Birthday week - Disney on Ice

Last weekend's campervan trip was of course not enough to celebrate Cubling's 8th birthday. Thanks to free tickets we had the great opportunity to see Disney on ice and review it. An extra special birthday treat and a great night out for the family for sure.

I was actually quite surprised how excited the girls were about the night, and both of them in equal measures. There was a lot of talk about which characters would be there and what it would all be like, 4 year old was so excited that she wouldn't even have a late afternoon nap (which she usually has whether I like it or not, and which would have helped to get her through the long evening). I was bit suspicious about the venue, the SSE Hydro, which has let me down before with rather poor viewing, but when we took to our seats I knew that this wouldn't be an issue. The ice rink was positioned in a way that it was easy enough to see and the distance and height actually helped to appreciate the formation skating.

The show came in two halves which I felt were perfectly timed, with an intro and then 2 retellings of well loved Disney stories,  The little Mermaid and Tangled before the break and Beauty and the Beast and, of course, Frozen after. The stories were abridged and came with all the best songs from the films. The outfits were anything from stylish to funny - I had rather a lot of fun with Sebastian the crab and Magnus the horse, and the seahorses that came out to dance were rather breathtaking too. It was a visual feast and with ever more "oh look, it's ...!"

For Snowflake, it was the bestest selection of storylines anyway, as she is heavily into Tangled and Frozen, and likes the other two as well. A fair bit of pyrotechnics added more wow factor to it, and there was even a moment of being rather scared (in spite of the distance to the action and being reasonably high up, which I guess speaks for the way that the show did spark the imagination of little ones). The props and set were clever and at times rather beautful too, the ship for the Little Mermaid stood out for me as looking extremely realistic in spite of being only a tiny boat part, and the lanterns from Tangled had all the magic they promise to be.

With the finale of Frozen, all our favourite songs were present and it Snowflake was singing them at sotto voce (much to the dismay of her big sister). I think I was also the victim of having little hands put in front of my mouth as I'm quite party to singing along. I have to admit that I missed bits of the show because the girls were so delighted that I couldn't help but watch them instead.

Like Disney or not, it was a great show with lots of visuals, great music, tongue in cheek and all the hallmarks of great entertainment. The young audience was all dressed up and enjoying themselves brilliantly (as were most of the adults). There was a fair bit of souvenir and marketing stalls which I'm not a great fan of but we did find it easy enough to avoid and at least we didn't experience much pestering.

The show was captivating throughout, both my 8 year old and 4 year old were equally enchanted and in spite of it being well past their bedtimes, they followed every single move. The show is part of the Magical Ice Festival tour and you can catch it in most major UK cities in the next few months.

Which left me with just a cake to make for her ceramic painting party at our local Glazed on Saturday. This year's chosen cake theme would have to be Okami, a Japanese video game which Cubling has been playing with Mr Cartside since Christmas, it's all about a spirit wolf called Amatarasu who fights for good and feeds the animals in the spirit world. I don't think there's many Okami cakes out there, enough though to copy it from a more talented cake maker and icing sculptor than myself. Cubling was pleased which is the main thing. One of these days I'm going to find out how to make a symmetrical cake too. In the meantime, we're munching my assymetrical cakes which at least taste just as well, so there.

There's something about turning 8, Cubling looks really grown to me now, as if she's now at an age where she's getting ever more responsible. It feels odd to be a parent to an 8 year old when it really only seems like yesterday that she was born. A cliche I know but oh so very true.



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We received free tickets for Disney on Ice in return for a review. All views expressed are that of the cartside household, which is slightly partial to all things Frozen in its entirety.

Freewheeling in the Green

It's the time of learning how to cycle again. It was pretty straight forward with Cubling, but Snowflake likes her balance bike and isn't all that keen just yet, although I have a feeling it won't need much practice to get her pedalling about.

We'd heard about this organisation called Freewheel North, both from cycling enthusiasts with children and it's also kind of right next to my work and I'd passed it on my lunchtime walks. So we took us there one Sunday afternoon because that's when they have a family session (on dryish days).

It's a simple enough idea, there's a small path network just for bikes and a whole range of pedalled vehicles, and kids can have a go on as many as takes their fancy, for the cost of £1 per person. Freewheel North also runs sessions for disabled people and people with additional needs during the week, so there are lots of accessible bikes as well.

We had amazing fun - first in the family bike (for 4 people, only the back row pedals, clearly the girls loved being moved about by us), then on go-carts, different bikes and balance bikes. There is a mud track too which Cubling was plainly in love with. It was just brilliant to have a decent track which was totally safe and fun, without any worries of traffic, pot holes or children entering the roads. A fab introduction to cycling for sure.

It was very inclusive because of the variety of bikes and other vehicles, there's something for every age and ability, including wheelchair users, and looking around it was great to see both people with special needs and those without cycling together. Cubling even made a friend and was off on a 2-person go-cart with her.

