Lovely holiday in Cordoba

 This is the most famous thing in Cordoba.  It is the Mezquita - it was once the mosque until the Christians put a cathedral in the middle of it.  It is extraordinary.  The mosque could have 40,000 people worshipping at the same time - it is huge.  One of the guide books said that if you got there before 10am you could go in for free so we did that.  You have to be quiet because there was a mass   in progress in the cathedral which was actually really quite moving.   There was an old lady having confession - the confessional was in the middle of the building which was odd and quite open in some ways - and she must have been really sinful because she was there for ages!

 This is another bit of the Mezquita.

 Brian in the garden of the Alcazar which was lovely.  They are doing huge amounts of work everywhere you look in Cordoba because they are a nominated city for the City of Culture in 2016.  They were doing huge amounts of work in the gardens

 This is a city outside Cordoba called Madinat al Zahra.  It was built by the Caliph in the 10th century (I think) and was used for 80 years before it was left.  The museum for it was one of the best I have ever seen because the film showed you ruins, and then showed you an animated look at what it would have looked like and told you a lot about how the place worked.  They have only excavated 12% of it till now, and what they have done so far is fascinating.  We happily spent hours pottering round it.

 This is a very typical little alley which make up most of the old part of Cordoba.  There is a modern city as well, but that isn't so interesting.  These areas are very easy to get lost in and you can spend a lot of time wandering round trying to get to a specific place.  However it is a very felicitous place to wander round because all the alleys are different and have lovely little features, or flowers, or something interesting to see.
 We were lucky with the weather as it was sunny and pleasant all week and we were in short sleeves and sandals by the end of the week.  Three days is probably a bit too long for Cordoba in some ways, but it meant that we had a lovely pottering sort of time, not feeling at all rushed.  Though we didn't see everything by any manner of means.

This is us on Malaga beach.  The flight was 7pm so we had all afternoon to mooch on the beach which was only about 10 mins from the airport.  Brian managed to get a bit sunburnt. 

I will put more pictures onto Picassa and add a link when I have done that if people want to see them.

We went to see a Spanish riding school show on the Wednesday night which we both enjoyed.  Here is one of the horses doing a levade.  I filmed some of these, so need to work out how to edit them now.

A week in March

Last week was my 53rd birthday and to celebrate the fact Trev and I went to Whipsnade Zoo. It was a really lovely day. Warm enough to have a picnic.
The animals seemed to be really appreciating the weather too and were all outside and active. Here is a ring tailed lemur sunning itself

And here is a peacock that was lurking around the cafe on the lookout for crumbs. It looks like it is having a cup of tea at this picnic bench.

Last weekend we went down to Southampton to go to a performance of Alice's orchestra at a tiny arts centre which is a converted barn. Linda came too. It was a lovely concert inspite of the annoying woman behind me who kept talking and fiddling around with her handbag right down my ear. The final piece was Hayden's Farewell Symphony. The tradition of this is at the end for the orchestra members to leave one by one. We didn't know this and Alice was the first member to leave. We looked at each other in concern incase she had been taken ill. However, Kieran was remarkably calm about it and as other members left we realised what was happening.
It was a lovely weekend of meals out and walks on the common and taking in the sights of Southampton. H

ere we all are outside Southampton Art Gallery which has a remarkably good collection.

Plumbing the Library Knowledge... if you please!

Some of you know and some of you don't, that I jumped on the Librarian bandwaggon some 18 months ago and am intrepidly making my way in my second library role as Senior Learning Centre Assistant for Curriculum Liaison (I plan to try telling people my job title after a few drinks one day, just to see what happens!) at an FE college in Southampton. I am thrilled to have this job, as I can be creative and do all kinds of things that really excite me about library work. I am currently trying to arrange for a guest speaker to come visit the library. I have had many a conversation and email exchanges with charming authors of fine fiction, but sadly still no confirmation or success in booking someone. Target audience is Adult Learners who for various reasons are learning to read/write in English and the plan is that the visit will drum up enthusiasm for reading and literacy in general. Have any amongst you marvelous relatives-in-law had any success with organising this kind of thing? And can you give your Niece/Daughter/Cousin-Law some advice?

That's dinner sorted

On Saturday we popped into Cambridge after visiting the family in Newmarket.  Driving along the dual carriageway a very silly pheasant - and lets face it they are the silliest of all birds - decided to cross the road in front of us.   It did not live to tell the tale.
We thought no more about it and arrived in Cambridge, parked the car by a meter in the lovely collegy area called the backs and went off to do our shopping. It was only when we got back to the car an hour or so later that we realised that the dead pheasant had somehow remained attached to the front of the car and it was stuck in the front like a trophy! A little emabarrasing to say the least. Anyway, Trev, managed to kick the corpse off so infact some fox or cat will probably have a delicious dinner.

