A Village Life

Luxor to Kom Ombo

2012-02-09T17:29:00.000Z

This turned out to be a long, gentle run with all the life of the river going on around us.

Along the banks are hills and palms that bring the closeness of the desert to mind.

The river is full of fish and provides a living for many of those who live in the villages along its banks.

There are some very elegant craft on the river

And the domesticated oxen are common

Traditional lateen rigged feluccas are the most elegant

There were lots of happy children and, indeed, everyone we met was happy to see us, in Luxor, Kom Ombo, Philae, Aswan, Abu Simbel, etc. The fall off in tourism has been catastrophic for those who depend, directly or indirectly, on it for a living. Our guide had not worked for a month and his assistant would not work again until March. The revolution, as much as it HAS to happen, has meant great difficulties for those in the South particularly, though they are far from any trouble.

Spearing fish

Nubian houses

Cave dwellings

The river approach to Kom Ombo is supposed to be spectacular, but with so many boats laid up for lack of trade, the view was rather obscured. Kom Ombo's reputation is that of being only an introduction to Edfu, but as we were not stopping there, it would have to do.

Sobek

The hypostyle hall

Thoth, Horus, Ra-Horakhty

Sunset through the pylon

In the event, it was rather good. Its location high above the river though close enough to walk to gives it a more stately setting, especially as the sun starts to set across the river. The carvings are good and the hypostyle hall, though nothing to compare with Karnak, has some great columns and capitals.

As we left to return to the boat, the temple was beautifully lit up in the warm night.

Return of the blog ... Egypt: cruising up the Nile

2012-02-02T17:14:00.000Z

I know... I've been a bit remiss, but now, I thought I'd bring you EGYPT! Well, not all of it, plainly but just a bit about our cruise up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan.

This is our boat, the MS Hamees. It has capacity for about 140 but we were only 42 on board, a sign of the huge drop off in tourism since the revolution.

It has the sort of elegance one would expect for a 5star boat. So much so that I decided to download Death on the Nile to my Kindle to read while we were on board.

On our first full day, Marea and I decided to take ourselves off to one of the food markets in Luxor (always a sucker for a good market) so we took a taxi and off we went.

The local produce is magnificent - if I said cabbages and cauliflowers like footballs it would be inadequate - they were bigger than medicine balls and the tomatoes were fresh and juicy but not unblemished like those in an English supermarket - all image and no taste.

We were tired after flying from UK so went back to the boat for lunch and then we set off upriver towards Om Kombo. I love the sight of passing villages, palm trees and mountains behind.

Already the traders were out, selling cloths. This looks a dangerous trade to me; they hitched themselves to our boat and were pulled along at about 15knots. I think they must have drifted far downriver during the day's trading so it was getting them home as well.

Then, the sunset and it was the first day (to almost quote another book).

There's lots more to tell, but at least I've made a start.

Why do cows all point the same way?

2011-11-01T15:21:00.002Z

Autumn dog-walking

This morning’s walk was a bit of a quiet one.

The colours of Autumn were great, particularly the blood-red thorns on this bramble – very appropriate!.

The only real noises were from the crows shouting at each other for no apparent reason, intently watched by Nippy, our local stray cat, who has so many adoptive homes where she gets fed that she never needs to hunt, though I’ve seen her carrying mice along to some hiding place.

Nippy overseeing the crows' argument

Walking past the new allotments with their numbers, just waiting to be occupied, I was struck by the old conundrum – why do cows all graze in the same direction? Apparently Google Earth has confirmed that this is the case though they were unable to distinguish head from tails; it was still apparent that many groups of cows were aligned north/south. I confirmed this myself this morning; all these cows are facing South and presumably when they reach the end of the field, they’ll turn and munch their way north.

Molly enjoyed the walk

Molly the Spaniel enjoyed the walk though I can’t break her of the habit of giving a wide berth to the gateway where Izzy the St Bernard lives.

Passing Izzy's gateway

Unlike New York, our weather is still surprisingly mild and we’ve been suffering a plague of flies. It’s eased off a bit now, but I think we’ll have to wait for the really cold weather to get rid of them completely. We tried a couple of fly sprays but they are immune, unlike the wasps that came in from the nest under our floor. They died within a few minutes but we had to pay to get the nest eradicated.

The warmth is a bit incongruous as the city’s stores put up their Christmas displays.

John Lewis windows

Inside John Lewis - a bit 'Galeries Lafayette'?

The Shires Mall

Inside, there’s snow, Christmas trees and baubles while outside we’ve had a Moroccan market full of hot colours basking in the sunshine.

Leicester's Humberstone Gate

Great fossil sink

The Luggage (Discworld)

Mehndi (Henna)

Golden October

2011-10-19T23:47:00.001+01:00

When I was first a young technician in the Department of Museum Studies, there was a series of adverts for Goldener Oktober Leibfraumilch. Each month there was a new top design with a different colour variation but the bottom half was supposed to be consistently the same colour. I used a full 12 month set to demonstrate to the students how much printing ink colours varied according to the skills of the printer. This was about the time that Pantone was beginning to be promoted and I used the adverts to demonstrate how much the Pantone formula was needed. Now everyone uses it and colours of inks are consistent.

Apologies for the resolution of these 2 pictures but you can see what I'm getting at.

All of that has nothing really to do with this blog which is about the October we've been having so far and the end it is coming to....

Across the road, the sun glows through the hawthorn hedge and everything is touched by gold. The beginning of the month has been unseasonably warm and not feeling like Autumn at all. Across the fields towards Croft Hill, the sun gives everything a warm glow and all over the valley is the same.

Along the footpath, the sun catches a Robinia behind the thatched cottage and in their garden, the Hollohocks are still in full bloom. The beasts are happy - there's plenty of fresh grass still.

Hay bales back up the site of the new viillage allotments which have been cultivated and rolled ready for planting.

I've been waiting anxiously to see whether the sweet chestnut will broduce any nuts this season. Last year was disappointing and the Summer this year has been generally cloudy and dry - the worst of all worlds.

On the tree, they look good but what will they be like when they open.

The haws have filled nicely - supposedly a sign of a hard Winter to come but everyone seems to be forecasting a very cold end to the year anyway. Beneath the Chestnut tree there are certaily some good nuts, but only one in each shell with a tiny shrivelled one each side. Not all those that have dropped have good nuts in them but I have managed to gather a few.

In a day, the weather changes from this golden picture to cloudy and cold. The new elms are turning but looking very healthy and over the hill the clouds are gathering.

Birds gather on the wires ready to fly off to the sun. thicker and thicker, undaunted by the model raptor and, as we pass, they start from tree to wires and back again. Autumn is here and the cold is coming.

...and the finished article

2011-09-29T10:33:00.000+01:00

So, I finally got the bathroom floor finished. Spending the week on my knees might just have been worth it.

Pictures bought in Oban, 'By the seaside' sign from Inveraray, bought at the Highland Games, and the little boat from a shop in Tobermory.

Just need some minor adjustments to the curtain drop and all will be well.

Autumn projects

2011-09-22T15:14:00.003+01:00

One of the new elms at the entrance to the village

Autumn, and there’s lots to do. In the village, the ‘new’ elms are just beginning to change colour and the field set aside for new allotments is almost ready. A team of men rotavated it and then stone-picked right across the site.

The new allotment field

At home, I’ve been laying a new oak floor in the bathroom. It’s very awkward because of the narrowness of the room and the need to cut around the pedestal and washbasin.

The planks fix to each other with blind metal clips on the backs but, if there’s anything to restrict the angle of tilt when a new plank is inserted, it’s almost impossible. Pipes around the edge of the floor are a real nuisance. I seem to have spent most of the week on my knees, rather like when I was a window-dresser in the ‘60s. Still, it will look good when it’s finished.

Earlier in the Summer, we visited the Salvo Fair at Knebworth http://livingvillage.blogspot.com/2011/06/salvo-fair-knebworth.html and was rather taken with some flashed blue glass starbursts on the Cox’s Reclamation Yard stall.

Unfortunately, they wants about £17.50 each for them. Not a bad price but more that I wanted to afford. In discussion with the staff, I found out that they were having an auction at their yard in Moreton in Marsh early this month so I went down with Marea and had a look around. The stained glass had been divided into 3 lots and I decided to bid for at least one of them. Also, there was some new limestone, cut into slabs, 1” thick that I thought would do nicely for me to practice letter carving. http://www.coxsarchitectural.co.uk/index.htm

Lots of lovely limestone

It turned out that there was rather more stone than I thought (about 10 m2) but I bid and got it for about £120 (plus commission – 10%). The glass wasn’t due to come up until the late afternoon (there were over 1000 lots) so we decided to take the stone home and bid online for the glass. We loaded the stone into Marea’s car and limped home, though without incident. I sat through quite a lot of the auction live online and eventually won the third lot of glass for £45 (+10%). When I picked up the glass and saw how much there was, I valued it (using Cox’s retail prices) at £488, so quite a bargain.

Bristol pattern glazed doors

The glass is designed to fit a Bristol pattern door but I won’t be using it for that – just happy to have it in my studio at the moment.

Because there was so much limestone, I’m going to use it to replace the dilapidated steps up to the back of the garden. I’ll probably carve some letters on the steps as well. Maybe more about that in future blogs.

Heritage Open Days at Cotesbach

2011-09-15T11:43:00.002+01:00

Last weekend was the Heritage Open Days weekend. Marea and I did a short stint on Sunday at Cotesbach Educational Trust. http://cotesbachschoolhouse.org.uk/

Entrance to the Cotesbach Estate

The project involves the restoration and adaptation of three outbuildings on the Cotesbach Estate. The buildings will provide the setting for activities of the Cotesbach Educational Trust. The Cotesbach Estate is the nucleus of a larger estate, which has been in the ownership of the Marriott family for over 250 years and as a consequence has survived as a remarkable example of architectural and social history. The Trust has a 50 year lease on the buildings which stand in the centre of the Estate.

The 18th century Schoolhouse - the windows are original

The Schoolhouse, separately listed Grade II, is reputedly one of the first of its kind in the country. It was purpose built in the late 18th century, by Rev. Robert Marriott, for the education of the children of Cotesbach and the surrounding villages;

The Stick House, an old milking parlour of a similar date; and the mid Victorian Coach House

The Coach House

All three buildings are located in the curtilage of Cotesbach Hall, which is listed Grade II, Queen Anne, Georgian and Victorian. Together these buildings provide a significant heritage focus for Cotesbach; and an example of very local history, unique to the village but which contributes to a larger national social change.

