More excitingly, I decided we should all have a day by the seaside, and booked us a hotel and stuff. It's just after Valentine's, and the first day of Mycroft's half term.
The hotel I chose just happens to be attached to a little coffee shop, who have their own roastery locally. Obviously that didn't influence my choice. At all.
Sherlock immediately began looking things up - last time we went he was, in his words, only 'small'. And not quite so quick to Google everything. He has found this:
It's the old electric railway, which ran up on stilts to keep it out of the sea. It was nicknamed 'Daddy Long Legs'. Sadly it doesn't exist any more, which Sherlock is currently protesting wildly about. We've said if the weather is okay we'll go and try to find the tracks in the rock.
The weather hasn't been okay for the past 18 months, so... not much of a promise.
Our sofa arrived, and has been thoroughly tested now - it's good. Comfy, long enough to lie on, big enough for us all to sit on, the cushions have been approved for fort-building.
And now I've got paperwork to do, and a husband who probably needs a mug of tea, and a Sherlock who apparently needs a hot milk and an ice cream...
Also, there's a Tube strike starting tomorrow. Sherlock is very excited, because he is inventing places he needs to go which will require him to go on the back of the bikes. So there's two public service announcements in one - Tube Strike, Excitable Young Boy On FME's Bike.
109 comments:
It was a train but it had to have a sea captain on it and a lifeboat and I wish it was still there and I wish we still had trams.
I wish it was still there too, Sherlock. I'd ride it!
today we did an experiment and it all fizzed up and went colours and it was good.
Was it supposed to do that?
YES! It was pink and orange and blue and green
Pink and orange and blue and red, I'm going to chase you up the stairs to bed...
Oh, right, Science Week! That sounds like a fun experiment.
Night night, Sherlock!
(Brighton sounds fun, too. ;))
Sometimes I wonder when we should let him stay up later...then I remember most kids his age go to bed about 3 hours earlier than he does, and I wonder if we're doing some sort of horrible harm to his brain by him not getting enough sleep.
Then I remember if we put him to bed at 7, he'd probably be awake again at about 2am...
Better he not learn that it's hard to fall asleep by putting him to bed too early, I'd say. You seem to have found a reasonable balance for him.
Hmm, except he keeps pushing for an even later bedtime! Little rascal. I think we need to tire him out more.
May fit a wheel to his bedroom wall...he can run with the goos.
Oh, well, most kids push for a later bedtime, no matter what time it's set as--I know I certainly did! It's worse for teens, most of whose natural sleep cycles shift later (so they'd naturally stay up into the early hours and sleep most of the morning), but whose school schedules don't shift to match.
We used to have one of these at the playground at school. I think it was the most popular toy, and wore the kids out enough the adults loved it as well!
https://www.google.com/search?q=human+hamster+wheel&newwindow=1&sa=X&tbm=isch&imgil=_V9MlOlHmQbAiM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcTBUmNk0fKpz3O28yLssWzEKgKntDCBwIQhZpEoT2d7MukDn1W4%253B333%253B500%253Bhs5d6CVqHFLjHM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fhackedgadgets.com%25252F2006%25252F07%25252F24%25252Fhuman-hamseter-wheel%25252F&source=iu&usg=__u2O9kwXIbPoUOnyb-8CzA2p-RGA%3D&ei=JCzwUqj_DY3roATPx4HICA&ved=0CFQQ9QEwAw&biw=1440&bih=797#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=1au_mkZIzj7jRM%253A%3BcnSBKaPjeiwrkM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fajpadilla.files.wordpress.com%252F2013%252F01%252Fmaag-human-hamster-wheel-bev.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fajpadilla.wordpress.com%252Ftag%252Fhuman-hamster-wheel%252F%3B5184%3B3456
Sorry the link is so long, I don't know how to make it shorter.
I think Mrs N needs about five of those at school...
I imagine they could power most of the school with them. Very eco friendly
Maybe most of London.
I found the ordering of your tags fairly amusing. Possibly more amusing than is warranted.
Good eye, Kestrel. It is amusing. And I missed it.
