It's been a busy weekend. MLYW and I went off to Petworth at the weekend, staying in a Pullman carriage at an old railway station. A mixed experience; we were treated very well, and breakfast on both mornings was lovely, but the carriage we were in was a little cramped and cold for our liking, and especially for the price that the establishment charges.
Then again, it's a very popular place to stay and the owner was very receptive to our complaints and he promised to make it worth our while if we tried staying with them again. Which was nice.
One of the reasons for our discomfort wasn't the fault of the establishment - it was the couple in the next room (the other half of the coach) whose vigorous nighttime bonking maneouvres managed to make the entire carriage rock on its wheels and wake me up and even made me feel sea-sick. This happened on at least 4 occasions in one, so someone got even less sleep than us. The other guests were all eyed suspiciously as they arrived in the breakfast room; I was looking for signs of exhaustion, friction-burns and soppy grins, but in vain.
Saturday afternoon and evening saw us gathering with some friends at the wedding of our good chums Claire and David. It was a lovely, relaxed and informal occasion with some great personal touches which made it an excellent and very memorable occasion, so good luck to the happy couple as they embark on their married life together.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Monday, 22 October 2007
Saturday, 6 October 2007
PhotoHunt: Curvy
PhotoHunt
The lens and window at Portland Bill Lighthouse in Dorset, UK.
Posted a little early for the Photohunt as I'm really busy at the moment...
The lens and window at Portland Bill Lighthouse in Dorset, UK.
Posted a little early for the Photohunt as I'm really busy at the moment...
Friday, 31 August 2007
Now What The...?
Ooh! Video blogging has arrived. That's good. It gives me an opportunity to share a short clip we shot in Dublin. The preamble: while we were mooching about the city we kept seeing the same 'busker' over again. Well, 'busker' is not really a good description, because this, erm, thing, wasn't exactly a musician or juggler. More a person covered in a sheet, with rudimentary ears and a mouth made of two pieces of wood which they click-clacked together. Snapping at young children or unwary Italian tourists. Chomping with joy if you put more than 1 Euro in its basket. If the Egyptian god Anubis ever came to life, but found it had no arms or legs and was blue in colour, it might look like this. Quite the oddest street entertainment I (or MLYW) have ever seen. Only in Dublin...
Tried using the new Blogger video embedding thingy - but it doesn't actually seem to work!
Didn't get a video of the gold coloured fairy whose entire 'act' was to wiggle her fingers and blow on passers-by. She really was rubbish. She didn't even have bizarre novelty value to fall back on!
Tried using the new Blogger video embedding thingy - but it doesn't actually seem to work!
Didn't get a video of the gold coloured fairy whose entire 'act' was to wiggle her fingers and blow on passers-by. She really was rubbish. She didn't even have bizarre novelty value to fall back on!
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
PhotoHunt: Row
PhotoHunt
Ooh, I've just discovered PhotoHunt, so here's my first entry. It's a row of bikes on Huangpi Road in Shanghai.
And below, an alternative entry. A row of ropes at the Eden Project in Cornwall:
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Sob
The garage have rung. I've just found out how much it's going to cost to get my car fixed.Does anyone know this week's National Lottery numbers?
Actually, what I really need is a new car. Something a little bit bigger, with 5 doors. I don't mind if it's cheap and tacky, as long as it goes and doesn't cost a fortune to run.
But it's difficult to save up for a new car when you keep having to pay out expensive gold bullion to keep the present car running...
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Nearly Pro
I got a message from a Flickr contact a few weeks ago, asking whether the travel firm he works for could use one of my photos (taken on honeymoon in Shanghai) to illustrate one of the pages on their website.
As I'm a lovely bloke, I graciously gave my permission.
And now, all of a sudden, my picture's being used on a commercial site! You can see it here.
I'm dead chuffed. It's not like they're paying me, or anything, but I'm really happy that someone noticed my humble photo and thought it good enough to grace their own site.
Here's the original pic:
Yes, definitely chuffed!
As I'm a lovely bloke, I graciously gave my permission.
And now, all of a sudden, my picture's being used on a commercial site! You can see it here.
