Harry Potter Studio Tours

Anyone who knows me even as an acquaintance or a complete stranger who has read my post on the Cheltenham Literature Festival will have more than an inkling that I am a huge Harry Potter fan. In my previous post I mentioned being lucky enough to be offered a staff place on an activity week school trip to the Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden, North West London. There are not sufficient superlatives in the English language to describe how excited I was by this prospect. Looking back I feel very sorry for all my friends in my department at work who had to put up with my barely controlled excitement in the weeks leading up to the big day.

I must have been completely unbearable to be around when the day finally dawned. Fortunately for me one of my sixth form students shares my passion and she was joining us on the trip as a helper so I had someone to vent some of my excited energy with. The journey there on the coach inevitably felt like it lasted a lifetime but we finally arrived and I was enthralled from my first sight of the outside of the studios. As a clever marketing ploy or a complete coincidence the two studios where the magic happened are named J and K. (Sorry for the extremely obvious and very poor quality pun, I couldn't resist.)

The education co-ordinator did a brilliant job and was very professional and efficient. She came on the coach and gave a small speech to the students preparing them for what was going to happen and giving them their 'passports'. This was a small booklet that contained a snitch treasure hunt among other things. We had arrived early for our allotted tour time so she pulled a few strings for us and got us on a earlier tour. No a mean feat when you are talking about ninety students and five staff.

I will endeavour not to give too much away so as not to spoil it for anyone planning to go, and I will leave my photos to the end, but I would like to share a few highlights.

The walk in to the Great Hall is absolutely breathtaking. It sent shivers down my spine to be walking on the same stone floor and beside the very tables and benches from those iconic scenes in the film. The huge fireplaces were incredible and placed around the outside of the hall were placed mannequins wearing specific costumes grouped together according to houses, Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The feature of the hall that dominates the scene is the raised platform where the staff table and the lectern from which Dumbledore delivers his start and end of year speeches stand. On this platform are ranged a variety of size appropriate mannequins wearing the distinctive staff costumes.

From the Great Hall you proceed in to the first huge sound stage. This is where the sets for the Griffindor common room, the Weasley's kitchen, Hagrid's hut and Snape's dungeon classroom are amongst others. There are also displays of props from the films such as the golden snitch from the Deathly Hallows, the time turner, Riddle's diary and the Horcruxs as well as a variety of instantly recognisable costumes. Perhaps most excitingly there is the set for Dumbledore's study that you can actually walk in to and get a 360 degree view of. I could have spent a whole day in this part, there was so much there that you don't know where to look and it's impossible to take it all in. I particularly loved seeing the Weasley's kitchen. One of my favourite moments of all eight films is Harry's first visit to The Burrow and seeing the self washing pan, the self knitting needles and the amazing clock that shows the location of all the members of the family. I was not disappointed as this was exactly the scene depicted, complete with the 'magically' moving props.

From this sound stage you walk out on to the back lot, the outdoor space where there are full size facades of number four Privet Drive and their neighbours, the Potter's cottage at Godric's Hollow and also the Knight bus, the Ford Anglia and Hagrid's motorbike. There is also a little cafe and a stand where you can buy a glass of authentic butter beer. I had to try it but it is quite expensive for what you get and it is incredibly sweet and sticky.

After this experience you head in to the second sound stage where the monster workshop is housed. Here you can see how the Thestrals are created, the troll from The Chamber of Secrets and of course the wonderful Dobby. After the monster workshop comes the awe inspiring Diagon Alley which you get to actually walk up and peer in to the various shops. As you can guess as an English teacher one of my favourites was Flourish and Blotts. After this is where there are the final touches that make the tour an even more amazing experience but I shall not divulge any secrets.

After you have finished your tour and head to the exit you are inevitably directed through the gift shop. Here you can buy anything from robes and wands to chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. As you might expect, the shop is expensive but they have a captive audience as these items are unavailable anywhere else except the Harry Potter World in Florida. Here I will make perhaps a very embarrassing confession for a 30 year old teacher, wife and mother. I am now the proud owner of a replica of Hermione Granger's wand. I did also buy a Hedwig hand puppet for my daughter which she loves and my husband did not object to the solid chocolate frog he was presented with.

My friend at work is attempting to organise another trip to the studios for the next activities week this academic year and I have of course already volunteered my services. Although, I would like to go to the studios again without ninety students in tow so that I could take my time and really absorb every detail. Some of the students have a tendency to rush their way through if they are not particularly interested in it and they have only come on the trip as their friends are going and it is better then being left in school. I have promised I will take my husband but unfortunately I've not yet got around to organising it. I would imagine that it gets extremely busy during the school holidays so I am giving a lot of thought as to which school holiday we go in.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite photos:

 

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Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Last weekend I had one of the best weekends of my life. My amazing Mum organised and paid for me to go to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, what I would call my Glastonbury. That should give you some idea of how excited I was. Huge and very public thanks to Mum for doing such a brilliant thing for me, and to my brother Matt and his girlfriend Claire for their wonderful hospitality for the weekend.

Saturday night involved attending a talk/interview given by JK Rowling, one of my literary heroes, on her new novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy.