The staff and volunteers helping out were amazing, really making sure everyone had a good experience by choosing the right sized bike and knowing the basics for operation.

And what's more, Snowflakes confidence has really come on, we're still not close to cycling but she's now happy to pedal with just someone holding on to her jacket, so it actually worked to build confidence and move us on a few steps closer to the future of family cycling tours.

Freewheel North also offers led bike rides.
They are based at Templeton Street on Glasgow Green, right behind the adventure playground.

Down at the Mela

Every year, as part of the Glasgow West End Festival, the Mela transforms Kelvingrove Park into something rather special. We love the Kawa Circus (I'm a bit of a fan of street artists anyway), and our rather aimless wanderings brought us to storytelling, apple juice making, the best vegetable curry I've had in years and bumping into a number of friends we hadn't seen in a while. For once we managed to stay clear of overpriced rides because apple juice making and storytelling totally roped the girls' attention in. We were so busy enjoying these highlights that we kind of only happened across that we didn't even explore all that the Mela had to offer. Definitely an excuse to come back next year.

Today  I loved the way my big girl became so focussed on squashing apples and pressing juice, on listening to wonderful stories and on being enthralled by the Kawa Circus. This child of mine who is ever busy moving and has boundless energy, totally immersed in the process of apple juicing, or in the stories that appear to become real in her imagination, and then amazed by the magic of the circus.

And I felt rather sad having to wave goodbye to friends who are leaving Glasgow. 

Days of windmills, stones and rhubarb crumble

Thanks to a very Glasgwegian bank holiday plus school in service day, both kids were off school/nursery, and me with them, for 5 full days. I treasured every minute of it because I constantly feel that we are so very short of quality time spent together, with most days being a constant "hurry up we need to go NOW". Usually, every minute of the day is planned through, so being able to not plan and do the simple things in our own time was oh so very special.

I felt I finally touched base with both girls, and they with each other.

We visited Whitelee Windfarm, a great place with a visitor centre that has a cafe with a stunning look. It's great for cyclists, walkers or those in awe of the big windmills (that'll be us) and above all stone collectors of which I have two. We also visited Kelvingrove Museum and Snowflake was rather excited about the giraffe, half tiger and bear. I loved the art nouveau stained glass windows and metal work. For the first time we had a look at real paintings, and it went ok (apart from Snowflake being over keen to touch them), so here's to the shape of things to come. There was plenty of time spent at  home too, at the swing park, cycling as a threesome, gardening and a lot of cooking and baking. I even finished my seaweed vest. Well, sort of. It's too short for my liking so I'll be adding an edging to it at some stage. It's wearable though.

It was even sunny for most of the time, and when it wasn't we still played in the rain, had playdates and ate the cakes we baked. We had BBQs for dinner when the sun was out.

Yep, we spent the good life for 5 days. Suitably recharged for the next 4 days before the summer holidays.

A new Gaelic School for Glasgow

You may have been living in a place for a looong time and yet there's still surprises out there.
And you'd never think that a Gaelic school set to be opened in Glasgow would bring them out.

So when I welcomed the fact that Glasgow's second Gaelic medium school will be opened in 2015 because it's on the southside making it an option for us, a full blown debate ensued. While I was surprised, it was also fascinating because I learned that what I welcomed with naive positivity meant a lot of other things for other people.

I love languages, I think bilingualism is a great gift if you can give it to your child, and that it's worthwhile saving engangered species including languages. I see Gaelic as one of the languages of the UK and Scotland in particular.

But of course, everything is political and shouldn't I know. I've left out the class and the ethnicity argument. And didn't mention Scots in the whole discussion which I admit I see as a dialect rather than a language in its own right (and I really should know better here, having studied under an expert in Scots at uni).

For me, class is a slippery subject. I don't understand it. I don't know which class I belong to or what makes one a certain class or not. I do know I don't speak Scots but that's surely because I'm German and not because I'm middle class (or not, because, as I say, I'm not sure what I am class wise). I understand the importance of the class term for Marxism and Communism and I am a socialist at heart, but that still doesn't help me define who is in or out. Since I last checked I didn't own any means of production other than my shovel and seeds from the seed swap, oh no, here we go again, I really and truly don't know what class I'm in.

I do know that Gaelic is spoken in the Highlands and Islands and hasn't been spoken for a long time in Glasgow. However, there's also a tendency for people from the Highlands and Islands to move here, for people from Ireland, England, Italy, Poland, Pakistan and Lithuania to move to Glasgow. In fact if there's anything linguistically suprising in Glasgow it's how few Scottish accents one hears.

I didn't realise that there's a competition between Scots and Gaelic, in the sense that Scots is the language of the Lowlands that has been surpressed, and Gaelic is the language of the Highlands and Islands that has been surpressed, and that support in the Lowlands for the Highlands language may add insult to injury. In my ideal world everyone would just learn Gaelic and Scots and hug each other.