Pointless

Well, as all of you know my friend Jill and I successfully auditioned for the show Pointless.  They are recording at the end of February and some of you will come and see it being recorded and if it's not too awful I may even let you know when it's on TV.
Here is it's wikipedia entry which explains it in detail.  Basically they ask general knowledge questions.  They have already surveyed 100 people and you win by choosing the least popular, or even better, the answer  not chosen by the survey  (the pointless answer in fact).  For example if they were to say landlocked countries in Europe Switzerland would be the most popular but the chances are few or hopefully nobody would have said Andorra.
I am a mine of useless information at the moment as I am trying to learn obscure American sports teams and the flags and capitals of little known countries.  My mind is full of menomics such as "Bleat me in St Louis" to remind me of the St Louis rams!  I must learn some facts about Canada.  Everybody always thinks I know about the land of my birth and it will be shameful if we fail because of my ignorance.
Jill and I have both received a large email with instruction mostly about what we can wear.  We have to think Smartie colours but not brown or red.  Not pastel colours, grey, black, white, busy patterns, polka dots, logos.  Nearly all Jill's clothes have got logos so I think she will be hitting the internet soon!  What's more we have to bring 5 outfits from this limited repetoire of colours!  I have just about managed it and am popping into Marks and Spencer this weekend to take care of the under clothes.  I feel I need to dye out the grey routes, bleach the moustache etc.  I don't think I put this much effort into Kieran and Alice's wedding (or even my own!).
The young researcher (and they are all young - the place is like Logan's Run) rang me yesterday to go through my biography.  I think I have got jobs with less information then they know about me.  She was trying to find out unusual information about me and I let slip that I find dressing up dogs  amusing.  That is certainly going to come back to haunt me.  Gromit will be in heaven laughing at me as he finally gets his revenge.  I also mentioned that I enjoyed playing Scrabble so she concluded that meant I was a good team player.  Clearly she has never entered the cutthroat world of the small plastic tiles.
Anyway, it should be fun.  As it's on during the day I'm hoping that the good and the great at work won't even be aware of my appearence.
Wish us luck and pray that we don't have a performance like this one!

Web site - well page really

I have started a web site to promote me.  The only reason to blog about it is to add a link which may then get picked up by google.  Anyone else who'd like to add a link to their sites/blogs/facebook please do. 

www.trevormartinconsulting.com

Very boring to start with unless someone needs the exact skills described! 

Chinese statues

The National Museum in Cardiff has an exhibition of Buddhist statues from Dazu in China, which we went to see this morning - see here

Having missed the terracotta warriors (still sad about that) I was determined to see these.

They are really quite extraordinary because they are so old, and in such good condition. You can see the paint still on some of them, which gives an idea of how bright they must have been when they were new (1000 years ago or so).



The numbers of them in China are extraordinary too.


Here are a couple of photos from another website.

An attempt to get my 15 minutes

  Because of the weather and the fact that I realised that I had a bit more holiday then I had calculated I decided to take some leave on the week before Christmas. Also because of the weather we didn't wander far from home.  Slipping and sliding into tow n and slipping and sliding home again.  We were home by 4 every evening and infront of the telly. I think  I was beginning to lose touch with the outside world. During this time we became rather addicted to a quiz show called Pointless.  It's quite funny and requires both general knowledge and a little bit of psychology.

 After Xmas my friend Jill came for a visit and we discussed the quiz show and she quite liked it too.  She suggested that she and I apply for it.  As by this time I had existed in a winter wonderland for over a week and the outside world seemed a dim memory so  I agreed.  The application  form was enormous - 5 pages!  Anyway, we sent them off not thinking that we would hear anything further. The snow went and we all went back to work and forgot about it.

However  we received phone calls last week and we got called to an audition yesterday

The production company was in a rather unprepossessing office block in west London.  They had glammed up the reception area.  However when we ventured out of that area into the kitchen we discovered that the it resembled a student flat with dirty dishes piled in the sink!  Still it's not surprising as the employees all seemed to be about 15 years old.  Still not quite the glamour I had imagined.

 While we were waiting in reception Jimmy Carr and Charlie Brooker, who are reasonably famous in the UK.  I showed how I took it in my stride by texting all the family.  At least I didn't take a photo or ask for their autograph.