I'm dead chuffed. It's not like they're paying me, or anything, but I'm really happy that someone noticed my humble photo and thought it good enough to grace their own site.
Here's the original pic:
Yes, definitely chuffed!
Friday, 29 June 2007
Dorset? Ooh arr!
So, as I said yesterday, at the weekend we went to Dorset for a long weekend on our anniversary.
We stayed in a lovely little B&B on the outskirts of Weymouth. Very welcoming indeed - though whenever I stay in a B&B I feel as if I'm somehow intruding on these peoples' lives and stopping them from getting on with something.
Like the rest of the country, it poured with rain for the entire weekend. In fact the sun didn't shine until we were on the way home - stuck on the A303, just west of Stonehenge, for 2 hours because a bus had crashed a couple of miles ahead.
Anyway, back to the rain...
We chose Dorset because it was an area that neither of us had explored before and we managed to see a few sites, despite the weather. Though we didn't do as much walking as we normally would and outdoor sites like Corfe Castle and Maiden Castle were off the agenda.
Here's a quick run-down of the places we did see:
Kingston Lacy
An excellent country house (run by the National Trust) with a great collection of paintings, including some by Reubens, Velazquez and Van Dyck. The highlight was undoubtedly having to wear bright blue, slip-on, plastic protectors over our shoes to protect the floors and carpets from our wet footwear.
Portland
The island famous for the stone which was used to build St Paul's Cathedral and hundreds of other buildings around the world; including the walls in my parents' front garden, if I'm not mistaken. Unfortunately, it seems like a dark, cold, miserable sort of place - though maybe that was an effect of the weather. Portland Bill lighthouse was fun, though there wasn't much to see from the top, due to the cloud closing in. And Tout Quarry sculpture park was a strange place. The sculptures seemed to be hidden and the ones we did find were unlabelled, so it was impossible to know if a piece of work was done by a quarry worker 200 years ago, or by Anthony Gormley in the 1990s.
Weymouth
We stayed in a lovely little B&B on the outskirts of Weymouth. Very welcoming indeed - though whenever I stay in a B&B I feel as if I'm somehow intruding on these peoples' lives and stopping them from getting on with something.
Like the rest of the country, it poured with rain for the entire weekend. In fact the sun didn't shine until we were on the way home - stuck on the A303, just west of Stonehenge, for 2 hours because a bus had crashed a couple of miles ahead.
Anyway, back to the rain...
We chose Dorset because it was an area that neither of us had explored before and we managed to see a few sites, despite the weather. Though we didn't do as much walking as we normally would and outdoor sites like Corfe Castle and Maiden Castle were off the agenda.
Here's a quick run-down of the places we did see:
Kingston Lacy
An excellent country house (run by the National Trust) with a great collection of paintings, including some by Reubens, Velazquez and Van Dyck. The highlight was undoubtedly having to wear bright blue, slip-on, plastic protectors over our shoes to protect the floors and carpets from our wet footwear.
Portland
The island famous for the stone which was used to build St Paul's Cathedral and hundreds of other buildings around the world; including the walls in my parents' front garden, if I'm not mistaken. Unfortunately, it seems like a dark, cold, miserable sort of place - though maybe that was an effect of the weather. Portland Bill lighthouse was fun, though there wasn't much to see from the top, due to the cloud closing in. And Tout Quarry sculpture park was a strange place. The sculptures seemed to be hidden and the ones we did find were unlabelled, so it was impossible to know if a piece of work was done by a quarry worker 200 years ago, or by Anthony Gormley in the 1990s.
Weymouth
A town of two sides. There was the long beach and promenade - typical of a British seaside resort. Packed with hotels, guest houses, amusement arcades, chips shops and tacky souvenir stands. On the other side of the Wey is the ancient harbour, still in daily use (unlike many in this day and age) and blessedly free of plastic tourist attractions. Instead, sympathetically restored buildings house nice restaurants, bars and exhibitions. Shame we didn't discover this area until our last night.
Dorchester
Again, the rain put paid to our ability to explore the area fully, so the county town seemed seedy and lacking in facilities. Though we did find a nice restaurant at 6 North Square which cooked up a good meal, though in bewildering closeness to the prison.