The real world is that Scots is associated with the working class and Gaelic with the middle class. The association is real even if may not be based on reality (surely Gaelic speakers may be working class?) Probably because middle class parents send their kids to Gaelic immersion schools and Scots is mostly spoken by the "working class" and does not receive the status and support that Gaelic does. An imbalance of power that puts Scots in the weaker position.

I think I get it now. I still feel that Gaelic should be supported as a language at risk of being lost, and that if there is a demand for this in Glasgow (as there is, the other Gaelic immersion school is oversubscribed and I wonder if the fact that it is in the West End has contributed to the view that Gaelic medium education is a middle class thing) that should be harnessed. But so should Scots. And I think it's pretty cool that my non Scots speaking daughter comes home reciting Scots poems and for the fun of it speaks in her made up Scots, which is not that far off the real thing, closer than I'll ever get anyway.

Oh my, it's a complicated world.

Speaking in Accents

Have you ever thought about how your accent affects your interaction with other people?

I love accents. I love the subtleties, I love guessing what has shaped an individual's accent, where they come from, where they passed through to get here. I can listen to my beloved husband and just hear his beautiful intonation and forget to listen to what he's saying (ok he may have been talking C++ but it's still not an excuse - he just has the most amazing accent which can be distracting). I truly love the diversity of accents in Glasgow, where you have anything from the proper Weegie to people from all over the UK and from around the world. I always thought Glasgow to be particularly rich in this diversity of accents because there's probably less than 50% of native Scots here (I'm guessing!) or at least so it seems, you hear different accents every day. At work, there's people from further north, from the east, from the south.

And then I'm in an east end cafe ordering a roll and I feel awfully conscious of my own accent. Builders and bakers speaking in the most amazingly beautiful gutteral Glaswegian, and I dread to order my butty because they'll spot instantly I'm not from here. I then order and stutter with a whisper as nervous as I used to be as a choir girl singing a solo.

Am I paranoid? Fact is that in spite of me living here for over 15 years, the other day I discovered that most of my friends are not Scottish. Now this may be because there is generally a lot of movement of people and that this is a fair representation of reality. But maybe accents keep us apart because they locate us in some sort of social drawer that we can't really get out of to explore another drawer.

It's not even that people instantly know I'm German - but it's obvious I'm not born and bred working class Glaswegian. The thing is, I can by now put on a Glaswegian accent, but it feels wrong doing so. This comes from a woman who had no qualms about speaking with an Irish accents some 18 years ago and still slips into it automatically when speaking to an Irish person - but that was just how I spoke English, I couldn't not speak like it. Now it would be a choice and while I know non-Glaswegians who do this, to me it feels wrong. Or maybe I just feel people would make fun of me (and possibly rightly so?).

On a day to day basis though, the accent thing is about class and (perceived which then becomes real) power. Generally, the people I meet to set programmes up with mostly speak much like me, with a neutral English accent tinged by a soft Scottish intonation and pronunciation. The people who take part in the programmes mostly speak Glaswegian. Just now, I even noticed how someone changed her accent when on the phone to me, and it made me feel all conscious as to what that meant - did she relate to me differently, did she see me as not in her drawer?

I wonder how this applies to people with other accents, say an English accent and if it differs whether it's a "posh" or northern English accent. People have certainly labelled me as English (which is funny as I never spend much time in England) and were surprised when I said I was German, and I'm not sure which label I prefer or how that changes the way this person perceives me.

And I keep wondering if accents may stand in the way of trust and creating personal and professional relationships and create a barrier that has to be overcome, that may  not be there if you share the same accent.

Woodstock in Glasgow

Sometimes, a perfect day comes along without much warning.

What can be better than to spend it with your cousins, rocking and dancing along to live music, running wild around a wood workshop, helping yourself to a table of sweets and sausages from the barbecue, playing giant yenga, making tables into pretend bunk beds to sleep in, and hoping to win a raffle prize - "this is the best day ever". Well, if you say so, it probably is.

Woodstock was Glasgow Wood Recycling's summer sale event. The organisation is a social enterprise that recycles wood into beautiful hand crafted items, such as raised beds, bird houses, furniture or anything else you can make from wood. It provides woodwork training and volunteering opportunity while using sustainable resources. And man, they know how to throw a party! It was fun for all of us, for me simply because I love wood and spending a day surrounded by it in itself can't be a bad thing. Having a dedicated and totally lovely bunch of people organising such a great event made it all the more worthwhile. And the kids, they had a ball.

This summer's fun

If even your husband notices that I haven't blogged in a while, things must be quiet on the blogging front. Well, they're not really because there's this other little blog of mine that did get some attention. But it's true, I've been busy with other stuff. Sometimes I even wonder how I ever managed to produce a post every other day.

So this is what I've been up to:

Knitting. I have 4 projects on my needles, which is unheard of. One is even BIG.

