Stone Christmas 2008

For pictures from
"Bethlehem's got Talent"
in church on Christmas Eve
and at home on Christmas day
see here

Manchester Ship Canal

Examining duties for the BCS took me to a hotel in Manchester and as Jane got me there half an hour too early I had time to wander round a bit so I explored this re-vamped section of the Manchester Ship Canal

They kept a couple of the cranes as reminders of what once had been...

There were swans on the water - but too far away to get a good picture

All bouncy again...

Avid readers of this blog will recall that I had my seat, seat post and rear light stolen a while back and my children agreed to replace them all for my birthday. So I have a sprung seat post again and a 'comfort' saddle to even out the bumps on the Epinal Way cycle path.

Also for my birthday I had my first ever MoonPig card, a new guitar case and Wii music. I am hoping that after the end of term I might have enough time to find out a bit more about Wii sport and music.

November birthdays

To celebrate 2 birthdays we took ourselves off the the Otter

The table number on the spoon was coincidentally one birthday age

In other pictures (some of dubious quality, available here) you can see that the portions were rather large; there seemed to be an angling competition going on outside the restaurant window; back home- pictures of birthday cards and flowers

All the fun of the FAIR

Between supermarkets on the Saturday morning shopping trip we drove into town to get a feel of the fair - you can see the rest of the pictures here

Half-Term Anniversary Outing

I am told that it this has been our Coral Anniversary. Our anniversary often coincides with college half-term, so depending on my timetable we try to 'get away' if we can. This year we could only manage one day and we had planned to go and see Stephen Fry's 'Kingdom' beach.

The tv series is set in Swaffam and we are led to believe that this is Swaffam beach...

... but it is in fact Holkham beach, near Wells-by-the-sea. The weather was windy but warm.

On the coast road heading back home via Titchwell bird reserve and Hunstanton we came across this well preserved windmill

And we had our evening meal of fish pie at the Oliver Twist at Guyhirn which was a favourite stop years ago - a half way house where we met Granma to hand over our children for their annual holiday with her in Oulton Broad.

Harvest tractors

The "Flower Girls" at church put out a request for tractors to help decorate the church for harvest. You can see Mike's steam engine and my Fergie.

Castle Donington

Via Keith Munro, I got an invite to take my guitar to a group of Baptists meeting in a school at Castle Donington. I asked the music group for volunteers to go with me but only one singer came. Despite that we had a good time. Keith dressed up as a shepherd and spoke on the 23rd psalm. The photo was a bit late - after we had packed up.

Mobility at last

Nana continues to make good progress with her new hip. Here she is on her first proper outing - to the harvester for Robin's birthday



She almost made it to Thursday club this week, but the church minbus got a puncture. But she did make it to our house for Sunday lunch with Joyce.

Early for work

I needed to be in town for a nine o'clock meeting and set off in good time as I was on 'the bike'. So when I passed the new canal development with time to spare I stopped to have a look round. I was pleasantly surprised at what has been achieved with the old Wharf site.

To counterbalance the positive side of riding a bike, I might mention that both Robin and I have had our 'saddles' stolen this month. And we can both testify how hard it is to ride home on a bike with no seat :-(

CP3O and K9

Bank Holiday Monday and it is fine and almost sunny, so we venture on a trip to Staunton Harold



and meet CP30




and K9

Fringe Benefits

Booking very late because of uncertainty regarding Nana's stay at hospital, we found a family room for two nights available near the Pleasance Venue where we had booked a few comedy show tickets - Potter Potter, Rhod Gilbert, Best of Festival, Mark Watson, Just-a-minute, Rocket Science. On Tuesday it rained pretty much all day but Wed & Thurs were warm and sunny.



Robin took the strain of poring over the literature and advertising to find shows that might be suitable for the four of us.



We decided to climb the Scott monument (287 steps) while the pipers were playing below.



We made it to the Tattoo performance area and the entrance to the castle, but did not have time to visit the castle itself.

Nana's home!

Surprise, surprise - on visiting Nana "for the last time" before our mini holiday we were told that if we waited a few minutes for tablets we could take her home.


It will take her a little while to settle in and learn how to drive her new powerlift chair - but she is overjoyed to be back in her own home.

Hazel's home!

The flight forming second leg of her journey home was cancelled because of engine problems, so she arrived home much later than planned. Because the train ticket she had was no use, Dad made an unscheduled trip to fetch her in the car. Mum was required to wait in at the bungalow for the arrival of Nana's new chair.

Playing for the Lions

Well, thanks to the pudding party and John & Jenny, we got two follow-on bookings. The first was the 'Blind Gig' at John Storer House on 18th March. The second was to play on Mon 23rd June at the Loughborough Lions Club "Changeover Dinner" at Beedles Lake Golf Course, East Goscote.

We were booked to play through the meal, be fed ourselves during the speech-making, then we were possibly to play again for a bit afterwards. So we planned a set of 30 Shadow's instrumentals. Either we played fast or they ate slowly because we ended up playing a lot of the tunes twice!