The audition was in a board room.  There were 7 other couples.  We had to do a tiny little dummy run of the show including making all ooing and aahing noises at appropriate times.  We acquitted ourselves fairly well.  Then we had to wait again in reception to see if they wanted us back for a screen test which they did!  That involved us talking about ourselves infront of the camera.  Not too sure how that went.

Anyway, we shall see in the next few days.  They auditioned 500 people for 150 places so I'm not holding out too much hope.

All in all it was great fun and a good way to cheer up a dull January evening

I do like to be beside the seaside

One thing I'll say about this inclement weather we've been having is that you really appreciate good weather when you get it.  Yesterday we had been planning to have a trip up to London and take in an exhibition but when the sun came up and it was as clear as can be we decided to go to the coast.  It was still a cold day but lovely and sunny.
We went to Walton on the Naze on the Essex Coast.  It is rather a kiss me quick kind of a resort. It actually has some fantastic architecture but it's a little neglected these days.  Here are some of the beach huts.  I love them.   They look a bit like a shanty town but they're bright and cheerful.

 The big attraction of Walton for us however is not the pier and the sticks of rock but the Naze.  It is a peninsula of a about 3 miles that has cliffs and salt marshes.  It is scientifically very important as some of the first fossils ever discovered were from the cliffs and as well it is a fantastic place for bird watching.
Brent geese overwinter there in their thousands.  I suspect they have nothing to do with the London Borough of Brent as when Trev spoke to them in a cockney accent they looked at him with cool disdain.

We were particularly taken by Sanderlings.  They can fly and swim but they choose to run up and down.  They feed from the water's edge and when an extra large wave comes they all run away from it.  Most amusing.
We finished up after our walk having a cup of tea underneath Walton Tower.  Here it is casting huge shadows.  It looks particularly Middle Earthish blocking the sun

Unfortunately the Naze seems to have a desire to become sea.  The cliffs are tumbling away as you can see and there are marshes within  the sea wall so who know what will happen to it.  But for now it is a lovely place to spend a winter's afternoon

Merry Christmas

This is the exciting game we got with the box of crackers this year. Instead of a token we got a wind up reindeer in our cracker, and the box had a race track on the back, so after dinner we wound up our reindeer and had races. It was actually quite good fun, though Nic's reindeer had a distinct steer to port, so anyone to the left of it got barged into which led to some corrections.

The picture below is Saffy looking very fetching in her Christmas scarf and leggings.



Poor hard done by doggy.

Happy New Year everyone

Christmas food shopping

I have done most of Xmas food shopping but went into Waitrose at lunchtime today to get some things that had been forgotten. It was really busy! Our Waitrose is never busy except at Christmas and today it was busy. There were lots of people queueing for the tills, but they had got it well organised. There were staff at the end of every aisle organising people into neat queues and then sending them on to the tills, and rewarding you for your patience by giving you a chocolate when you got to the top of the queue.

It made queueing almost enjoyable!

Glad tidings

Supermarket shopping with young children is seldom a pleasure really.  Shopping with young children at this time of year is HELL.  Luckily we are way past that.  This morning we needed to pop to our supermarket to get victuals for a quickly(due to weather) rearranged lunch with Trev's sister.  The place was heaving.  Not surprisingly given that it is two days before Xmas and the roads are the clearest they've been of snow since Saturday.  Waitrose, our supermaket gives you the chance to self scan what you buy and then check it out yourself.  You carry a hand held device and scan each bar code as you read it.  We got round to the far end of the shop and there was a very harrassed mother trying to be reasonable with her  5 year old who was holding the scanner.  Suddenly she snapped, a voice that sounded like the girl from the excorsist suddenly issued forth: GIVE ME THE SCANNER.  To be honest, I don't know if that was succesful as Trev and I made a hasty retreat to giggle unobserved.
Hey ho!  Sometimes I can really appreciate my kids being in their 20s

More Frosty Pictures

Another sub zero day plus the end of yesterday produced more picture taking opportunities, so here they are:

Yesterday the Cow Parsley made a great frame for the late afternoon light

We also had our own entrance to Narnia:

And even the bins were decorated

Cold weather not all bad after all.  But it would be nice to be able to drive off without spending 10 minutes defrosting.

What do "experts" know?

 David Quarmby, chairman of the RAC foundation and co-author of the Winter Resilience Review, is quoted on the BBC saying: "This is a very early onset of winter but it is also a bit different from what we are used to - although temperatures are not particularly cold..."

Well I don't know where he hangs out, but I maintain it is ******* cold, particular or not!  Just look at this Willow tree.............

A particularly cold Willow tree

Minus 6 degrees - Narnia in Saffron Walden

A cool start to the day, so a couple of pictures of the scene 100 metres from our door.