The project seeks to retain the historic fabric of these ancient buildings; introduce new elements which protect the historic setting and sustain the site and its long term viability

The restored Schoolhouse will accommodate 30 children at a time, whether visiting for a study day or for field studies to support a set of work they might be engaged in at school. The Coach House will include an archive repository viewing space and artefact display case. The Coach House will be extended to provide additional teaching space and to accommodate a café area, selling seasonal produce sourced mainly on the Estate, with opening doors to extend the space into an external seating area. It will include kitchen facilities and be used for cookery demonstrations for up to 15 people. There will be a cloakroom and toilets as well as flexible mixed use space for an arrival point, reception/office, space to form an exhibition and a second teaching area with a kitchen store.

The trust is working towards raising £750,000 to restore the buidings and for funding for the delivery of community based programmes. To date a grant of £570,000 has been secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund along with grants from The Architectural Heritage Fund, The Ernest Cook Trust, Harborough Estate.

The Hall

The Trust has become the guardian of the Marriott family archive, much of which has survived intact at the Hall, a happy consequence of the long term ownership of one family.

Sophy Newton, family member and tour guide

Part of the archive

1874 map of the Cotebach and Shawell Estate drawn on linen.

The earliest document, recording a land transaction in Cotesbach, dates from the time of Henry VI, a Plantagenet (1422-1461) and as such is a gem of local history. The collection covers the 15th to the 20th century and includes deeds and papers relating to the Estate, substantial family correspondence and papers, and important groups of sermons and religious papers (of particular value for the study of Anglican sensibilities and practice in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Our 'reverend' John Denny delivers a 200 year old sermon

The archive will be on permanent loan to the CET and is to be housed in the Coach House which is to be specially converted for archive storage to national standards, with public viewing space.

In addition there are small collections of artefacts, such as a toy collection (late 18th century to the present) which will be made accessible for the CET to use as educational resource material.

Pressing apples for juice - hard work!

Marea and I spent our time greeting and orienting visitors; this was a steep learning curve for us as I've only just joined the Trustees and am still feeling my way.

Merlin Spitfire engine, fired during the open day; very noisy!

We had a good turnout and some visitors came from as far away as Cheshire. What was gratifying, however, was that many visitors were more local and this will halp to spread the word about the project and the Trust throughout Leicestershire.

Cotesbach was also the scene in 1607 of riots against the enclosures - the greatest single crime purpetrated by the 'landowners' against the common people of England.

Reputedly, 5000 people took part - the largest gathering there had ever been. At any rate the situation in Cotesbach prompted a huge gathering which represented the peak of non-violent protest by the peasant community, marking the final episode in a struggle over land which stretched back to medieval times: a week later, the gallows in Leicester having been erected by the so-called Earl of Huntingdon, torn down again by the mob, and re-erected on 10th June, when the threat of social and political unrest became too great, the final uprising that took place in Newton near Geddington in Northamptonshire was dealt with by force, and things changed for ever. (http://www.cotesbach.net/quattrocentenary/history)

See also

http://www.geddington.net/newton_rebels.htm

Marie Curie Cancer Care Walk 10 at Boughton

2011-09-08T13:06:00.003+01:00

Over the weekend I agreed to act as official photographer for the Walk 10 event in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. This took place in the grounds of Boughton House, Northamptonshire http://www.boughtonhouse.org.uk/welcome/ home of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry .

Walk 10 is a sponsored evening walk, 10 kilometres usually around the grounds/estate of a stately home. http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/walkten It culminates in an evening of entertainment/picnic and a firework display at 10pm to coincide with the start of the night shift for Marie Curie nurses who care for terminally ill people in their own homes free of charge.

Warming up

We were very lucky in that, although the day started cloudy, by the time we had the tents set out for registration, and selling Marie Curie Cancer Care merchandise as well as Ice creams, coffee and tea, and a hog roast, the sky had cleared and the day was warm.

All ages participated

Over 360 people registered for the walk, all ages and after collecting their T shirts and goody bags with drinks, snacks, torch and poncho (in case of rain), they warmed up and set off at 7.30pm.

Watching the great phalanx of people in matching T shirts mounting the first hill and making their way across the estate and down the great rides was inspirational but seeing the triumph in their faces as they finished the 10km was great.

As everyone settled down with their picnics in what turned out to be a balmy evening to listen to the band, they became a community united by their remembrance of their loved ones and the great feeling of having helped Marie Curie Cancer Care provide essential nursing for yet more people.

Memorial lanterns

Well worth celebrating with fireworks.

If you think Walk 10 is a good idea and you would like to take part, go to http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/walkten and find one in your area.

Learning Stone Carving (lettering)

2011-09-01T11:19:00.000+01:00

Marea’s Christmas present: a stone carving course.

http://www.stonecarvingcourses.com/

I was thrilled to receive this but didn't want to go over to Lincoln in midwinter so I arranged to attend during July...

The night before, I was rather nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do this; that I’d simply be useless. I set off for Lincoln, a city I love, where the course was to take place in the workshop of Eilidh Fridlington.

The drive was OK in spite of the roadworks where the A46 is being dualled (seems like the A46 has been being dualled since I was an adolescent.) I stayed at Orchard House, a small B+B on Yarborough Road – very friendly welcome and a neat and clean room. The owner put a lot of effort into the design and decor. (I think I’ll enjoy staying here.)

The workshop is on the left under the scaffolding; El Portico (for lunch) straight ahead
and, up the hill on the right, The Collection, lincoln's new Museum

Eilidh (pron. Elly) Fridlington, our expert tutor

I walked into the centre and found the workshop. A bit early so I had a good coffee in ‘Cafe Portico’ next door. I met Eilidh at 10 with her daughter who’s on school holidays. Very surprised to find that there’s only one other member of the class; Denise who came down from Hull. We spent the day doing straight lines, starting and finishing, then curves. I had some good results but was losing my concentration by the end of the day.

Denise starting straight lines - my station in the background

I walked back to the B+B. It seemed a very long way this time (uphill all the way). After a rest, I walked in again and had fish and chips, then back to Orchard House feeling rather tired, to settle down with University Challenge and Antiques Master.

My practice straights, curves and crescents

Eilidh polishing a lump of stone to prepare it for carving

And some of her work

There’s not a lot to write about the second day; spent the whole day practicing 'V' endings, curves and entrances and exits where small curves rise to join verticals or horizontals. It’s sometimes difficult to get curves right – not too deep, centre line in the actual centre; that means both slopes are at the same angle; cutting a nice sharp V where the curve joins the vertical. My real problem is starting confidently, getting the centre line in the right place and cutting a fishtail at the end to form the chiselled 'V' ending.

My 'end of day' results - carved lots of joins and endings and, eventually, a couple of letters

My practice letters - the 'e' took an hour to carve - need to improve.

Having finally cut my letters, I then gave some thought to what word I wanted to cut on the third day. Before coming over, I had thought of ‘Paradise enow...’ from the Rubaiat of Omar Khayyam.

“A cup of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou; beside me, singing in the wilderness; and wilderness were paradise enow”.

However, I now realise that since it took me an hour to cut my practice ‘e’ even my shorter idea of ‘Amor vincit omnia’ is out of the question.
I spent the evening looking at fonts on the computer and finally decided that it will have to be a hand drawn font. Eilidh thinks I ought to make the baseline a bit wavy and I think this will go much better with an informal font.

When we got to the class, I settled down to draw and carve my word ‘dream!’; trite, I know, but in the time available, having something to complete and take home had become important.

So, I turned my stone over and set about grinding it smooth and polishing it ready to carve.

Eilidh suggested cutting the verticals first and this certainly speeded me up
and gave structure when it came to the curves

Rather like the Glass Leading day I went to in Liverpool, I am pleased with what I achieved, though I can see all the mistakes. For a first attempt, it’s quite satisfying.

I now feel that I could carve anything with a bit more practice so I’ll have to buy myself a lettering chisel and dummy, some bits of stone and just get on with it.

Down to the River Weaver

2011-08-19T11:26:00.003+01:00

Friday 12 August – the ‘Glorious Twelfth’

John arrived to finish the electrical work in the bedroom so we left him with a key and set off for Anderton (Cheshire) where Ophelia is now moored. About halfway we got a call from John to say he hadn’t got a key... seems he had put it in his bag. (If we didn’t have mobile phones, we would have to remember stuff).

Ophelia in Anderton Marina

The people at Anderton were very friendly – previous reports had not been great – and we set off for the lift down to the river Weaver.

Waiting for the next passage down

Some years ago, when they were trying to raise money to restore the Anderton Boat Lift, we subscribed and helped raise the necessary funds. Because of this, we were invited to an event and got a free trip down and back up but this wasn’t in our own boat and was at about a third of the speed. We got to the holding moorings and booked our passage – about half an hour wait but it could be much longer. However, if you turn up on spec and are prepared to wait, it’s free – booked passage is £5.

Entering the lift caisson

Looking back at the Anderton Boat Lift

Down onto the Weaver and straining to remember the lock timings. I think she said we wouldn’t get through Saltersford tonight because the last passage is 15.45 and, sure enough, we were too late so we moored in warm if cloudy weather and settled down to wait for the morning passage. You can’t work these locks on your own; they are all staffed and are very large. Vale Royal Lock can hold 28 boats.

Himalayan Balsam at Saltersford Locks

We arrived at Saltersford too late to go down but there is a very pretty mooring with a path through the woods one way and through the Himalayan Balsam the other that goes to the lockside. We left a message on the answerphone saying we wanted to go down so the keeper would get it ready first thing.

Saturday 13th

Saltersford Lock - like all the lock, big enough to take seagoing craft

We went through just after 10am having had our bacon sandwiches and coffee. Just as we were about to go in, another boat arrived and went down with us – better use of the water. The Liverpudlian lock keeper was very informative and said he would let the keeper down at Dutton know we were on our way. It should take about 35 minutes. Because we were dawdling (no reason to hurry) it took us a bit longer and there was another boat in the lock waiting for us. The woman lock keeper said it was no problem; she had enjoyed chatting to the other owner.

After this, we cruised down past Devil’s Garden where we had been recommended to moor on the way back up. There was no-one there so we hoped there would be a place when we came back. The river is canalised all the way down to the Manchester Ship Canal and there are a couple of major swing bridges at Acton Bridge and Sutton built to allow ships up to 2500 tons to go through to the Ship Canal.

Acton Bridge

Rowers

MV Chica

Forthe history and legends of MV Chica see http://www.heritage-now.com/content.php?page=52

Dutton Lock with its very happy woman lock-keeper. Always cheerful and helpful.

Dutton Viaduct

The wind got up and it was rather cold as we cruised towards the industrial section at Weston. The factory goes on for what seems about a mile and the whole section is rather dreary. The only reason to go down is to say you’ve done it.

