Short News

A few snippets of news in the life of us.

Lena is eating solid food, 3 meals a day now. Parsnip, carrot and potato is well-liked, as is zucchini. She is also quite adept at eating Italian breadsticks. I'll try and add a video over the weekend. At first it was tough to remember to actually feed her 3 times a day (to go from none to 3 times makes a big difference), but I've gotten used to it and she certainly doesn't let anyone forget now.

My allotment is coming along nicely. Except for any leaf crop - the slugs are winning the battle there. I tried to do some work to keep them down on Wednesday, but it's been pretty wet the last couple of days, so I don't know if there's anything left now.

Speaking of the weather, it has been wet this week. Although it's a shame really, I'm not complaining because it has eased my hay fever. I only ever get it in June, so hopefully it will tail off soon. I never had hay fever until I moved to Germany, so I would not be impressed if I find that I have more allergies moving to a new country again. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

And the final bit of news, I saw Queen Elizabeth up close and personal yesterday. Well, up close through bullet-proof glass of her Bentley. Her and her posse were leaving Windsor Castle, heading down to Ascot for Royal Ascot. It was a bit breezy and cool with showers yesterday (Ladies Day, by the way), but I'm sure she didn't get as chilly as we did on our visit. It was pretty nifty to see her, she drove down the Long Walk after our stroll along it. One thing I noticed in the brief pass as she went by is that she has lovely skin. Very nice porcelain grandmother cheeks. I hope all her grandkids appreciate them. And her of course.

And that's the week in brief.

The Long Walk

On Thursday I met up with some of the women with from our NCT class to go for a walk. We met right next to Windsor Castle and walked The Long Walk, a path in Windsor Great Park. It was an absolutely great day, very sunny but not too hot with a slight breeze. Two weeks earlier we were going to do the walk but the weather wasn't so good. They had hummed and hawed about going, but decided not to; I didn't even go to Windsor because I thought it might not happen. So for this time, we decided we would go walking, no matter the conditions. Because it was so nice this first time, I think it was encouraging for us to do it again. The Long Walk was created/built way back in 1680, so we are unlikely to be the first new mothers to have walked it, but we were pretty proud of ourselves for having done it. It's around 5 miles long round-trip, although a lot of information I read about it says it's 6 miles long. I measured it using this handy little tool and it was 5 miles, or just over 8 kilometers. It's absolutely dead straight and the path is in good condition, so it's ideal for strollers. Here's a little picture of us at the turn-around point, which is at the top of a hill. If you squint, you can see Windsor Castle behind us.

A course in the castle

Lena and I are taking a baby massage course. There are 4 lessons and we've been twice so far. She really enjoys getting her legs massaged, but wasn't so keen on her belly being massaged. It's a little group of us and 5 other mothers & babies. I'm going to the class because I like the idea of doing baby massage - I mean, who doesn't like a massage? But I'm going to this course all the way in Windsor rather than something closer because it has an extra interesting feature - it takes place inside Windsor Castle.

It's in the home of the woman who leads the course. No, it's not the Queen. I asked on the first day how many people live in the castle who aren't the Royal Family and she said around 200 people. I was amazed it was so much. They live in the castle because her husband sings in the choir at St. George's Chapel. The choir members are always on call and have to return within 24 hours if called back (say for a state funeral) even if on holidays. So that's part of the reason they get accommodation at the castle. The other people who live in the castle are the clergy members, a few military pensioners and the household staff of the castle. So, it's for very specific people, you don't just see an ad for a free apartment listed in the local paper.

The rooms are quite nice, with the high ceilings you would expect in an ancient building. Lena certainly enjoys the space, and I do get a kick out of going into the castle for some reason other than to gawk around. I did enjoy gawking around when we went with my mom on a tour, but it's fun to be part of the fabric of actual day-to-day life inside the walls at Windsor.