I had a fantastic view as you can see by the second photo. I had a clear view of the chair on the right and that was the one she sat in. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk, it was really interesting to hear her talk about her writing process, her experiences and her choices and intentions involved with this book. Her answers were thoughtful, detailed and she is a very witty lady. At the end there was the opportunity to ask questions and I was incredibly lucky to get to ask my question. If you have read my blog before you'll know that I am an English teacher in a comprehensive secondary school and also an aspiring writer. You might not know that for a short period of time JK Rowling was a secondary school teacher. I was incredibly nervous to ask my question in front of 600 people and there was the further factor of having to use a handheld microphone and stand up so that she could see you. All her answers were considered and detailed and really showed that she genuinely cares about her fans. I asked her whether her experiences as a teacher were valuable in helping to shape her characters and told her that I wondered as I was a teacher too, and an aspiring writer. To sum up her answer she basically said that 99% of her creation of her teenage characters comes from her own experiences as a teen as she remembers that time of her life very vividly but that she understands that teenagers have changed since her time so the remaining 1% did come from teaching experience. She then asked me how long I'd been teaching so I told her 8-9 years, to which she responded that she had wholehearted admiration for me and the job I do. As you can imagine I was over the moon that I had talked to her and she had been so kind and complimentary. I was shaking and had such terrible butterflies. After the question and answer session we were then able to join a queue to have our copy of The Casual Vacancy signed. Due to the popularity of the event tickets were hard to come by and the three of us, Mum, Claire and I had ended up sitting separately. Fortunately for me; and perhaps unfortunately for Claire; as we left the auditorium our paths collided and we were able to join the long queue together. I have apologised to Claire for my behaviour as I was at best extremely hyperactive and at worst exactly like a giggly, giddy schoolgirl. As you can imagine, the queue took a long time as JK Rowling had promised to sign a book for everyone who wanted and with 600 people in the audience there was a huge number for her to get through. Mum had managed to get in the queue further up as she had been in the balcony seats and the signing was taking place in a first floor room, whereas Claire and I were in the stalls. Mum waited for us after she had got through the line and encouraged me to say something to JK Rowling. Rules were very strict regarding not asking for photos or dedications and only having one book signed but this was for the sake of speed and to allow JK Rowling to fulfil her promise to sign a book for everyone. I mustered the courage and thanked her for her admiration for teachers. As she had been signing my book she hadn't looked up until after I'd spoken but then she immediately recognised me as one of the people who had asked a question and exclaimed "Oh, teacher!" and smiling, reached out, grabbed my hand tightly, shook it and thanked me for my great question. Well, this sent me in to quite a spin again. I managed to say thank you, take my book and walk away with shaking legs and pounding heart. Poor Claire yet again had to put up with my giddy, overexcited and juvenile behaviour as I turned around to her and practically jumped up and down on the spot. Pretty much the same behaviour I had exhibited when I was visiting The Harry Potter Studio Tours and had been about to step in to THE Great Hall! (I was on a school trip at the time and one of the sixth form helpers and I were very over excited and were given very strange looks by the younger students and the deputy head who had accompanied us.) After this we met up with Matt and went out for dinner. I don't think I ever really calmed down all evening, even though I had the glass of wine with dinner that I'd told Claire I needed when we were queuing up for the book signing.

The lady herself.

The next day brought more excitement and more moments of awe and fantastic experiences. After a full English cooked by Matt and Claire, I did mention their wonderful hospitality before, Mum and I had tickets to watch Mariella's Book Show being filmed.

This programme is aired on Sky Arts One and the one we watched is due to be shown in November. The guests she had on this occasion were the very gentlemanly Roger Moore, talking about his book Bond On Bond, Jung Chang discussing her controversial novel Wild Swans and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon introducing his new novel Telegraph Avenue. This was thoroughly entertaining, Mariella Frostrup was incredibly funny and all three guests were very interesting in what they had to say, and the show ran really smoothly as far as I could see. It was incredibly interesting to see a programme being filmed with all the people involved and all the equipment. Seeing the make up artists coming on set part way through filming with all their kit made me think of my sister-in-law, Lynda, who is a hair and make up artist and has worked on lots of tv programmes and films. I felt like I saw a tiny split second of what her job is like. Roger Moore was very frail but that didn't stop him from standing up like a true gentleman when Mariella Frostrup came on set.

As you can see from the photo below, we had amazing seats and had an incredible view. There was no assigned seating so we got in the queue early, although I'll again apologise to Mum for abandoning her to run in to the Waterstones Children's book tent and buying lots of books for my daughter. We were in the second row, right in the middle. There was no one sat in front of Mum as a couple of seats were assigned to camera crew, you can just see the camera in the bottom of the photo, but no one came and that particular camera was never used.


The gentleman himself stepping off the set:

After this we spent some time shopping, I even managed to bag a bargain dress in Coast for a couple of weddings and events we've got coming up, and a leisurely lunch. This was then followed by attending a talk on a recent programmed called Call The Midwife, based on the memoirs of a 1950s midwife in inner city London.

I have to admit I was not familiar with the book or the programme before coming to this event. I of course did the obligatory Google search beforehand. Even with this limited knowledge I again really enjoyed the talk. Kirsty Young was a great interviewer and I really enjoyed hearing from the writer who adapted the book for the small screen and Jenny Agutter was eloquent and articulate. I have even used one of the phrases I learnt from the writer, "sacred moment," whilst teaching my A Level class.

So ended a brilliant weekend. A weekend of many amazing experiences and one that I am going to remember and cherish for a very, very long time to come. I hope I have somehow managed to give you even a tiny sense of the whole fantastic experience and that you have enjoyed reading my account.

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Wedding Bells

Over the last six years I have attended roughly five weddings a year. That adds up to a whole lot of weddings! I love weddings and seeing all the little personal touches that the couple mark their day with, I think it gives a real insight in to them as a couple and it is so special to be invited to celebrate with them and be given this glimpse into their lives. Every single wedding I have been to has been different and wonderful in it's own unique way.

I'll start off with my own wedding. This August we celebrated five years of married life and every time we go to a wedding I always think back to our own day. You could call our wedding traditional in pretty much every sense. We had a traditional CofE church wedding, I arrived at the church from my parent's house in an open top vintage Rolls Royce. After the wedding we had a traditional wedding breakfast and evening reception in a beautiful marquee in my parent's garden. I think the touches that you could say were personal were really the colours, ivory and gold for the service, then adding deep red at the reception. With the help of my Dad and my younger brother we designed and made all our own wedding stationary. The cars were very special as my husband and his father are very in to cars and they chose them, with my supervision of course! We had a chocolate fountain and traditional sugared almond favours. We also had some very special songs played during the course of the night that meant a lot to us and our families. We had very personal readings and hymns at the service and the church has special significance for us. I believe that our day reflected us and our tastes, our values and it was a perfect day for us.

Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our day:

Also this August my older brother Steve and my sister-in-law Hannah celebrated their first wedding anniversary. If you a a returning reader of my blog you will have read the review Hannah wrote on the theatre production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe that they saw as their celebration. Their wedding was definitely very personal to them, there were so many touches that they gave it that really put their stamp on the day. They also had a traditional church service but with the very special extra that Hannah's father gave a sermon. They had a BBQ wedding breakfast at the reception at The Greenwich Yacht Club, followed by a live band, glow sticks and glow in the dark face paint. They laid on a red routemaster bus to transport everyone from the hotel to the church, and then on to the reception. The wedding car was a stretch red Ferrari and all the bunting and decoration for the reception venue was made by the bride's mother. As a couple they are very in to music and have been to a large number of gigs and festivals so all the tables were named after different festivals they've been to and the tickets formed the table signs. Also, the placemats were old vinyls which they had written people's names on and they had tried to match the person to the most appropriate artist or album. Neither of them have a sweet tooth so instead of a wedding cake they had a cake they built out of huge wheels of cheese that they then served as the evening buffet. Finally, they also designed and created all their own stationary.

