Day Three in Devon & a trip to Dorset

After waking this sunny morning, I took the kids out for a walk. We had discussed this the previous night and my daughter was keen to explore. My son was willing to walk a bit so we agreed to take him to have a look at the pool, and then to bring him back with a hair clip for his mother. However, once downstairs we were reminded that a naked swim takes place in the morning and therefore had to have a quick look. But we were given a recommendation, this being to take some windfall apples to the horse who lives down the hill. None of us had the courage to feed the horse with our hands but he ate the apples that we tossed over the fence to him.  After this, we walked back up the hill and my son was left with my wife while my daughter and I continued to explore, which included the pet cemetery and a walk past the solar panels to some fields above Glebe House where we saw some rabbits and sheep.

After breakfast, it was a trip down the coast where we found it a bit windy.  My son and wife were not keen on a walk along the Jurassic beach, so that was left to my daughter and me, though she decided to leave her walking shoes behind.  We had not brought a hammer with us, so our attempts at finding fossils meant breaking stones by throwing one down upon others. We found no fossils, but did make a Stone Age blade which my daughter has kept, and promised not use on her brother.

On the way back, it was a stop at a bakery where the food was excellent.  The chef was a bit abrupt at first, but warmed up later.  The only downside was the toilets which badly let the place down.  Saying that, we would love to return, but probably will not get the time to do so, if we are to see the Jurassic centre tomorrow among other things.

Once back at Glebe House, the kids went swimming in the pool. And when they say that the pool is heated, it is.  We have been to other places with heated pools, only to find that they had a different definition of heated to what we had.  This is the kind of heated that we had in mind, and this meant that we had no qualms with the children staying in the pool for a while.  Though, once they were out, it was a quick trip indoors to be dried off.  The kids rested and read books (and watched a Pokemon DVD) while my wife had a much deserved massage.  And then it was out for food.

When my wife had talked about a trip to Beer for my daughter and her to get a crab sandwich and my son eating something else, I did not think that she met eating in a restaurant. So I was not too fussed about rushing, which meant that everywhere was booked.  We drove to Seaton and my wife started to get stressed about feeding the children. We went to one place to find it was booked, and she decided to go into the Co-op and get some food to eat in our room.  Fortunately she listened to the option of driving through Seaton to find a restaurant and to ring them while in the car.  And so we had a meal at Tandoori Tonight. And the food was quite nice.  No where close to the standards of lunch, but much better than dinner the night before.

Anyway, the kids have finally gone to bed, as must I.

Day two in Devon which involved marbles and no loss of them

Rain, rain and more rain greeted us today.

We had expected some rain today but when we looked at the forecast yesterday, we had thought that this would just involve a few showers allowing us to enjoy the sun shine later.  A bit like yesterday really where it had rained earlier only to be followed by spectacular sunshine and warmth.

But that did not happen. It rained and rained and rained.  So while we would have loved to visit somewhere local, instead we drove for an hour to see some glass blowing. When we arrived in the dismal car park, we found no spaces. It appeared that almost everyone in Devon had decided to come here.  

Starting on the positives, it did have a bit of educational information for the children to learn about glass and they got to was some glass blowing. In addition to that, it has a gift shop geared to kids, and some great machines using marbles.  And it is free. So considering that, it was value for money, but it was not what we were looking for to spend time learning about glass and spending time indoors, especially after an hours drive.  But the kids loved the things that they got, a memory game and a marble each (and big ones at that).  After this, it was a trip to Dartington crystal, which was further away. Sadly, when we arrived, we found out that the trips were all booked, so the children spent some time painting glass instead.  While my wife went shopping afterwards, while we waited for the paint to dry, I bribed the kids into learning things by paying them to find out bits of information. It worked, and they seemed to not resent having to wait.  On the long drive back, bribery was used again, this time in feeding them snacks.

We went to eat later, and sadly this did not come close to matching the superb meal that we had last night at Glebe House.  But we are back now, the kids watching some Pokemon before they get sent to bed.

Day one in Devon

Well, today we have arrived at Glebe House in Devon. To describe the place as clam and tranquil would be an understatement. 

The drive down was a challenge for the two children and we had to ban them from talking to each other at times. Knowing what I used to do to my brother on car journeys, I allowed them to make faces at each other as I would have done so.  (Apparently one took advantage of this.). My wife insisted on driving the first part, kicking me out of the drivers seat, which meant that she got to drive on the 'Road To Hell' but to be fair, things were not that bad with only a few traffic jams. Though once we started to argue, we swapped. This, though was after we drove past Stonehenge which the kids were amazed by. I would have loved to have stopped, but it was raining and there was a huge queue to see it.

When we arrived at Glebe House, we all loved it. The view is amazing and the kids ran to explore the area and also investigated the cows.  And when they thought that we were not looking, they explored the rest of the house as well.  Coco, the dog here, seems to like them as much as they like her.

We did have a drive around the area to explore but failed to bring some carrots back for a horse we met.  Anyway, time for me to have a walk now.