The Emerald City(?)

We cruised back in a bit of a hurry, wanting to moor and get out of the wind. However, as we came up, the wind got better. By the time we got to Devil’s Garden, it was almost full of other boats and we had to squeeze in at one end, mooring without a bow rope.

Devil's Garden

However, all is quiet, weather and river, so it doesn’t look like it will be a problem. Getting Molly off and on will be a different matter; she can be very nervous sometimes. I may have to lift her across the gap. The TV signal here was rather difficult. Why is it that the BBC stations are always the first to go? We played the DVD of the Nutcracker just for the music while we sat and read. Altogether a rather quiet evening, but that’s what we like. Tomorrow, we’ll head up the other section from the Lift towards Winsford Flash.

Sunday 14th

Woken early by Molly out of a very bad dream so my mood was low. I dressed quickly and took Molly for a walk which she needed since she hadn’t fancied getting off the boat in the dark last night. The Weaver way runs beside the river along here and is very pretty. At one point, I was reminded of the part in the Lord of the Rings film Fellowship of the Rings where Frodo says to the other hobbits “Get off the road!” and they hide while the black rider comes and sniffs around. I started re-reading Lord of the Rings for about the 20th time last week while I was on the Stone Carving course last week (subject of anothet blog entry when I have time); it seemed appropriate to lettered stone and monumental carvings. I have it on my Kindle so it’s really easy to read anytime. One day, I’ll write a piece about how I first read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings at the age of 18 and how it completely changed my life and gave me a whole new imaginative world to revel in.

Weaver Way - my Lord of the Rings moment

... and Molly the Spaniel

We decided today to have a lazy day so we came up through Dutton and Saltersford locks. It was rather cold and rainy so we moored for lunch in a little niche by a willow tree. Unfortunately there was a wasps nest close by so we had to be a bit careful. However, we sat and read our books for a couple of hours. There were occasional breaks in the dense cloud but it didn’t look like clearing up. Eventually, I got bored and decided to move so we cast off and moved up past the Anderton lift and moored for the night at the visitor moorings where there is a picnic area.

Visitor moorings at Anderton

The sun came out and it got a bit warmer. After a while, Soulbury came by (another ex-Ownerships boat) and we had a discussion about the future. Soulbury is independent, but he thought the owners would probably decide to sell before too long. The problem as he saw it was that there was no market for selling individual shares in an independent boat because no purchaser knew what was likely to happen in the future. Also, finding people prepared to do minor works and take responsibility for organising (licences, fees, etc) was difficult.

Like so many owners, he said he had always enjoyed OwnerSnips (the Ownerships magazine I used to edit) and had always meant to write something but never actually got around to it.

We tried to rescan the TV signal but there was nothing so we made do with Classic FM. There was a Brass Band concert at the marquee but we wanted an early night so we didn’t go.

Monday 15th

Off to Northwich

BW Regional Repair Yard

Approaching Vale Royal Locks

Inside the lock - heavy steel gates and freshwater mussels

Vale Royal

We set off in fairly cold weather to go up Hunts and Vale Royal locks. As we went through, the weather began to improve and, as we made our way up towards Winsford, the sun came out. We asked the lock keeper about moorings in Winsford and he was pretty scathing, saying there was nowhere; “Winsford has never come to terms with its boating community”. He recommended some moorings about 1000 metres above Vale Royal lock. The river above the lock is very attractive for some of the way, then it passes the salt/grit works and is a bit dreary. Winsford flashes are quite interesting – lined on one side with holiday cabins though we thought some or most were permanent dwellings.

Winsford Flashes

I re-tuned the TV here where it was very open, though the autoscan didn’t work; I had to manually scan those channels that showed a decent signal. Interestingly, the BBC channels I got were Midlands not North but they were very clear.

Goose washing... and drying opposite our mooring.

We made our way back to the suggested moorings and spent the afternoon reading in the sunshine.
We’ve decided that we will make our way back to the lift tomorrow because it looks like the weather is going to worsen so we might as well get home early and go to John Florance’s lecture on John Betjeman.

Tuesday 17th

We didn’t need to start off too early because the lock passage wasn’t until 10.30am so we took our time. We arrived in plenty of time – there was another boat waiting ‘Mrs Tiggywinkle’ so we moored to the pontoon. After a while, another – ‘Tempranillo’ came up and ‘loitered’ on the river waiting. As we were all waiting, the owner of ‘Mrs T’ came through and said the lock was almost ready so I stepped on board and loosed the rope; we drifted slowly towards the centre of the river at which ‘Mr Tempranillo’ got incensed and demanded to know why I had not stayed on the pontoon. Just at that moment, Molly the spaniel decided to be sick so I wasn’t in a mood to explain my actions to a very angry boater; angry, I might say, with no reason (I sometimes wonder why some people go through life believing they have the right to order everyone around.) Meanwhile, a wide-beam boat arrived and another small narrow boat. When the lock was opened, the wide-beam (naturally) was taken in first, then the longest narrow boat and so on down to the smallest. The owner of ‘Mrs Tiggy...’ was extremely upset; he had obviously set off early to be fist in the lock but, since it was easily able to accommodate us all, I didn’t see the problem. Anyway, he refused to tie up to another boat - we were all roped together – Mr ‘Tempranillo’ refused to take my rope and completely ignored me until the lock-keeper ordered him to take it so it was a bad tempered 25 minutes wait while the lock emptied and we all went down. To cap it all and the rain came down in buckets; it all seemed very appropriate, really. The couple in the last boat to arrive (‘Lily May’ I think, though they were waiting for a paint job and had no painted name) were extremely friendly and couldn’t understand why Mr ‘Temper...’ stood with his back to us all the way down.

We were positioned in the middle of the lock and the keeper said “As soon as there’s a 7ft gap in the gates, go for it!” so we were first out and on our way to Hunts Lock. After Hunts, the ‘problem’ boats decided to moor in Northwich so we didn’t have to put up with them any further.

Going up with nb Valour, an ex 'Challenger' boat

The tour boat which delayed us

A view back to the River Weaver

We moored at the Anderton Boat lift ready for our passage up at 2.15. However, because of the tour boat’s lateness in coming down, we were rather late going up. Now, it’s not generally known (unless you’ve been up on the lift) that you boat ends up with hundreds of muddy drip marks all along the roof and down the sides. These dry rock hard; the mud in the drips is very fine and they are extremely difficult to scrub off. Anyway, when we got to the marina and had filled up with fuel and water, paid for these and pump-outs and turned the boat around, we realised we could not leave the boat spattered with mud – we had already cleaned, polished the brass, etc., but we settled down to scrub every inch of the roof and sides with hot soapy water, and then rinse it all off. By the time we were satisfied that everything was clean, we suddenly realised the lateness of the hour. The secure car park where our car was sitting closed at 5pm – it was now 5.01 and when I ran over to look, it was closed and locked. At that moment, the heavens opened (I assume all this is literary ‘pathetic fallacy’ or something like it) so we were unable to do anything except move to our mooring and decide to stay another night. Lots of thing to unpack again and a meal to prepare. Still, we made the boat homely again and settled down to listen to Classic FM and read – no TV signal again!

Wednesday 18th

Packed and off quickly this morning; home by lunchtime to a garden that’s been very deprived of water, unlike us.

Scotland, day 2

2011-07-31T17:25:00.001+01:00

Sunday 17 July 2011

We had a good lie in; down to breakfast about 8.30am. Smoked haddock and poached egg – as good as I’ve tasted anywhere. I couldn’t get a signal on the wi-fi this morning and when I checked with the front desk, the receptionist said it was only available in the lounge and foyer on the ground floor. She was amazed that we had got a signal on the second floor.

Oban Harbour

We set off for Oban but had to wait until noon for most of the shops to open. Weather cool, windy with rain blowing in. We looked around the shops avoiding the rain, bought a map of Mull and booked passage for Monday to Craignure. Marea particularly wants to visit Tobermory.

McCaig's Tower over Oban

We thought of visiting Crarae Garden near Inveraray but the rain was rather persistent so we drove into Inveraray itself. I bought some Loch Fyne whisky – one that I particularly enjoy. Marea bought another French necklace like the ones she bought last year. We were pleased to see that the Parisienne lady who owns the shop was still in business – it can’t be easy, even in a tourist spot like Inveraray. We checked where the Highland Games were (for Tuesday) and went back to Portsonachan for dinner and The Apprentice final.

Narrative
Smoked haddock is a real treat here – it’s undyed very fresh and juicy. The only problem is that it’s a long way to Oban so deliveries could be more frequent. When available, it takes away the temptation to have a ‘full Scottish Breakfast’ with bacon, egg, sausage patty, white pudding, beans, toast and jam... etc.

Rain is a constant hazard in Oban – i don’t think we’ver ever been there when it hasn’t rained, though it rarely stays; clouds pass relatively quickly leaving the streets warm and damp with that Victorian seaside town feeling familiar from childhood holidays in Southport, Skegness, Cromer, St Leonards, etc.

Wonderful old-fashioned toilets near the ferry terminal in Oban

Inveraray doesn’t seem to have any real reason for being where it is at the top end of Loch Fyne – though it is the traditional county town of Argyll and ancestral home to the Duke of Argyll. The present town was built in the late 1700s after the then Duke moved the population of the existing village to improve the view from his rebuilt castle. This is one of the most prominent features of the place – the Duke and Duchess (new ones of course) are still in residence – together with the gaol, now a museum together with the floating maritime museum, neither of which I have to confess to not having visited. This is not because I don’t like museums but because the majority simply don’t come up to my ideas of what a museum ought to be; I have, unfortunately, been trained on the best.

Inveraray is a place that most people visit. (I’ve only just discovered that much of this is due to the regulation that bus drivers must take a rest after 2 hours driving. Inverary is exactly 2 hours drive from Glasgow so all services connecting Campbeltown, Oban and Fort William to or from Glasgow stop at Inverary for a 20 minute break. The real giveaway that it’s a real tourist trap is the fact that the public toilets cost 30pence rather than the Scottish norm of 20pence.

North of the border down Inveraray way

2011-07-31T16:53:00.011+01:00

Wow! A whole month with nothing written. Just goes to show you have less time when you are retired than when you were working.

Also, holidays get in the way and, as usual, Scotland beckoned...

Saturday 16 July 2011

I had left the sat nav in my car over at Toby’s so we went over to collect it and eventually got away at about 8am in the rain. It was a pretty awful journey – heavy showers and spray.
We stopped at Tebay for lunch. This is one of the most beautiful locations for a motorway services overlooking the Vale of Lune. I got my first Scottish money in my change and the weather brightened a bit as we came into Scotland.