Hey, the first time I thought about arresting him turned out very well!
JOHN LESTRADE A PERSON IS BRINGING IN REAL LIVE BIRDS OF PREY AND AN OWL AND WE'RE TOUCHING THEM AND THEY'RE GOING TO FLY AND EVERYTHING and Mrs N says the people let us go to the cricket club to watch them fly and it's tomorrow and it's going to be the best thing ever and maybe we can even hold them and everything
Wow, Sherlock, that is really awesome!
S
Wow, Sherlock, definitely exciting! Birds of prey are so fast and graceful, I wish I could see them up close, too, but I'll have to make do with your report.
That is probably worth all the caps lock. Sounds amazing, kiddo. We won't feel at all worried trying to follow that on our day...
I sort of wish I was going along...
Why can't you, John? I expect Mrs N would appreciate a few more adults to keep the excitement manageable.
Oh, and Sherlock, some scientists have a made a peanut butter and jellyfish.
http://io9.com/scientists-feed-peanut-butter-to-jellyfish-make-pb-and-1514962266
Offer to help Mrs N get all the excited little reprobates to the cricket ground. Only feed the annoying ones to an eagle though ;)
Maybe I will!
I like the peanut butter jellyfish.
I would if I was you. Perk of the job! I shall expect you to do all the work too though, not just have fun. ;)
Is Sherlock stratospheric with excitement?
What's past the stratosphere?
The mesosphere. :)
The Sherlocksphere. The natural orbital altitude of a Sherlock.
I had a hawk on my fire escape yesterday. No petting, but it was still pretty cool.
http://studentfilmteacher.blogspot.com/2014/02/guests-on-my-fire-escape.html
What birds of prey (besides owls) and common in the UK?
Also I hate when I have a headache so I drink more coffee but then it turns out my problem wasn't lack of caffeine but just that I have a headache.
Ella
That's really a neat video KHolly. We had on stoop right outside our sliding door into the backyard. Took a junco, left a most interesting pattern in the snow. Fortunately, my kids understand about predators and prey, so they were more excited than traumatised.
Up close and personal with raptors is such an incredible thing, and absolutely calls for all caps. That'll be so much fun!
Common..buzzards,kestrels, depends where you are in the country! Not many, really. Sherlock's a very lucky boy to get to see some up close (so is John)
ahhh, peace... I'm hoping the next 48 hours will also be extra peaceful!
Would you mind making curry tomorrow? I promise not to breathe on you afterward.
of course I wouldn't. And I don't mind you breathing on me, either.
Any special reason?
Thanks. No, just tired of winter. Curry helps. Curry helps basically everything. :)
It's shit, isn't it? The wind's picking up already for this next round of lashing rain and gales. And tomorrow's going to be complete chaos on the roads.
I suppose it could be worse, but it's certainly not pleasant to ride in.
That's why I'm hoping that it'll be quiet - between the tube strike and the weather, everyone with naughty intentions should stay indoors, right? Tucked up warm.
I do hope the birds can fly though - I guess they can fly a bit indoors, anyway? Sherlock may take off first anyway. Perhaps tie some string around his ankle.
You would think...
Maybe we can get him one of those hoods like the birds wear. Or blinders for horses. I can't wait to see them either though - sounds amazing.
I hope the weather doesn't get in the way of the birds of prey demonstration, We're waiting to see what kind of snow we get tomorrow. Last storm was very strange, so none of the officials are willing to declare an emergency and turn out not to need one. But there were places with a foot and places with nothing within 20 miles of each other, so who knows?
I'm jealous. Don't be surprised if I find someone to interview over that side of town ;)
Ha. At the very least, I'll take pictures for you. ;)
Hmm, you be careful...if I see pictures of you with a bird on your arm while I'm at work I might go mad with jealousy. ;)
Ah, I feel I should've seen that one coming... :)
Ha. Just don't tell anyone you were feeding the bird raw meat, making it wear a hood and were holding it by leather straps around the ankles, or I shall be forced to take you in for questioning!!
I promise not to feed raw meat to anyone but you (the next time I try to cook steak probably).