Taking photos. I'm doing the Manual Overdrive e-course, which has kind of finished but I'm still working my way through this new language that manual settings on a DSLR bring with you. I've had a lightbulb moment and have totally changed the way I take photos - technically that is; I still very much take the same kind of photos composition wise, but I'm moving towards having the focus where I want it, the exposure how I want it, and the colours as I see them. I've learned a lot about spot metering and how metering and focus are two entirely different things (who'd have thunk) and that back button focus is my new best friends. There's lots of servo going on because those kids of mine never stand still and evaluative metering will sure please some work colleagues of mine (one of whom is lucky enough to be on the course too). As you can see, nobody can put me in the corner with all those fancy camera terms now! I'm even almost ready to give Lightroom a second chance.

Doing fun stuff with the kids. Making the most of the precious days before Cubling starts school and is institutionalised. I have this strange urge to make sure that she gets to know my version of the world before all is lost and she'll do what the teachers tell her (of course she already does and no, she has no interest in learning how to knit). We have done so much stuff that today I just had to take time out and just relax at home. That was nice.

Buying school uniforms. It's not an easy task if you've never had to wear one yourself.

Dealing with the pitfalls of everyday life. Like a broken washing machine. For anyone reading this who doesn't have kids, it's a MAJOR crisis if your washing machine breaks. I do a wash a day, roughly, and there's stinking cloth nappies in the nappy bucket. I need a washing machine engineer hero.


Work. Not one to be underestimated - it's quietish at the moment but the problem with me is that if work is quiet I come up with stuff that creates more work. Like new programme ideas. I love that kind of stuff and it was totally amazing how one day of not having anything useful to do turned into a creative outburst, while now this needs followed up by the grinding of pulling research together and making a strong case (which I still enjoy very much, just that there's my normal job to do too).

Bumpy Jacket in progress, pattern by Fawn Pea. I did not intentionally try and copy her colour scheme, however it's interesting that 2 out of my 3 projects are in teal.

On the Waverley Pedal Steamer, watching a bungy jumper doing a bungy jump on the Clydebank Titan.

Olympic football in Glasgow - Japan v Spain. I like the Japanese goalie's outfit. How lucky are we, we walked there. And yes, I took this photo, we were really rather close. Snowflake is definitely destined to become a 10 k runner as she was being tough competition running in circles around our living room coffee table. She also quite likes a new discipline which is called sitting on a balloon and falling off it with hysterical laughter.

Of murals, raised beds, fences and tipper trucks

It never ceases to amaze me what my job requires me to do. Not that my job description isn't long, but to be fair, it's a tad vague. So today, it was driving a hired tipper truck from Paisley via Blochairn to Shettleston. The mission: delivering enough compost to fill 4 raised beds and filling the very same with the compost.

All of this part of a programme that gives young people an opportunity to make a local change, a change that should contribute in some way to alleviate the effects of child poverty. The effects of child poverty are such that this gives the groups of young people a relatively free choice of what their project will be - as long as it can be done within budget (£1k) and within timescale (6 months) and can demonstrate to have a positive impact well beyond the group.

It is doing time right now, for both of my projects. Today, it was all about the Fuseastics, the 8-11 year olds at Fuse Youth Cafe who are implementing their grand plan. There is a mural to be painted, the raised beds to be filled and planted, a new fence to be painted. It's all go and although we're not done yet, it already looks rather good.

The kids chose this particular project for a good few reasons. The youth cafe is a great venue for young people and it's still expanding its activity programme. The building sits within some concrete grounds, which have rather a lot of potential. In many areas of Glasgow, there are very few safe outdoor play spaces. Yes, there is a swing park locally, but it's often vandalised, there's dog poo, adults can be seen consuming alcohol or worse, and it's also not particularly enticing - you know the kind of mass produced swing park with the same 3 items up and down the country. It's boring and not particularly safe. Plus for this age group - they've kind of grown out of swing parks but aren't old enough for unsupervised outdoor activities.

So what could be better than doing something with the outdoor space that the youth cafe has on offer? It's not huge, but big enough to make a start. There were issues to deal with: loitering at night time, lot of traffic and the fear of vandalism or theft. The solution to this: a fence that both keeps the kids safe and those that have no business being there out. It's not about a locked space, just a clearly marked space and a space that looks used and part of the youth venue.

The group also wanted to make the outdoor area more colourful and fun - ideally with climbing frame, football pitch and other things that would take about 10 times the space available to us - so bringing things into the doable realm, they decided on planting flowers and vegetables, which will link in to cooking workshops and potentially getting an allotment at the nearby community allotments.

The mural will also contribute to making the outside look brighter, rather than a cement garden, and to shout out that this is a young people's place (and not a pub - the building used to be one and still looks a bit like one).

Next week, we'll have a planting day with the eco group from the local primary school. The following week, the new outdoor play space will be launched. It seems a long way to go still to get it finished but it can and will be done.