Never has a recycling centre looked so festive

Cold but pretty

Nicky takes flight

This is a picture of Nicola taken by a bystander at the races in the spring sometime. The horse, called No More Whispers, was acting up - as you can see - and she rashly hung on.

The owner has used the picture as his Christmas card, so Nic will be on all his cards!

She is glad she has her back to the camera because she says she was probably pulling a really daft face.

What is lovely is that the person who took the picture took the trouble to send it to Evan, just because he liked it, and thought other people would as well.

Kindness of strangers.

Christmas Cake

It is that time of year.  For the past million (well maybe a bit less but a lot) my parents (and in the last 3 my dad) have provided the Christmas cake, latterly shop bought, which is fine.  Having a bit of extra time before Christmas (should be cooking leave not gardening!) I decided to try out the Delia cake kit from Waitrose.  So far so good.  Here it is cooling down:

Next I get to feed it (with alcohol, tee hee) and then it is the icing question.  I never liked icing, and really dislike marzipan, but if not covered then it will dry out more quickly.  So all you cake makers (well Helen at least!) let's have the advice.  :0)

Trev

Welcome compensation

Aha, les welcome cottages etait donnez £100 pour le goodwill a nous.  Une bon result nest pas?  Vive les vacances! 

Trendy tango

Carl found this on YouTube and loves it. Shows how much I've sucked him into the Strictly world, he said 'Check out these Argentine Tango moves set to hip hop music'. No thinking it was just ordinary tango moves for him :)


Click here to view.

Love Kate xxxx

Turning corners in the UK

Is it just me, or do driving lessons now instruct people to turn every corner as if the were driving a bus or articulated lorry?  It used to be OK to approach a roundabout and assess whether someone entering was going to carry on or turn off from their positioning, even if no indicators were operating (shock).  Nowadays, an enormous number of people start to turn in the opposite direction to that required, so their imaginary bus won't mount invisible obstacles. 

What the what! (copyright Tina Fey) There is a one way street in Saffron Walden, at the end of which two cars can fit comfortably, one going right, the other left.  Sadly drivers of tanks and small hatchbacks all feel the need to swing the wrong way, so a simple turn is now a challenge to keep paintwork unscraped.  No wonder the Lib dems don't know which way is right.................

Provence Pictures

Just a few:

A Borie

Even the French dogs have style

You don't want to stay here!

It's himself (Maquis de Sade)

Mont Ventoux- it was everywhere

Very windy Pont d'Avignon - sur it!

View from Lacoste - the Maqu's pad

Un week a Provence

Bonjour, Nous sommes back en Angleterre apres a week a Provence. Nous were tres concerned about le striking and le problems de transport. But bon news, Les Hertz providez une voiture avec le tank plein. Je recommende hotel "Mas Entremont", prez de Aix-en-Provence. Pas cheap mais tres comfortable et manger magnifique. Notre villa a Joucas etait OK, but needed encore d'illumination et heating pour les froid nuits. Aussi there was the travaux de maison - floor laying commencement a 8.15am! Nous have complained. La femme de le patron gave us a bouteille de vin Rose by way of apology (il est a crap bouteille), mais Je demande £100 from le Welcome cottages. We'll voix how that faits.

Provence etait magnifique, les temps etait bon tous les jours except on notre anniversaire (30th), quand le Mistral popped up. Nous nearly etait blown off le pont d'Avignon. Nous regardons quelque gorges, et experienced le Musee de Lavendre. Apparently only real Lavender existe sur les montagne depuis 800 et 1100 metres. Le rest is Lavendin, une clone - bad luck Norfolk.

Je recommende Provence, mais pas le villa a Joucas until les travaux est terminee. Le pictures will follow.

Trevor

Sugar Loaf walk

We went for a walk yesterday up the Sugar Loaf. This is the hill you can see in the picture behind Brian and is named Sugar Loaf because that is what it looks like.


It is just outside Abergavenny just inside the Brecon Beacons national park. As you can see from the pictures the scenery is stunning and you can see for miles in all directions from the top. The weather was lovely and bright sunlight, though the wind was a bit chilly.


It was not really a climb, but it was a steep walk, especially when you are unfit as I am, so we had quite a few pauses for breath - for me to catch my breath and for Brian to stand around waiting.

It is an area I haven't been to before and it is absolutely lovely. We had problems finding the car park and ended up dashing into Smiths to buy a OS map which showed us the car park up (and I mean UP) a single track road. However now we have invested in the map we will have to explore the area more. Though probably most of that will be after the winter - it will get cold and snowy up there in the winter.