Why Labour will make the NHS worse

In PMQ's this week, the Prime Minister quoted a study by the Commonwealth Institute which has rated the NHS as being the best in the world.  And on many things it is.  But this is actually due to the effects of underfunding on the NHS that has occurred under the Conservatives.

Due to the lack of decent funding in a drive to make the NHS more efficient (which has been occurring since the election in 2010) the NHS has moved up the rankings due to the efficiency savings that have occurred. But this study also rates the NHS as being second from bottom (of the compared healthcare systems) when it comes to health care outcomes.

The thing is that when Labour take power, they will correct the issues with funding in the NHS.  Increasing staff numbers to serve the needs of the nation, as well as increasing staff pay to correct the issues with staff retention.  And that means that costs will go up.  Health outcomes will improve, but this will take time. Which means that based on the measures the Commonwealth Fund use, it will get worse.

But Labour will save the NHS from the mess the Conservatives have left it in.  It will take a lot of time and money though.

Happy birthday your majesty

Today was fun, though the children now are knackered and in bed.  While I went to work in the morning, my son went to play cricket and when told to stop chucking, was good at bowling.  My daughter was not too keen on playing so sat it out.

But on the way back from work, I got to see some of the RAF flypast, the kids having a great view of the Red Arrows, and then they watched it on television as the planes flew over London.  I missed taping the red arrows as I was cycling when I heard them come over after recording the video above.

Later, we went out to the Scouts group that my son is attached to (he is in Cubs) where my daughter and I accompanied him on a powerboat on the Blackwater.  The kids loved the thrill and speed of the ride more than the turns that they took being in charge of the boat!  It was the other way around for me.

Anyway, time for bed again.

The Killing$ of Tony Blair

I have finally got round to watching this documentary which has come highly recommend by others.  And I have to say I am appalled.

I admire bits about George Galloway, notably his testimony in the US when he has been accused of being in the pocket of Saddam Hussein, a man he was admittedly, felt to be too close to.  But this documentary is driven by hatred and is quite biased.  

The main thing it forgets, is that to bring about change, you must be heard. And Tony Blair and the U.K. under his leadership was heard and was listened to.

Galloway slates Blair for his work in Khazakstan, notably after a massacre of strikers there, but forgets to mention that Blair addressed this (and that action was taken against those found responsible).

He discusses the deal with the devil that Blair made with the Murdoch empire which was vital in helping secure public opinion which allowed Labour to do so much by being elected more than once into office. And while he admits Labour under Blair did improve things for many, he glosses over a lot of what had been done to help the nation under New Labour.

He discusses the debacle that was (and sadly still is) PFI without looking at the reasons why it was used, this being to rescue the NHS from the terrible state that the Conservatives had left it in 1997.

He claims that the man who had Labour elected over and over again was trying to destroy Labour.

And he also mentions the Iraq War.  Back then, we had to face several bad choices.  Our nation, under the Conservatives had armed Saddam, and when it came to what Iraq had with chemical weapons, we still had the receipts. If we were to not invade, it would have been to continue sanctions, or allow Saddam to regain the WMD he had used, during the Iran-Iraq war again.  And that ignores the help he was giving to support terrorism in Palestine and Israel which made it so much harder to bring about a just peace.

That was not the first conflict that Blair had taken the UK into.  We had the interventions in Sierra Leone, preventing a recurrence of he violence seen in Rwanda where the world watched genocide take place. We had e conflict in Kosovo, where we backed the side that was felt to be the least bad to prevent a repeat of the horrors seen during the Bosnian War.  And of course, there was Afghanistan, where the Taliban had sheltered the man behind the September the 11th attacks.  We could have left the Taliban alone, and allowed them to continue to oppress women and religious minorities and shelter terrorists, who had attacked the west.

He is however right to bring up issues such as the deal with Bernie Ecclestone, as well as the sale of a military air traffic control system to an impoverished nation with no meaningful air force of significance. The deal with the Saudi's, which ignored the bribery that had occurred, was, in my opinion a necessary evil to try and get them to take some more action to combat terrorism.

In summary, an interesting 'documentary' but on that belongs on channels known for mixing fact and fiction, such as Russia Today, Fox News or Press TV.

Words fail me

Yesterday, we spent time after the street party helping my son with the speech he had to make for his school. His sister, the week before had her speech, this being on why junk food is good for you. My son had an idea of making his speech on his favourite cakes. My wife and I did not think that this was a good idea and made some other suggestions for him.  This included talking about his snails that we had bought for him on Saturday. But he pointed out this would not get him many votes. So we all talked about other options and decided to talk about making science fun. A few years ago my daughter spoke about this and carried out an experiment featuring mint Mentos and Diet Coke. She did well but found herself having to make a speech again, which she did not like.  Since then she has done her best not to win the first round of speeches! My son though has ambitions to beat her.  And he had such a good chance. We taught him about the physics of one of his NERF guns and practised his speech, including a bit on fidget spinners.  And after the speech was prepared we got him to leave everything in a bag by the front door (I wanted it in his backpack).

So today, the day he was to present his speech, my wife was called at work, because he left it at home. All that work...