With the changes, hopefully there will be more children and young people using the youth cafe, and they will be able to spend more play time outdoors which is proven to have positive physical and mental health outcomes, and which also contributes to better concentration at school. Gardening is great for people of any age, and it'll give the young people using Fuse an opportunity to try their hands at some vegetable growing which they can then also use in their cookery workshops. Knowing where food comes from and how long a process food growing is will hopefully foster healthy eating habits without a raised finger.

And what's more, hopefully the change project may give some sort of inspiration that it is possible to transform a space locally on a relatively cheap budget by pulling together different people to make it happen.

Before: 

Raised beds are not just for planting...

The compost has arrived. See the steam? It was rather smelly but that's a good thing, right?

Getting the compost into the raised beds

And at the end of today, that's what it looks like:

 

Jobs still to be done: paint the fence, paint the raised beds, varnish the paint, buy plants and plant raised beds, complete mural, launch the whole shebang with a Spring Fling. Time left: 14 days. Gulp.

United we will swim!

A good few years ago, when I'd first arrived in Glasgow, I had a lovely Wednesday evening routine. I would meet up with my friend and colleague who stayed locally from me and we'd go to the ladies night in our local swimming pool. It was a fabulous weekly treat, right in the middle of the working week. First we went for a swim in the wonderful Victorian bath, and it's dim lightening which so reminded me of traditional Turkish baths. Next up was a session in the Sauna, a dip into ice cold water, some steaming in the steam room too. There were always sociable and interesting people to chat to in the sauna, and it was nice and inclusive where everyone felt comfortable with everyone else. The evening was finished off with a yoga class. It was pure bliss.

And then they closed the pool.

I tried to keep up the routine at other locations, but nothing was the same, nor did the distance to travel do any good for having a weekly routine.
When the pool was announcing the plan to be closed, we were instantly gutted. Such a beautiful historic building, right in the centre of the maybe most densely populated part of Glasgow. It didn't make sense. While we were gutted, others were up in arms. On the day the pool closed, people chained themselves to the building so it couldn't close. It was then occupied for weeks. No, months. There was a vigil 24/7. I did but a couple of meagre day time shifts, but there were many who for months spent hours and nights in front of the building.

The campaign to save our pool made me think about what it was that I liked about it. I'd never rationalised it but the campaign bit by bit did. The inclusivity was due to it being right in the centre of a very diverse area of Glasgow, which traditionally is an area where people who come into Glasgow from other countries settle. It's an area not too far from the centre, with lots of local shops, a self contained part of the city, close to a wonderful park yet with house and rent prices that are affordable because the tenements of the area are old and not greatly looked after, with no gardens, so they are not the same quality compared to those nearby, partly because many aren't owner occupied. Lots of migration to the area meant that middle class folk preferred to move somewhere else. There were homeless hostels nearby and yet, the shops run by people from many countries provide all you can ask for, and having lived there, I felt safe and snug there. The pool was right in the centre of it, and its Victorian built meant that it was perfect for anyone who didn't want to display their body to the public. There are no windows and the changing areas and ways to the sauna were separate for women and men. I wasn't conscious of it, but admittedly being body conscious it must have played a part in my choice of pool. And yes, it was the one place where I had conversations with total strangers, some disabled, some of different skin colour, of different faiths and different backgrounds to mine. I didn't find it worth mentioning at the time, it was only later, in the pool of the neighbouring council, where the middle class population won't talk to strangers, that I noticed what was lost.

The campaign went on. A charity shop was set up, fundraising continued, the Govanhill Swimmers went around the neighbourhood in swimsuits practicing their swimming on dry land, i.e. the streets of Govanhill. There was a community garden. A local councillor was elected to push the case in the council. A singing group was established who penned songs about the pool and its closure to well known melodies. There were art projects too.

And so it went on.

On Saturday, 11 years (!) after the pool shut its doors to the public, it was once again opened to the community. It marked an extraordinary victory. And yes, victory it is. I hate to use words like that, but 11 years of relentless campaigning and the refusal to give in and continue to campaign for what we all knew was right paid off. As much as the powers that are had decided to take away the one community facility this empoverished yet vibrant part of Glasgow had, that decision was wrong and the pool is once more open to the community. Still dry, it has entered the first phase of being developed into a Wellbeing Centre. In maybe a year and a half or so we will hopefully be able to swim in it again, and I can show my girls where mummy used to swim. I so can't wait.

It was very emotional seeing the huge crowd who turned up for the opening, and being able to see the pool from the inside again after 11 years. It seemed like nothing had changed, yet so much had, so much effort for this moment to happen. Govanhill, for all that counts, is richer for having gone through this community campaign and stands as a glowing example what community power and persistence can achieve, even if the politicians have turned their backs on Govanhill.

Oh yeah, Peter Mullan and Nicola Sturgeon opened it. It's good to have some well known people support the baths and to get the launch into the news, but the work was done by the campaigners. So I didn't take there photo, sorry.

