Day 579: Prince of Penzance

24/02/2023

On Monday, Eloise was super excited as Jeff Bezos delivered her new pair of scissors. Just like Super Mum, Eloise now has her very own “special scissors” that no one is allowed to use, repeatedly telling Lachlan that he is not allowed to touch them because he is a “little baby”. Luckily Lachlan has not been too phased by them as he is going through a mad dinosaur craze, he takes them everywhere.

On Monday it was announced that “England’s women and men will both play friendly matches against Australia in London this year. The women’s team will take on the Matildas at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium on Tuesday, 11 April. The Socceroos will then face England’s men at Wembley Stadium on Friday, 13 October”. Jane and Ali, book your tickets!

Tuesday was another day for Lachlan to play with his dinosaurs, building them enclosures to break out of with a big “roarrr”. This was followed by dinosaur books in the evening while Eloise was at dance.

It was confirmed that we must drink too much Costa Coffee as they have opened a new store around the corner from our house.

Wednesday was a beautiful day, our favourite weather, those crisp cool, bright blue sky days. Although on our walks we still have to make sure Lachlan is rugged up. We had to return to the library at lunchtime so Eloise could also borrow a book.

Wednesday night, while reading Eloise her bedtime books she decided that she had had enough of her bed rail and we removed it. She was so thrilled it took her a bit longer to get to sleep as she was chuckling to herself and hugging the wall.

Buzzing after the Australia/ England football announcement earlier in the week, the “Matildas defeat Jamaica in final Cup of Nations match to retain trophy”.

After the initial excitement, Eloise had a great night’s sleep and did not fall out of her bed. Lachlan celebrated with her by doing a classic Xavier bed launch.

The only downside from those crisp blue mornings is that there are no clouds to hold what little heat there is in, meaning, the ice scrapper is back.

With the somewhat turn of winter and spring fighting to get through the clouds, it is close enough to call it, it is officially Brompton season again! It was good to be back on the bike after the Tour Over the Top.

At work on Thursday Liam was spoilt by Kirrie and Max who had got him a belated 30th birthday present, a bag of every type of Irn-Bru sweeties. The kids were obviously delighted by this.

Turns out it has been quite hot in Adelaide, “fire authorities call in extra water bombers as South Australia swelters through heatwave… Adelaide and other parts of the state facing a second consecutive day of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius”.

This morning started with some baking and a run around the block while eating said baked goods. With the sun shining, and bulbs popping up all throughout Glasgow, the kids were keen to plant their own flowers in our backyard.

At midday, HMS Penzance and the Royal Navy treated us to an unclass tour of the wee ship before it is decommissioned. The ship looked extra small docked next to the MS Ambition cruise ship, “the MS Ambition has been chartered by the Scottish Government to provide accommodation for up to 1,750 [Ukrainian refugees] in 714 cabins”.

It was a fantastic tour and was fascinating to see the incredible gear, hear how they deal with naval mines and their stories of crazy sea states in a glass-reinforced plastic hull with no stabilisers.

HMS Penzance is a Sandown-class minehunter commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1998. She is named after the seaside town of Penzance in Cornwall, and is the fourth vessel to bear the name. In 2020 Penzance deployed long-term to the Persian Gulf, operating as part of 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron from HMS Jufair in Bahrain. In this role, crews for Penzance rotate every four months. In April 2021 Penzance was involved in a collision with HMS Chiddingfold in Mina Salman, Bahrain. Both vessels remained afloat and were able to berth safely. Penzance returned to U.K. waters from the Persian Gulf in the summer of 2022.

Prince of Penzance is a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 2015 Melbourne Cup. He was trained by Darren Weir. In the race, he was ridden by Michelle Payne, who became the first female jockey to win the race.

In the afternoon, Lachlan was still not happy I had gone riding without him yesterday and he chucked on his helmet.

We dusted off Eloise’s bike and then had to pull her seat up, she has had a growth spurt or two since she was last pedalling her little heart out around Mugdock Reservoir with Grandma and Grandpa Nicholls running behind. Once Roo was strapped in it was all systems go.

Now that Eloise is that little bit higher it was much easier for Super Mum’s back.

Eloise was brilliant at pedalling and even better at ringing her bell. She still has a bit of work to do with the steering as she will happily pedal straight into a hedge while constantly ringing her bell to make sure it works.

We made it home in good time with plenty of light to clean the bikes and dash down the slide before books in bed. Eloise is very happy that with the rail gone, Dad now fits.

Friday was a special day in Scotland as “Flying Scotsman steam train celebrates 100 years. The iconic Flying Scotsman steam train first entered service 100 years ago today. It broke records by hauling the first non-stop London to Edinburgh service in 1928 and became the UK’s first locomotive to reach 100mph six years later. Considered the world’s most famous steam train, it has amassed crowds worldwide during tours throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. An event at Edinburgh Waverley marked the occasion with dancing and poetry”.

Flying Scotsman is a Pacific steam locomotive built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley… The locomotive set two world records for steam traction, becoming the first steam locomotive to be officially authenticated as reaching 100 miles per hour (161 km/h) on 30 November 1934, and then setting a record for the longest non-stop run by a steam locomotive when it ran 422 miles (679 km) on 8 August 1989 while in Australia. Retired from regular service in 1963 after covering 2.08 million miles, Flying Scotsman enjoyed considerable fame in preservation.