Lulworth Cove and Durdle Dor
This area came closest to showing the staggering beauty of the Dorset coastline - and when the sun did come out briefly, it made the climb worth the effort.
Montacute
An Elizabethan manor house. We popped in here on the way home (sort of) and it was a treat. The village is gorgeous and the house was fairly interesting, although much of the original features are now lost. I'll remember it mostly for the large number of school parties traipsing round. The kids were all much better behaved than I remember being at that age (14 or 15, I would guess). But I was partly amused, and partly outraged by the fact that I heard one of the teachers giving out 'facts' that were plainly made-up on the spot, or at least, were completely misinformed. Why he felt the need to give out misleading information when each room contained laminated information sheets telling the visitor everything they might want to know...?
Overall, a great weekend. Though I look forward to visiting again in better weather, having the chance to explore the outdoor attractions more thoroughly.
Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Cracking Cheese, Gromit.
Things to do on a Summer Holiday in Wensleydale
1. Rent a lovely little cottage in the gorgeous viilage of Middleham. It's the home of lots of prestigious racing stables so you see many racehorses and those tiny, wee people who ride about on them.
2. Don't go when it's going to rain for a week. It's fantastic countryside, but it would be improved by being dry.
3. Do make sure you go in mid-August so you can see the Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival. We stumbled upon it by accident while driving around and wish we'd had time to stop and take a look at all the superb scarecrow scenes.
4. Don't run out of money only 2 days into your week. It makes it difficult to do anything and the plans for eating in all the posh local restaurants were somewhat scuppered. Not to mention the fear of running out of petrol and being stranded in North Yorkshire.
5. Take your camera. There's lots to see. Middleham Castle was fantastic, as was Bolton Castle. And Fountains Abbey. I'm sure there's more we could have seen but for the weather and the lack of cash.
6. Try the beer. Nearby Masham is home to the Theakstons and Black Sheep Breweries. Tasty!
7. Try the food. A trip to Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate is a must, especially for their Yorkshire curd tart. Luvverly. And there are some fantastic restaurants all over North Yorkshire. They're not as cheap as you'd expect though!
8. Walking boots. And a map. Take them and use them - you'll find some fantastic hidden places.
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
You've Got To Be Crazy...
We spent the weekend entertaining Al from Seattle.
Al is an old friend of my Lovely Young Wife. They met in Moscow. The circumstances aren't fully known to me, but I believe that lots of vodka, a bad covers band and some very scary Russian mafiosi may have been involved.
He runs his own company, GreenBuddy, selling a cool little golf tool. He says he's doing "okay", but I reckon he's a multi-millionaire and just likes slumming it with us regular folks!
We spent part of Sunday in Windsor Great Park. It's pretty and you can see the castle, but my real reason for reproducing the picture above is for Delmonti's comment. Click above to be amused.
On Monday we went looking for a vintage drum shop on Lavendar Hill in London. We ended up parking pretty close to Battersea Power Station. This is one of my favourite London landmarks, and as both Al and I are huge Pink Floyd fans so we explored the area for a while.
When I got home I decided that I had to pay my own tribute to Animals. It's a much under-rated album.
Have I done the album cover justice? I hope to hear from Storm Thorgerson pretty soon, offering me a job...
Al is an old friend of my Lovely Young Wife. They met in Moscow. The circumstances aren't fully known to me, but I believe that lots of vodka, a bad covers band and some very scary Russian mafiosi may have been involved.
He runs his own company, GreenBuddy, selling a cool little golf tool. He says he's doing "okay", but I reckon he's a multi-millionaire and just likes slumming it with us regular folks!
We spent part of Sunday in Windsor Great Park. It's pretty and you can see the castle, but my real reason for reproducing the picture above is for Delmonti's comment. Click above to be amused.
On Monday we went looking for a vintage drum shop on Lavendar Hill in London. We ended up parking pretty close to Battersea Power Station. This is one of my favourite London landmarks, and as both Al and I are huge Pink Floyd fans so we explored the area for a while.