View of Loch Awe from the hotel terrace

We arrived at Portsonachan about 4.30pm – not bad; about 7 hours driving plus stops. Last time we came up, our room wasn’t ready and we had to wait on the terrace overlooking the Loch – the hotel has a reputation for being a bit like ‘Fawlty Towers’- see http://www.youtube.com/show/fawltytowers but we have a real liking for the place and its location is simply stunning. There’s no doubt they try hard but the hotel is a bit isolated on Loch Awe so they find it difficult to get and keep staff. This time, all was ready and the whole place seemed more efficient – a real improvement. Marea insisted on doing the unpacking while I went to sit outside in the sun with a malt whisky and my book (Water for Elephants – unputdownable!). It was warm, dry and very pleasant.

Across the loch to Ben Cruachan

Eventually when Marea came down, we sat in the sun with a glass of wine (I had forgotten how big their glasses are). Had dinner early and, in spite of good intentions (having had a good lunch) had langoustines followed by chicken with lime and coriander. The food at Portsonachan remains probably its best feature. Back in the room, we turned on the laptop to see if there was a wi-fi signal (not advertised) and found there was a good free signal. We fell into bed after watching The Impressionists – very good.

Narrative
Normally, the run up to Scotland is very pretty and, despite the distance, quite enjoyable. On this occasion, the weather was so awful that it was something of an ordeal. Tebay is one of the best services on the whole motorway system , not just because of the location, overlooking the Vale of Lune, but because the food is good, the staff are friendly and you might get your first Scottish money in your change. Everyone seems to want to meet here.

Onward into Scotland via Gretna where people used to get married in a hurry.

"Gretna's famous 'runaway marriages' began in 1753 when Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act was passed in England; it stated that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, then parents had to consent to the marriage. This Act did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 years old with or without parental consent. Many elopers fled England, and the first Scottish village they encountered was Gretna Green. The Old Blacksmith's Shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's Shop (1710) became, in popular folklore at least, the focal tourist points for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmith's opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887.

The local blacksmith and his anvil have become the lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Scottish law allowed for 'irregular marriages', meaning that if a declaration was made before two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as 'anvil priests'." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretna_Green

The road goes through Inveraray to the Portsonachan turn and we take the rather lengthy and winding road along the south side of Loch Awe – the longest freshwater loch in Scotland and ancient stronghold of the Clan Campbell.

Main Street, Inveraray

Salvo Fair, Knebworth

2011-06-30T15:57:00.000+01:00

Went off to the Salvo Fair earlier in the week.

I still remember Knebworth as a place where psychedelic raves and music festivals were held. It’s all a bit quieter these days… or perhaps it’s just me that’s quieter – viz: “The grounds of Knebworth House near the village of Knebworth has become a major venue for open air rock and pop concerts since 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band attracted 60,000 at the first large concert held at the venue.

Since then, it has been the scene of outdoor extravaganzas featuring Pink Floyd (1975 & 1990), The Rolling Stones & Lynyrd Skynyrd (1976), Genesis (1978, 1990 & 1992), Frank Zappa (1978), Led Zeppelin (1979), Mike Oldfield & The Beach Boys (1980), Cliff Richard (1983 & 1990), Deep Purple (1985), Queen (1986), Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Elton John & Dire Straits (1990), Oasis (1996), Robbie Williams (2003) Sonisphere Festival (2009/2010).”
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerts_at_Knebworth_House

The Salvo Fair is the usual eclectic mix of bygones, architectural salvage, fascinating small antiques and general rubbish.

There’s always something literally monumental near the entrance and you would need to be building your own minor stately home to make use of it. Indeed, that’s the way a number of historic buildings got their various features – by recycling them from other, older buildings. Or, Like Peter Jackson in his settings for Lord of the Rings, you could strew them around the landscape to give an impression of an earlier, grander history.

I did rather like these box pews, but have no idea where I would put them. There seemed to be rather a lot of pews, and some religious statues – see later. Looks like a number of churches are closing and being demolished.

I always go looking for inspiration for my stained glass and there’s always plenty. Here, some beautiful plain art nouveau glass just to teach us that not everything has to be wildly coloured to be entrancing.

This marble floor really knocked me out. It would be worth building a house just to have somewhere to put it!

More stained glass in various sizes: the 4 dividing doors were spectacular – totally undamaged and very tall. They extend below the piece of glass that’s leaning against their bases.

More, and lovelier.

If you were refurbishing a house or building from scratch – this is exactly what you would need: multiples of knobs, handles and other fittings, all matching. One wonders where they have come from.

There’s also, I have to say, rather a lot of what is simply junk...

And here’s more junk. Makes a good photo, but wouldn’t want to expend any hard-earned cash on it.

And just what would you do with these rather forlorn statues (though the fireman looks more cheerful)

Back to the monumental and a 7ft high cast iron urn for the garden.

This is a child’s (play) shepherding hut converted from a chicken shed. It’s a bit twee and makes me think of sending children up the chimneys or out into the fields to glean discarded ears of wheat.

A Yellow submarine – not a film prop but a genuine working 2 man sub.

And this is the iconic tribunal desk that appeared on the Salvo website – hold your own trials! I don’t know whether they sold it.

But what I really wanted was this Blue flashed starburst glass. I didn’t really want to spend the money while I was there but will probably drive down to the Cotswolds to buy from the dealer.
Altogether, this year’s Salvo Fair was much like last year’s – full of fascinating objects but. We thought, very over-priced. Whether this is because it’s the Salvo Fair and they get all sorts of people who don’t know the market or whether they start high, knowing that their customers are knowledgeable and will drive a hard bargain.
We enjoyed it but didn’t really spend (we bought a couple of small teapots made for P&O in the 50s; that’s all).

The Mole Man cameth...

2011-06-16T13:32:00.000+01:00

... and the Mole Man tooketh away.

Towards the end of the last entry, I had noticed that the new lawn was lifting along the edge.

Checking a little more carefully, I found that there was a tunnel all round the edge of the lawn and that the plants which were falling out of the soil and for which i had accused Marea of 'just sticking them in' and not planting them properly, had been undermined by the digging of a mole.

Raising the edge of the lawn, it became clear that, unless we solved the problem, the mole would burrow under the lawn and areas would drop making the whole thing unlevel and hazardous. I rang the Mole Man.

He came, set two traps under the soil and left, telling me to watch out for the tell-tale lifting of a tiny lever showing that the trap had been sprung. Well, he hadn't been gone more than an hour when I was showing Marea where the traps were and I noticed the lifted lever. Extracting the trap, we found a large male mole which the Mole Man came and took away. We now have to wait a few days to see if there are any others, but, since he was a male, this is apprently unlikely.

Retirement: week one. The Summer Garden

2011-06-08T13:44:00.002+01:00

I've now been retired just over a week and I don't seem to have had time to sit down.

I know there's lots to do around the house and in the garden... I've had to dead head and prune this rose around the door (Paul's Scarlet) so it will produce another flush of blooms later in the Summer.

It's now officially Summertime - poppy time!

We have a number of varieties because we both enjoy them. our favourite is Patty's Plum but we also have small Californian poppies,

and, of course, the garden's full of roses at the moment.

I've forgotten the name of this white rose but it's one of the best and fragrant too.

Just Juliet

Handel

Just Juliet can always be relied on to look wonderful and Handel is exquisite and beautifully scented.

The bottom of the garden where we redesigned it before having the lawn put in has come on quite well and is beginning to look settled. Paul's Himalayan Musk looks wonderful falling over Cleopatra but the laurel hedge will have to be cut hard back in the Autumn and, with it, some of the rose. It's so vigorous it probably won't even pause.

Pleine de Grace is coming into its own where it grows over the shed. It produces good hips in the Autumen so I'll wait until deep Winter to cut it back after the birds have had their fill.

We have a real love of rambling roses. This is one of the best known, Rambling Rector. It can get out of hand if not watched carefully.

Of course, one of the great things about being retired is having the opportunity to take Molly for a walk whenever I feel like it. I can choose the best part of the day and go and admire the dog roses and say 'Hi' to the rabbits.

Summer, of course is not without its hazards; here are just a couple:

This is where the new lawn is lifting at the edge. I wondered what had caused it until I saw a molehill just off to one side. We've never had moles in the garden but it looks like we've got them now. Under this edge, there's a long tunnel. Plainly the disturbed soil made an easy dig for the mole.

And this, much more difficult to decipher as a picture, is where a birds nest is lodged behind our digital TV dish and disrupting our picture. I don't know whether there are young in there, but we're going to have to get up and have a look.

You can't keep a good tree down

2011-05-11T17:34:00.001+01:00

April was such a great month. Not only did we get an extended holiday because of Good Friday and Easter Monday/Tuesday, but these were followed by the royal wedding and the normal Spring bank holiday.

Like many people, we too the 2 extra days and made a lengthy break. With nowhere to fly off to and no major events to organise (e.g. Christmas), this was a really restful period; maybe good practice for retirement. We went to watch cricket (in the sun!), spent time getting the garden into shape and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Meanwhile, the village is looking forward to Summer - everywhere is greening up and blossom covers the hedgerows.

The vandalised elms have sprouted again - you can't keep a good tree down. My neighbour says they will never grow into proper trees but I wonder whether, if we take off all the shoots but one and create a single leader, we might get a result.

All the rest of the elms are burgeoning and will look magnificent in a few years time.

Across the road, the guy who broke into our house and disturbed Marea has set up a sort of playground for his children and they light bonfires on warm nights. Still, they haven't bothered us yet.

My favourite plant, cow parsley, (keck) is out everywhere and is at its best at this early stage.

It has a smell that brings back Summer every year. Marea and I both love this plant so much that I actually bought her a gold and silver brooch representing cow parsley for Christmas from Paula Bolton Jewellery http://www.paulabolton.net/acatalog/Hedgerow.html.

I've bought Marea lots of Paula Bolton jewellery in the past. She's a favourite designer.

The dandelions have all gone over but, from the look of this, we won't have to worry about not having any next year.

Sumer is icumen in;
Lhude sing cuccu!

http://www.pteratunes.org.uk/Music/Music/Lyrics/summerisicumenin.html

The new planting and THAT lawn

2011-04-19T17:06:00.001+01:00

Now, Molly, the Springer Spaniel, is a wonderful dog; friendly, caring and doesn't run off or escape from the garden. The only trouble is; she can be a bit of a bitch and that's unfortunate. It means we can never manage to keep a decent lawn. Even if I tried re-turfing it, the result would be the same; a tatty, muddy (at times), mouldy (in places), moss infested mess.

So we decided to take drastic action.

We moved most of the plants from the bottom bed where they don't get enough light, dug over the area, fed it with farmyard manure and planted shrubs.

