The two home made signs stuck to the AA board summed up the day.
One, cautiously hopeful, said canceled the other, it’s black ink dripping like a tear said abandoned.
I guess that tells the story of this summer and of this country show. There was nothing else to do than leave the camera in the boot of the car, point the car at the nearest town and get a little retail therapy…
When I grew up I can remember something special about Fridays.
For my mother it seemed to be the start of two days off, something special to mark in the long procession of one day to another.
Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost that specialness about Fridays. In part I guess that’s the end of boy’s night but also the fact that I seem to have been waiting for most of the summer for an evening to sit out or a weekend to walk in a forest.
Those days, like a lot of other things, are over and it’s time to move on and make our own traditions.
Just when we have things understood, agreed and documented almost every process is turned on it’s head.
This merger is going to be a rough one…
So, the cross trainer has arrived, been carried up the stair by two very fit blokes from John Lewis and put together by one very unfit bloke from here.
I’ve managed enough time on it today to burn off 50 calories. That’s :
1. 15 grapes
2. 8-ounce brewed coffee with 1 tablespoon half-and-half and 1 teaspoon sugar
3. 2 slices (about 1 1/2 ounces) turkey breast
4. 1 cup steamed asparagus or broccoli
5. 2 cups light microwave popcorn
Or I could just give in and eat the polish sausage stew I just made…
Finally announced - the new Nikon D90
I so want one…
Already I’m beginning to think about what I could grow in containers over the Winter, not that this has been much of a summer.
Instead of the average 200 hours of sunshine we had just 90. Not quite the 140 days of sunshine they always said it took to grow the corn used in Kelloggs Corn Flakes.
So, successes this year have been potatoes, runner beans, tomatoes, lettuce. What wouldn’t I do next year ? Probably broad beans. They didn’t really crop well and the slugs loved them.
Winter spinach here we come…
It’s not every publican who bids you farewell from their pub (where the food is pretty good and the trade a little slack this Sunday) knowing that you are heading off to eat with one of their regular customers but then a few pints here is a family tradition and time spent with family is important right now…
There are 17 known largely complete Avro Lancasters remaining in the world and only two of those are airworthy. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action of the 7,377 built.
They were in the air over sixty years ago but today, on one of those rare sunny days this summer, everyone stopped what they were doing on the beach and turned their eyes to the sky as it flew over us.
Slow, noisy, proud and a survivor PA474 stole the show today.
Average for the time of year seems to be the new weather presenter speak for gray, cloudy and wet.
Today the wind dropped, the skies stopped swooping by and an eiry stillness settled everywhere. Well not quite everywhere as in the toilet the plumber tried to fix the leak.
Home improvement is a touchy subject here every since Chippy Minton tried to fix the door. We’ve almost settled on a replacement and have Neil lined up to fit it. We just need to fill in the forms, wait two months and hope we get planning permission.
For now I’m heading back to the garden to try to remember what stars look like …
K’s day was spent at Alison Price enjoying Savory Cones of English Garden Salad and Bochetto al Tartufo.
Mine ended at Lidl’s buying Bratwurst for tea…
Make a commitment at Peace One Day
Perhaps a little too cold on the treetop walkway but almost as warm as summer in the orchid house…
Being male today meant you were an endangered species.
With Karen’s brother in law down with his two girls, Karen, Elizabeth and K the talk was more of lippy and Facebook than football and beer.
Given all that’s gone on, recently and before, that’s a great testament to Ian. Even if he thinks I’m a soft southerner.
Indulging in the odd sin is a lot more fun than confessing them.
But, when it’s Richard’s and Joanne’s spiritual well being that I’m being asked to look after it is a worthy cause.
Today we all met together to witness their christening and raise the odd glass with the approval of Father Mark.
In an attempt to summon up some summer both the godfathers wore cream and left the violin cases at home…
There’s a point in life when your waistline matches your age and before that happens we are turning the spare room into a gym. Well putting a cross trainer into it. Well not actually us who are putting it there, a team of blokes from John Lewis.
Not quite up to Madonna’s personal gym standard :
Madonna splashes £6m on the house next door … to turn it into a gym | Mail Online Perhaps someone should tell Madonna that walking counts as exercise, too.The singer - famous for her punishing daily workouts - has to stroll just 20 yards from her front door to her own personal gym.