When I got home I decided that I had to pay my own tribute to Animals. It's a much under-rated album.
Have I done the album cover justice? I hope to hear from Storm Thorgerson pretty soon, offering me a job...
Thursday, 6 July 2006
Chilworth
On Sunday my Lovely Young Wife and I went for a walk on the North Downs.
We started and finished at the Percy Arms in Chilworth. It's a bit of a chain pub and doesn't have much to recommend it. Least of all the terrifying price of their ale (£3 a pint!). What was interesting was the fact that they seemed to have more staff than punters and they (the staff) all sounded South African. Very strange.
We headed off through some pleasant woodland and crossed the river Tillingbourne before heading uphill and across open fields for about 1.5 miles. As this was the hottest day of the year so far, we were glad when we came to a shady tree.
After the farmland the path headed past Chantry Woods.
[What is a Chantry? There's a shopping centre of that name in Andover, near my office.]
The path headed inexorably up the downs - you've got to love the English language. Where else would high ground be called 'downs' - and we followed the North Downs Way to its high point at St. Martha's church.
There's been a church on this site for around 1,000 years, but this building dates back to the 18th Century. It's a bit remote and one wonders if they have much of a congregation on Sunday mornings, but the church's primary function was originally as a stop-off for the devout walking the Pilgrims Way from Winchester to Canterbury.
A very steep path then leads down from the church, for around a mile through more farmland, to the derelict and overgrown Chilworth Gunpowder Mills.
The mills are a fascinating place. Gunpowder was manufactured here for over 300 years until the workings closed in the 1920s. For most of that time they were one the most important industrial chemical works in the country. It's odd seeing them now, around 80 years later. Where once explosives were made, hikers now walk. And the canals, rather than carrying barges of saltpetre and charcoal are now full of laughing, splashing children and fathers building dams from discarded stonework, their trousers rolled up to their knees.
One scary indication of the size of the mill is that one accidental explosion caused the demolition of the tower of St. Martha's Church. A mile away and a couple of hundred feet higher up the downs!
Nowadays all that remains are some derelict buildings, some watercourses (some in use, some dry) and many large, heavy millstones. The ones in the picture were about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.
I took a few pictures, as you can see here, but there are far more and far better to be found on Flickr.
We started and finished at the Percy Arms in Chilworth. It's a bit of a chain pub and doesn't have much to recommend it. Least of all the terrifying price of their ale (£3 a pint!). What was interesting was the fact that they seemed to have more staff than punters and they (the staff) all sounded South African. Very strange.
We headed off through some pleasant woodland and crossed the river Tillingbourne before heading uphill and across open fields for about 1.5 miles. As this was the hottest day of the year so far, we were glad when we came to a shady tree.
After the farmland the path headed past Chantry Woods.
[What is a Chantry? There's a shopping centre of that name in Andover, near my office.]
The path headed inexorably up the downs - you've got to love the English language. Where else would high ground be called 'downs' - and we followed the North Downs Way to its high point at St. Martha's church.
There's been a church on this site for around 1,000 years, but this building dates back to the 18th Century. It's a bit remote and one wonders if they have much of a congregation on Sunday mornings, but the church's primary function was originally as a stop-off for the devout walking the Pilgrims Way from Winchester to Canterbury.
A very steep path then leads down from the church, for around a mile through more farmland, to the derelict and overgrown Chilworth Gunpowder Mills.
The mills are a fascinating place. Gunpowder was manufactured here for over 300 years until the workings closed in the 1920s. For most of that time they were one the most important industrial chemical works in the country. It's odd seeing them now, around 80 years later. Where once explosives were made, hikers now walk. And the canals, rather than carrying barges of saltpetre and charcoal are now full of laughing, splashing children and fathers building dams from discarded stonework, their trousers rolled up to their knees.
One scary indication of the size of the mill is that one accidental explosion caused the demolition of the tower of St. Martha's Church. A mile away and a couple of hundred feet higher up the downs!
Nowadays all that remains are some derelict buildings, some watercourses (some in use, some dry) and many large, heavy millstones. The ones in the picture were about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.
I took a few pictures, as you can see here, but there are far more and far better to be found on Flickr.
