2013
My last day with the kids was lovely and warm. We had wanted to go fossil hunting, but we were woefully unprepared for that (I didn’t research enough beforehand) and the organised tours were suspended because the main guy had hurt himself and wasn’t up to clambering about over rocks to show eager children where they could find fossils.
Instead, we just kinda headed for the north Kent coast and winged it. Read More
England Summer 2013, Part 7 – if you go down to the woods today
Posted on September 10, 2013
So, you’ll all no doubt be aware that the woods are my absolute favourite place in the world. I grew up a few minutes walk from there and spent all my free time exploring as soon as I was allowed to go on my own.
So when I go back to see the kids, we have to go there. It’s the law.
And besides, what better for kids than to get outside, go for a long walk, explore, learn some history, learn about trees and animals that live there, hear some stories from my own childhood and generally, well, just be kids, something that is increasingly hard these days.
I love that I can share just a little bit of what I find special and I love that they find it special too.
England Summer 2013, Part 6 – Family
Posted on September 8, 2013
I do like to catch up with my siblings when I’m back – not only cos I kinda miss them (yeah, ok, a little tiny bit – don’t tell them, eh?) but I really like seeing their almost football team sized troup of children.
Ella and Henry love seeing their cousins too. They don’t see each other that often as they don’t live close so it’s a treat when they do get together. Read More
England Summer 2013, Part 5 – Catching up
Posted on August 31, 2013
One of the things that I do miss about England (apart from my kids, of course) are my friends.
When I was growing up as a teen, I had a relatively small number of very good friends that I always used to hang out with. I don’t actually remember how my circle of friends happened exactly, as we went to different schools and colleges, but all I know is by the time I was about 17, I had some really good solid mates.
So one of the things I try to do when I go back to England is catch up. It doesn’t happen every time, but more often than not, I have some time with whoever is around
England Summer 2013, Part 3
Posted on August 18, 2013
I mentioned walking. We’ve done a lot of it so far this week.
Way more than I would normally do.
The kids and I love to do trips out – regular readers will know that we’ve been all over Kent – castles, houses, parks, gardens – we’ve pretty much exhausted it all. Wracking my brains for new ideas, I came up with a cunning plan.
Chiselhurst Caves Read More
Charlie's World 