In case you can't read the names, they are: (L-R) New Zealand Flax, Amelanchier, Buddleia Davidii, Cornus Sanguinea (Midwinter Fire), Philadelphus Aureus, Pieris (Forest Flame), Olearia Haastii, Cornus Alba Sibirica, Nandina (Firestorm) and, hidden off to the right, Jasminum Stephanense. (I think it's obvious from the varietal names what we're trying to achieve. The next thing to do, after the nesting season, is to cut the laurel hedge hard back to let in much more light.

Then we called in the suppliers to lay our new ARTIFICIAL lawn.

They stripped it, prepped it, laid a membrane to stop weeds and then laid what they call 'the carpet'.

After a lot of sanding (kiln dried) and brushing, this is how it looks.

I'm very pleased; apparently the dog will love it because it stays warm. It's great to sit on because it dries quickly and doesn't feel damp. But, most of all, and best of all: I WILL NEVER HAVE TO WASTE MY TIME MOWING IT - EVER AGAIN.

A visit to the Picasso Museum, Malaga

2011-04-15T17:56:00.002+01:00

You can probably see from the short hiatus that we've been away. we went to the Costa del Sol - our first time in mainland Spain. During the week we drove down to Gibraltar; assertively British and, on the day we went, very cold and blustery with the Levant blowing.

We also drove up into the Andalician hills to Ronda, a most beautiful town on the edge of a precipitous gorge. Perhaps I'll do a piece about that later.

Anyway, while we were in Fuengirola we took the opportunity to go to Malaga and visit the Picasso Museum. We thought we might be able to get fairly neat in the car but the satnav kept asking us to turn the wrong way into one way streets or pedestrian areas.

In the end we drove to a car par expecting to have to take a taxi but, as it turned out, we were only about a kilometre from the Museum and the walk took us through the main shopping street, a chance for people watching.

I seem not to have taken any pictures down Calle Larios, so I’ve borrowed one from http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/photographical-journey-through-malagas-top-15-sights.php. I’m sure they won’t mind.

Our walk took us past the Cathedral (we had passed it in the car a couple of times but it was much better on foot) and up a cool shady street to the beautiful Picasso Museum.

The exhibition was apparently arranged thematically though, as most of the artworks were portraits or other pictures of people, there seemed only to be one theme.

We both wished they had been arranged chronologically; that would have made the point about the revolution in art that Picasso led. I took a number of pictures until, eventually, one of the attendants said it wasn't allowed. Oddly, there were no notices anywhere, even in reception; nothing to forbid the taking of photos, but I had to stop. I've never understood what harm it does and personally, I think it's daft but it seems to have become the norm (except in Birmingham where you can photograph the Pre-Raphaelites to your heart's content).

The Bulding itself was very beautiful; classically Spanish, arranged round a cool central courtyard and with wonderful dark wood ceilings.

Afterwards, we had lunch in a plaza adjacent to the Cathedral and went for a wander around.

Most things don’t close for siesta in the larger cities. Then back to Fuengirola to sit on the balcony with a glass of wine, a book and the late afternoon sunshine. Exhausting!

What do I do now?

2011-03-23T15:38:00.003Z

So... I've done the two windows in the dining room and I'm happy with the way they look.

I could do what I promised to do a put the window I removed from the dining room into the bedroom, but really I'm looking for something a bit more challenging.

I still have to do the office windows (my office; the SMALL one that comes off the dining room) and I've worked out a formal sort of lozenge design with a nice coloured diamond but I haven't worked out what colour the diamond should be yet.

So... I'm casting about, looking for a small, skilful project that won't take too long but might stretch me a bit.

My eyes lit on the front door with its poky little bottle glass puntil window. (I hate them anyway) and I thought "that's it!"

I wanted a design that would be intricate and colourful...

so I dug something out of a victorian design book.

I think it's supposed to be about a metre high so it makes the cutting for this particular window which is A4 size (approx) very intricate. We'll see how I get on!

Jan Morris's 'Venice'

2011-03-18T15:15:00.002Z

I've been trying to satisfy my 'obsession' with Venice by reading Jan Morris's book Venice, first written in 1960 in the persona of James Morris, Morris tried to update it in 1970 and realised that it was not updateable. Much has changed, but much remains the same. La Serenissima has come through a dark period (lasting, however you make your calculation, for 150 or 750 years). It has now settled into a fairly secure future as the 'must see' wonder of the tourist world.

The Book is a "highly subjective, romantic, impressionist picture less of a city than of an experience." (Jan Morris) It is a book to cherish as much as Venice itself. and I would like to quote a short passage to illustrate the wonders therein:

"The church in Venice, though, is something more than all things bright and beautiful. It is descended from Byzantium, by faith out of nationalism: and sometimes to its high ritual in the Basilica of St Mark there is a tremendous sense of an eastern past, marbled, hazed and silken. St Mark's itself is a barbaric building, like a great Mongolian pleasure pavilion, or a fortress in Turkestan: and sometimes there is a suggestion of rich barbarism to its services too, devout, reverent and beautiful though they are.

In Easter week each year the Patriarch and his clergy bring from the vaults of the church treasury all its most sacred relics, and display them ceremonially to the people. This ancient function is heavy with reminders of the Orient. It takes place in the evening, when the Piazza is dark, and the dim lights of the Basilica shine mysteriously on the gold mosaics of its roof. The congregation mills about the nave in the half-light, switching from side to side, not knowing which way to look. A beadle in a cocked hat, with a silver sword and the face of a hereditary retainer, stands in a peremptory eighteenth-century attitude beside a pillar. The organ plays quietly from its loft, and sometimes there is a chant of male voices, and sometimes a sudden hubbub from the square outside when the door of the church is opened. All is murmurous and glinting.

A flash of gold and silver from an aisle, a swish of stiff vestments, the clink of a censer, and presently there advances through the crowd, clouded in incense, the patriarchal procession. Preceded by flurrying vergers, clearing a way through the congregation, it sweeps slowly and rheumatically up the church. A golden canopy of old tapestry sways and swings above the mitred Patriarch, and around it walk the priests, solemn and shuffling, clasping reverently the celebrated relics of St Mark's (enclosed in golden frames, jewelled caskets, crucifixes, medieval monstrances). You cannot see very well, for the crowd is constantly jostling, and the atmosphere is thick; but as the priests pass slowly by you catch a queer glimpse of copes and 'Poi Cristiani' 79 reliquaries, a cross set with some strange sacred souvenir, a fragment of bone in a crystal sphere, weird, ornate, elaborate objects, swaying and bobbing above the people as the old men carrying them stumble towards the altar.

It is an eastern ceremonial, a thing of misty and exotic splendour. When you turn to leave the great church, all those holy objects are placed on the rim of the pulpit, and all those grave priests are crowded together behind, like so many white-haired scholarly birds. Incense swirls around them; the church is full of slow shining movement; and in the Piazza outside, when you open the door, the holiday Venetians stroll from cafe to cafe in oblivion, like the men who sell Coca-Cola beneath the sneer of the Sphinx."

Visit Venice whenever you can (Winter is best if you actually want to SEE things; Summer will do for the excitement, heat, crowds and colour). If you can't get there, read Jan Morris's wonderful book.

It's all for Charideeee!

2011-03-11T16:25:00.001Z

You might think a midweek Cahmpionship football match on an extremely cold evening is enough to persuade anyone to snuggle up by the fire and watch the TV.

But no, a group of students from Loughborough University Rag, together with the Marie Curie Cancer Care Fundraising team and led by Marea came out (attracted only by a ticket to the match and their ambition to collect more tna anyone else) to collect for the Great Daffodil Appeal.

The Marie Curie Nursing Service helps people who are approaching the end of their lives to remain at home if they wish to, through its nationwide network of Marie Curie Nurses who provide nursing care at home. The service is free to the people they care for, their families and carers. The core service is one-to-one overnight nursing from a Registered Nurse or Senior Healthcare Assistant in a patient’s home, usually for eight or nine hours. http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

Marea was very pleased that her staff got their photo taken with Sven Goran-Erickson and that it was featured in the match programme.

The famous Fundraising Bus turned up on time and so did all the student collectors and a couple of Marie Curie nurses.

We collected in the cold until the match had started, then we took or seats to watch. It was colder inside the ground than it had been outside. And, what's more, we got spanked by Norwich City, Leicester just getting a compensation goal about a minute before time (we had already left to go and tidy up the bus and get all the collecting boxes, etc organised). The score of 3-2 rather flattered Leicester City and it looks like our chances of promotion are slipping away.

Still, we collected over £2,500 if we include the sale of a donated Directors' Box. Not a bad night's work, thanks to all those Loughborough students.

Spring is on its way (just about)

2011-03-04T16:14:00.001Z

I've been watching the verge under the hedgerow over the road very carefully in the hope that the daffodils and crocuses we planted last back end would begin to show. However, the weather's not been great - it's been a very damp February...

... and everything's been a bit bleak

not to say soaking wet....

But now, as we move into March, the crocuses are showing and the Daffodils are up and looking strong.

Around the remaining Elm saplings, they're looking good. (The boys who broke at least one of the Elm saplings - cost £250 each - were caught and we're looking for restorative justice. This probably means getting their parents to pay up.)

Under the wall by the care home, where it's a bit more sheltered, the dwarf daffodils are up and open...

... and, gloriously, so are the irises - perhaps my all-time favourite.

Looks like Spring is finally here. Can't wait for my retirement date at the end of May and a Summer of cricket, glass-cutting and the garden. Aaaaaah!

Molly the Spaniel's Emergencies

2011-02-27T10:18:00.066Z

While I've been away from the blogosphere it's been quite a couple of weeks.

Molly the Spaniel has had to have two emergency operations. Over a few weeks we had become concerned about the amount of water she was drinking (5-6 litres a day) and then, of course, having to be let out for a pee every few minutes. Eventually, I took her to the Friday night vet surgery and she was admitted straight away. Turns out she had an infected womb (Pyometra) and needed to be spayed immediately.

Molly

We hadn't had her spayed earlier because we hoped to breed from her. Molly's kennel name is Mompesson Gio and her great grandmother, GBSHCH Mompesson Remember Me, was the all-time best in breed (bitch).

Mompesson Remember Me (Jill) - bitch CC record holder

Her grandafther, GBSHCH Mompesson Blinking Hell, was reserve best in breed at Crufts a few years ago

Mompesson Blinking Hell

Any plans we might have had in that direction have now gone out of the window.

