Lincoln Cathedral - not to some teenagers' tastes

I was very impressed by Lincoln Cathedral the other weekend. Apparently Helen and Boo refused to get out of the car and go round with their parents some years ago. Shocking I say, children with no discipline. So here's a picture of the outside, which I guess they did see. Shame on you girls...........

The Crack

We went to see the crack at Tate Modern the other week. Who knows whether it is art, but it is good fun. Small children were having fun throwing things over it and trying to see if anyone was in it! Here are 2 pictures:

Spot the deliberate mistake

Look at the following page, and see which picture doesn't match the caption....

http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/departmentpage.cfm/GuardianOffers/_119271/1/Cameras%2520%2526%2520binoculars

Link to concert advert

And here is a link to the spnm advert

http://www.spnm.org.uk/?page=/events/event.html&id=456

love Helen

Mr Moto

is the name of this template................

News from Wales

Well Nicky is now in Denmark, she left yesterday and won't be home till May, which means she is gone for Christmas which is a bummer, but the opportunity was too good to miss. More when I hear from her.

The other exciting news is that Brian has had the piece he put forward to the SPNM chosed by the BBC Philharmonic and it is going to be performed by them in February next year, along with 2 other pieces by shortlisted composers. This is just fantastic and such an opportunity to have the music performed by one of the BBC orchestras!!! So he gets to spend the Christmas holidays coaxing the printer into printing out the parts, which is the slightly tedious downside.

As an aside - does any priest or religion have a system of excorcizing printers? I am convinced that all the modern little Screwtapes inhabit printers and get so many brownie points in Hell by the frustrations and torments, bad language, tears and general evilness caused by printers that the angels must be all scratching their heads to think how to combat this one. The printers are winning.

love Helen

Euro 2008 - Tee hee

Well, the best team won. However, someone hasn't told the authors of this website yet http://www.2008-euro-championships.co.uk/

Nor amended the voting for "who will win euro 2008?"


Euro 2008 Winner: Results
Who will win Euro 2008
England
293 (19.48%)
France
193 (12.83%)
Holland
483 (32.11%)
Spain
181 (12.03%)
Italy
354 (23.54%)
1504 total votes

Shame....................

The Corn IS as high as an elephants eye

1. Boo told us authoritatively that corn did not grow well in England and was low and stunted. Well today we went for a walk in the Surrey countryside (posponed from yesterday when it poured, though it rained today too). We went through a field of corn that was 8feet high and prolific, for some reason stilll being unpicked in mid November.

Now I'm not sure how high is an elephants eye, but 8 ft is pretty tall.

The other highlight was the fox we saw.

The lowlight was a very muddy (spelt cowdung) area that we couldn't go round. Mike got through with it spilling over the tops of his boots, but Linda did a faceplant. We were saved by a friendly farmer who let us use his hose.

Walking in England is such fun

Sea Dogs

King Lear

Just went to see King Lear with Boo and Trev. Boo was very impressed by Lear with no clothes on.

Minster Installation Art

Further to previous mention of the video installation on the outer wall of the minster - here is the video I took of it. Quite dramatic really. (NB: You probably need to click on the video and then the play button, i.e. twice, to get it running. Don't give up!)

Trevor

Handy Phrases for Nicky

Having seen the latest post re Denmark and the lingo, clearly some useful phrases are called for, so here they are:

Merry Christmas - glædelig jul
Hello - goddag (formal) / hej (coll.)
Happy New Year - godt nytår

just in case, here are the same phrases in Dutch!

vrolijk Kerstfeest
goede morgen / goede middag / goede avond (morning / afternoon / evening)
gelukkig Nieuwjaar

We're all jealous really.

Quote of the week

Further to mum's entry below about Nicky's job in Denmark, I thought I'd just share my glee at what she said on the phone when she rang to tell me the news.

Upon telling me about said job offer in Denmark (take note, country of job opportunity = Denmark) Nicky said 'It'd be really good won't it....although, I don't speak any Dutch'. To which I said, 'Why would you need to speak Dutch? Isn't the job in Denmark?' Nicky then replied with 'Don't they speak Dutch in Denmark then?' I then informed her that no, they don't speak Dutch in Denmark, they speak Danish.

This was then followed by the question from Nicky: 'Well where do they speak Dutch then?'