Edinburgh

Carl and I have just spent a really great weekend in Edinburgh. Having thought I had never been there, I actually realised I've been there twice but once was just at the airport and the other was for a conference, both work related and both precluded seeing anything of the city. We went to meet up with some of our friends from our Cyprus days. Alison and Craig live in Lanark which is about an hour away from Edinburgh. They now have two little girls, so Alison's parents who live in Austin, Texas, have set themselves up with a flat in Edinburgh so they can visit more often. Nice for some - and nice for us as it turns out - free posh digs right in the city centre! We were also joined by our friends Buzz and Emma who flew up from Cheltenham.

It was a lovely weekend with too much food and FAR too much alcohol (when in Rome, or Edinburgh...) and we also really fell for Edinburgh. It's got a really great atmosphere with loads of history, loads of things to see, lots going on - we loved it. Will post some pics once I get them off my camera. We went to the castle, then went on a whiskey tour (complete with hangover) which was very well thought out and not a boring museum-y experience at all. They'd worked really hard to make it interesting and interactive and we really enjoyed it. Then we pottered about and ended up in the National Museum of Scotland which was good and in amongst the relics of the Stewarts was a science bit where we went to visit Dolly the cloned sheep who now resides like a Damien Hirst piece in a perspex box.

If you haven't been I'd definitely recommend it for a weekend. Pics to follow.

Kate xxxx

GMail ad that I think is just lovely!

Still using my time profitably...

GMail are doing something right with their advertising!

More anon

Dogs

Following Kieran's previous post about YouTube videos I just had to post this. I never sit and watch YouTube but Carl does. A lot. Most of what he watches is rubbish (Taff Wars anyone?!) but this is genius and apparently done in one take which I find a bit difficult to believe!

YouTube Doggie Video

Kate xxxx

A comparative media project

Alice and I have, as always, been spending our time profitably by watching videos on you tube. As we explored the vast internet, we came across an amusing ad campaign by Old Spice in the US. This was extended by a series of answers to twitterers.

We can tell its gone mainstream, as now sesame street have done a version

Chox away

We decided to have Trev's birthday celebration yesterday as he has to go to London on his actual birthday. The forecast was fairly soggy so that ruled out really outdoor stuff and the railways were having engineering works so that ruled out London. So we decided to got to the Imperial Museum at Duxford which is just a short drive from us.
Erin clearly wasn't enthused about this idea and decided she had urgent shoe shopping to do. She declared, infact, that if she went she would be rolling around on the floor within 5 minutes. (As a child if she was bored this tended to be where she ended up!)
So Trev and I went on our own and had a lovely, if windy, time. It is mostly undercover but you have to walk between hangars. We got a little damp but not too bad.

Anyway, here are three things I learned yesterday. The wind whistling through the safety barrier made a very strange Aeolian Harp sort of noise. No wonder there are always rumours about WWII airfield being haunted.
When the GIs were in East Anglia in their thousands there was a rodeo in Norwich!!!
An alsation called Brian joined the paratroupers. On his arrival in Normandy he was scared of the noise and barked madly. Apparently, he was "assisted" out of the plane and landed on a tree from where he had to be rescued. Anyway he survived the war and was awarded a Dickin medal for his services

Scilly Isles and gardens

And here are some pictures of the Scilly Isles.

Lovely in the sunshine but not for foul weather or foodies (unless scones and coffee)

Try 2 didn't work let's try 3

Here

Ship figureheads

Ship figure heads attempt 2

They should be here

Northumberland

We have just returned from a fantastic fortnight in Northumberland. It is a county full of romantic ruins and high winds and that isn't even including Trev and me. We had many a walk on heathery bracken moors, some of which we got lost on! Whenever I was on a windy moor Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights etched itself on to my brain. It's probably done that to you to now! The higher the moor the more of the strange Red Grouse we saw who make the strangest noise. Here is a picture from Simonside, near Rothbury of some of the countryside
Our cottage was a barn conversion and this was our welcoming committee
There were three of them and they belonged to the next door neighbours. Clearly previous residents had fed them as they came and fixed us with their beady eyes when it was warm enough to sit outside.
If we got fed up with the the moors and the ruins then we could go on the beaches which are fabulous. Unfortunately, they are attached to the North Sea so I think you'd need to be a hardy soul to brave the waters.
It has to be the friendliest most unspoiled place I have stayed in the UK. Every shop that you went into they were interested in where you came and recommended places to go. It is like it being transported into a more Northerly James Herriot novel. I would recommend it to anyone who likes walking and ruins.
What it is not is a fine dining experience. I had fish and chips three times while I was there! Still, I haven't gained any weight while I've been away.
Funnily, enough, Alice's parents were on holiday in Alnwick at the same time so we met up with them at Alnwick castle and gardens. This seriously is making me look like the family stalker now and that I am practicing so that I can chance upon Linda in London landmarks again this winter!
If you would like to be bored with more photos they are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Martinphtots/Northumberland#

Ship figureheads

In the Abbey Gardens in Tresco they have an area they call Valhalla where they have lots of ships' figureheads from ships that have been wrecked in the seas around the islands.