Here are a couple of my favourite photos from their day:

In the course of all the weddings we have been to we have been lucky to have attended two abroad. Firstly. In August of 2012 we flew out to Malta for a week for the wedding of our friends Mark and Anastasia. It is a recurring theme that all the weddings I'm talking about have designed and created their own wedding stationary. Mark and Anastasia had the theme of Me to You Bear running through all their stationary. Anastasia lost her father a number of years prior to her wedding so she had a very special candle in an engraved glass holder burning in his memory during the ceremony and the reception. The bride's sister and I both read special readings at the ceremony and they also had an additional speech made by a close friend at the wedding breakfast. Something rather unusual happened at the end of the night that has not happened at any of the weddings I have been to either before or since. The groom was thrown in the swimming pool! This wedding was very special to me as I was honoured to not only be asked to do a reading but my husband and I were also witnesses and I was the maid-of-honour. If you read my previous post entitled Creative Writing you will have read a description of the National Wedding Fair. It was for my friend Anastasia that I attended this and my day there with her gave me the inspiration.

Here are a couple of my favourites from the day:

The second wedding abroad that we went to was in August 2011, the weekend before Steve and Hannah's wedding, we were at the wedding of Monika and James in Lodz, Poland. Monika is Polish and this is her hometown so it was really interesting to go there and see where she is from and it was obviously very special to her to get married at home. They had a Catholic wedding service and then a very polish reception with about twelve courses of food, plus a cold buffet, a hot BBQ and copious amounts of vodka. There was a bottle of vodka in the ice bucket on the table at the wedding breakfast instead of wine! There was even a song that if anyone started singing it then everyone had to join in and then down a shot of vodka at the end after the shout of "Na zdrowie!" The best translation to this I can find is "For health" and I apologise profusely to Monika if I have got that all completely wrong. One of what I would consider the most personal touches of the wedding was the readings at the service. I was honoured to be asked to deliver one of the readings in English and I followed Monika's aunt who had read the same passage in Polish. This also happened with the second reading which was sung in Polish and read in English.

You get the idea now of what comes next:

The most recent wedding we have been to was of one of my closest friends at work, Laura and Paul. They had civil ceremony in a beautiful hotel followed by a reception in one of the very grand rooms. One of the most special things about the ceremony was the fact that Laura's friend read a poem that her Mum had written for them. It was a beautiful piece of writing and extremely personal to the happy couple. I have not come across this before, where the reading has been written by a family member. Again, all the stationary was designed and created by the couple and the theme of butterflies and the colour blue that ran through everything was personal to Laura and Paul. All the tables were named after places they have been to and the table signs were photos of them together in those places. The wedding favours were wine glass charms that we were encouraged to make use of during the meal. We were at the Paris table and our wine glass charms were little Eiffel Towers. These are so cute and have been used on several occasions since then at home.

Here you go:

Still to go this year we have two weddings in December and we have already got three lined up for 2013. I am sure every single one of them will be special and unique and a wonderful day.

(All photos reproduced with very kind permission of the brides in question. Thank you very much Hannah, Anastasia, Monika and Laura.)

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The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Guest blog.

Last year I was very lucky to gain an official sister-in-law when my older brother married the very lovely Hannah. This year to celebrate their wedding anniversary they went to the theatre and so I asked Hannah if she's write a guest blog for me. Here it is...

Steve and I have been married for one year now, wahoo! Our anniversary was on Monday 13th August, and considering we were going on holiday soon after, we weren't sure what to do on the actual day. Needless to say we wound up booking tickets to see 'The lion, the witch and the wardrobe' by the Threesixty theatre company at Kensington Gardens!

We arrived at the matinee performance (during the school holidays) and immediately felt that we must have missed the small print specifying that all adults must be accompanied by a child. There were children everywhere. However, the cafe attached to the theatre with its tea, cake and popcorn soon caught our attention.

Inside the circular marquee, we sat around a central bare stage, which gave nothing away about what we could expect from the show, but very quickly the seats became full and a huge wardrobe arose from underneath the middle of the stage.

The scenery was very sparse, but projections on the marquee roof, and cast serving as impressive tree people were a refreshing way to set the scene. The four actors playing Lucy, Edward, Peter and Susan were suitably well spoken, bright eyed and bushy tailed, while the witch at times took on the typical pantomime villain. Sadly, although Mr Tumnus was given a couple of solos, these added nothing to the story and did not enhance his character in any way.

As for the story, it remained largely the same, and it’s questionable whether this predictability or the heat within the marquee, led to us both nodding off a couple of times! The action in the second half picked up though, especially within the scene where the dark side kill Aslan. Had we brought little ones with us I’m sure they would have been hiding behind our backs at this point, but I probably wouldn’t have helped considering I jumped out of my skin once or twice.

However, the highlight of the show was undoubtedly the portrayal of Aslan. Three actors manipulated a larger than life puppet lion with such fantastic precision making Aslan seem very real.

Overall it was a good production, with a 360 marquee making a great theatre setting. So if you get the chance to go to a Threesixty theatre company production I would definitely recommend it (maybe take a token child or two though)...

 

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Creative Writing

As an English teacher I obviously love reading and writing and teaching my students creative writing got me thinking that I miss actually writing original stuff instead of always marking the work of others. With this in mind; a while ago I signed up for a creative writing course that I've been doing in my spare time. Admittedly the moments I get to write are few and far between so I am not very far on with the course. I would love one day to become a published author and I have written a short story that I am going to see if my local area magazine will publish. I'm the meantime, I thought I might post a few of the short introductory pieces that I've completed so far. These are just exercises to see whether I have any ability whatsoever and I would appreciate any sort of comments or criticisms.

This first piece was to answer the task of describing a place I'd been to. I chose the national wedding fair that I went to with one of my friends when she was planning her wedding. I had a brilliant day with her and wanted to try and capture the time spent there. My tutor made me laugh as he commented on the piece that he'd be interested to read a description of that place and event from a male perspective, he imagined that it would be very different! Anyway, here it is:

The National Wedding Show

With an agonising slowness, the queue of visitors snakes its way through the barriers carefully marking the route. The pairs and groups of people all huddle into their coats and scarves, craving any respite from the biting wind that seeks out all exposed fingers, ears and noses. The vast majority of the people waiting in anticipation of reaching the doors are females, women with their friends or their mums. Here and there is a reluctant groom dragged along by his bride, with perhaps an even more reluctant best man in tow.