Musicophile

I'm a person who can get passionate about a whole lot of things. Pre-children, I sometimes let myself drift by my passions. I travelled, learned languages, read books, and above all, I listened to music. Like any teenager, I eventually found the kind of music for myself that was oh so meaningful, oh so different to what other people were listening to, oh so telling about who I thought I was/wished I was/was sure I was. I would go to some lengths to enjoy the music I loved live. And like anyone else, I clung onto that music and go back to the handful of voices of my youth.

It's not that there isn't great new stuff out there. Just the discovery of great new stuff doesn't tickle the passion button anymore. Mild interest has replaced it. It must be middle age, or the constant grind of juggling work, home and family has rubbed off the writing on that button.

Every now and again, the passion for music that is still there, hidden underneath nursery rhymes and Disney soundtracks. Once a year, Celtic Connections comes to town and boy if I had known at 23 (when I first heard of the festival and considered travelling up from England to it) that I would end up living in the city of Celtic Connections, I'd have been one happy bunny.

So last week I went to what must been my umpteenth Luka Bloom gig. I'm not counting, but I definitely treated both my girls to his music live in utero, and the first time I saw him play live was in 1990. And after both pregnancies, on of the first gigs I went to was your man too. Or at least one of the other 4-5 other musicians who provide my soundtrack of choice and happen to grace Glasgow every so often because they go under the ever widening banner of "Celtic".

On such an evening, when the cold gig turkey that early/late evening nursing of a newborn/toddler brings about is finally overcome by a shot of the wonderful pleasure that is live music, it's like a wave of feel goodness that washes all over me and gets to every cell of my body. There are memories of wonderful nights spend with wonderful yet geographically distant friends, the memory of late nights, of my travelling days and all the things seen and learned, the people I met, the friends I made, the lessons I learned, the illuminating conversations I had. All at once, so many beautiful memories, so much feeling alive with it all.

22 years ago, I travelled from Cabinteely, Co Dublin (north west Dublin), to Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin (south east Dublin) and back to listen to his music. All I can say is that I wouldn't have undertaken such a mad journey for many musicians. I was 20 and didn't even know if I would get transport home that night. On Wednesday, with the in-laws looking after the kids, it was a short comfortable hop in comparison.

And then, I went up to the man himself and brought out the understatement of the year, when I simply thanked him for the music.

Happy Birthday to U., who shared many of the gigs with me and unfortunately didn't manage to make it here for last week's. There's always a next time!

in Wonderland

If given free choice of where to go, there is no hesitation where our trip should be headed. "Alice in Wonderland!" it is to be, and so today, yet again, Cubling and Snowflake were in Wonderland, having tea parties, opening doors and drawers, growing and shrinking, exploring deep holes in the ground that are really only mirrors. I love the way Cubling goes up to total strangers and share her observations full of enthusiasm, and I hate how those strangers simply ignore her and with that, deny the child in themselves.

Admittedly, some of the optical illusions of The Science Centre's Mind works were rather baffling, in spite of explanations and all. I still can't quite get the Ames room. I guess there's no shame in wonder.

And Psst, did you know that the annual membership of the Science Centre is cheaper than 2 visits with the Planetarium? Just saying.

Supporting your bilingual child with the Language Hub

As a parent who is raising her children bilingually, I'm acutely aware that the main risk for my children's minority language is the fact that it's mainly me who speaks it with them, and that "me" is someone who could also speak English. My kids aren't daft, and from their point of view, there's no need to speak German at all. We got around this conundrum through two long holidays without dad in Germany and it worked wonders. But now that the holidays are 7-8 months in the past, slowly their effect is starting to wear off. To keep the minority language alive, it is crucial to introduce social activities for the children where they are exposed to the minority language outside the home and realise that both languages are useful.

Thankfully, if you're in Glasgow, there's not just a German playgroup but now also an exciting new place for pre-schoolers and primary school aged children where they can learn a second language, or where bilingually raised children can get some extra input and support for their "other" language. I'm really intrigued that this is happening here, because Glasgow isn't that big and it feels a real privilege to have this option. I haven't tried it out yet, but will do so soon. There is a choice of classes available and I particularly like the relative short blocks that are both affordable and will fit into busy lifestyles. While I'm waiting for my older daughter to join the next block, I was keen to find out a bit more about the Language Hub from its director Michelle Gordon.

What gave you the idea for setting up the Language Hub?

My personal interest in languages and language teaching are deeply routed in my earliest childhood. I grew up in Germany with my Scottish father, my German mother and my two younger siblings. My parents always strongly believed in the advantages of speaking different languages and therefore, naturally, raised us bilingually. Having left school, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to pursue my interest in language further and to possibly teach it myself; and I did.
My whole life I have experienced what it means to be able to speak more than one language; the advantages it offers and the understanding of different cultures it has given me. I now have two children of my own and they grow up bilingually.
Making a second language accessible to your child  – either in a home or classroom environment – is a very special gift as it will always make your child an even stronger person. 
I am very passionate about language learning as it is a subject very close to my heart. So, in 2011, I decided to set up The Language Hub Ltd in order to offer foreign language learning to (pre-)school children.