If you're interested in English Springer Spaniels, have a look at their website - some of the pix above come from the website. Mompesson English springer Spaniels

Molly went in and was operated on. She came out with zip-like stitches down her belly and we were given a large 'Elizabethan' collar to put on her to prevent her pulling at her stitches. When we put it on, she just stood there looking forlorn and wouldn't move. Every time it touched anthing, furniture, etc, she stopped dead and stood like a condemned man, head down, waiting for something to happen. In the end, we took it off her and threw it away. She never touched the stitches and everything healed very well.

While Molly was being examined, the vet also found a lump in one of her teats. While this was most likely to be benign, we were advised that they invariably turn malignant at some stage (equivalent of breast cancer). The vet took a few cells and sent them off for analysis and when they came back, the result was that they "could not rule out malignancy". As soon as Molly recovered from the first operation, she had to go in for a second and have the whole teat removed. Again, the vet nurse tried to insist on her wearing a collar but we refused and also refused to pay for it!

We had a few days of messing and peeing in the house but Molly is a very clean dog - we've alays found it difficult to tell when she's on heat, she keeps herself so clean. We were hopeful that everything would soon return to normal and that, indeed, proved to be the case.

And this is Mompesson Gio (Molly)

Last hypnotherapy session and new stained glass

2011-02-04T15:13:00.001Z

This week, I made my final visit to Sheila Granger, the hypnotherapist in Molescombe (near Beverley). It’s a long drive; about 2 hours 20 minutes but I have to say I’ve rather enjoyed it. This week, at my suggestion, she reinforced the image of the virtual gastric band because I wasn’t sure I was getting the ‘full’ feeling which is intended to make you want to stop eating early. I still have trouble leaving food on the plate, though I am cooking much smaller meals. I calculate I have reduced my intake by about two-thirds.

Under hypnosis, Sheila asked me to picture myself entering a hospital and passing a side room which turned out to be a mortuary with a body labelled to say it had died of some obesity-related illness. After that, I don’t know what she said because I remember nothing. When I asked afterwards whether she had talked about the band, she confirmed that yes, she had. So I was plainly too far under to remember. I now get the full feeling much more strongly than before though I have to say I have almost never felt hungry since my first visit to Sheila. I feel ready for food but, previously, I was hungry all the time.

I've lost about 19 pounds so far (in 4 weeks) so I'm feeling very pleased. I've really got to keep it up. I've taken Sheila's advice and bought some T shirts that are too small for me (at the moment) and hung them on the outside of the wardrobe as an incentive. I hope to get into them comfortably by the time we go to Spain in April. Just before my first trip up to Beverley, I bought a shirt - very cheap from Tesco and it was far too small but I've now worn it and it fits fine. I'm very pleased with progress so far. It's not too strong to say that I was desperate - not to lose weight, though that would have been marvellous, but to stop my weight rising. I've now done that and more. What more can I say? Onwards and upwards!

I’ve also found time to take out the stained glass window between the hall and dining room and replace it with one that matches the one between dining room and kitchen.

The original design

The new window

I got the old window out without damaging it.

The new one looks good

And matches the kitchen window- above

It's been a long process from the initial designs

We now have the same pattern though in slightly different sizes, on both doors. The next job is to put the window I removed into the bedroom door (if it fits – I’ve not measured it properly yet). I can then get on with designing something small for the front door. This is just a small window in the centre, about the size of an A4 page. Shouldn’t take long. The last one took an inordinate length of time to complete because I could never get time to do it. Hopefully, when I retire in May, I’ll be able to do much more – I need to practice.

Hypnosis: Week 2

2011-01-21T16:46:00.000Z

Sheila Granger, Hypnotherapist

Earlier this week, I drove up to Beverley again for a second session with the hypnotherapist, Sheila Granger. I'm going to have good memories of theis course of treatement because the weather has been fine and the scenery on the way up is glorious.

Molescroft Surgery

The start of the programme has been very successful; I have shed about 13 pounds and am visibly slimmer (not just my opinion). I've listened regularly twice a day to the reinforcement CD (I don't know if that's whet Sheila would call it) and have eaten much less at each meal - 3 small meals per day without feeling hungry.

I've not, as the CD suggests, had a craving for water, though I am drinking more, and I know I need to get more exercise but Molly the spaniel is unwell and reluctant to go for long walks so the incentive is low.

This week, we had another 'live' session where Sheila sought to reinforce some of the suggestions. She asked me (under hypnosis) to imagine all the fat in my body taken out and placed in a bucket, then she asked me to imagine painting the fat onto crisps and onto chocolate, two things I said I liked (though to be honest, I haven't touched them since we began the hypnotherapy). It sounds revolting and was, in fact much more graphic than my brief few words above. Whether it will work in the longer term remains to be seen.

I now have to continue to lose weight, having had the early boost of a significant loss. This will be longer and less steep so I have to keep faith. Then, of course, I have to sustain it for the foreseeable future. Wish me luck!

So, I set off to get hypnotised

2011-01-14T17:17:00.000Z

So, I set off to go and get hypnotised

Some time before Christmas, I heard on BBC Radio 5live an interview with someone talking about a 'virtual gastric band'.

Now we've all heard about gastric bands which restrict the size of your stomach and, therefore, the amount you can eat. Many celebs have used them to advantage, but this was something different: by hypnosis, the patient is persuaded to believe that they have had a band fitted and their body reacts as one might expect.

Now, I’m very sceptical about this sort of thing but I’m also keen to lose some weight (for keen, read desperate). My father died after having multiple strokes, brought on, I’m sure, by his overweight and when I look in the mirror, I see my father.

Anyway, I made some appointments and decided to carry on as usual until the new year.

Last Saturday, I set off to drive to Beverley to see Sheila Granger, a hypnotherapist. http://www.sheilagranger.com/ My session with her was just like visiting a doctor; she asked why I wanted to lose weight, what I thought was to cause of my problem, etc., etc., and we then settled down to the hypnosis.

I thought, from seeing stage/TV hypnotists, that the ‘victim’ fall fast asleep, to be awakened by a snap of the fingers like someone coming back from the dead. This was different; Sheila said I might only feel as if I was sitting with my eyes closed and, in fact, that was the case. But, I was aware that something was happening; I was intensely relaxed while also being attentive. When she talked my out of the ‘trance’ (it didn’t feel like one) I felt my system starting up out of torpor and awoke feeling great.

Sheila gave me a disk to listen to twice a day to reinforce the message and I drove home.

Since then, I’ve taken time out of each day (17 minutes each time) to relax and listen to the disk (on my mp3 player). Despite all my scepticism, it seems to be working. I’m now eating tiny meals and feeling full all the time. Since last Saturday, I have shed 9-10 pounds and am feeling much lighter. Apart from losing weight by eating small meals, we are spending very little on food so there are advantages all round.

I’m off early next week for my next appointment, so we’ll see what happens….

Halfway out of the dark (and coffee porn)

2011-01-07T14:54:00.002Z

The Dr Who phrase about Christmas seems to have settled into the popular culture vernacular rather well and, this particular year, it seemed to sum up the cold, dark end of 2010 and the somewhat drighter start of 2011.

Struggling into work just before Christmas wasn't much fun but we settled down over the lengthy Christmas/New Year holiday to log fires, good food and a decent rest. The pipes outside froze, because of the rather complicated set of joints the plumber put in, blocking the bath and shower outlets. It took me a couple of hours to thaw them out. Fortunately, the important bits were plastic so no bursts.

We've burned a fair bit of our stock of logs but that's OK; there are still some that need cutting up so we should get through the Winter.

The main 'tragedy' over the holiday was that the thermostat on my prized Gaggia espresso maker died so I couldn't make decent coffee. I've ordered a new thermostat but am still waiting for it to arrive. I used to think that I was obsessed with good coffee but while looking for advice on fitting the new thermostat, I came across a number of coffee forums and was astounded by the seriousness with which the contributors consider their coffee-making:

Frinstance...

Q. " have been having problems with getting a good microfoam lately from my Dalla Corte Mini. I am not new to this and normally get a good microfoam (as good as any I can get out).

I normally steam about 8 oz in a 20 oz pitcher, and stretch for 2-3 seconds and steam for a total of about 15 seconds. The Dalla Corte has no problem producing steam from its dedicated boiler.

I normally use low fat milk or half full fat."

A. "I'm guessing it is the milk. In winter the cows get different feed, often resulting in milk with very different frothing properties. All brands and areas seem to be affected by this."

Another A. "We, here in Estonia, do get the "this-time-of-year" syndrome aswell and for us unfortunately the only choice is to use UHT milk for a month or two, then everything will be ok again."

http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8336

Or
"In a pinch, pulling a single from a double basket will work, but it takes some finesse to get the pull right, still working with that myself. I pulled a couple of singles yesterday, all I have is a double basket w/ bottomless portafilter. 8 g., Ground finer than I would when dosing a double, did light taps on the counter to level, and nutation at half dose and again at full dose, . Then firm tamp ~20 lbs and it pulled a pretty good shot, no channeling. Blonded early, but I expected that. Crema was sparse,but there, and the shot tasted ok, not bitter or sour, just light in body. Nothing to write home about."
http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/questions/510318

And just for more coffee porn, have a look at these tampers (just for pressing down the coffee into the portafilter before espressing the water through). £52 each!

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/CAT_ListCategories.aspx?cid=28&category=Coffee-Tampers-and-Mats

I could go on about all this - you probably think I already have - but all I want is a decent espresso, not a love affair.
Anyhow, things have started to brighten up, though there's more snow on the way, hopefully just a temporary drop.

The leaves are beginning to green up, buds are fattening and catkins are shyly starting to drop.

I have a major project to start this weekend but I think I'll save that for later.

Happy random calendar turnover period

The king's new clothes

2010-12-17T16:01:00.002Z

We went to Nottingham during the week to visit Nottingham Contemporary which, with two other galleries in Nottingham, is showing the British Art Show 7.

It's a wonderful building and the people are great. Modern art can be inspiring, challenging, bewildering, annoying, but this, I'm afraid, was just banal.

The subtitle of this exhibition is 'The Days Of The Comet'. In the Days of the Comet is a 1906 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells in which the vapors of a comet are used as a device which brings about a profound and lasting transformation in the attitudes and perspectives of humankind. The main Character, William plans to kill his ex-lover and the man she has run away with.

"After making thorough plans to find and kill the two lovers, he follows them to another village along the coast. Finding them bathing in the sea at night under the comet's green light, he begins his final contemplations on the acts he is going to commit: two murders followed by his suicide. Before he can carry out his plan, two battleships appear on the horizon and begin shelling the coastal town. Amongst the chaos of the shelling and panicked people fleeing, William almost loses Nettie and Verral as he decides to try and shoot them amongst the distressed crowd. The comet begins to melt as it enters the atmosphere, releasing a mysterious green gaseous fog that quickly envelops most everywhere. At this point the fleeing people are not running from the shelling but from the foreboding fog. William is swallowed by the fog and subsequently falls asleep.