Finally reaching the doors; handing my ticket to a fluorescent yellow clad marshal who gives it a cursory glance before waving me through. An unexpected blast of hot air breathes life into my numb extremities. Blinking, I am confronted by a wall of uniform white booths laid out in rows reaching off into the distance. There is a group of people ahead who have stopped for a moment to try and absorb the overwhelming sight. Every person who walks through the doors subconsciously does the same thing. Looking across to the side there is a steward who smiles to herself at the sight of the hordes of individuals all stopping and doing the same thing, becoming like a colony of ants leaving the nest.

Starting our walk round the place it immediately becomes difficult to navigate. The rows of booths reach upwards and the thousands of people all pressing in on us make it very claustrophobic and extremely hard to see beyond a metre around us. There is no horizon to focus on or signposts to help. The sounds of happy chatter and excited squeals make communicating very difficult. Everyone seems intent on seeing everything and become so blinkered that they are unaware of anyone else around them, making movement through the packs of people a slow and precise task. The air is electric with a tangible sense of happiness and excitement, every face is smiling and no one seems in any hurry. All the people serving in the booths are on their best sales form, quick to pull you in, slow to let you go.

Turning up a new aisle we are greeted with swathes of ivory, crimson and purple. This is the dress aisle. The women here have changed; there is a tinge of animal rivalry in the air. The desire to find the perfect dress becomes all consuming and blinding. There seems to be elbows and backs and bags everywhere. We negotiate our way through and find ourselves at the back wall. Here there is loud music blaring out from the catwalk show area. Women are taking their seats and talking excitedly about what they might see in the next half hour. As the music dies down and the presenter takes the stage we move away, eager to find a drink and a spot where we might be able to sit down and rest. The heat is beginning to get unbearable.

As we sit down clutching our cold bottles of water I look at my watch. This is truly a place where time loses all meaning and where people are sucked in and spat out again hours later disorientated and suffering from lack of daylight.

My next exercise was to describe three different individuals or groups walking in to a restaurant in a hotel. There are specific word limits for each task so it is interesting having to work to these limits. Here it is:

The Hotel Dining Room

Having shoved the door open with one hand so hard that it banged against the wall, the overweight, bearded man stepped inside the dining room. He clutched his mobile phone to his ear and continued his loud conversation as he strode over to the Maitre de’s desk. As he adjusted his tie and pulled up his trousers he gave the other diners a cursory and dismissive glance. When the Maitre de did not materialise quickly enough the man spotted a waiter across the room, raised his free hand and clicked his fingers loudly, gesturing for the waiter to attend on him immediately. Still discussing his latest business venture at a high rate of decibels the man audibly sighed and shook his head when the waiter did not disregard his other customers with acceptable rapidity and arrive to wait on his every whim. Having given a final tug on his belt the man strode over to a prime table in the window, picked up the reserved sign and casually threw it onto a neighbouring table.

2) With his hand on the door handle; the man took a steadying breath before he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Subconsciously he buttoned up his jacket, his hands stayed on the buttons momentarily before he realised what he has done. Quickly he unbuttoned it again, adjusted the lapels and straightened the ubiquitous red carnation in the buttonhole. He surveyed the dining room quickly, looking for the telltale sign of a matching red carnation. When it was not immediately visible his attention turned straight back to the door and he took a step back in that direction. Having glanced at his watch he calculated the time he had to survive before he could make his getaway. Before he was able to make good on his escape the Maitre de appeared by his elbow. “If you’d like to come this way, your guest is already seated at the table in the corner.” Blushing, the man realised his mistake and regretted his less than thorough glance of the dining room. He lowered his eyes and obediently followed the black jacketed figure.

3) The door swung open and over the threshold stepped a couple in their twenties. Clinging to each other they stumbled slightly on the mat inside and fell closer together, laughing loudly and with utter abandon. The gentleman leaned down and started to kiss the neck of his companion. She, in response, threw back her head, closed her eyes and allowed a slow smile to spread across her lips. Whilst keeping his eyes averted, the Maitre de coughed politely to try and get their attention. Bringing his head up but without breaking eye contact with his beloved, the man tersely stated “Table for two. Room 201.”

“Certainly Sir, follow me please.”

Weaving through the maze of tables the couple never once dropped their physical contact. Even when it meant that they bumped into other diners, resulting in a simmering feeling of animosity spreading in their wake.

Finally, I had to describe Angela's first day in a new job. A purely fictional character and work environment. Here it is:

Angela

 

Nine am. As the second hand ticked passed the twelve; with an audible click, the glass door of the office complex opened and inside stepped a new employee. At nineteen years old, Angela was one of the youngest employees of the insurance brokers. She looked around her; took a deep breath; visibly stood up straighter, and then approached the Reception desk.

“Hi. Erm, I am starting work here today. I was told to ask for a, erm, Natalie Pearce.” Angela spoke quickly, fumbling with the paperwork in her hands to try and find the right name.

“Please take a seat and I will call her for you.” replied the Receptionist smiling brightly at the petite brunette standing in front of her dressed in an obviously brand new plum coloured skirt suit and understated jewellery.

Angela clutched her paperwork and handbag close to her chest and perched on the edge of one of the chairs in the waiting area. Constantly casting glances around her, she leapt to her feet and extended her right hand when a woman approached her who she recognised as the lady who interviewed her for the job. This sudden movement resulted in a cascade of paperwork being poured onto the marble floor along with a few odd items from her handbag. Blushing profusely, Angela scrambled on the floor desperately trying to recapture all her stray possessions. Standing back up she caught the eye of her employer, spotting an unmistakeable twinkle there from the smile spreading across Natalie’s lips. Instantly Angela’s shoulders lowered several inches and an answering smile appeared on her face.

“Come with me and I’ll introduce you to your colleagues and show you your desk.” laughed Natalie, as she turned on her heel and strode off across the echoing foyer, the sound of stiletto heels reverberating around the walls and high ceiling.

After casting a glance across at the Receptionist and smiling, Angela set off after her boss, running a good few paces in order to catch up, whilst frantically stuffing everything back in her cavernous handbag any way possible.