What happens in the courses, what's your teaching method/approach?

Our classes are very interactive as the children are continuously encouraged to actively participate. This is achieved with the use of toys, games, songs, dance and arts and crafts ensuring the children are engaged, learning and having fun all at the same time. This applies to all classes, especially to the pre-school and P1-P3 classes. With older children, reading and writing exercises can also be included but generally the oral use of a language is more important at this stage of a child's (foreign) language development. I feel it is important that children at this stage should consider themselves as little as possible as part of an active learning process as this sometimes can dampen the enjoyment factor.


What is the age range and what languages do you offer?

Classes are on offer at the moment for 3-5s, 5-7s and 7-11s who are keen on learning German, French, Spanish or Italian. We also offer language support classes for bilingual children with German, Spanish, French or Italian as their second language. However, we are always happy to add other languages so if you cannot find what you are looking for on our website please get in touch.

Did you encounter any challenges in the early days?

All in all, it took ten months from deciding to go for it and set up the company to starting with the first class. But with two children and a part-time job I am actually surprised it did not take even longer. The biggest challenge I guess was starting the business without any financial assistance and having to rely on what is left from your normal household budget. Also, not yet having my own premises was a bit of a difficulty as finding adequate venues was not as easy as I had hoped in the beginning.

Now the biggest challenge is convincing parents how valuable foreign language learning actually is for any child. Adults very often find it difficult to comprehend that children do not learn languages in the same way as adults do but that children's brilliant little brains do it for them without any effort.


What are your plans for the Language Hub?

One of the future goals is to get permanent premises for The Language Hub Ltd. It was always my dream to incorporate different venues and activities for children under one roof if possible. This would include a language school, a multi-lingual nursery, an after school care club, a baby/children cafe, a children's library and so on....and who knows!

What's you top tip for raising bilingual children?

With all bilingual children, it is vital to understand their individual connection and identification with their second language and their individual confidence in using the second language. Therefore, children should only ever be encouraged and supported, and not forced in any way, to make use of their second language in a manner that best suits their individual state of mind.
It is important to acknowledge why children sometimes use their second language actively, some totally refuse or others only seem to use the language in certain situations or at some particular points in their lives.
From a speaker’s perspective, speaking a second language can make you a part of something but can also single you out depending on the situation. Therefore, a child can feel either special or intimidated by second language use.
The regular passive input of the second language is very important. Even if a child refuses to use its second language over a long period of time the passive input will stay with him or her and a child will be able to access this input when he or she feels like or needs it. This is why we offer our support classes for bilingual children.

Greenbank Gardens

Last weekend, we became the ultimate middle class family. We joined the National Trust for Scotland. £12 to get into Greenbank Gardens was just too hefty for a day visit, so we were coerced to join and made a mission out of trying to visit as many NTS places in the next 12 months as possible.

I'm quite looking forward to it actually.

The inauguration at Greenbank Gardens was definitely a success with the girls. Lots of smiles, and even some sunshine, mad running about on a lawn that felt like softest carpet, playing hide and seek, eating of grass and flowers by a certain 8 month old and climbing on a massive tree that the recent storm (hurricane?) had uprooted. I resisted the plant sale, which was wise, I can barely find space to plant out the veg I've grown from seed this year

Outdoor Challenge Monday? This wasn't a challenge really.

Southern Necropolis

Great family day out: Whitelee Windfarm

At the weekend, Mr Cartside had a fab idea and took us to Whitelee Windfarm. It's situated south of Glasgow, near East Kilbride and Eaglesham, and yet it appears to be in the middle of nowhere. Our short route took us through lovely villages where time has stood still, onto a misty high moor with a single track road. Suddenly, the giant pylons appeared out of nowhere, clearly playing hide and seek with us. There were no signposts (at least none that we spotted). You really need to know where you're going, and have been told about this little gem.

Because Whitelee Windfarm is not just Europe's biggest windfarm, but also hosts a very green visitor centre with an exhibition about all things renewable and wind, a lovely cafe with fabulous views, a nice shop, events and even a cycle park and shower; surrounded by moorland, windmills and miles and miles of walking and cycling tracks. And sometimes, you can even see one of the well over 100 windmills. Unbelievably, for much of our visit, we didn't see any although we were really rather close to these gentle giants.



It's a slightly surreal place - to me the landscape has the feel of the wide boglands of Ireland, the single track road speaks of remoteness and Scottish Highlands. Yet it's not remote at all, in fact, rather accessible, by road and bike. Then there's the juxtaposition of the ancient moorland with the engineered landscape of renewable energy production. Add to this the cosiness of the cafe in the visitor centre, looking out onto a windy and misty barren landscape.