When I was young and (more) foolish I decided I could easily order and eat a whole steak tartare for lunch in France. I felt sick for at least a day afterwards.
You kept going and ate the whole thing?
Yeah...I felt guilty about wasting it. Honestly...it didn't taste bad, to begin with...but the raw egg, and the raw meat, and the raw onions...about a 6th of what I had would have been quite enough. I felt about 4 stone heavier.
I'm just going to sit here and make horrified faces at you.
..I'm starting to feel ill just thinking about the egg
Yeah, it's mostly the egg. Although also the onion.
Yeah... can't say it gave me an appetite for horse. Which is probably good.
Is there anything that would give you an appetite for horse?
Well, you know, if it hadn't made me feel like death for the next 24 hours I might have looked upon it more favourably. Although....cooked, in the future. Like I said, it didn't taste bad. Back then if I hadn't known, I might've assumed it was beef.
I'm really not in favour of raw meat mixed with raw egg, regardless of the species.
You are considerably less foolish than I was then :)
Less adventurous, possibly. Except when it comes to things that can set my mouth on fire.
I don't think I thought it would be so...incredibly filling. And slimy. And just...so everything. I kind of thought it would be like the amount you got in a burger.
I was very wrong.
Eugh.
..and on that note, bed?
(just seen Scotland has approved Gay Marriage by a huge margin on the vote. Well done, Scotland!)
Excellent news to sleep on :)
Better than you thinking 'eugh' :)
When I've seen birds of prey shows here, the birds have their wings clipped to prevent them from flying away because if they did, there'd be no way to get them back and they'd die (many of the birds used in shows are injured rescues or orphans who for one reason or another can't care for themselves in the wild).
I have no idea what steak tartare is but I don't think I'll be eating it.
Yay Scotland!
Hope the weather gets better, and that all sleep well.
Ella
Back up a few comments... My fencing master used to make us fence blindfolded to get used to "the feel of the blade". The way the movement of your opponent's sword feels against yours is more information about what they are doing. You can feel them about to disengage or wind or press before you can see them doing it.
And to get us to use all our senses to find the opponent in the first place!
You could try blindfolding Sherlock so he can practice working out where people are without being able to see them, and practice moving around without banging into things or tripping over when you can't see.
Hey, Rider, that's a great exercise! That's the main point of push hands in t'ai chi, when it's taught properly--to learn how to tell what an opponent is going to do by "listening" to their touch, and very valuable, too.
On the raptor front--there are quite a number of birds of prey living wild in New York, including the famous Pale Male and Lola--Central Park is like a buffet for them. I have to admit, however, that I've never seen one personally.
Rider, that sounds like a brilliant endeavor for Sherlock. I imagine he'd really get into it, given how observant he already is.
Hope you all have better weather soon. Our winters here are mild by any standard, and I'm usually sick to death of them by February. I want longer days and more light, badly.
formerlyAnon
I hope you enjoy the birds Sherlock it sounds like a lovely thing to get to do :-)
Good luck with work Greg :-)
Well, it's not raining. The traffic is gridlocked though. Hopefully Sherlock and John get to see the birds in full flight!
I'll probably have someone stabbed to death over a fight in the bus queues.
It snowed here during the night--again--and now we have a nasty mix of rain, snow, and sleet--lots of sleet, making a racket on the windows and air conditioner units...I'm very glad I don't need to go out today!
I wish I didn't have to go out today. Alas, though the schools are closed, the libraries are open. New mayor trying to "save money" I expect. But it's no fun out there. Someone took three pictures, to show how fast the storm came in. https://twitter.com/antoinetteA/status/431040421461245953/photo/1
I hope the birds get a chance to fly for you! And that the people in queues for buses stay polite.
I spoke too soon. It is absolutely pissing down here now. Everyone on Shanks' pony today will be miserable now! I hope the birds flew this morning.
Negative double digits here. Perfect waiting for the bus weather. I'm wearing all of my clothes.
Ella
I would guess you've now got the rain that I drove to work in.
And having seen the chaos in Paddington Station last night when they started running the trains again after the disruption I don't hold out that much hope for peaceful bus queues.
