Half term is nearly here

The logistical nightmare begins for many in a couple of weeks as parents across the country juggle their lives around the May half-term break. No doubt leaving many to question whether this is one school holiday too many.

The logistics and costs of childcare are becoming increasingly worrying. How will parents cope, how do my friends cope, how do you cope?

With only myself  to think about when planning a holiday, the toughest part in deciding when to go involves avoiding work commitments and the date of the Hop Farm Music Festival!
Having my future holidays dictated by my children’s school is not something I would look forward to, and without a family network within commuting distance, this type of assistance is a non existent too. I’ve spotted many weary couples recuperating by the beach on my holidays.
Even those of us who have planned to take time off  in a couple weeks will have faced a planning headache. The Which? Holiday team received two conflicting reports on the same day about whether holiday prices had increased or been slashed for the half-term.

Research by The Co-operative Travel, says that the price of family holiday to Turkey is down by a third compared to last year’s half-term. But Santander Cards found that the price of half-term family holidays could be up to 135% higher than in the week after, when school reopens. This just leaves parents guessing as to whether they should book future holidays early or wait for last minute deals.

It’s not just the parent’s that are affected either. What about the rest of us left back in the office having to work with depleted staff numbers? As we carry out our daily jobs, a crowd of colleagues exit the building amidst a mass of confusing emails detailing random days off and re-scheduled working hours. Our only consolation is that our commute home will be quicker.
Do school holidays need to be better distributed throughout the year, or should we scrap some of them altogether?

Either way, if you would like more time to do your thing during these breaks, let Iron Maids take away some of the pressure with offers running on dry cleaning and ironing and laundry services.

Why not check out our services on our website http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/. or give us a call on 01622 870111

Facts you didn't know about 'The' Wedding

Now that all the pomp and ceremony is dying away after the huge event that was the royal wedding, life will soon return to normal. But how much do you actually know about it? Here are a few facts and figures that you may find interesting….

An estimated 2billion people, in more than 180 countries around the world were expected to see reports, photos and TV pictures of the royal wedding, which was covered by more than 8,500 journalists in London alone.

 Facebook calculated that 2.8million people in Britain and America alone had written status updates about the royal wedding in the 24 hours before the service began.

In the build-up to the service, Twitter users were posting 237 tweets every second about the royal wedding

An estimated 1,000 miles of bunting was sold to mark the wedding, much of it being used to decorate the 5,000 street parties taking place across Britain.

About 1,900 people were invited to the service at Westminster Abbey, most of whom were drawn from the couple’s relatives and friends, along with 50 members of the Royal family, 40 members of foreign royalty, 200 politicians and diplomats and 80 guests from the Prince’s charities.

Kate Middleton arrived at the Abbey in a Rolls Royce Phantom VI, which had been presented to the Queen for her silver jubilee while Prince William travelled in a specially designed 20.4ft (6.22m) long Bentley.

The train of Kate Middleton’s dress measured 8ft 8ins (2m 70cm), while the red carpet laid from the Great West Gate to the Sacrarium in the Abbey was 300ft long.

As well as flowers from Windsor Great Park and the Sandringham Estate, Westminster Abbey was decorated by Shane Connolly with eight 20ft-high trees, six English Field Maples and two Hornbeams.

Music at the service was performed by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, the Choir of Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Fanfare Team from the Central Band of the RAF and the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry.

Three of the pieces of music played before the service were also heard at the Prince of Wales’s second marriage in 2005.

The couple chose a traditional Church of England liturgy from the 1928 prayer book, known as the Series One form of solemnization of matrimony, but Kate Middleton did not say she would “obey” her husband in her vows.

Following the service, the 10 bells of the 1,000 year-old Abbey were rung in a “full peal” lasting more than three hours, in which no sequence of sounds is repeated.

150,000 copies of the Official Programme were being sold by Explorer Scouts and Cadets in central London at £2 each, but it was also available to download as a PDF from Apple’s iBookstore.

In total about 5,000 Met officers were due to police the royal wedding including 900 lining the route of the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. By midday at least 18 people in central London had been arrested for offences ranging from breach of the peace to possession of an offensive weapon.

Now that we are all back to regular hours and full weeks of work, let Iron Maids help with your laundry or ironing needs, we even dry clean Wedding Dresses! Why not check out our services on our website http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/. or give us a call on 01622 870111.