The love of a good cow ball

Home Again

Fowey

We stayed at the Captain's Cottage in Mixtow on the Fowey Estuary. This is the setting which inspired the Wind in the Willows and is where the man who Ratty is based on lived (...can't remember his name). A nice setting for a relaxing holiday and some tasty coastal walks nearby (pic of Sophie tasting one). I had fish'n'chips nearly every day (The Lugger Inn in Polruan does the best). Nearly everyone in Cornwall has a little St George's Cross flag on their car ... he's the Patron Saint of Portugal.

Dan Bleazard

...... a cheerful little fellow.

One for the family album

Better than a quarry

We went to the much-hyped Eden Project which is OK but not terribly inspirational. It almost seems they think that plants are, on their own, boring, so have tried to spice things up with aerial slides, corny quotes about man and the environment on every corner and even a football skills area. Perhaps I’m being unfair; it does have lots of good plants although the layout is somewhat pedestrian. It’s catchphrase should be “Well … it’s better than a quarry”. Personally my favourite U.K. Millennium Project was the dome.

Mike - football expert

Last season’s Fantasy Football league ended with Mike as the outright winner. He is pictured receiving his cash prize from the competition organiser at a small informal ceremony in his back garden in Cambridge. Mike has kindly donated this money as a cash prize to the World Cup Fantasy Football league which he is currently leading by a country mile.

Four Generations

We stopped off in Birmingham to visit my Great Auntie Gertie. She’s 90 in August.

Lottie hates holidays

Lottie throws up whenever she gets in the car to go across town, so the prospect of driving her all over England was somewhat daunting. She hated being in the car, even when knocked out with doggy pills. In fact she hated most of the holiday, particularly the Cornwall bit, where she spent most of the time in her basket or under the bed. Her highlights were eating Cornish pasty crusts and seaweed (pictured) and arriving home.

A good rest

There will be no activity on this blog for two weeks as we are all going away for a good rest. This rest will be achieved by squeezing a baby and dog into a hot car and driving from Harwich to Cambridge to Cornwall to Birmingham to Manchester to Scarborough to Manchester to Harwich. See you fully rested in two weeks.

Who's that bloke following me?

Thanks for the hat Emily.

Wadlopen

Company team "awaydays" can be turgid affairs. Usually you're stuck in some local hotel and encouraged to discuss work-related issues. This time though our team decided to go and walk across some mud from the mainland of Friesland to the offshore island of Schiermonnikoog. This peculiarly Dutch activity is called "Wadlopen"; just type it into Google and you'll get pics of beardy-types with long sticks walking over sandflats. Anyway, apart from the sunburn, it was a great day out and not a whiteboard in sight. Nice one Raoul!

Just growing

Not too much going on here. Just baby stuff.

Spot the difference

John has a professional approach to photography while Amy and Sophie opt for a more natural look. Enlarge the right-hand image for maximum effect.

Trimingham

We all had a very restful weekend in Norfolk visiting family. Sophie had big smiles for everyone, especially her second cousins Megan, Erin, Faren and John. Thanks to grandma and grandpa's babysitting and taxi service we were also able to enjoy some culture in the form of beer and fish 'n' chips.

Sophie's highlight was surely the bath in the kitchen sink ...just like the old days. I'll spare her the indignity of publishing that particular pic.