Ping. Imperceptibly Angela jumped as the lift reached the fifth floor of the high rise office building and the doors opened with a loud whooshing sound. Having stepped out of the lift, the sound of phones ringing, filing cabinet drawers clanging and the low murmur of people starting their day engulfed Angela. Couple this with the unmistakeable whiff of coffee from the ancient machine in the corner and it set further butterflies off in her stomach. Having employed the age old tactic of taking a couple of deep breaths, Angela advanced into the room half a step behind the woman destined to become her mentor and friend. Angela smiled at everyone that glanced her way as she made an effort to meet all the curious stares with a friendly, open expression that attempted to conceal the nerves and racing heartbeat beneath.

Having stopped abruptly, Natalie pointed at the desk in front of them and said “Welcome to your personal corner of hell! Why don’t you pop your things down and grab a coffee? Then your neighbour here, Sammy, will show you the ropes. I’ll be in my office over there if you need me at any time. I’ll check in with you later to see how you’re doing.”

“Hi there, I’m Angela. You must be Sammy.” Angela put her bag down on the desk and reached over the shake the hand of the woman who is sat at the next desk over. Sammy put down her steaming mug of a murky brown substance that might be loosely described as coffee and reached over and took Angela’s proffered hand.

“That’s me, the one and only Sammy. My first bit of advice is, skip the coffee if you value your life. I’m immune to the poison now but save yourself while you still can. Now, to get you settled in.”

Angela spent the rest of the morning in a haze of new faces and names, a maze of corridors and offices and a whirl of clients and insurance policies. Angela’s childhood habit of twiddling with her hair as she spoke on the phone, a habit she had been determined to suppress, quickly became evident to Sammy and started off a light teasing that was to haunt Angela for her entire time at the firm.

One pm. Angela’s stomach gave a loud growl and clamoured to be fed. At that moment Sammy glanced up and laughed. “How about we grab some lunch at the cafe down the road? You deserve a break after this morning. I’m really impressed with how quickly you seem to have got the hang of things around here. You seem to have also made a lasting impression on young Adam over there! Not bad for a morning’s work.”

Giggling and blushing, Angela snatched up her handbag and headed for the door, Sammy two steps behind.

 

Let me know what you think!

 

 

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Ghost, The Musical.

I have to yet again apologise for a bit of a blog absence; but I feel that this time I have more of an excuse. I was enjoying a BBQ with friends on the very first day of my summer holiday and had the misfortune to badly hit my hand and break it. For over a week I was plastered to my finger tips and found live very difficult with only one hand.

I have since been seen at a specialist hand unit and have been lucky enough to have my hand put in a splint instead. This has meant that I have the use of a couple of my fingers back, making life quite a bit easier. And I think it looks quite a bit better now than with a boring cast!

Everyone who knows me would agree that I was very predictable with my choice of colour. Unfortunately I return to the consultant to hopefully be signed off the day before I return to work for the start of the new school year.




Anyway, the title of this blog is Ghost, The Musical and that is what I intend to now focus on. I was lucky enough recently to be able to go to the Piccadilly Theatre in London to see this production. And wow, what a production it is. I'll try not to give too much away and spoil it for people but the staging and special effects are phenomenal. Travelling up with my Mum we were talking about what we were expecting and she mentioned that she was very interested in seeing how the dealt with the moment in the film where Sam first passes through the door. We waited and we were most definitely not disappointed. I have no idea how they did it but it must have been through very clever use of lights, psychloramas and good acting. This as not the only example of the excellent special effects, I feel that there were moments of exquisite drama, the way it was staged, directed and acted were entralling. To start with I couldn't get in to it as it felt a little like the music got in the way. There would be a line or two of dialogue and then they'd burst in to song again. The songs were good but at times to start with they didn't seem like they added much to the performance at that given moment. Thankfully this improved quickly.

Both Mark Evans as Sam Wheat and Siobhan Dillon as Molly Jensen gave very strong performances. Their chemistry was almost palpable and really gave the performance an added level and edge. The show was completely stolen by Sharon D Clarke in the role of Oda Mae Brown. She was absolutely brilliant, fantastic comic timing and a real life and presence on the stage. There were many tears of laughter shed during her time in the spotlight.

Special mentions should also go to Craig Stein and Ashley Knight as the subway ghost and the hospital ghost respectively. Both very strong performances in their own ways.

We were seated up in the gods and I feel that this didn't adversely affect our enjoyment of the performance too much. We were still able to appreciate all the details of the performance and the special effects. At £35 I was impressed with the seats.

This is a production that I would definitely recommend seeing but I would suggest that you should have a packet of tissues handy if you're anything like me and cry like a baby at anything sad.

 

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Dinner at The Oxo Tower.

Firstly, I apologise profusely for the rather long absence. June and the first part of July have been truly chaotic months including two weddings; lots of 30th birthday celebrations including my own ; a variety of other birthday celebrations; jubilee festivities and the exam season at work. Hopefully I'll be able to blog more frequently from now on.A while ago my fab husband took me for dinner at The Oxo Tower as a special celebration and it was such a delicious dinner and the service was so exceptional that I thought it deserved a blog. We arrived slightly early for our reservation so we were seated in the bar and served a drink. I decided to begin with style so I had a decadent champagne cocktail, one of their signature recipes. The name of it has slipped my memory but it was one of only about six in the menu and it stood out as an unusual one.

This was followed by an amazing three course dinner. I had a starter of langoustines with an avocado purée, apple and coconut. This was extremely tasty, the langoustines were full of flavour, the apple was very refreshing and there was just the right amount of the avocado purée. Beautifully balanced.

This was followed by a fillet of sea bream on a bed of spinach and accompanied by razor clams with spring onion and a champagne foam with a creamy risotto. The fish was absolutely delicious and cooked perfectly and the risotto was good. I was slightly disappointed by the razor clams. When I found a morsel it was lovely but there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of slices of raw spring onion mixed in which overpowered it.

I have to confess to having an exceptionally sweet tooth so I was in heaven with my desert. Four ways with chocolate. Perfection! Forgive the quality of the photo, as the light deteriorated it got harder to photograph the dishes discretely and I didn't want to annoy other diners by using the flash on my mobile. The chocolate torte, second from the left was extremely rich that even I struggled to finish it. My favourite one was on the far right, the cheesecake type one. The far left hand one was a hot chocolate sponge and the final one was an unusual but delicious mousse with a jelly on the top of it.

