A visit to the tropics...

On the last day of the Christmas break and with everything washed and ready I was keen to get everyone out of the house for some fresh air today. Suggestions of long muddy walks are not usually received enthusiastically. The children like their technology too much and it has to be said so does M. However, put an old pinboard in front of them, with 'Post Its' of all the local places we could go and suddenly it becomes a competition to choose our destination for the day! They forget that they didn't want to go anywhere in the first place!

We compromised today and headed for the Tropical House in Lincoln. It is only small but it offers up a few photo opportunities; handy if you've left your GCSE photography homework until the last minute! It looked a bit neglected today; a bit of litter, dirty beanbags and a dead fish. I even felt like dusting the big leaves of the cheese plants!

Away from twitter, playstation but sadly not away from the iPhone, we did manage to have a good chat and laugh over big cups of coffee and hot chocolates just a short walk into town. Today was quite an amusing day for people watching. An unusual man with a rubber mask on walked into our coffee shop (and removed the mask thank goodness), selected a cake, threw it on the floor, announced he wasn't paying for it, scooped it up tightly in his fisted hand and left whilst stuffing it in his mouth. A tried and tested method of getting a free cake methinks!