Izzy Pearson and the treasury at Petra!

As time goes by, the frequency of those occasions when all my children are in the same place at the same time inevitably diminishes. But with Izzy back from working in a refugee camp in Greece and few days left before she heads off to Jordan, today gave us an opportunity to get together. 

We met up at Home Sweet Home in the Northern Quarter, which I would normally recommend but it seems they really are not geared up for the busyness of a Saturday morning. And with several hardened coffee drinkers around the table, there was some grumbling but I was pleased to see my kids have mastered the art of politely asking what's going on in a friendly yet "this isn't really good enough" manner. 

But once we had coffees, though, and especially after the food had arrived - enormous Oreo pizza for Dan, the big goon - we had a relaxed and entertaining time. The high point I think was when her sisters encouraged Izzy to "tell the story about the horse". Now, since Izzy has not expressed much interest in horses since she did a few riding lessons at Holmscales about fifteen years ago, I was intrigued as to what the story might be.

It turns out that when she was in Jordan recently - for a holiday come job interview - she had a day to herself and went to visit the treasury at Petra. Towards the end of the visit, she was hot and tired but also needed to get back for another interview. She didn't fancy the long walk along the valley but she spotted some local entrepreneurs who had horses and carriages: for 10 Jordanian dollars ("JDs"), you could ride in a carriage or be led on a horse.

At this point, Izzy went over to one of the guys and, incredibly, convinced him that he could make an easy 3JD by letting her ride the horse on her own to the other end of the valley. And so it was that shortly after that, she mounted the horse and cantered along the canyon. (I pictured her doing this in the style of Indiana Jones, obvs.)

It's a great story and I'm not sure I've done it justice but all of us were both gobsmacked and full of questions. I don't know whether I am more impressed by her resourcefulness or the fact that after all these years she has the confidence to simply get on a horse and ride it (and I'm sure she was never allowed to do that at Holmscales). Still, it's quite gratifying, as a parent, to realise that sometimes these activities like horse riding lessons turn out to have been a bit more than a simple indulgence!

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