The picture shows the view over the lake from the conservatory style clubhouse - and the serious business of 'setting up'.

Of Damsels & Demoiselles...

How close do you think this is to our house?

I met this damsel, whose only distress was when I came too close!

...and then this demoiselle...

We never win anything, but ...

Out of the blue, we got a phone call inviting us to pick up our Valentine night prize



See original Valentine entry

Mum's birthday

The cake was made using Delia's cheat recipe involving frozen mashed potato



The son provided his mum with a laser sighted gun to get rid of cats from the garden

You can see more MORE pictures including the birthday meal at Cotes Mill

Woolsthorpe Hall - birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton

As a pre birthday treat we went out to see Sir Isaac Newton's birthplace



Someone insisted on having a picture of me "sitting under 'THE' apple tree"

"Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said let Newton be and all was light."
(Pope)

You can see the rest of the pictures HERE

Farewell Michael

On Sat 3rd May the church said goodbye to Michael after over 30 yrs service



He asked for 'my' band to play, but our regular bass player was not available

Green Woodpecker

By looking from inside the house into the adjacent council field in late evening sunshine, if you are lucky you may see a Green Woodpecker mining for ants. The most we have seen at any one time is two adults and two juveniles.

A Sighting of Peggles!

I have fond memories of seeing Peggles (Cowslips) commonly in fields when I was young.

So it was a great delight to find these on the Thorpe Acre Trail

Peacock on log

This butterfly very obligingly posed on a log in the garden while I fussed about trying to photograph it.

The bluebell run

Mike and I continue to run for half an hour a week as we have done since we started training for the Inca Trail.

This time of year we get rewarded by the sight of that sea of blue created by the bluebells at their best.



However the British weather is very variable. The two photos are only 1 week apart - look at the difference in clothing!

Chimney appreciation

I have learned to look at the chimneys of the houses. After the Western crusades all muslims were supposed to leave the country or convert to Christianity. But some who stayed only pretended to convert to Christianity and as a sign to others in a similar situation they put little minarets over their chimneys. However the idea of decorating your chimney caught on and houseowners started trying to outdo each other in having ever more elaborate designs.

Here are the photos from my free half day before flying home

Sunshine at last...

On the third day...



The sun shone, the sea calmed down and the beaches looked like the Algarve in the holiday brochures.

The Englishman's factory

On the bus ride to Silves we had a running commentary. From this I learned that "Algarve" means "The West". But it forms the southern part of Portugal I hear you say. Yes, correct, but it formed the Western extreme of the Moorish empire.

A couple of Englishmen founded a cork factory in Silves but the Portuguese could not pronounce their names so the factory has always been called the Englishman's factory. It is a museum now where you see some old black and white film of the cork gathering, processing and manufacturing into bottle stoppers. Apparently the cork is stripped from the trunks of the cork oaks every nine years and this extends the life of the tree rather than harms it.

The conference meal was a bit of a let down. Lots of pasta in the soup. The main course was a ladle of something looking like scrambled egg with a fishy taste, served with lettuce.

However the folk dancing that followed was very entertaining. The music was lively and happy. The traditional dancing was often very fast and very complicated.

You can see some more pictures.

Carvoeiro

This is the nearest village to the hotel. The streets are steep and the beach is small. These boats are presumably the remains of what was once a fishing fleet. Now they stand ready to take tourists to see the caves in the cliffs. But not with waves like I have seen all the time I have been here.

You can see some more photos

Somewhere in the Algarve...?

I landed at Faro around 11pm, waited for another plane to arrive, then the conference minibus drove for about an hour so I checked in about 01:30am. I had no idea where I was although I thought I could hear the sea.

Since then I have enjoyed the hotel breakfast, been walkabout, taken a few pictures, delivered my paper and generally got a bit more oriented.

The weather here was beautiful until the conference started apparently. According to the conference organiser the Brits brought the bad weather with them. It is due to get nice again after the conference ends (much good that will do me!). Meanwhile it is windy and wet, but not cold.

I have a session to chair in the morning, but in the afternoon we have the conference 'outing' and the conference dinner.

You can see some more photos

Easter snow

Two weeks after Easter and we wake up to this. So much for Global warming.

Still it is beautiful.

Chaffinch attack

This chaffinch is now in its second week of attack on our utility room window. It mounts attacks from a waist-high blackthorn hedge which is about three feet from the house at this point. The bird flies into the window repeatly. We hear it (and wince) at every mealtime. Whether it keeps this up all day we are not sure as we are out during the day and all last weekend. We have tried pulling down the roller blind but this does not seem to make any difference. Any suggestions?

Goodbye Schagens

You can view some Pictures from a "Send off" party for the Schagens



[See if you can spot Roger's first attempt at photographing a "Red Kite"]

Death of an old friend

After struggling on for many years, weakened by nails and fire and old age, the hollow tree was brought down this morning. See also...