Most of them have been restored and repainted, and when they have information about the ship and what happened to her they have written it up beside the figurehead.

Brian found it a bit ghoulish, but I thought it was touching, and the effort to give the ships a place in history for people who come later was quite moving.

We don't like your sort round here.

After the disaster of last week's wash out Shakespeare, my girls and I decided to go to a quiz at a local hostelry. I drive past the pub, The Fighting Cocks (a name that always made Kieran giggle) most days when I take Erin to the station and noticed a blackboard sign outside saying Pub Quiz Every Wednesday, free entry cash prize. We do enjoy a quiz and thought we would have a go. None of us have ever been in this pub as it has a reputation as a bikers' pub in the past. Still, it has changed landlord several times and anyway most bikers seem to be my age nowadays and frequenting tea shops.
I thought it was strange when I rang at lunch time and the phone seemed dead but I drove past it on my way home and the blackboard sign was still there. So Judy and I turned up in the first car and went into the pub which had about 4 people in it. The landlord took one look at us and said "Sorry, ladies, I was just about to close up"
He didn't look like he was about to close up. It appeared that we were not the kind of clientele he wanted. It was almost like that scene in American Werewolf in London where all the locals stop talking when the strangers walk in.
Anyway we made our way to another pub and had a very convivial evening and then on the way home drove past The Fighting Cocks again and the lights were on!
I've never been barred from a pub - still you're never too old apparently!

Stormy weather

Tonight I am going to see Twelfth Night, outside, at one of the colleges in Cambridge. Guess what the weather is doing. Can I just say The Tempest might be more appropriate! I think it is a constant reminder of the triumph of hope over experience when you consider the amount of things there are to do outside in a British summer. Festivals all over the country and outdoor theatre at the very least. In this week alone, I have the outdoor theatre, an outdoor party and a treasure hunt!Wwish me luck.
On another note my colleague Andrew was drooling over the Apple Website when he came across this description of what the Apple i phone can do:
"Its advanced backside illumination sensor delivers great-looking video in both bright and low-light settings. And in dark environments, you can brighten the scene with the built-in LED light. "
Not sure anyone would appreciate my backside being illuminated! Teehee! (I'm getting hysterical about the weather now and had better sign off)

3D or not 3D

Hollywood has gone 3D mad. Ever since Avatar was made films have been reengineered to be 3D and others have been made from 3D at the outset. I suspect the joke doing the rounds at Comiccon “If you can’t make it good, make it 3-D.” may have an element of truth. Until yesterday I had never seen one.
Like many people reading this blog I have a lazy eye or amblyopia to give it it's correct name. Apparently a person with Amblyopia does not see in 3D. Now I think I do see in 3D but obviously I have never looked through somebody elses eyes so how would I know?
Thus I have a bit of a resistance to 3D movies. I feel a bit excluded from the club. Erin and I have had moany conversations about bloody 3D for several months now. To be honest, there have been very few films so far that I would have wanted to see. I tend to like films that were made for a shilling, with no special effects and preferably not in English. However that is not always the case. I would put the Star Wars films among my favourites and there is nothing Arty about them.
So Toy Story 3 has come out. I saw the first when my children were children and have enjoyed the previous 2 very much. I was very keen to finish the trilogy off. Here's the thing. There are only two cinemas locally I am prepared to frequent. The Arts Picture House in Cambridge and our local, volunteer run Saffron Screen. I knew that when it arrives at the latter it would be a matinee and I really did want to see it with mostly kids. The former meant donning the glasses. So with some trepidation I bought the tickets (plus a supplement for the glasses and another supplement for the priviledge of the 3D experience).
So it's a great film but to me it looked the same as any other film. But the good thing was it didn't make me feel sick or force me to shut one eye as I had feared. Trev said it was clever but the 3D didn't really add that much to it. So I shall be able to see the new Harry Potter in 3D safely and we have now purchased our glasses. Who knows how long and how far this will go as a trend. To be honest, I think Inception which was made in 2D was a much more cinematic film. You would be fine watching Toy Story 3 on DVD.

Cuts close to home

The first cuts are hitting close to home.