We also had a bottle of wine with the meal and found the sommelier to be knowledgeable, courteous and attentive. Our wine was kept in an ice bucket by the bar and he was very quick to top up our glasses when they became half empty. All the staff were very polite, well mannered and discrete. They were friendly and helped to lend the restaurant an atmosphere of calm relaxation. They didn't rush around or talk loudly and they all seemed to have their set role or function. My husband had biscuits and cheese for dinner and there was even a designated cheese waiter who brought a trolley over with a huge selection of cheeses and he was able to give a large amount of detail on each one and offer thoughtful recommendations.

This was the first time I'd visited this restaurant and I will certainly be going there again. I have just got to think of a good excuse for it! The restaurant was beautifully decorated and clean, the view was tremendous, the food was extremely good and the staff were top notch. It was a perfect end to a day of shopping and being spoilt at the Lush Spa.

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Lush Spa massage

Ever since stumbling across it in Covent Garden one of my favourite shops is Lush, the handmade cosmetics retailers. I was addicted while at uni and regularly scoured their newspaper and used the mail order service as there was no retail outlet anywhere nearby and there was no website at that time. Quite a while ago I stumbled across the fact that there are now four Lush Spas in various places in England. I was so excited by this and suggested to my fabulous husband that he might like to buy me a voucher for a treatment for my birthday. He was kind enough to grant me my wish and bought me a voucher for their signature massage Synaesthesia. For more information on all their treatments click the previous link. Synaesthesia is described as "A transcendent multi-sensory full body massage that takes you on a journey you'll never forget. Choose a behavioural prescription that will change your outlook on the world." I was given the voucher in June last year and have only just got around to using it but I wish I had been more organised as it was an amazing experience and a little me time was exactly what I needed.

I booked to go to the spa in London on Kings Road near Sloane Square. Getting there by train was easy but the first snag came when I tried to locate the actual spa. I had been told that the spa was located in the basement of the shop and that when I exited Sloane Square tube station I would immediately be able to see it. This was not the case!! I arrived with enough time to spare to do a little shopping and then thirty minutes before my appointment time I started to look for the shop. I walked up and down and around Sloane Square for about fifteen minutes before I gave up and asked a couple of security guards to help. They pointed me in the right direction but were uncertain as to the exact location. I walked off in the direction indicated and after about ten minutes, when my appointment time was imminent, I called the spa to be told to keep walking and I was about five minutes away. It turns out the shop is about fifteen minutes walk from the tube station and they couldn't understand why I'd been told that I'd see it from the tube station exit. Fortunately I was only a couple of minutes late and my therapist, Holly, was very understanding and reassuring.

After sorting out the payment Holly led me down some very narrow stairs to the spa. This was made up of the kitchen with a large wooden dining table and off this in one direction was a bathroom and in the other were the two treatment rooms. You would never have imagined the rabbit warren that was under the shop from being upstairs. The treatment started by filling out the obligatory health and safety form seated at the table. Holly thoughtfully provided me with a glass of water as I was still rather het up from the dash to get there. After the form Holly sat and talked me through the creation and invention of the treatment, the condition of Synaethesia that it is based on and the thinking behind it. She then pointed out six key words on the wall behind her and asked me to tell her the one that struck me as the most pertinent to me, the way I was feeling and what I would most like to improve for myself and my outlook. This then formed my "behavioural prescription". I had to write the word in a small chalkboard in order to begin to get it in to my mind. This element of the treatment felt rather strange and I was a little amused by it. I was looking forward to the whole experience and knowing the type of retailer Lush is, their ethos and values, I knew there would be some 'alternative therapy' elements. This was then followed by Holly disappearing to set up the room with my prescription and I was pointed in the direction of an old fashioned dresser with lots of bottles on top. These bottles were very Alice in Wonderland like, all different shapes and sizes with paper tags attached with words on them. I was to choose a bottle that had a tag on it that caught my attention but whatever I did I was not to open it and smell it. When Holly came back I told her which bottle and she took me and the bottle down to the treatment room.

I won't give too many details away about the treatment itself as it will spoil the experience for anyone who chooses to have the treatment themselves. The treatment room was clean, neat and warm, with lots of little quirks that were very clearly Lush touches and made the experience all the more original. There was even a shower with towels provided should you wish to shower afterwards if you are not keen on leaving the oils on your skin. The treatment was wonderful, so relaxing and just the experience I had hoped for. Holly was the epitome of the perfect therapist; quiet and discrete; and made the whole thing run smoothly and with minimum of fuss. I do get a bit self conscious that I don't know what I am doing or what is expected of me but Holly gave me very clear but kind instructions and made me feel at ease the whole time. The only thing that I would have preferred was if she had asked me what kind of pressure I liked for the back and shoulder massage. Holly used a very firm pressure that I did find a bit much and not totally comfortable but bearable.

After the treatment was over Holly quietly left after telling me to take my time and she would prepare me a cup of tea in the kitchen. When I went out to the kitchen there was a cup of tea in a china cup and saucer waiting for me. Holly said I could stay as long as I liked; enjoy my tea; help myself to fruit from the fruit bowl and if I wanted to then I could sign the guest book. Beside my cup was also a metal tin with a paper tag on that had the word that I had chosen for my behavioural prescription. This contained a complimentary brand new massage bar that was identical to the one that Holly had used during my treatment. This was a lovely touch from the spa that I am sure is covered in the cost of the treatment but was a surprise and it was good to have something to take away with me to help remember the experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the Lush Spa and I will hopefully be able to go back at some point, although it will be another special treat rather then a regular occurrence due to the cost. I would like to perhaps try 'The Spell' next time as something different and another new experience.

Film review, The Help

Last night I finally got around to watching the film adaptation of The Help. It was a good film in many ways but I did feel there were a couple of things I wasn't so impressed with.

The acting and the setting of the film are both understated and realistic, at no point do you feel that things are staged or fake. Emma Stone as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark and Octavia Spencer as Minnie Jackson all put in performances of the highest calibre. The relationship between the three women grows as the film progresses, just as it does in the novel. The way the characters are portrayed makes their interactions believable and emotive. A special mention must go to Bryce Dallas Howard for her portrayal of the villain Hilly Holbrook, the character that you hate but offers some light comic relief at times. The setting was carefully designed with a close attention to detail. I particularly liked the 1960's vehicles and costumes. The clothes the women wore clearly defined their place in society; black or white, rich or poor; and to see the contrast in colour between the peacock dresses of the white society ladies and the drab grey uniforms of the black help are a strong visual reminder of the division. On the rare occasion that we see Aibileen or Minnie in their own clothes that splash of colour is shocking and makes them seem more real and human somehow.

