Sunday we visited Blenheim Palace. This was an excellent day out – made even better by the fact that it was a spur-of-minute decision to go. CGF’s bro family were going there on their way home, and we decided to go with them. It’s just over an hour from Eastleigh, so reasonable for a day out.

Wow – isn’t it HUGE. Surely an excessive reward for winning a couple of battles. Methinks there may have been ulterior motives in the gift – such as “hmm, this guy’s powerful; let’s give him a big estate in Oxfordshire so he spends all his time sorting that out and doesn’t come and make trouble in London”.

But there’s loads to do and see. You can roll down the hills, have a picnic, walk round the grounds, marvel at the weedless lawns, admire the formal gardens. I suppose you could even play rounders, if anyone liked playing rounders. There is also a maze that the younglings found exciting – ok and so did the oldings. If you have problems getting teenagers to take exercise, just push them into a maze and they’ll take a twenty-minute walk without even realising it.

I went round the maze with the youngest youngling from each family. We used the Hampton Court method of keeping one hedge on the right (or it may be the left) all the way round. And after ten minutes we ended up … back where we started. “Let’s try the left side” we said but CGF Sprog 3 cleverly pointed out that that would just be the same route in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the two boys tried to cheat, with the larger carrying the smaller on his shoulder – but even then he was too low to see over the top of the hedges.

What I particularly liked about Blenheim palace is that the admission price to the grounds covers everything – formal gardens, maze, butterfly house, etc. – and you are not constantly having to fork out for more attractions.

On another day we went on the local Go Ape. CGF Sprog 3 showed no fear, and threw herself off high ledges without hesitation. At one point we had a choice of routes: “Do we take the extreme route, or the easy one?” I asked. “The extreme one of course!” However, she was very safety-conscious, making sure she read and understood the instructions for each activity and insisting (as we had been told in the briefing) that one of the responsible adults checked that she was clipped on before starting.

This same safety-conscious attitude was shown later in the week when we were in the Southampton Shopping Centre. “You’re supposed to hold the handrail” I was told when going down the escalator. And when we went cycling, I wasn’t allowed on my bike until my helmet was adjusted correctly.

We were in the shopping centre as we were filling in time while CGF sorted out CGF Sprog 1 in another part of the city. We’d arranged to meet later to continue the shopping. But then I got the most traumatic text of the fortnight: “Been delayed, please start the shopping. CGF Sprog 3 needs shorts”. What? Clothes shopping for a teenager? I know nothing about clothes – and nor does CGF Sprog 3. So we looked in one shop, didn't find anything, then got side-tracked into a gadget shop on the way to the next store (which turned out not to be there anyway).

While in Southamton we visited the ice cream parlour. We didn’t realised at the time, but found out the next day that someone I know was sitting behind us. In the evening we went out for a meal and the person who shows you to your table (and would be called a Maître d’ in a more quality establishment) was someone else I know (and had been at school with the first person). This restaurant was full, so after trying as couple more we ended up at the curry house and the waitress there was someone whom CGF knew.

We also went on a walk along the coast path. We walked nine miles – by my sneaky method of not telling them how far we were going. CGF and CGF Sprog 3 think we were lost, but that is not true. I knew where we were – it’s just that it wasn’t where we expected to be. And it’s not my fault that it rained!

And that, plus a trip to Oxford and a cycle ride, is pretty much it for the first week.

In Oxford we went to the wonderful cake shop again. I chose something healthy (yeah, right). But there was pineapple in it! What sort of muppet puts pineapple in a fruit salad?

The second week the sprogs were away with their dad, so CGF and I travelled the country for more excitement – tales of which will wait until my next post.

But I’ll finish with an important piece of public information and education. You know when you go to a Chinese restaurant and the chop sticks come in a wrapper. As you take the wrapper off, scrunch it up. Then you have a rest for your chopsticks