Daughters and Rugby

Isabelle has discovered rugby. This is something her rugby-mad father is extremely pleased about as he now has someone to watch the week's recorded matches with at weekends. Over the years he has tried to turn me into a rugby groupie, but to his frustration the level of my interest tends to be directly proportionate to the ease of the players on the eye rather than how well they play. On this basis, France is always worth a watch, Wales rarely so and New Zealand has been disappointing since Dan Carter got injured.

Isabelle, however, seems genuinely keen on the game. Her interest was piqued a few weeks ago when she played for Ian's office team in a touch rugby tournament at the Bahrain Rugby Club. Any tries by women or children scored double points, so she was forcibly enlisted to maximise their chances. It worked: she scored a fabulous try.

The next day she signed up for the touch rugby club at school and last week took part in a skills day for kids at the rugby club hosted by Jason Robinson, the English former international rugby union and league player. I went along to watch because, as these photos testify, Jason still looks bloody good in a pair of rugby shorts. The day was brilliantly organised. Jason gave the kids some personal coaching, they had a go in a specially constructed skills zone and each came away with a signed rugby ball.

The rugby ball now has pride of place in Isabelle's room. Perhaps it marks the beginning of an illustrious touch rugby career, or maybe just the start of an armchair rugby career. Either way, her father will be happy.

Buckingham Palace and Kate's dress

Christopher Robin would have been disappointed: they weren't changing guard at Buckingham Palace the day we went. As we hung around in the pouring rain outside the palace gates with an army of other tourists, a harassed-looking (and soaked) mounted policewoman rode up and down the crowd yelling there wouldn't be any guard changing for another two days - presumably once the rain had stopped. Time for a bacon buttie then, before our midday entry slot to Buckingham Palace's State Rooms and our chance to see the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress up close.

The ticket price includes an audio tour and we all donned our headphones at the Ambassador's entrance to the palace to be greeted - on tape - by Prince Charles, who told us the palace has 775 rooms, including 19 State rooms, 240 bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. Pity some of the 78 bathrooms weren't put at visitors' disposal before the start of the tour. The only facilities available are after the 90 minute tour, so those needing a pee beforehand are directed to a public loo about 10 minutes walk away - not much fun in the pouring rain.

The tour takes you into the famous quadrangle, where a newly married Kate and William alighted from their carriage after the wedding, and up the Grand Staircase into the Green Drawing Room and on into the Throne Room, where the wedding photos were taken. Copies of the group photos are on display so you can visualise everyone lining up on the day. A man standing next to me was, he told his wife in a heavy Yorkshire accent, quite overcome to be standing where Royalty had stood. I was more amazed that every window of these ornate and magnificent rooms was covered in greying and rather tatty net curtains. Is Her Maj a secret curtain twitcher?

The tour continued through the Picture Gallery to a display of some of the Royal Family's Faberge collection (wonderful) and then into the Ballroom where Kate, Wills and co. bopped into the wee small hours after their wedding. Kate's £250,000 Alexander McQueen wedding dress is now on display here on a podium surrounded by what can only be described as a large black mosquito net. Still, there's no doubt the dress is quite beautiful and a short film shows the incredible amount of work that went into designing and making it and up close you really appreciate the level of intricacy and detail. Kate's shoes, the 1936 Cartier tiara she wore (something borrowed from the Queen) and stunning earrings given to her by her parents are also on show.

In the State dining room, Kate and William's eight tier wedding cake is displayed. The first three layers are replicas, the top two having been kept by the newly weds for future christenings and the third layer having been served to guests. On the bottom tier, the first cut of the cake made by the couple is clearly visible.

A couple of State rooms later, we emerged into the Palace gardens where a tea room has been set up - the girls were thrilled that the hot chocolates were topped with a crown

Just in front of the cafe, having enjoyed a spectacular firework display in the gardens, Kate and Wills left for their first night as man and wife in a Fiat 500 convertible, waving madly through the sunshine roof. It must have been quite a night.

On the trail of Lone Pine

We've just been on holiday to Brisbane again and this year we took the kids to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Established in 1927, Lone Pine was the world's first koala sanctuary and is the largest, housing 130 koalas of all ages as well as other Australian natives such as kangaroos, wombats and crocs.

The Sanctuary has only recently reopened after the floods in January. Its location - the Brisbane suburb of Fig Tree Pocket - was one of the worst affected areas. Luckily staff had enough time to move the animals to enclosures on higher ground and no losses were suffered. Staff camped out with the animals to make sure they were safe and Sea World at the Gold Coast sent its helicopter with food supplies.

The koalas are housed in a number of different areas, depending on age. Joeys hang onto their mums in the Mother and Baby enclosure, toddlers are in the Cubby House and there is a retirement enclosure for koalas in their twilight years.

The highlight for most visitors is the chance to cuddle a koala for the cameras. In the gift shop are rows of photos of celebrities, including Eric Clapton, Jackie Chan and Mikhail Gorbachev, getting up close and personal with the Sanctuary's gum-tree dwelling inhabitants. I wasn't keen - having been reliably informed that they are prone to pissing on you - but the girls had a go.

The Sanctuary also has a large kangaroo and wallaby enclosure where you can wander about and feed Skippy with specially prepared food for sale in the gift shop. If you're lucky, like we were, you may even spot a joey in its mother's pouch.

The Sanctuary also has wombats, Tasmanian Devils, a platypus house and a selection of the most venomous snakes in Oz.