On the other hand, I found there were a few things that I was not so keen on. This, I am sure, was as a result of having read the book.

If you were watching the film from a fresh viewpoint then perhaps you would just see the positives of it. The narrative voice in the novel is primarily Aibileen, with sections from Minnie and Skeeter. The film was more equally focused on all three women and I felt that this then lost some of the power of the novel through the detailed view you were given of the relationship between Mae Mobley, the white daughter of Elizabeth Leefolt, the employer, and Aibileen, her black surrogate mother. This had the further effect of having to slightly change the ending scene from the One in the novel. I felt this then made it lose some of it's heart breaking impact. A secondary character in the novel is Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter's mother and I found the way this character had been changed disappointing. In the novel she is strong in her nasty traits and impending death does not massively change her. In the film she changes to a great extent and I found this reconciliation of the characters too heartwarming and sickly.

The final aspect that disappointed me was perhaps the most significant. Throughout the novel there is an almost tangible sense of real fear built up through many episodes of near misses and panic stricken moments of hiding the evidence and coming close to being discovered. I am aware that a film is restricted through time and practicalities but I felt the lose of these episodes then did not communicate the fear that surrounded these events to the audience as well as the novel.

On the whole though, I did enjoy the film and will certainly be watching it again. Perhaps if I see it when the novel is not so fresh in my mind I will begin to appreciate it more for it's own merits as a well acted, well scripted film with a strong basis in history but with a human interest approach.

 

Book review of The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.

There are many pleasures in life and one of those is finishing a really good book. I have been known to devour books but unfortunately I don't seem to find the time as much as I'd like these days. Having read the texts I needed to for work I turned to a book I bought quite a while ago that keeps being recommended to me. It's The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. I am sure I have come late to this book but it is one I will certainly be reading again, and trying to see the film soon too.


One of my favourite books of all time is To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee and The Help shares a few of the same themes and settings and contextual points. It is even mentioned on more than one occasion in the novel. The story revolves around three key characters, the white Miss Skeeter and the two black help, Aibileen and Minnie. Three vastly different characters who come together with a common aim. The story that they weave is one of huge differences and obstacles but also the beginnings of the shift in attitudes and a change in relationships. One extremely poignant and heart breaking thread of the plot is the relationship between Aibileen and the seventeenth white child she is raising, Mae Mobley. As a Mum I cannot wrap my mind around having another person raise my child while I played the society lady. I guess it is no different to the staff who raised the children in Victorian Britain. There is the difference that Victorian nannies and governesses were respected and treated with civility and afforded a proper place in the household, whereas the maids in the novel are treated with contempt and disgust on the whole.


Stockett has a quality in her writing that draws you in, creates characters and settings that are alive and breathing and evolving constantly. There are moments of heartbreak and moments of light relief, especially when the character of Minnie is on the scene! The first person narrative voice switches between the three main characters. This is essential in order to build up the threads of the plot and begin to intertwine the stories of the characters but it does at times take a moment to work out which character has taken over the narrative when it has changed. This is the only negative comment I have to say about the book. It is definitely one I'd thoroughly recommend, it kept me interested from start to finish and regularly resulted in late nights and tired days. As a debut novel it is an absolute triumph and I look forward to seeing what Stockett follows it with.

 

Mother's Day

It has been far too long since my last blog. Things have been chaotically busy, lots of illness and also a little bit of a lack of inspiration. My apologies, I shall try and do better in future.

Yesterday was my second Mother's Day and it got me thinking about what was going on last year and how there were similarities to this year. This year was very quiet compared to last year, just my husband and I and our beautiful little girl. Last year it was us and over forty people celebrating our daughter's christening. We hosted the reception after the christening in the pub across from the church; which is a short walk from our house. This year we went back there for a delicious dinner, a special treat to avoid all the clearing up after a roast.

The pub is called The Tudor Rose in Old Coulsdon. I have to say that I really love going to this pub. Last year they were so hard working and accommodating, going out of their way to make everything perfect for us. They are very popular and get booked up very quickly on special days like Mother's Day but they provided a fantastic service last year. We turned up before the pub even opened with balloons and a cake. When we arrived after the service there was a designated area for us clearly sectioned off with lots of seating and tables. They had set out the cake beautifully and put the balloons out too, along with cutlery and crockery in preparation for the buffet. We turned up with over forty people and they coped very well with the pressure on the bar! The buffet they supplied lived up to my expectations, having eaten there on a number of previous occasions. There was a main course and a pudding course and they also supplied a cake knife and plates for consumption of the cake. Being such a popular and busy day they had originally said we had to relinquish the area after a couple of hours so they could turn the space back into a dining area but in the end we were somehow able to keep it for quite a lot longer and moved out when people naturally began leaving.

This year we visited again and I was once again very impressed with the food and service. They were rushed off their feet but seated us quickly when they saw we had a little one with us. The had obviously anticipated being crazily busy as there was a lot of staff working. Service was slow but we didn't actually mind as they were so busy but they were trying their hardest. They had invested in being well staffed and we were regularly approached and checked on. They realised off their own initiative that we had been waiting a long time and approached us apologising and then immediately went to chase our meal up. The food was delicious as usual. Twenty pounds for a three course meal from the Mother's Day menu, a menu that had about four or five options per course on which covered a wide variety of tastes. There was also the option of the al la carte menu if people preferred. As a lovely touch after the meal I was presented with a few chocolates and a discount card for the local hairdressers as a Mother's Day present. The staff were all friendly and thoughtful, working very hard without exception.

As a little footnote, this pub is family friendly and accommodating of little ones. We organised dinner here with our group of NCT friends and they were able to deal with an invasion of ten adults and five babies, with all the paraphernalia that this entails. They didn't bat an eyelid when asked to warm up several bottles and the changing facilities in the disabled toilet are clean and user friendly.

I have thoroughly enjoyed both of my Mother's Days, both the busy and the quiet, and I look forward to celebrating many more with my special little girl.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums in the world, especially to my wonderful Mum.

