Conversations through the middle

Life from a (slightly) more mature perspective

Legoland, Windsor – review

My days of stepping on Lego are long gone now Dot has reached the grand old age of 11. She’s into her computer, DS, phone and ipod, and the Lego alas, like the dollies, cot and pram have been relegated to the cupboard, I suspect never to be played with again.

So I was a tiny bit apprehensive about our trip to Legoland – would she like it or would she find it too babyish? Well, she loved it.
From the moment we arrived – Dot and her friend, who we took with us, never stopped running around, exclaiming at the different rides, chatting excitedly and frankly leaving the OH and me trailing behind wondering why we no longer have that wonderful childhood oomph that propels you through hours of play without needing a rest.
The girls drove lego cars around the driving school, earning their Lego licences in the process; they took a battery powered boat around the Boating School lake; zapped baddies in the new Laser Raiders ride and braved the rapids of Viking River Splash. Like me, Dot is not into scary or fast rides so OH went on the Jolly Rocker and Pirate Falls Dynamic Drench with Dot’s friend – this was too much like Splash Mountain at Disneyland for me; I went on that once and screamed the entire time, never again. 
I was also allowed to accompany the kids on Spinning Spider, which is like spinning teacups. (Why do children go through a stage of being embarrassed by their parents?) What a laugh – we turned the wheel so fast we whirled round continually and I found it difficult to stand straight afterwards, my head still spinning.
The girls of course were fine and strolled off to find the next ride.
Just one thing – the queues! It was a lovely day and it is the summer holidays so it’s no surprise the park was busy, but oh the time we spent waiting in line. One hour here, 1.5 hours there, and so on. We didn’t get to see everything because of the queues – though we could have rented a Q-bot to book a time on the rides for £15 per person. And that was just to avoid standing in line, even with a Q-bot you still have to wait the same amount of time as other people, just not in the line. Unless you pay £40 each, which cuts waiting time by 75%, or £70 each, which cuts waiting time by 95%. That’s each!
We waited in the queues.
Be prepared to spend money when you’re there because though most of the activities are included in the ticket price, some are not; then there’s face painting and hair braiding, fairground games and of course souvenir shops.
I noticed lots of people had picnics with them, which was a great idea I didn’t think of. We were going to eat dinner in one of the restaurants (at the moment you receive a free children’s meal with every adult meal bought after 4pm) but in the end the girls decided to spend what time there was left before the park closed queuing for another ride.
 
Best bargain of the day? If you buy a Lego cup of soda for £6 (cola, orange or lemon/lime) you get free refills for as long as you can drink them – which with our two was all the time we were there. They drank constantly. It’s a wonder they weren’t running around the ceiling when we got home.
  

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Here kitty, kitty

This is our cat, Socky, he is quite a looker I’m sure you will agree… this photo was taken with a wide angle lens and Socky had his nose right in the camera. Rosie, his sister, is on the ground laughing behind her paw.

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Olympics 2012 – dressage at Greenwich Park

Zara Phillips and High Kingdom on top form for the dressage at Greenwich, Olympics 2012
 
I have never seen such beautiful horses. Of course they’re all beautiful in their own way but these are a cut above – toned, muscled, immaculate and majestic sports powerhouses that effortlessly glided around the Greenwich arena.
Yes, Dotty and I were lucky enough to be at the dressage on Sunday and boy, was it brilliant. For those people not into horses or equestrian sport, dressage can look a bit tame – where’s the blood rushing excitement of the cross country fences or the sharp intake of breath when a horse clips a fence in show jumping? Dressage isn’t like that – what you see magically conceals the skill and physical effort of both horse and rider happening right before your eyes, the discipline of years of training, sweat and tears; it may look tame to you but that’s because the horse and rider are so fit and at the pinnacle of their sport, that they make it look easy. Believe me it’s not.
As anybody who has struggled to get their horse into extended canter, to execute a flying change, even to leg yield in my case – God it makes your thighs ache – will tell you, dressage makes you sweat. Using different parts of your body individually – legs, seat, hands, shoulders – yet together at the same time, in a series of movements that communicate to the horse what you want, is a feat of mind over matter and not easy at all. 

Riding hats off to all those combinations taking part – they were all brilliant. High points for us were seeing Zara Phillips who is just fantastic, and Tina Cook who had to perform her test under lashing rain and wind – horrific conditions for any rider and the dread of many riding lessons. 
Horses are not machines, they are flight animals and as such will follow their instincts if frightened, to flee, so it’s testament to the horses’ training and riders’ skill that despite the awful weather during much of Sunday spooking was kept to a minimum. 
At one point the plastic roof topping one of the judges’ booths was flapping about in the wind, about to fly off – it was repaired otherwise it would have been chaos in the arena! The worse spook I saw was caused by a camera operator who turned one of the TV cameras towards a horse just entering the stadium and even then it was mild. I’ve suffered worse out on a hack.
Tina Cook and Miners Frolic up for their test just as the heavens open
Tina Cook and Miners Frolic salute in the driving rain
Despite the fact that Dotty and I were soaked to the skin – twice – we had a great day. It’s something I’ll remember forever and hopefully a day that Dot will look back on with affection in years to come. Her first Olympics and her special time with her horse-mad mum.

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Pretty little things – Water babies

This is my entry for the Pretty Little Things linky that this week is hosted by Love From Mummy. I know Dot is 11 now but I love this photo I took of her playing in the paddling pool at our house in London, she’s so cute and 14 months old. Not at the toddler tantrum stage and certainly nowhere near the nearing puberty hormonal stage we’re at now. She hasn’t changed at all!

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