He awakes with a great clarity of mind, feeling rejuvenated in almost every way, and curiously remarks on the short-sighted and ill-conceived notion that he deliberately tried to kill his only love. Finding other people who are waking themselves, it is realized that the green gas has changed the air somehow, and brought simplicity and understanding to humankind."

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Days_of_the_Comet

I'm afraid I saw nothing in the installations that might have taken any inspiration from the novel or its subject matter. Why, then, bother with it?

The various installations seemed disparate, inarticulate and pretentious. I realise that saying such things is going to raise the usual arguments that I don't understand what ther artists are getting at... what modern art is... why it's important. These things might be more, or less, true but what is clear is that most of what was here was inaccessible, confused and confusing.

There was general agreement among our group that one item (we had to have our attention drawn to it) a slit in the wallcovering that looked like the paper was beginning to lift, was actually stuffed with minute amounts of cows' brains. There was no way of knowing this nor of understanding what the artist wanted to say or to have us receive. I note that nowhere in any of the critical essays about this exhibit in newspapers, magazines, blogs etc., is there any comment on this particular artwork. Plainly I'm not the only one who's baffled.

The one item that, I feel, might draw people in from outside is Brian Griffiths’ huge bear’s head.

A quote from a newspaper crit - sorry I can't remember which...

"Brian Griffiths’ huge bear’s head made from faded orange canvas is viewable from the street through a full-length window. Suspended by thick ropes, it’s a curious, maudlin thing that looks as if it has got lost on the way to a funfair, separated from the rest of its body by some violent storm. It’s not quite huggable, not quite scary, not quite right."

I think the reason this makes an impression and has been put where the outside public can see it is precisely because it's representational and people have some chance of being touched by it in many ways.

The rest is just so much 'king's new clothes' and some innocent child needs to say so.

Things that make me angry or make me smile

2010-12-10T17:02:00.000Z

If you've read this blog in the past, you'll know about Sutton's elms. http://www.livingvillage.blogspot.com/search/label/Elms Sutton in the Elms has its name because of the elm trees under which, in 1650, the Baptists from nearby villages assembled secretly to worship. Elm trees have, in recent years, been subject to the depredations of the Elm Bark Beetle and the fatal fungus it spreads so that the Elms of Sutton in the Elms are long gone.

Last October, the village got together to plant new elm trees through the village and, over the hot Summer of 2010, they watered them and cared for them.

A few weeks ago, someone tore down one of the elms in the outskirts of the village. It has been put back together and its trunk bound theough it seems unlikely to survive. If that weren't bad enough, the final, symbolic tree was broken and cast down in the early hours of a morning this week.

Other things were part of the vandalism, an old lady's bins were removed and dumped on the main road - perhaps not a great crime, but very difficult for someone old and frail. The notices asking people not to park their care where bulbs had been planted were also pulled up and thrown about.

I know I'm getting old and crabby (as opposed to young and crabby) but what makes me angry is the sheer pettiness, the blind destructiveness of destroying something that gives people pleasure and into which they have put a fair bit of hard work. It's as if the vandals are saying,"No matter what you do to make life better for everyone, we can still bring you down to our twisted level". "What we want is for you to have lives as stripped of light and joy as our own". It's the simple banality of that point of view that angers me. Instead of doing what they can to improve people's (including their own) lives, they simply destroy.

I'm also made angry by the fact that this happened at 5.10 in the morning. This wasn't some drunken spree after the pubs close, it was a calculated piece of contempt. Of course, the most depressing thing of all is the fact that the Police attended and gave pursuit but lost the culprits. This is a village! What's wrong with them? Don't they have radios, cars, even a helicopter which seems to hover frequently overhead. I almost despair that they are capable of any real action.

So, it's time to write a bit about what makes me happy: living in a beautiful part of the countryside, the passing of the seasons, snow, frost and startling sunshine. I'm easily pleased.

Some of the elms survive and people are keeping a watch on them

Startling sunshine - a village dawn

Christmas starts now

2010-12-02T17:42:00.000Z

In last week's blog, I asked "...where are the snows of yesteryear..." (in French, of course). Well, as we expected, they have arrived.

Living where we do, the countryside in Winter can be very beautiful, a little bleak.

However, the road out of the village can be a bit hazardous, so the car can stay where it is today and I'm working from home updating the Jobs Desk http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/jobs/job_titles_jobid.htm.

There are still plenty of haws on the climbing roses, with their own dusting of snow - brrrr.

The birds are being well fed, but water is a problem.

Anyway, in all this cold, were worried that no-one would turn up to our Celebration of Christmas at Leicester Guildhall. This is in aid of the Leicester Children's Holiday Centre (Mablethorpe) and it falls to me to organise the acts,the PA system and the mulled wine.

We began with 'Starlets Performing Arts' who can be seen above with their organiser, Kerry, waiting to go on stage.

This being a mediaeval guild hall, the stage is tiny but the atmosphere is magical. halfway down the hall there's a blazing coke fire to drive away the Winter cold.

'Welcome to the 60s'

'I'm Gonna Wash That Man...'

SoClose Barbershop Quartet performed for us a couple of years ago and I was determined to get them back as soon as they were available.

Banjo Dez is one of our greates supporters and always goes down a storm. He has some of George Formby's original robes and does a wicked impression. To drive the cold away, this year we had 'Swimmin with the Wimmin' - nice and Summery.

Rivers and Shivers are a Professional duo who sing all sorts of music and they gave us a bluesy, jazzy session that everyone appreciated,

Meanwhile, the team were getting the buffet supper ready for the interval.

T43 - good friends who are soloists with the local Bardi Orchestra (there are 3, but the pianist is slighly off the stage on the right). There repertoire includes all the classics but also traditional celtic music and jazz.

The view across the courtyard while the Fosse Singers Community Choir waited to take the stage.

They gave a varied programme in the second half and concluded by leading the audience in a number of carols. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening and I hope we've raised a bit of money for the children's holidays next year.

... où sont les neiges d'antan! On the way...

2010-11-26T15:33:00.003Z

Forecasters have been predicting falls of snow across the country `

“A new warning has been issued of heavy snow in south Wales, after both the north and the west were hit, causing road problems and closing schools.

More than 40 schools were shut because of snow, mostly in Denbighshire and Carmarthenshire. The Met Office issued a severe weather warning of heavy snow across south Wales on Friday afternoon. It is expected to spread south east, with more than 10cm possibly falling on higher ground.”

The moon rose last night red through the cloud (this is a quick hand -held photo) and I felt sure we would find the village covered this morning.

The morning was bright and cold, minus 2 degrees with an icy sun and no snow. Across the North and East there have been heavy falls and widespread disruption. So it feels like a ‘phoney Winter’ here, waiting for the snow to arrive.

Walters Wood, Ouston, Co Durham: photo Rebecca Wilkinson (from www.bbc.co.uk/news/)

Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. Photo: Christopher Keith (from www.bbc.co.uk/news/)

The fields behind the village collect the frost, being in a glacial valley. I think this makes them very beautiful and I feel fortunate to live in the English countryside.

The field with the cattle is to be given over to allotments. These are very popular in the village and are well organised and kept. It means that it is unlikely that the fields will be built on so it’s not a bad trade-off.

One of the nearer fields is to be turned into a car park for the Baptist Chapel. Hopefully, this will alleviate the parking problems on Sunday mornings, though it’s unlikely to help at other times when the Girl Guides some and go, or the Youth club. It doesn’t do to take your car out then because your chances of getting back in are small. In the field, plastic mesh is being laid and paving into the back if the Chapel site. Progress is slow, but the new Minister has demanded action because of the problem it causes to the whole village.

I’ve been neglecting the glass and I had promised myself that I’d complete the new window before Christmas.

Life takes over and Christmas is almost upon us. Hopefully, I’ll get something done this weekend.

Meanwhile, it gets colder...

Tinnitus and the thunderstorm (Simply Noise)

2010-11-19T15:49:00.011Z

Once again, a morning full of Tinnitus.

The deep fog this November morning was cool and silent but the Tinnitus feels/sounds like fog in the mind; stops me concentrating, makes it difficult to listen and makes my head ache.

It's not improved by sitting in front of the computer all day at work. In fact, I think that my Tinnitus is partly caused by muscle strains in my neck so the comoputer just makes things worse, however much I adjust my chair and screen.

I spent a lot of time on the internet researching Tinnitus and there are lots of miracle cures out therebut no real explanations of the causes. i think it's more common than most of us think. Anyway, in my surfing, I came across a company called Simply Noise http://www.simplynoise.com/.

They make sound files to help disguise traffic noise, office noise, etc and to help people get to sleep. Their files aren't costly - you pay whatever you decide and the one I've started to use is a free download of a 1 hour thunderstorm. I play it quite frequently and it interferes with my Tinnitus and allows me to get on with my work. They do other sounds: pink, white or brown noise (?) and Summer Waves but the one I like best is the Thunderstorm http://www.simplynoise.com/download.php?key=18336dd65313.

It being November, and cold and damp, the villagers have been out around the village planting daffodil bulbs. This might not look like anything but it's a small spot where we planted the left over bulbs so, by the Spring, it ought to be beautiful.

Talking about beautiful, I've made some glass pieces for the garden. I don't want to turn the garden into a 'toy shop' but I think these are quite discreet.

Meanwhile, I've still got logs to cut and the pile grows slowly.

No more Harry Potters, please

2010-11-12T16:03:00.013Z

Last night (Thursday) was the premiere of the latest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. In an interview on BBC Radio 5Live, Daniel Radcliffe said he hoped that there wouldn’t be any new Harry Potter books. His interviewer said his statement would break the hearts of Potter fans. I think it’s easy to forget that Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, among the many others, have give 10 years of their young lives to Harry Potter; pretty much the same as JK Rowling herself gave to the writing of it.
I’ve been a fan of the Harry Potter books since the beginning. I remember reading Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sitting on a terrace in Trapezaki, Kefalonia, and wondering how JK Rowling had managed to capture not just the hearts and minds of children but also of very astute and usually sceptical publishers who shelled out their money in an act of faith that JK would actually produce the goods and that the Harry Potter stories would be an unprecented success. As someone who aspires to write, I admired the way Joanne Rowling tells her story, how she set up story elements from the beginning to be the foundations of future story lines and, most of all, how she absorbed and adapted familiar story traditions, the British boarding school, the orphaned hero, the elder mentor, etc., to a deep and highly imagined saga.