She has bought the £6million house next to her main London home and converted it into a fitness centre.
It is thought she intended to knock the two properties together to avoid being seen in her less-than-glamorous gym gear.
But she has not obtained planning permission, meaning she is forced to come out of her house and walk 20 yards down the public street every day.
Watch out Sue and Don, we are after your spare room…
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.
Galileo Galilei
So that’s why today I have been trying to understand what we do by setting up KPIs on Sharepoint. Galileo would be proud of us.
If this weather continues much longer I’ll need these :
The girl in the window - St. Petersburg Times
The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child’s face in the window.
A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.
Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard.
How anyone can do this to a child leaves me amazed. Everyone should read this.
Audio and pictures here
I’m watching Kylie and Anne Sofie von Otter fighting for me.
Well not for me so much, more the disk space I have let on my Ipod.
With K buying an Ipod this weekend I’ve been uploading CDs into iTunes. The problem with going from being the only person who used iTunes to sharing it is you get the other person’s taste of music unless you manually sync which I just forgot to do.
Farewell L’Amour est un oiseau rebelle hello I Should Be So Lucky …
I’m sure on a hot summer’s day The Bush is a delight to eat at.
Sat next to the Itchen it should have been a day enjoyed with a slow leisurely lunch but it was rather more a race to see what came first, the food or the rain.
I’ve been treated too well on Sunday’s recently and I was missing the extravagance of a roast dinner so eating out seemed to be a good way to enjoy one without the hassle of cooking it myself.
Sadly, they’d run out of roasts by the time we ordered (which seemed to take an age in the queue) but the sea bass with a mustard mash and the best smoked salmon I have tasted outside that I bought in the Hötorgshallen.
would I go back to The Bush, well probably but I’d get there earlier and on a sunny day…
I’ve never liked tripods.
Carrying one around London today after buying it at West End Cameras reminded me just how much I dislike them but it was worth it to see Daisy’s face when she unwrapped it. She now has all she needs to make a start on her photography course : I really need to up my game to keep up from here on in.
Luckily the rain held off for her birthday party (and probably more importantly the wind given the size of the marquee Paul had created in their garden), the food was amazing and the drink flowed freely. There was even live music from Jose Vanders who seems to be a name to watch in the future.
The one thing that kept nagging at my brain was just who was the bloke in the dark jacket. Eventually I gave in and asked Anne, “Is his name Carl ?”, and it was.
I’ve not seen him since I was nine. His Grandparents house backed onto the circular car park we called the frying pan and we met back when the summers were long and the town and it’s trees were ours to explore.
“We only went home when we were hungry”, he said as the years melted away and one kid’s name followed another. Just what did happen to the Castle kids ?
Just for a moment that night the summer was back and I was in short trousers again.
Jewelery boxes not boxes of CDs, hair brushes not beer bottles.
The end of boys night is nigh…
Four in the morning
Crapped out, yawningStill Crazy After All These Years Paul Simon
Another morning, another hour or so awake and wondering about work.
Curse you Paul Simon…
I got the impression when I swapped the lock on the door last night that we had only just begun but by the time the carpenter left today it was beginning to feel like yesterday once more.
Far from feeling on top of the world with what he had done I was left feeling that we’d been given a ticket to ride. The lock doesn’t fit that well, all these rainy days and Mondays seem to have left the door warped.
It’s going to take some time but a new door is the only way to fix the problem.
Please Mr Postman, be careful.
“You off to work ? You should look happier than that !”, said the old man walking beside me.
“Yes, I am”, I replied, trying to replace the frown on my face with something a little more cheerful.
“I used to work here as the estate manager, but I got out to do something I really wanted to do”, he continued.
“I’ve always been an outdoor bloke so I teach canoeing now. I can teach all sorts of people. Even old people. Even you”.
For a moment the idea of spending the day on the river, in the fresh air with the only concern being trying to stay dry seemed very, very tempting.
“Anyhow, I must be off”, he said as he headed down the path.
“I’m sure this suit would fit you, want to swap ?”, I asked hopefully watching him walk away.
Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints ‘faked’ - Telegraph
As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird’s Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.
What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.
The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.
As a result, only the last, visible from the camera stands inside the Bird’s Nest was captured on film.
The trick was revealed in a local Chinese newspaper, the Beijing Times, at the weekend.
Want the real news from Beijing ? Visit :
But now the whole ROUND TABLE is dissolved
Which was an image of the mighty world;
And I, the last, go forth companionless,
And the days darken round me, and the years,
Among new men, strange faces, other minds.”Morte D’Arthur Lord Alfred Tennyson
Next time we need to get here when the Farmer’s Market is still open, buy more food and enjoy the hog roast…
Amy Judd over at NowPublic has kindly selected one of my pictures for a news story about the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square.
I really need to start doing something serious with photography …
“I wonder if I could have a drop more of that ?”, asked K’s Uncle passing me his glass.
Normally weekends are at their house for Sunday lunch but today we had them at ours for lunch.
The plan had been to eat outside but, what with the rain, we had to stay inside for cold meats; tomato and Brie salad; Tuscan Panzanella; pea, mangetout and mint salad and crab flan.
For pudding (and because I know someone will appreciate the recipe and not see Jack Daniels as ever optional) :
Baked Cheesecake
Ingredients
25cm/10in sponge (cut from a large bought flan case)
200g/7oz caster sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
4 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp sultanas, soaked in a bit of bourbon
845g/29¾oz full fat soft cream cheese
3 medium eggs
7.5ml/1½ tsp vanilla essence
1 vanilla pod
Jack Daniels to taste or bourbon (optional)
375ml/12½fl oz double or single cream
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Butter a 25cm/10in loose-bottomed cake tin.
2. Cut the sponge horizontally into 2 discs. Use one to line a buttered cake tin.
3. In a bowl mix together the sugar, lemon zest, cornflour and sultanas using a wooden spoon, then beat in the cream cheese. Add the eggs one by one, also add the vanilla essence, beating constantly until all the eggs are well incorporated.
4. Slice open the vanilla pod, remove the seeds with a sharp knife and place the seeds into the cream mixture, add a splash of bourbon (about 4 tbsp), if using, and mix everything together well. Add the cream and beat well until the mixture is smooth. Pour gently over the sponge base in the cake tin.
5. Sit the tin in a baking tray filled with 2-3mm of warm water to help create steam during cooking. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes until the top is golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and set completely before removing from the tin.
Excellent news that Smithfield Market has been saved from redevelopment.
I’ve noticed recently that more and more of the old parts of London are being knocked down renovated so this is really good news.
Now all we need is a sunny weekend to take some pictures of it.
On the whole I’m happy with my Canon G9 but, in an ideal world :
Dangerous news from Japan.
Hot on the heels of their 8mm film projector kit Gakken have announced they will be manufacturing an 8mm film camera.
I’ve even found a stockist of 8mm film in London.
Retro home movies are at last possible !
You would think that things would get better with people back from holiday.
Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’m off to cheer myself up looking at some holiday websites…
Only a few months ago they were three small plants - now they threaten to pull the back wall of the house down….
“Oooooh, ahhhhhh”, cried the kids behind us sitting in the dark and watching the fireworks going off.
To be honest there wasn’t that much to be excited about. The local balloon festival looks odds on to be rained off all weekend. The night glow we were supposed to be watching had been downsized to some lasers, a few fireworks and two balloons.
For the kids that didn’t matter they were out late at night, watching something that happens only once a month with the promise and excitement of the fair afterwards : for a moment I was seven and back watching the Carnival.
My vest’s so short that it won’t fit my little brother
And my new Sunday shirt has got a perforated rudder
Mr. Wu, what shall I do
I’m feeling kind of Limehouse Chinese laundry blues
Hopefully next week those blues will disappear we’ve all grown up a little bit more and now have someone to do our ironing…
It had to happen sooner or later.
Covering for more than two people over two weeks it’s been a constant battle against demands, email, phone calls and issues.
Today it started to wash over me, not one thing at a time but a huge deluge of work swirling around like some dark malevolent water threatening to drag me under.
I just made it through today but tomorrow, well I’m not so sure.
For me Friday can’t come too quickly.
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