Adam works in a specialist hospital for spinal injuries and similar long term patients called Rookwood. It is in old buildings but has a special atmosphere just because so many of the patients are there for months at a time. However it has been announced that the hospital is to be closed.

Hopefully that doesn't mean that Adam's job is under threat, but it does mean he will be moved to one of the other hospitals in the area, and the patients will be scattered around as well. It is a shame for everyone concerned.

For Adam he may end up at a more commuting convenient hospital, but it won't be as friendly or supportive as Rookwood. The domestics in Rookwood are part of the team, not interchangeable minions and some of the bigger hospitals won't see the domestic staff in the same way.

Fingers crossed that it works out ok. It is a real shame.

New job

So, big news, I have a new job! Has all happened a bit quickly, but basically another company in the e-learning industry have pretty much tapped me up and made me an offer I couldn't refuse to go and head up their marketing. It's a bit out of the blue but I have been a bit bored where I was for a while now. Yesterday I handed my notice in, after going out until 3am for our company 'do' the night before. I could've picked a better time than when I felt knackered, hungover and nauseous to be honest! However, they were really good about it despite the fact I'm going to a company which is a competitor.

They're not hanging around though and the job ad for my existing job is going up on Monday morning which is a horrible feeling. Someone else is going to come in and be me! But the opportunity I've got is a great one - I'll be looking after all the marketing for a much bigger company and the package is also really good. I'll be nominally based in London but only have to be physically in the office 2 - 3 days a week. So I'm going to turn into a train commuter and will have to become a lot more punctual so I actually get to the train station on time in the mornings! The company is called Redtray if you want to check them out, although their website is quite rubbish and that's one of the first things I'll be sorting out :)

After the hangover recovery and the adrenalin rush of actually resigning, I came home completely exhausted and was in bed by 8.30pm. Not much of a celebration! But I'm very happy with my decision. Slightly terrified, but excited too!

xxxx

Olympics!

I am attempting to do housework but it is very hot and I keep flopping. See I have flopped infront of the computer and started thinking about the olympics. Only 2 years time and within 30 miles of where I am typing now. Here's my plan. We should all go and see something. I pretty much don't mind what I see (except boxing). We could all go and see something horsey! Most of that stuff is Greenwich Park. We could stay at my house and catch the train and DLR. Brilliant. Or even nearer is the kayaking which I believe is all happening on the River Lee which is even nearer than London. You can register an interest now and when the tickets are available we can all try and go to the same event.
OK better go and do something more productive now.

Barbeque and show

Here are pictures of the barbeque at Kate and Carl's house, and a few of the horse show.

Nic and Five-A-Side both looking very smart and me being the groom.

It was fun.

Forgotten ......

Nic is going to Ibiza on holiday tomorrow. Yesterday she went off to Essex to stay with Sally, the friend she is going on holiday with. She spent yesterday sorting things out, packing , doing all sorts of things that she should have done earlier and hadn't (nothing new there!)

However I got home from work, and other than a note asking me to take her car to get its MOT all seemed fine.

Then I got a phone call from our intrepid traveller. Bear in mind she spent 2 summers travelling round the USA, 6 months in Denmark and other holidays, so travelling is not a new experience.

"Mum, I forgot my passport"

Stunned silence at my end of the phone.

"You what?" I finally managed (eloquent eh?)

She had packed everything except her passport! I checked it was where she thought it was (it was).

They are flying early on Wednesday morning so there was no time to post it, even 24 hour guaranteed post. We hang up the phone and they contact Sally's mum to find out the name of a courier company.

The phone goes again. How far from Benfleet to Llantwit (214 miles) which at 90p per mile was extremely expensive. Sally doesn't have the internet in her new flat, so I looked up the trains. A return from was £2 cheaper than a single (!) but was only £66. So she could get to Cardiff and back, but could we get the passport to Cardiff?

Adam was working. I had meetings all day. Nic phoned Mike who could manage it.

So Adam took the passport to drop it throught the letterbox of Mike's office on his way to work this morning. Mike then took the passport to Cardiff station for 1.30, handed it over. Nic then got onto the 2.25 train back.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warm summer BBQ

Well this summer is turning out to be a bit of a barbecue summer. Hose pipe bans in Cumbria - all manner of craziness. Anyway, most of us are sure it will change sooner or later and are making the most of this sunny spell. This weekend the McNabbs, Grahams, Martins and Stocks got together at Kate and Carl's new house near Reading where we ate and drank and talked. A really lovely day. We had originally been toying with the idea of of meeting in Stratford and taking in a play, but the only day that was mutually suitable had a rubbish production on so Kate and Carl were volunteered. They do live conveniently in the middle and have a large garden and plenty of parking. It was very kind and we are all grateful.

