Starting School

(Warning: Rant ahead!)

If you haven't guessed by now, most of the post on this blog are somewhat out of sync with the real world. This is mostly due to finding time to actually write about things. Some times I get lots of time to write, other times I have to grab a minute here and there when I can. The little man started school back in August (were in Scotland) but I've only just had time to really sit and write about it, even though the blog post has been sitting empty in the draft folder for weeks.

So, getting on to the actual topic of the post, the little man has started school. For most people in the UK it will seem a little late, as he is almost 6 and over a year older than many starting school in England and Wales. This may seem odd for a lot of people but for me it really makes sense. The little man was in no way ready for school this time last year, when he would have been starting school at just over  4 and half. Now, we have friends in England, whose children are the same age as the little man and they are reading and writing far more then the little man is but he is progressing so quickly and is really keen and interested in letters and writing, something he showed no interest in at all last year. Sending children off to school at 4 just seems so wrong to me, they are so young at that age and the little man was defiantly not ready at that age.

Given the choice, I would like to see things go further, more towards the Scandinavian system, where formal education doesn't start until 7 or so. Many may say that's too old but when you look at the system and results, they have some of the best education results and establishments in the world. In also not very keen on the Scottish proposal for nursery to run all day and especially not from 2 years old. Granted I understand how this does help a lot of people who work and will cutdown on child care costs, but I don't see how it puts the child first? I also think the whole "no child left behind" thing doesn't work properly. Ok, every child deserves a fair chance, but children are so different, each has their strengths and weaknesses and some children will be left behind academically, to potentially hold other back for the sake of one or two makes no sense to me. Anyway, its a few years off before we will need to worry about that sort of thing and these things always change, who knows what's going to be happening in 10 years time.

I seem to have go a little off topic during this post! Oh well, its done now.

Dinosaurs!

Over the summer, while we were away on our holidays, we also visited the in-laws in the lakes and while we were there, the Natural History Museums Dinosaur Exhibition came to Rheged, the local exhibition centre. It was perfect timing as the bairns, especially the little man are really in to dinosaurs, and it was also good for us, as it meant we could pack the bairns off with grandma and granddad for the day and relax. 

I don't have many pictures of the actual exhibition as we stayed outside, however they did have one of the models outside for all to see, this awesome T-Rex and hopefully the video at the bottom will play properly, so you can see the animation!

crabbing

One of the highlights of the holiday for the kids was going crabbing off the pier with some of the other kids. We went crabbing twice in the end, once with a big group of kids, about a dozen of them and once a couple of days later with just our kids and one of the other children there, a young girl who the young lady had take quite a shine too.

Crabbing for those that may not know, which until last years holiday would have included me, is basically fishing for crabs, using either a small net on the end of a line or a basket type thing, also on the end of a line. Now there are various types of kits out there, but there are the best kits I think.

There simple and effective, even if they do take a bit more practice to lift out of the water while keeping the crabs attached. Now there was also a lot of debate about what bait to use but on this topic there really is only one answer as far as I'm concerned and that's bacon. Doesn't matter what type of bacon, but bacon is king of the crab bait. Stick it in the pouch and lob it in the water and away you go, as long as there are crabs in the water that is!

With out bacon filled net, we managed to catch more than the others using a basket type affair, and we caught some woppers as well!

The kids really enjoyed the crabbing, although it was yours truly who actually had to deal with the crabs! No-one else would touch them, although they all had great fun watching me chasing the dam things all over the pier when they escaped! Don't worry though, we did release all the crabs back in to the wild after we were done and as close to where we caught them as possible.

If your ever get the chance to do some crabbing with the bairns, go for it, its cheap and great fun, just be careful how you grab hold of the crabs! I'd recommend keeping away from the pincers at the front!

Oh, and have you ever seen a crab drawing?

Now you have!

Millport

While we were on holiday in Millport we managed to see some of the local sights, both in and around Millport and Cumbrae in general but also across the ferry in Largs. Now, Cumbrea is also known as the Island of a Thousand bikes and its a truthful name, there are hundreds of bikes all over the place, in town, on the only road around the island, all over the bloody place! Now, I am not a fan of cyclists, if they had to pay road tax like I do to use my car on the road, I wouldn't mind, but they don't and they still act like they own the place, well, Cumbrea is a hundred times worse, as its not just cyclists but cyclists on holiday! I must have spend several hours crawling along behind cyclists meandering along the centre of the road at a snails pace, completely oblivious to the the fact that there was a car behind them. I think if I ever go to Cumbrea again, i'm taking my car, at least then they would have no excuse for not hearing me!

Anyway, rant over, the island itself was beautiful and peaceful, the local shops had everything that we needed and the kids were more than entertained. We did see some pretty special sights while we were there as well, the main one for us, being merchant navy people, was the PS Waverley, an old paddle steamer, build 1946 and was the last sea going paddle steamer build in the world. The day we saw her, she stopped at the docks right by the FSC centre to take on passengers and that meant that we got a good look up close at her. She looks in pretty good nick for a 70+ year old vessel, better that some of the newer ships we sailed on!

Quite a majestic shot of the old girl

One for scale, that's a kayaker just in front of the paddle.

We also spent some time of the beaches of Millport and if anyone has ever been to Millport, there are a couple of attractions you have to go see, the first being the monster on the beach. This is really just a painted rock, but its pretty well done and does actually look like a monster, at least when its not swarming with children anyway.

Upclose

Wider shot, showing the bay in the back ground

We also visited Largs one day, taking the ferry across the Clyde and while we didn't spend a lot of time there it seems like a nice place, a lot busier than Cumbrea, but that's to be expected. We mainly went across to go to the swimming pools and the Viking exhibition, which are both in the same place at the leisure centre, along side the theatre and pitch and put as well. A bit of an odd combination, but its a small town, so not surprising. I know what your thinking, we live in a place surrounded by Vikings, and we go to a Viking experience when on holiday! Well, the bairns enjoyed it, they also enjoyed the swimming, mostly I think because the little man got given some water pistols by another family who were heading home that evening and didn't have room in the suitcase for them! While we were in Largs we took in one of the other famous sights of the town, Nardinis Icecream. Now, i'm not sure what the real story is, but there are several Nardinis in the town, one in a big building that is also a restaurant and one that's is just an icecream parlor, but apparently, according to a friend who grew up there and also supported by what the icecream lady told us, its the one by the ferry that's the proper one, Nardinis at the Moorings, the other is just named after the building. In reality, I don't actually care, what I do know is that the icecream was very nice and the bairns loved the bright blue bubble gum icecream, which was good as I don't fancy eating it when they decided they didn't like it!

For anyone looking for a little get away from life and civilization, I can recommend Cumbrea and Millport, there isn't much there and not many people, perfect for getting away from it all.