Typical, you wait 30 hours for a blog and then two come at once! (Karina has just kindly informed me that no-one is waiting for my blog – daughters! They don’t understand wishful thinking.)

Today is ‘mormor’ day (mother’s mother). That means getting up really early ahead of the arrival of a hyper energetic 4-year-old. I had warned Daria and Marina, and Leli didn’t disappoint, she went straight to their door at 7.30 and asked if she could come in. After four knocks, she grew impatient and went in, Marina was lying dazed in her bed and Daria was still fast asleep – not for long!

The weather forecast was rain – but as that seems to be for the foreseeable future, there was little point in waiting for things to brighten up. Armed with coats and umbrellas, we set off for Beamish Museum – only a 35-minute drive, which isn’t bad.

The only option is to buy a ticket that lasts for a year, I’m sure I’ll use it a few times – but unless Daria and Marina come back in the next 12 months, I think it is quite expensive.

What is Beamish Museum? I hear you ask. Well, it’s an outdoor site with lots of different areas representing how people lived and worked from the 18^th Century until life during WW2. All of the employees are in costume, and you can get around by trams and buses that are between 50 – 100 years old.

The first stop was the colliery, where the girls went into one of the pumping stations. When they came out, I asked how it went, Daria said that it was very interesting, the man in there told them all about it, but she didn’t understand a word – now either their English isn’t what it should be – or he spoke with a northern accent – my money is on the latter. They didn’t want to queue for the mine experience, so we went into the houses of the miners – and tried our hand at playing their various modes of entertainment, with moderate success.

The church was grim, although the school next to it was far more interesting – the cloakrooms weren’t too far off my memories of primary school in the 60s, rows upon rows of pegs (brought me in mind of a Monty Python Meaning of Life sketch about moving your coat onto different pegs – and the Dave Allen joke about his son, when dropping him off at school for the first time said, ‘You will remember to pick me up when I’m 18!’)

Leli remembered the experience of the fun fair, so kept on going on about it – so we skipped the WW2 farm and went to the fun fair. The girls enjoyed being spun around and hurled down the helter skelter. Leli insisted that Daria take her on the swings, and Leli wasn’t half bad at pulling on the rope – but clearly most of the success came from Daria’s efforts. Leli also went on two carousels and won a puppy for throwing a ping pong ball in a jar.

Lunch beckoned, so in the Victorian street, we went into a typical English eatery – I wasn’t sure quite how to translate some of the dishes, but I knew what jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans was – so we had 3 of those – I’ve never seen potatoes that big! Marina’s eyes grew as large as teacups (a Hans Christian Andersen reference) – I was wondering how she’d manage, Marina hasn’t got the biggest appetite – but made a fair attempt, in truth, none of us finished our massive spuds!

Leli and I queued for ages for the sweet shop, whilst Daria and Marina could go and explore the various Victorian shops, garage, bank etc. Finally, we decided to go to the WW2 farm, as I thought farmyard animals would brighten the day. The three pigs were a little disappointing, just flicking their ears at flies every other minute (not prancing around singing ‘who’s afraid of the big bad wolf’, as had been anticipated, but we discovered a pigsty with 8 piglets and glee abounded, they were very playful.

It was time to go home, so we waited for the bus/tram – and it started to rain! Given that I’d been told it would rain in the afternoon, I actually thought it wasn’t so bad – we’d had a good innings. We waited, then tried waiting, next I got fed up – so Leli was hoisted upon my back again and we walked to the exit.

The evening’s entertainment was one of the best comedies of all time – any guesses? think about it… Well, I chose ‘Some Like it Hot’ – I do like to watch it each year, it is hilarious. I thought that there’d be enough visual humour for the girls, as I knew the English might be difficult – I hadn’t reckoned on how fast they spoke and the heavy accents – but judging from the laughter, the visual humour worked just fine – and the girls had heard of Marilyn Monroe! Well done them.

I’d tried out a traditional dessert for film night, I shouldn’t have changed from doughnuts, as Mr Kipling’s Apple Pie with Bird’s Eye custard (I’ll be applying for advertising fees if enough people read this – I won’t expect a favourable response from my daughters, I’ve been reliably informed that Camilla has never read one!) – but it wasn’t a winner, as even Daria couldn’t finish it off, but at least they tried.

Anyhow, we’re leaving for Edinburgh tomorrow – time flies!