I especially enjoyed reading the analysis books with their (mostly inaccurate) predictions of what would happen in the next books; I queued for the midnight release of deathly Hallows and even bought my own presentation copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in its own velvet bag and mock volume packing.

What I took most pleasure in was waiting – waiting for the necessarily postponed pleasure of each new book, the anticipation, the speculation and the wild rumours. No other generation will have that slightly perverse pleasure of having to wait months, years, to find out how the story unravels and concludes. It’s actually a pleasure I miss in all the classic stories I love so much from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mozart’s (and Da Ponte’s) Marriage of Figaro, Swan Lake, Lord of the Rings – I could go on for a very long time and, while I love all these stories, I know how they come out and what the denoument is. I sometimes wish I could pick up my copy of, say Porterhouse Blue without knowing that Skullion will end up a Master of the college, albeit after suffering a debilitating stroke (a Porterhouse Blue) himself (sorry if you haven’t read it – you should have). This applies to so many books on my shelves – how wonderful to embark on that journey without the knowledge of where it will lead. I suppose this is why I continue to buy such quantities of books.

All this might lead you to think that I would be excited by the prospect of more Harry Potter books but not a bit of it. I think every story should have a beginning, a middle and an end; that’s what makes them different, and often better than, real life. I also think that we’ve had a satisfying ending to the Harry Potter saga and it’s time to move on. I can’t believe that a writer like JK Rowling has no more (different) stories within her though, if she chooses never to write another, I shall always be grateful for what she has already given us.

Meanwhile, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson can be allowed to grow up and get on with the rest of their acting/modelling or whatever, lives.

Golden... November

2010-11-05T17:05:00.000Z

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,

And so do I;

When beeches drip in browns and duns,

And thresh and ply;

And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,

And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate bars hang in a row,

And rooks in families homeward go,

And so do I.

Weathers by Thomas Hardy (verse 2)

But it hasn't been like that. I think it was the early frosts that started it. Started the changing colour of the leaves and then an unusually mild couple of weeks has meant the trees hung onto their leaves and they gently changed colour

The little Rowan at the edge of the village that was vandalised a couple of years ago but recovered as a many stemmed bush rather than a tree took on a deep red combined with the gold and the remaining green, almost like a sign at the village entrance.

And driving out with the allotments on the left, all the hawthorns, limes and willows also took on the fiery shades.

In the garden opposite our house, the hedges and the acers are all turning and the dovecote sets it all off.

The berried holly reminds me that I have to get this year's 'Celebration of Christmas' ready. I still have to confirm the acts, get the syrup for the mulled wine sorted and order the PA system. There's wine and soft drinks to buy and others will get the food together. Tickets are selling already and everything has to be ready by the end of the month (30 Nov). Last year's show was quite a success and you're only as good as your last show. http://livingvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html

On the way into work, all the trees are golden and in the car park, the leaves are gathering. Soon all will be bare branches and the weather will turn cold. This year we're not going away to any continental Christmas Markets, so we'll just have to grin and bear it.

Still, for the time being, the colours are very cheering.

Adriatic Cruise Part 5: Corfu, Lipari and Roma

2010-10-29T11:27:00.052+01:00

21 September, 2010: Corfu

The clocks went forward in the night, so that made us GMT+3. That meant we lost an hour’s sleep so we were a bit tired.

The view over Corfu from the Achilleion

The excursion was to the Achilleion Palace, high above Corfu, built in 1890 for Elizabeth (Sissy), then Empress of Austria.

Achilles

And another

Bronze atlhete

It has beautiful gardens with a number of bronzes. Around the patio, there are marble statues of the muses, the graces and representations of literature and philosophy. Apparently, also, Prince Philip was born in the Palace.

Marble Muse

Muses at the side entrance

The Sculpture Terrace

Bronze plaque beside the front entrance

Front entrance

The inside , unfortunately, does not reflect the beauty of the gardens. It is an odd mixture of Germanic and classical influences. In one room, there are large (2-3 ft) putti on the walls. Horribly kitsch!

We then went down to Corfu old town and had a wander around. The guide didn’t seem very keen to guide so we had a look round the shops and then settled into (yet another) bar to people watch.

Corfu Old Fortress

Cool Streets

It was getting even hotter as we made our way back to the boat. After our usual salad lunch on the open Boat Deck, we sat in the sun for a while. It was cooler in the sea breeze. When we put to sea, the breeze got too strong for all the parasols so the crew put them down but, by then, the sky was a bit hazy so it wasn’t too hot in the sun. The sea was a bit less calm than we’ve had so far, but nothing to get excited about.

Marea decided not to come in to dinner so she could get some rest. I went up to the boat deck where there was no-one but Morag and Martin who share our dinner table. It was warm with just a light breeze so we sat and talked rugby. They are great rugby fans and go to the Melrose Sevens every year. The deck was lit up and it was a very pleasant hour. Dinner was a farewell for all those who would be leaving the ship in Rome, mostly, I think, the Americans (Annette and Denise, Karen and her daughter, Amanda) who are flying back to USA from Rome Airport.

The clocks went back again, so we regained the lost hour of sleep.

22 September, 2010: Lipari

Lipari is one of a number of tiny volcanic islands (the Aeolian Islands, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus) also called the Lipari Islands. The other well-known islands are Stromboli and Vulcano, both still active volcanoes, Stromboli spectacularly so. There’s not a great deal to do in Lipari itself so there are excursions to the other islands. They left at 7.30am so we decided not to bother but to take the tender across to the port (it’s too shallow for Orient Queen to berth) and just go our own way. There’s a cathedral on top of a very high hill just outside the town (isn’t there always?) but with Marea not 100% and my Achilles tendon still playing up, we decided not to go that far.

Arriving at Lipari

Crossing on the tender

One of the many Lipari churches

The front and the obligatory fortress

We found a shop called “Our Lady of the Volcanoes” which had some very different ceramics and artworks but it was closed. The notice on the door said it would open at 10am so we went for a drink intending to come back. At 10, we were back in front of the shop and, of course, it was still closed. However, we waited a few minutes and a young woman came to open it. (note to self: really must learn patience).

Loredana Salzano

It turned out that she was the artist/potter and that she had shown at the Florence Biennale last year and won a prize. http://www.loredanasalzano.com/loredana_salzano.swf

http://www.eolnet.it/news/2008/06/artisti-di-casa-nostra-loredana-salzano.html

We bought a small flat dish and a 3D representation of Stromboli – a small jug.

Stromboli by Loredana Salzano

Returning on the tender

Getting aboard

10.30 we were back on the tender heading back to the ship to take up our positions on the Boat Deck to read and doze. It’s really rather peaceful on board when we are in port and most people are off the ship. The last tender came alongside at 12noon and we sailed for Civitavecchia (Rome’s port) at 12.30.

Stromboli

23 September 2010; Thursday: Rome
We got into Civitavecchia in the early morning, about 6am and were off in the bus to Rome by 7.30. Civitavecchia is about 80km from Rome so the bust takes over an hour. It’s possible to get a train into Rome Termini but you then have to get yourself around Rome and, most important, back to the boat in time to sail. Sometimes this seems too much of a risk but, perhaps, we’re just too timid; others did take the train, though some of them had a rather expensive experience with the fares on the regional, as opposed to local, train.

Rome: Castel Sant'Angelo

It’s interesting that Rome managed to develop such a large empire considering it’s not an international port. Rome does have Ostia on the Tiber but the reason for Civitavecchia is that Hadrian needed somewhere with deep water to get his ships in.
When we got to Rome, it was very hot. We were passed, by our excellent guide, Claudia, to a local guide Katia, who used walkie-talkie radios to give her commentary. However, the sound quality was so bad I couldn’t even understand whether she was speaking in German of English (we had both in our party) so I dispensed with it. Rome’s traffic is notorious so we ended up waiting in the hot sun for the bus to return after we had been round St Peter’s. I was brought up as a Roman Catholic but, for a myriad reasons, I no longer want to be associated with Catholicism, or theism in general. I know the art is superb and the endeavour is wonderful but my strongest feeling is that if all that passion, endeavour and money had been ploughed into helping humanity live better lives without the ‘promise’ of a better hereafter, the world would be a better place.

The Vatican

St Peter's: interior

The main altar

The Forum

The Coliseum

We drove around the city looking at the Forum, Coliseum, etc. until, finally, we were dropped near the Trevi Fountain which was absolutely heaving with people. We took a few photos, but the rather self-absorbed girl standing on the railings and clinging to a lamppost to have her photo taken would not get down so she now appears on everyone’s photos (which, presumably, was the idea - some people are so boring!).

The Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

We walked in the direction of Piazza de Popolo and stopped at a small restaurant for a rather expensive meal of pasta and pizza plus freshly squeezed orange juice; cost about 40Euros.
The walk to Piazza de Popolo was rather long in the heat (about 1.5km) and we arrived tired and hot. Marea found the walk a bit of an ordeal because she was still not particularly well.
Our American friends, Denise & Annette and Karen and her daughter, Amanda left the ship at Civitavecchia to fly back to Atlanta. We got back on board and sailed immediately for Marseille.

Piazza del Popolo

On board, the daily notice said we had to leave our cases outside the cabin by 1am so we had an interesting logistical exercise with washing bags and clothes for the next day, not to mention having to slip out in my underwear to place the cases in the corridor. We gave personal tips to Marissa and Sylvestre, the cabin staff who have been absolutely wonderful. They clean and tidy the cabin twice a day, including turning down the bd while we are at dinner. I even went out of the cabin late one night, about 11.30 to find Marissa dusting the corridor lamps. Over a very pleasant dinner, we said our first goodbyes and gave tips to Raynil, our waiter, and Lemuel, the wine waiter, who hav given us great service. Finished packing, put the cases out and were in bed by midnight.

Tomorrow, Marseille, Paris, London and home.

First Frosts

2010-10-22T16:22:00.001+01:00

It's that time of year again: frost patterns on the cars, my Highway doesn't work first thing in the morning - like me, it doesn't like the cold

And the spiders' webs are hanging in damp rags

People are planting daffodil bulbs everywhere

And we've set about clearing out the pots, digging the bulbs out of the shed and replanting everything. Hopefully, we can expect a decent show in the Spring

A few of the best climbing pelargoniums set aside ready for the Spring because they're a bit expensive and wouldn't survive outside.

We've been moving plants around. I dug out the acanthus and made a huge space for some shrubs. lots of bulbs in here also. I'm hoping the squirrels don't eat them all.

Still, we've lots of logs cut

And more wood still to be cut so we might get through the Winter without buying more.

Finally, the bad puns are out again. What is it with non-conformist churches and limp puns? I think there's a factory somewhere churning them out.

http://livingvillage.blogspot.com/2009/01/non-conformism-and-bad-puns.html