However, the highlight for me was the Aussie sheep dog show. A Bushie farmer in an akubra hat and with an accent so strong I don't think the Japanese tour party watching with us would have understood a word of what he was saying, demonstrated the skills these dogs require on properties so large they dwarf Wales. Once the sheep have been rounded up, the yard dog - trained in handling the sheep in the yard - takes over. He runs up and down their backs to keep them in order.

Next, in a scene reminiscent of the Thorn Birds, a Bryan Brown lookalike demonstrated how the sheep are shorn - although Ian, who worked on a property once in his youth, assured me this was a very sanitised version and that in real life the shearing is done in much less time and with a lot more cuts and nicks inflicted on the sheep.

Round the afternoon off with tea and cake in the cafe by the river, and you have an excellent family day out.

A novel idea

A friend of mine is writing a novel. It's her eighth, and this one is to be a departure from her usual rural Irish setting.

"It's to take place on an exotic island where the Sultan is on the look out for his fourth wife and has his eye on a blond stewardess who works for his private airline. I'm still working on the synopsis but I'm trying not to make it too fantastical," she tells me.

I say: "How about the Sultan is a bald middle-aged billionaire lothario who has two known illegitimate children, one with a waitress and the other with an air stewardess. He spots a gorgeous blond athlete 20 years his junior and persuades her to marry him. Just before the wedding she does a runner when rumours of a third love-child emerge and ends up having her passport confiscated and being bundled back to the Sultan's court to go through with the wedding. She does so only when promised she can divorce him as soon as she produces a child. Oh, and on the honeymoon they sleep in separate hotels and go home early to await the results of the DNA tests on his latest alleged love child."

She gives me a you-have-clearly-never-written-a-novel look and says: "It has to be believable, Kate."

I tell her of the latest revelations about Prince Albert of Monaco and his new wife Charlene.

"You see," I say. "Truth really is stranger than fiction."

Let's talk!

Bahrain's much vaunted National Dialogue has begun. After weeks of build up and a concerted poster campaign around the island, more than 300 participants have registered to take part in talks which it is hoped will help the kingdom move on from the troubles of February and March.

Political societies, human rights activists, women and children's societies, professional societies and NGOs are among those taking part and will over the next weeks debate more than 180 topics under four broad themes - the political system, the economy, social issues and human rights. The talks, which will take place three times a week, will bring together all spectrums of society under one roof to discuss the kingdom's future. The King has even held special meetings with the expatriate community to canvass their views on change and a website has been set up to keep the public informed of progress (http://www.nd.bh/en/). Many here believe Bahrain has been badly misrepresented in the western press over the last months and are hoping the dialogue will help to change this. The king has also announced an independent inquiry into the riots in consultation with the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

Al Wefaq, the main opposition party, decided at the last moment to join the Dialogue "for the sake of Bahrain", although it has expressed reservations as to what can be achieved. Of the other opposition parties, some are participating, some are not and there were opposition protests over the weekend and more are planned for this weekend.

The talks are to take place without preconditions as to what can and cannot be raised and the sessions will include sensitive issues such as the handling of state assets, compensation for psychological damage in the recent unrest and human rights issues. After each session is concluded, provided consensus has been reached, the outcome will be sent to the King.

Only time will tell how difficult it will be to reach consensus on the topics under discussion and whether any changes implemented as a result of the talks will be enough to allow the country to heal. Here's a comforting thought though: should things get too heated and blood pressures rise, Bahrain will be well-placed to cope for it has just officially entered the Guinness World Records for the most blood pressure readings taken in 8 hours - 3,252, in case you were wondering. Regular readers of this blog will know Bahrain has had several aborted record attempts in recent years, so I'm pleased to announce it has finally made it into the record books.

The Gallery: Love that Lippy!

It's week 63 of The Gallery and the theme set by Tara over at Sticky Fingers is 3 Word Gallery: one picture, three little words. I've titled mine: Love that Lippy!

This photo was taken the other afternoon when Olivia invited her best friend over for a play. After an hour of tearing round the garden, they became suspiciously quiet. The bathroom door was shut...something was afoot. They emerged some time later to reveal the results of a "make-up your friend's face blindfolded" session.

I've noted down the idea for her next birthday party; it's cheaper than an entertainer!

Expat Women: Confessions

I first lived abroad at 18 and have spent only eight of the last 25 years in my home country. I've lived in Germany, Australia, Belgium and Bahrain, have married someone from the other side of the world, gave birth to both my daughters abroad, and have put my career on hold to become the perfect trailing spouse. And while expat life has undoubtedly been both exciting and rewarding, it brings its own pressures and dilemmas which sometimes only another expats can understand.

The recently published Expat Women: Confessions - 50 Answers to Your Real Life Questions About Living Abroad is an anthology of issues raised over the years on the popular confessions page of the Expat Women website: an agony aunt column for expat women where they can post dilemmas anonymously and have them answered by experts.

Compiled by Andrea Martins (one of the founders of Expat Women) and Victoria Hepworth, both seasoned expats, the book is an A-Z of real-life problems encountered by expats from all over the world and gives objective and pragmatic advice on how to handle them as well as an extensive reference list of useful books and websites. And I was surprised how many of the confessions could have been written by me over the years: frustrations as a trailing spouse; homesick new mother abroad; intercultural couples; and third culture children, to name but a few.

Written in an accessible and chatty style, the book is an easy read and ideal to dip into when confronted by a problem. All too often, expat women have to work through complex personal and practical issues to which family and friends at home simply can't relate. Now we have a handbook to turn to.

I was contacted by Suzanne Scatliffe at Expat Women and asked to review this book. I received a free copy of the e-book. A sample of the book is available for download on the Expat Women website and the book can be purchased from Amazon.