Blond? My sister? Na..... ;)
xxxxxxxxxxx

The Sheep Murderer's tale

Today in London, our friends regaled us with the following real event: Some time ago, at a tourist spot, it matters not where, our friend A*** and family was enjoying the outdoors with friends. Said spot had many a sheep, which were determined sandwich eaters and minor menaces to children. One sheep in particular was the potential chief snatcher and minor admonishments had failed to divert his attention. In steps our hero A*** (identity concealed) and marches up to the woolly carpetbagger, wagging a finger of power and uttering the mighty charm "shoo".

Backwards went the sheep, until reaching the hill (oh, yes, it was the tourist spot up a hill), at which point it rolled over backwards down the hill until it hit a ledge, whereupon the dying fly position was adopted.

At this point, friends 10 year old set up a mighty wail of "sheep murderer, sheep murderer". A*** was rather worried, so he scrambled down and poked the sheep.

Thankfully, after a few moments, sheep came round, and after a pause to reflect on the dangers of a life of crime, scrambled to its feet and wandered away.

Ever since, A*** is know in that particular circle as the sheep murderer. The things people do to get a nickname.....

Return of the stare

Today we were in London, meeting some friends. On the way we crossed at traffic lights. As we did so a cyclist gently went through the red light, causing us no problem - but directly behind the cyclist was a police van. At first nothing happened, then Boo engaged the famous stare of power, first at the cyclist, then at the driver of said Police van. 5 seconds later, blue lights, cyclist pulled over.

A victory for the stare.

Nicky off to Denmark

Nicky is off to Denmark next week for 6 months, so she is joining the expat family members scattered around and adding Scandanvia to the family map. She has got a job as a groom in a showjumping yard for a 6 month contract and goes next week. She is very excited as it is good money and terrific experience. The down side (for me) is that she won't be home for Christmas, however such is life. We shall have to send her a care parcel for Xmas day.

Books

Do we have a book club book going right now and I missed it? Is there not a book?

Signed
Confused in Spain

Ooops, I done it again. (Changed the blog template that is)

So exciting as it is a 3 day weekend - we're going Christmas shopping on Monday. Woo. Todays news at one o'clock was essentially "There has been no serious flooding", with lots of pictures of waves and inches of water on some roads. A reporter was on Lowestoft beach saying the sea was rough as very small waves simpered behind him. Good news really, just the journalists don't understand how not to be dramatic.

Adminman

Fruit and veg

In an effort to shop stopping at Asda and therby willfully supporting the evil Wal-Mart, the first change Carl and I have made in our shopping habits is to order a fruit and veg box from a local supplier in Wiltshire, G+S Fruits. All produce is seasonal, sourced locally and delivered once a week, although I'm not sure how much of it is organically farmed and how much isn't.

However, our first box arrived yesterday and it was all very exciting, delving around and pulling out delights such as a huge cabbage complete with all the leaves (reminded me of the plant in Little Shop of Horrors) and the biggest leeks either of us have ever seen, plus pears and apples and all sorts of fruity and veggie delights.

So now we feel all smug as if we are single handedly saving the environment...not sure that's quite true but, I'm looking forward to some very nice dinners (cooked by Carl of course) on the back of it :)

Love Kate xxxx

York

We have just returned from a weekend of visiting Erin in the beautiful city of York. We decided to do the touristy things. We went to the Minster, quite splendid but if they are going to charge you to get in they need to get their cashiers sorted out. A geriatric and a twelve year old just weren’t shortening the queue quickly! In the evening they have an Art Installation projected against the West Face which reacts to sound. It is quite snazzy

After that , as Erin didn’t want to go to the railway museum(I can’t think why), we decided to go to the Treasurer’s house (pictured) and more specifically the vaults as they were supposed to be haunted by a Roman Legion, but only from their knees up.
It’s a National Trust property and both Trev and I are members so the house was free but we had to pay and extra 2.50 to get in the vaults. Erin is not a member so we would have to pay for her entry to the house plus the money to the vaults. It was here that the cashier decided to try and sell annual NT membership to Erin. Honestly, Erin is queen of the contemptuous, leave me alone stare, but this woman was having none of it. She kept trying to sell membership, clearly not realising that Erin could buy a seasons wardrobe from Primark with £20! When we realised that we would have to pay the extra to get into the vaults the said: “ See the member ship looks good now.” Well it looked exactly the same as members had to pay the extra.
As it happens we didn’t have enough cash and they wouldn’t accept any cards so we went shopping instead. I bought myself some lovely earrings, which in a way were free as we hadn’t spent the money getting into the Vaults.
On our way home we passed through a village called Spital in the Street! Excellent name

Halloween

Can you find the Canadians???