Birthday celebration

I had a lovely birthday weekend a couple of weeks ago, and felt very spoilt as the celebration extended over two days!

On the Saturday, we visited Lacock Abbey, a National Trust property in Wiltshire. Some of you may know that some scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed in parts of the old abbey. The cloisters were used, and one of the abbey rooms served as the potions classroom in the early films. At the time of filming, one of our friends was the house steward for Lacock and had to admonish Alan Rickman for repeatedly bursting through the ‘potions room’ door! (The repeated impact was causing damage to the ancient wood.) All of this was highly entertaining fare for our kids, of course.

Despite the fact that the weather was wet and miserable, we had a great time at Lacock. The house itself is beautiful and exemplifies several different periods of architecture. The abbey was also home to pioneer photographer William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1800s, and so there is an interesting photography exhibition on site. The National Trust owns not only the abbey, but also Lacock village, which we thoroughly enjoyed wandering round. We especially enjoyed the opportunity to explore inside one of the ancient houses in the village (currently a gift shop) and to visit the old tithe-barn, which is particularly impressive. We also enjoyed lunch (and tea) in the NT café – the food comes highly recommended.

On the Sunday, we ate out at a local Thai restaurant – the Zabb Thai in Abingdon. The food was delicious, the venue small and intimate, and the owner very pleasant and friendly. I would definitely recommend the Zabb Thai for all lovers of Thai food out there. And the kids loved it too!

Theatre, lunch and a dedication ceremony

We had a busy and fun-filled weekend last week.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to see Hetty Feather at the Oxford Playhouse. It was our youngest daughter who was so keen to see this, being a firm Jacqueline Wilson fan, and we weren’t altogether sure what to expect. However, we all enjoyed the show. It was very imaginatively produced and rather acrobatic, with actors making full use of ladders, aerial ribbons, and an aerial hoop, which is always impressive to watch. The only downside was the amount of whispering and sweet wrapper rattling during the show. Inevitable, I suppose, in a theatre full of kids.

On Sunday, we were invited to a dedication celebration for a friend’s baby. This began with the dedication ceremony, which was part of the regular Sunday morning service at Trinity Church in Abingdon. Trinity is a Methodist/United Reformed church and one thing I didn’t realise was that the hymns sung by Methodists are different (or at least were different at this service) from those sung in a traditional C of E church. I enjoy hymn singing, so was rather disappointed that I didn’t recognise any of the hymns! Never mind.

The service was followed by a lovely three-course lunch in the Barn – the function room at Abingdon’s Crown and Thistle Hotel. This was very enjoyable. The Barn was beautifully and sympathetically restored, with lots of lovely old timber and fairy lights wound around all the wooden struts – very pretty! The food was excellent too. I had pumpkin soup, salmon, and a kind of Eton Mess with cherries, all of which were delicious. Highly recommended!

University pay discrepancy

There was an interesting article in the news last week about pay rates within the university sector.

We learnt that vice-chancellors at UK universities received average salary packages of £272,000 last year, marking an increase of £12,000 on the previous year. We also learnt that thousands of pounds more were spent on hotel accommodation and flights for vice-chancellors, with 50 per cent of flights being either first or business class.

The justification? 'The salaries of university leaders in the UK are ... comparable to similarly sized public and private organisations,' according to Universities UK.

Fair enough, you might think. But hang on a minute. What about those working at lower levels in UK universities? They certainly do not receive salaries comparable to people working in similar roles in the private sector. When entering the university sector, you do so in full knowledge of the fact that your salary will be lower than those working in similar roles in other sectors. It's just part of the deal. And there is absolutely no question that you will travel anything other than economy class, wherever you go -- assuming that your department has the budget for you to travel anywhere at all, that is.

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said: '[the University's] research output is vast, it has more than £1bn a year in turnover, not including the colleges and Oxford University Press, and it has great institutional complexity. The vice-chancellor's salary reflects that.'

All of this is true, but it is no justification for the VC earning so much more than the University's other employees. After all, all of these people need to navigate the institution's complexity in order to do their jobs. And, let's face it, it's not the VC who brings in the research income or balances the University's books -- it's all those hard-working academics and administrators who are committed to their jobs, despite their pay being (often much) less than those working at a similar level in other sectors.

Clothes shopping and changing fashions

I am a creature of habit when it comes to clothes shopping. Once I've found a shop or product that I like, I stick with it. I don't enjoy searching for clothes, so this is a good solution for me.

However, what this means is that, when things change, I find myself rather at sea. Years ago, I used to buy work clothes from Laura Ashley, but then our local branch closed, and I had to find something else. I liked the Per Una label at M&S while it lasted, but after a few years it all but disappeared. My local branch of Monsoon closed recently, giving me yet fewer options for clothes shopping.

And now the same thing has happened with underwear. The only bras that you seem able to buy these days are like armour -- underwired, padded, moulded, you name it... Whatever happened to nice, soft, comfortable underwear? Surely I'm not the only person who thinks like this?!

Time and time and time

Like many parents, I can’t believe how fast my children are growing up. Remember how, when they were babies, everyone said: ‘Enjoy it while you can – they grow up so quickly!’ You don’t believe it at the time, of course, when you simply can’t see beyond the feeding and the nappies and the nights…

But, I can testify that it really does go fast. And this was brought home to me with a bang this week when I attended my eldest’s GCSE information evening. She makes her GCSE choices in just a few weeks’ time – how on earth did that happen?! I then did a quick calculation and realised that she would be leaving home in just over four years, which is simply stunning.

In another two years, both my children will have left home and my husband and I will have to find new (or rediscover old) ways of filling our time. By then, we will both be in our fifties – something else which I find very hard to believe…

Shopping in Newbury

We took advantage of the good weather last weekend by visiting Newbury for a family shopping trip. We had been there years ago but couldn't really remember it at all. We were pleasantly surprised.

There is a new, open air shopping area in the centre of town, which is very pleasant. We visited John Lewis (very useful), New Look (for the kids), Marks and Spencer (useful again) and Waterstones (looking to spend our Christmas book tokens). All of these are staple shops, of course, but they weren't too busy or crowded, which made the shopping experience much less stressful than usual. The modern, ‘industrial look’ architecture was also easy on the eye, making the shops seem unusually spacious and clutter free.

We had lunch in the Waterstone’s Café, which was a good experience. Very friendly staff and locally sourced food, which is always a bonus. Again, there were just a few tables and it wasn’t too crowded, which meant that we were able to enjoy a relaxed lunch. There was also a very nice-looking Paul up the road (with café prices that weren't too steep), but that unfortunately was full, so we couldn't give it a try.

On the way back to the car, we had a quick wander round the older parts of the town. The town hall looked interesting, as did the church and riverside walk. We didn't have time to explore these places, but I think we might plan another trip to Newbury in the near future, this time focussing on its history and culture.

Back to life, back to reality

My family and I had a lovely Christmas break -- almost two weeks with no work and lots of time just to enjoy ourselves. But that seems plenty and, in some ways, almost too much. There's a danger with having a block of time off work -- that you find you don't want to go back. If you're in non-holiday mode, accustomed to the rhythm of work, then you don't really think about what you're doing, you just carry on as usual. But if you fall out of the habit, then it's hard to get back in to it. And the more you think about returning to it, the less appealing it becomes.

So, perversely, I feel rather relieved to be returning to work (even though I'm not looking forward to it much at all). After all, I know that it'll be much more enjoyable when I'm actually doing it!

There's something strangely surreal about holiday time. And there's something to be said for the routine and banality of  everyday working life.