Saturday 4th October 2008

The weather has changed again, and my word is it cold.....last night the temperatures dropped to around 2 degrees and the heating went on, thank heavens for central heating, expensive but vital if we are going to survive this season, that along with our lovely thick fleecy blankets which Simon bought us last week - nothing quite as nice as been cuddled down in a lovely warm house under lovely warm blankets while the rain hammers on the windows and the wind howls around outside.

Makes you think about all those thousands of people in South Africa who don't have basic comforts such as warmth and blankets, at least here the poor are looked after, or at least the government tries to ensure that they are all protected and at the moment poor families can apply to have their homes (council flats) insulated for free, which is a good thing as they say we are in for a very cold winter.

As Megan is studying the Tudors at school this term we decided to brave the weather and head out for Tudor Day at Anne of Cleves House in Lewes. For those of you who (like me) haven't studied English history, Anne of Cleves was Henry VIII's fourth wife, and one of the ones who he divorced....remember the saying, "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived", well this Anne was one of the lucky ones.


We had a lovely morning and Megan, Phillip and Meg's little friend Shannon had great fun "experiencing" life as it was in Tudor time, complete with spinning on a spinning wheel and then on a spindle, which kept Phillip entranced for ages. Being able to experience days like this is one of the true treasures of living here, imagine spending the day in a house which is over 500 years old and is still held together by the original wooden beams, absolutely awe inspiring. We have promised Megan a trip up to Hampton Court in November as that was one of the main homes of Henry VIII and these trips so help her with her studies and makes the history come alive.


Tonight is pizza and strictly come dancing and tomorrow is a nice lazy day at home....gotta love the weekends, so nice to have Si and the kids at home!