Don't care now, arrested one of the people we were looking for. Am soaked, but happy!
YAY! (I hope you have some dry clothes to change into.)
Yeah, been doing this job long enough to keep spares around. Until I wear them and forget to bring in more spares...
RSF, my sympathies for having to go to work in this, I'm certainly not planning to go out in it. Not a lot on the ground yet but snowing very hard, the tiny flakes that mean business.
Lestrade, yay, good work. Sorry to hear it's raining again, you folks are getting seriously inundated! I hope the raptor demonstration was able to go forward.
S
Yeah, never mind the tube strike - Sherlock was transported on pure excitement this morning. I hope they had a good day.
I did get a text earlier saying 'I hugged an owl!' But not sure if it was from John or Sherlock ;)
Might've been both of us...
Do you want to get coffee, or are you busy with the man you caught? Congratulations by the way.
What kind of owl?
Makes me think of this site, where they decorated a bunch of obsolete words with neat pictures of owls. (I recommend word 20...)
Sorry, busy.
Did you both have a great time?
Did you really hug an owl? Are owl feathers really as soft as they say?
Sounds like a brilliant day all round with Greg catching his crook and John and Sherlock hugging owls. Did you get to see them flying too Sherlock or was it too wet and windy for that part.
Plus science week continues tomorrow with a special feature presentation - have you guys got it all planned out what you're doing yet. Are you excited to see them all, Sherlock. :)
Yes it was a barn owl and really soft and quite big and I want one.
In the long run, I'm glad we caught someone who probably hurt quite a few people and killed at least one... But short term, I wish I'd hugged an owl.
Thank you, Sherlock, that's good to know...and I wish I'd hugged one, too. :)
There are many owls that I like, but barn owls creep me right the hell out. They make such weird noises and sort of rock their heads back and forth.
I'm glad you enjoyed it though, Sherlock (and John).
Ella
Yes they flew this morning John will write about it I'll make him and we could definitely have one and take it to the park to fly and we got to look at owl pellets and see other birds and they talked all about them.
We can't have one. It'd try to eat the goos!! But I am glad you've had a good day. But you should stop swooping now, and digest your food. And concentrate on not producing a pellet...
Glad good things happened for everyone, despite obstacles.
Yes, Sherlock, it'd be great if John had the time to write about it. Maybe you can draw raptor pictures (or more scientific diagrams) and he could include one as an illustration.
formerlyAnon
There's a place in Brighton serving coffee made with Camel milk. (There;s one in London too, but in the City.) might have to try it when we're down there! A Camelccino? Camelatte?
Hey, Sherlock, I saw this and thought of you: Owl in flight
Lestrade - I don't believe it, but somehow you've put me off coffee even more than I was before...
What's wrong with camels??
The pier in Brighton that was already falling down is falling down even more now and maybe when we're there it might fall down completely and that would be good to watch like a ship wreck but without a ship.
Where do they keep the camels? And how many do they need? And if you like coffee with camel milk are you going to have one for the flat?
Did they talk about dissecting owl pellets? My daughter did that at Raptor Camp. You have to do it very delicately, and it takes several pellets to make a whole skeleton, but it's really cool to find the bones of whatever they ate (Yes, they made the kids wear masks and gloves).
Raptor Camp!
fA
Kestrel - you will find the answer over the road ;)
SH - I think they buy the camel milk in. And no, no camels in the flat. Unless John rustles me one from somewhere ;)
I was going to say, if you are in need of a more steady supply of camel milk, I know who you can ask. ;)
Ella
He's been oddly (suspiciously?) silent on the camel front... barely even managed a 'lucky you think you're funny' look when I offered him one hump or two with his tea...
Maybe it's his secret money making scheme, and he fears detection!!
I'm just hoping you won't notice the one I've been keeping on the roof.
I assume any and all hoof-thumps from upstairs are something to do with Sherlock.
Anyway, now you have blue fingers and glittery hair, and I'm still exceptionally pleased with myself for our arrest today, and I think that all equals it being time to take you to bed :)
oh good
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