The goodness in people

Every now and then something happens that restores your faith in humanity. I haven't been feeling particularly negative about the goodness in the human race recently but it was so lovely to have a wonderful experience. A close friend of mine is expecting her first baby in a months time and another friend suggested that we throw her a surprise baby shower. I love organising anything like that so I immediately got excited and started the planning. It has been so much fun to organise this with my friend, all the secretive emails and meetings, the surreptitious note making and texts. We work with the Mummy-to-be and more than once we both had to abruptly change the conversation or quickly hide something. We managed to invite a number of people including friends from outside work and her Mum, and we organised a buffet lunch followed by the obligatory games; including pin the dummy on the baby. Returning to the reason for this post, what struck me about the event was just how much effort everyone put in, and how willing everyone was to give up their time and effort and also contribute financially. We hosted the party at my house and this would usually spell out in large letters the word STRESS but this was certainly not the case. Several guests as well as my co-organiser with her two beautiful girls arrived early and helped with all the setting up and decorating. As people arrived bringing their items for the buffet they got stuck in and set it all out in an absolutely magnificent spread. I was also extremely grateful to a number of the guests who ensured that my house and my kitchen were left in a state of gleaming perfection. I'd turn around from talking to someone and see a guest with their hands in the sink washing up and another, tea towel in hand, drying up. I was even given two beautiful bunches of flowers and a bottle of wine to enjoy. It was such an amazing afternoon and I think the Mummy-to-be was overwhelmed by everyone's effort and generosity.Something I will never forget is the excitement of the big surprise moment and how it felt to be part of that experience. It was an amazing afternoon and it really showed me all my friends and colleagues at their awesome best.

The power of a list.

As a confirmed list addict I shouldn't have been surprised this morning when I had the idea for this post. I was feeling rather depressed and overwhelmed this morning by the 'million' things I have got to do, sort, organise, fix, download, write and investigate. People who know me know I write lists for everything but it took my husband reminding me this morning to realise I should write a list of all the things to do that were overwhelming me. The list was duly written on several sides of the notepad and afterwards I felt much better. I still have everything to do but it had a very cathartic effect.

I know some people choose to write things on the list that they have already done, just so they can immediately tick some things off. I have never been one to do this but I can understand the positive effects of this. Other people I know colour code their lists in order of priority or deadline. Again, not my style. Plain and simple bullet point lists are the way I go. My constant list making does tend to drive my husband a bit crazy at times but at others he admits they do have a place and purpose.

If you are not a list maker then I urge you to try it. It is great for helping to ease stress and improve your mood. It also means that I am generally pretty organised, a state that I enjoy being in. So, with that in mind I think I'd perhaps better finish this blog here and actually start tackling some of those items on my list.

Snow

This may seem like an obvious topic for a blog but I was wondering if people shared my views on the cold white stuff. 99% of me hates the stuff but there is still the 1% that remembers childhood days spent tabogganing on the Epsom Downs. As an adult I find the whole thing so stressful. We have had a box in our car for the last two months in anticipation of being stranded on the roads, even though the winter thus far has been unseasonably mild. Yesterday I was so anxious the whole afternoon watching the sky; waiting to make sure everyone got home safely. My husband driving home from football made it just after the snow started falling. My younger brother drove from Sheffield to Surrey and made it safely even though he drove through some horrendous conditions. I know they both thought I was mad for being so worried but it frightens me when the snow hits our roads, no matter how prepared people say we are as a country.

Today has been a lovely day so far. I don't mind snow when I do not need to go anywhere. We have spent time taking our little one out to build her first snowman. She did not seem to be very impressed with the snow but maybe when she is older she'll enjoy tabogganing like I did. I am sure we'll have snow during many of the winters of her childhood.

Looking towards tomorrow though I am already beginning to get stressed and worried about the journey to work. I am sure it will be fine as it is all beginning to thaw now, but then there is ice to worry about after the colder temperatures overnight. I'll just try and focus on enjoying the snow today with the 1% of me that likes it and ignore the other 99% until the morning.

Preparing for exams, Part Two

I have been meaning to add this post for a while now but I'm only just finding the spare moment to write it. One unforeseen pleasure that writing this blog has brought are the discussions that it is sparking with lots of people on all sorts of things. After I posted a blog in early January about my class preparing for a GCSE exam I had a very thought provoking email from my older brother.

Through my own education and my job experience I can only comment on the students I have come across in a mixed comprehensive setting. General gist of my thoughts was that boys and girls approach exams differently, with the girls taking it more seriously then the boys. My older brother has experience of an all boys grammar school and raised the question whether boys in that setting approach exams in the same way boys in a mixed school do. He then went one step further and questioned how students in a private school approach an exam. Questions to which I had no answers.

As exam season rapidly approaches I am going to be curious to see whether this cohort of students are able to change my opinion.

Living for the weekend.

An old adage that I have been heard to say on more then one ocassion is "You mustn't wish your life away". A sentiment familiar to people the world over I am sure. This is something that I regularly ignore when I spend my whole working week wishing that it was the weekend.

I used to look forward to the weekend to have a lie in, go shopping, see friends and family and spend time with my husband. When you become a mum and work full time all these priorities for the weekend go out the window. Of course I love to spend time with my husband and see friends and family whenever possible but there is a certain very small person that I can't wait to spend lots of quality time with. Now my weekends consist of what I can do with her. Lie ins are a dim and distant memory and my time to rest is once she is in bed and all the chores are done. I am not saying this for sympathy but to explain that this is my life and I love that part of it. I wouldn't have my world any other way. Sunday is family day in our house. Whatever we are doing on that day we do it together as a family. This weekend we are heading to the swimming pool.

On the flip side of all the quality time that we have at the weekend is the guilt that can be overwhelming when I go to work Monday to Friday. Circumstances dictate that I work full time, a situation that I know there are thousands of other mums in. To know I am not alone does not make the guilt any easier to bear. My little girl is in a very good nursery that we are really happy with and she has friends there. When we arrive every morning she seems genuinely happy to be there. This is all small consolation. I am fortunate in my job that I can get to pick her up at the latest 5pm, some days as early as 4pm. I try to always make sure that on a Friday I am there as early as I can manage. Today that wasn't possible and I actually cried as I felt so guilty. I got to the nursery at 4.45 and found myself running up the path to the nursery to get there as quickly as I possibly could. I know she doesn't understand and half an hour makes no difference to her but that doesn't make me feel any better.

Now I find myself in the position of permanently wishing my life away as the weekends are my time with my little girl.