The white cliffs of Eastbourne

Last weekend we ventured down to visit Eastbourne. Both my husband and I had fallen in love with Beachy Head since our last trip.

The bright white chalk cliffs were absolutely breath-taking. The weather was mild and warm; we drove up to Beachy Head in the early evening. I could have happily have stayed there the whole day listening to the waves hit the pebbles on the beach, and gazing out to the white cliffs stretching out to the horizon. Beautiful views of greenery, rolling hills and the sea.

My 3 year old loves to explore, however I wasn’t quite willing to let her satisfy her curiosity of looking over the cliff edge. She did however enjoy racing me up to the lighthouse and running around on the hills. Just then I asked myself, "Is this what paradise looks like?"

We finished the weekend with a 2 hour visit to Eastbourne Miniature Steam Railway Adventure Park and what a delight that was. Arriving at 10am on Sunday morning we were the first to queue. I was wondering if we would be the only ones at the park but very quickly the place filled up with young families.

My little one immediately ran to the adventure playground especially enjoying the obstacle course and various play frames on offer. The one eighth scale locomotives were a real joy to see, chugging around the entire country park. The highlight of the visit was the train ride, “All Aboard” my little on squealed and off we went around the lake CHOO CHOO!

The Secret Lives of four-year-olds

I recently watched channel 4’s documentary The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds. The documentary follows ten four-year-olds as they meet at nursery, exploring how children make and break friendships, share, stand up for themselves and find their place in a new social group.

The hour-long documentary is set in a classroom rigged with cameras and was an absolute joy to watch. It was fascinating to see these little pre-schoolers socially interact with each other and at an unconscious level the basic politics at play within a playground. The verbal insults were most amusing, “You’re just a tiny mouse with a purple toilet,” said a little boy to the girl who wouldn’t let him have a go on the scooter. “I’m going to tell my cat to scratch your face,” replied the little girl. 

Watching the documentary made me think of my time at work. Was the workplace really any different to what is witnessed in a classroom? Sure, I agree that office politics takes place in a more discrete way; nonetheless the behaviours are very much the same. I think of colleagues trampling on each other for a slightly bigger bonus, bosses underhandedly promoting the favourites, the perils of making the right alliances. 

I especially enjoyed the ‘chocolate cake test’, where a very large sliced chocolate cake was left in the middle of the classroom and no instructions were given. Would the little ones give into temptation? And the ones that did were punished retrospectively – that’s not fair. Life at work really isn’t that different from life in the playground, especially when there is chocolate cake involved!

The Mornings

The Mornings

Its 3am and I am awoken by the sound of crying. “I’ve lost my purple alien”, my 3 year old little girl cries in her sleep. I go to her room, pick her up and plonk her in the middle of our bed and go back to sleep.

At 6am I hear my iphone alarm ringing. Oh no, it can't be morning already. The morning continues with me going down and preparing a snack bag and a lunch bag for little ones day at Montessori. What shall I put in her lunch bag today? Surely not boiled egg again, some fruit perhaps. Wait, what am I doing??! There is no time to think...rush rush rush. Just enough time for a quick shower and ready to leave the house by 7am.

Get to the tube station and the noticeboard reads 'severe delays'. Great just my luck, signalling problems once again on the Metropolitan Line! My working day starts at 8am and every morning is a fight to reach the office on time.

I reach the office, its 8.33am. All my colleagues are already seated comfortably at their desks. I hurry over to my desk hoping nobody notices me. Later I grab a coffee and get started on my emails.

As I start pricing a little thought enters my head, 'purple alien', I smile to myself and look forward to getting back home.