I was captivated. I took a lot of photos and looking back at them, none of them captured the strange beauty of it. It was a brilliant day out and I wish we'd have had more time because once we had feasted on the homemade food of the cafe, listened to the storyteller telling us stories about the wind and the sea (and Cubling creating her own seascape with the contents of her bag), after exploring the exhibition on windpower, we just about managed to walk as far as the first pylon before we really and truly had to make our way home. We were able to hear for ourselves that pylons are not as loud as jets (which is something that was suggested on question time on the radio) - their calming quiet buzz is actually rather relaxing. There are miles of countryside walks, a network of cycle routes and we've been told that on a less misty day, the views are glorious (I found them breathtaking as they were).

We'll be back though, little doubt about that. And if you are near Glasgow, put it on your "great family days out" list. It's so worth it.

Disposable Catering

:::PS: in the process of changing my blog template the comments feature has disappeared. I've enabled them now but have to repost so it takes effect. I had a thought provoking comment on my facebook account which I'll add to the debate and if you couldn't comment before, hopefully you can now:::

Every week I spent far too much time in the catering provided in Glasgow City Council facilities. The catering is outsourced to a private company, Encore catering. You'll find them in museums, sport centres and generally all Culture and Leisure Services establishments. Of course, Culture and Leisure Services is no longer part of Glasgow City Council in an attempt to half privatise non-essential services.

Anyway, this is what tickled my funny bone. A bit of context, I had a tea and a cake while Cubling and hubby went for a swim (I didn't go with Snowflake because I'm a bit paranoid now about infections and she hasn't had all her vaccinations yet. Instead I had a bit of lovely one-to-one time with her and me time while she napped. I even read a book, imagine.)

A cupa and a cake, right? Rubbish produced: one disposable cup, 5 empty milk containers, 2 empty sugar containers, one disposable plastic plate, one plastic spoon, one teabag.

I do appreciate that washing plates is time consuming and that kids occasionally break them. I also appreciate that it's safer to serve hot drinks to people with babies in paper cups.

However.

Isn't this health and safety gone too far? Snowflake was in her car seat so there was no immediate danger I'd pour my tea over her. In my mind I imagined the daily amount of waste this approach must  produce. Waste that will cost the council an arm and a leg in landfill charge (because cardboard can't be recycled here, and neither can the plastic used in the plates and milk containers). Surely the council, and associated companies, should lead the way in reducing waste? Instead, as far as cafe style catering goes, Encore Catering uses a comparatively excessive amount of disposable items. More than, say, Morrisons or Ikea, who at least serve the food and drink in real cups.

Why this excess of disposable materials in a large chain? Is it to cut corners and reduce washing up? Does it reduce space needed? Surely so much disposable stuff needs space too, and with industrial type dishwashers I don't get how this can be a time issue, after all other cafes wash their dishes too.

Is it about safety and breakage, considering that many of such cafes are frequented by families and children will break the occasional plate?

I'd like to know, so will ask them. Maybe this needs to be raised from a few users of these cafes and they may change? I for one have a bit of a dilemma in that on the one hand I'm trying to live more sustainably, and I'm at least twice a week, sometimes more often, all my home efforts are outrubbished by having to significantly contribute to landfill just by having a cuppa.

And don't get me started on kid's lunch boxes (you know the cardboard boxes marketed at kids?).

Baby it's cold out here

Sometimes, there's a reversal of roles. On a normal day, you will see me continuously trying to entice a reluctant 3 year old to move, put on her clothes, her jacket, jump into the car, eat her tea, move on, get places in time because we're running late.

This time however, it was a 3 year old getting rather annoyed with mummy not moving because she was taking rather a lot of photos.
Not an easy task either, while wearing a rather actively kicking baby and struggling to hold that lense still enough, or reaching just that perfect angle on the scene.

What can I say but that it was even more magical than these pictures tell.

A foggy and ice cold day in Linn Park spent with exploring kids and a camera. How lucky are we to be in walking distance of this gem of a park.

While I had my lense glued to ice crystals, the kids explored beaches, waterfalls, icicles and how to write on frost. The were fishing with sticks and putting on shows, letting their imagination run free.

I learned how the outdoors (and it doesn't have to be the "great outdoors", call it the "small outdoors" of city greenspaces) are a natural "yes" environment, a place where children can do, a place where parents for once can do without the ever present "no" of indoor spaces. Here the children can touch, can learn, can roam, can hop, can climb, can do everything without hitting constant boundaries.

It's transformational for both child and parent. We both relax, recharge and are able to reset the litany of setting and running into boundaries. A fresh start, a welcome reprieve, a space to reconnect.

And take photos of this special winter landscape of course.

And if you think you may have seen similar, if better, ice photos somewhere else, this is true and yet purely coincidental as we both live in Scotland. I'm just a bit slower uploading and editing ;) I can only recommend you hop over to Slugs on the Refrigerator if you want to see more of such winter goodness.