Thursday, 20 April 2006
Cor. Luvverly!
While we were staying with Martin and Tracey last weekend, we had lunch at the Globe & Rainbow in Kilndown. Fantastic food. I had liver. I love liver.
It's odd though. Loads of people detest liver. Jon spent most of the meal making gagging noises because he had to sit next to me. But I really like it. The best meal I've ever had was goose liver - on the 87th floor (I think) of the Jinmao Tower, Shanghai. Fantastic.
I also love Marmite. Which is on a lot of peoples' hate list.
But I can't stand various things that most people seem to love:
I don't like scraping the bottom of the barrel. But it seems that's what I'm doing with this post!
It's odd though. Loads of people detest liver. Jon spent most of the meal making gagging noises because he had to sit next to me. But I really like it. The best meal I've ever had was goose liver - on the 87th floor (I think) of the Jinmao Tower, Shanghai. Fantastic.
I also love Marmite. Which is on a lot of peoples' hate list.
But I can't stand various things that most people seem to love:
- Tomatoes.
- Broccoli.
- Coronation Street.
I don't like scraping the bottom of the barrel. But it seems that's what I'm doing with this post!
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
Easter Weak End
Four days off work. Yippee!
So why do I feel as knackered now as I did on Thursday? Let's examine the evidence...
Thursday evening: off to Kent to spend the evening with Jon and Martin at the pub quiz. We came 2nd! I drank 3 whole pints of beer (count them) and that's enough to get me pissed nowadays.
Friday: Stayed over at Martin and Tracey's in the very dark and quiet village of Kilndown and spent the day larking about with them, their kids Wills and Hattie, and with Jon & Lin and their new arrival, Emma.
[OK - she's not that new; she's a year old: but it's taken us FAR too long to get down there for a visit.]
Friday night: back in time to watch Sunderland hand the league champonship to Chelsea by holding United to a 0-0 draw. Bloody Mackems!
Saturday: Up early (ish) for a bike ride. 14 miles to Staines and back. But I did stop for an ice-cream at Penton Hook lock. Then back to do my accounts and get showered before The Wife's parents arrived for dinner.
Sunday: Nothing to do. A long lie-in. Spoiled by a support call from work at 6am. Balls! Then lunch at The Castle.
Sunday afternoon: a long drive in the countryside. It's official - I'm now an old man. My trilby and sticky-out ears are on order from Saga.
Monday: Up early (ish) again for another long bike ride. 23 miles this time, to Kingston and back. Walking like John Wayne for the rest of the day. Then round to mater and pater's for a spot of luncheon. Then back home to spend too much time updating the family-tree again.
Today: back to work. Bum!
So why do I feel as knackered now as I did on Thursday? Let's examine the evidence...
Thursday evening: off to Kent to spend the evening with Jon and Martin at the pub quiz. We came 2nd! I drank 3 whole pints of beer (count them) and that's enough to get me pissed nowadays.
Friday: Stayed over at Martin and Tracey's in the very dark and quiet village of Kilndown and spent the day larking about with them, their kids Wills and Hattie, and with Jon & Lin and their new arrival, Emma.
[OK - she's not that new; she's a year old: but it's taken us FAR too long to get down there for a visit.]
Friday night: back in time to watch Sunderland hand the league champonship to Chelsea by holding United to a 0-0 draw. Bloody Mackems!
Saturday: Up early (ish) for a bike ride. 14 miles to Staines and back. But I did stop for an ice-cream at Penton Hook lock. Then back to do my accounts and get showered before The Wife's parents arrived for dinner.
Sunday: Nothing to do. A long lie-in. Spoiled by a support call from work at 6am. Balls! Then lunch at The Castle.
Sunday afternoon: a long drive in the countryside. It's official - I'm now an old man. My trilby and sticky-out ears are on order from Saga.
Monday: Up early (ish) again for another long bike ride. 23 miles this time, to Kingston and back. Walking like John Wayne for the rest of the day. Then round to mater and pater's for a spot of luncheon. Then back home to spend too much time updating the family-tree again.
Today: back to work. Bum!
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