Most of us stayed the night which was very cosy but fine. Nic had even bought her horse down for a show on the Sunday. He stayed in livery however so we didn't get to see him. Unfortunately, our hosts had to sleep in a tent which we didn't get round to erecting until we were all a little tipsy. Basically Helen was the foreman, she had one or two useful helpers and the rest of watched, making helpful suggestions. I don't think any of us have got Ray Mears worried that we could take over his job. I am not a keen camper and know nothing about erecting tents, Erin said that she usually makes a rubbish attempt at work like this till a man does it for her. Trev and Brian were blowing up air beds but that seemed to involve watching the electric pump work, whilst having a glass of wine. Kate, Alice and Nic were quite helpful I think, or at least looked like they were. Carl and Kate were having a bit of a marital which you can hear below! Good times! Here are videos. You can also see more pictures here but you will see a few other Martin summer events too.

an amusing entry

I thought the dog lovers amongst us might enjoy this link

Last night Trev and I went to see Quartet in Cambridge - very enjoyable it was too. I would recommend it if it comes to a theatre near you or it is made into a film (apparently Dustin Hoffman has bought the rights). Now there are two things you may or may not know about Trevor. The first is that if we are out for the day and eating in a pub or restaurant he likes to eat at noon on the dot or he will begin to panic. The second is that he treats where we sit in a theatre or cinema with the strategic acumen of Julius Caesar. So we thought we had picked perfect seats. Third row up in the Circle. Then Trevor said"These are supreme seats" No sooner had he said this than a couple sat in front of us. The man was in front of me and he had the biggest head I have ever seen. Seriously, he was like a freak of nature. He was like a Wii Mii. If you have ever seen one. Unfortunaely, this was a very static play and the action was all taking place where his big fat bonce was blocking my view. What's more his girlfriend couldn't sit still either. Clearly she had got used to shifting constantly around so she could get a bit of light eclipsed by the bloke's giant noggin!. So we spent the first act craning our necks to see some of the play. Luckily, the theatre was not full so we could remove ourselves to different seats in the interval where we had an excellent view.

How exciting!

Have you seen the trailer for the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?! OMG, so exciting! Big debate on Twitter now about what's better, HP or the Twilight series. Uh, hello, no contest!

Here is link in case you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EC2tmFVNNE

Wonder if they're going to explain why they made that fundamental change at the end of the last film with Harry on the top of the tower?

Feel the urge to re-read the books all over again! But we've got until November (sigh).

Kate
xxxx

No to gite say McNabb/Noyes

We have decided against buying a gite. For the economic reasons see my blog.

The other reasons are largely because it would mean Brian being away on his own for long periods to do the place up, and as I am still working I could only get there 4 weeks of the year anyway. If we were both retired and could spend a few months there at a time we would have been more tempted, but in the current circumstances it just doesn't pan out sadly.

Nice idea but not the right idea.

It wasn't so much the doing up of a place because unlike Chris and Xavier we would have done most of it ourselves (ie Brian) and there would have been no time pressure to finish so no need for architects and builders. France doesn't have building inspectors coming to see that you have done everything right, they apparently work on the theory that if you are going to live there you will make sure it is ok. You have to get a qualified electrician to do the junction box and wire in the sockets, we would have got someone to install a fosse septique, but the rest they leave you to it.

They have a really good way of doing roofing slates with a thing like a crochet hook which means you don't need to nail the slates and therefore they don't split. They sell lovely staircases in Mr Bricolage that you can just buy step by step. They have lovely windows and doors, especially the doors which have a window part in the top half so you can open the window but the door is still shut. Had my car been bigger we might have brought one home for the cottage, they would be ideal.

It was fascinating and we learnt a lot, but won't be buying anything.

France - bits of it anyway

This is a picture of a heron which I took when we were having a picnic. It got in by mistake and now is refusing to go away! It was meant to be a photo of Brian and me having the picnic.

We have been to France, as some will know, and had a lovely, but very busy time. Brian is toying with the idea of investing his savings into a (to be done up) French property as an investment/holiday home. So we unexpectedly - not having planned to go abroad at all this year, especially as we have a holiday booked in the Scilly Isles in September- went to France. We had a 2 centre holiday.
This being blogger here is Brian outside the second gite which was in the Morbihan area of Brittany, near a town called Josselin and about half an hour from Vannes. From here we explored an amazing amount of Brittany, but also had a day at the beach at Carnac.
This is me outside the first gite - a basic, but very cheap and perfectly adequate apartment in Normandy, a few miles outside Domfront. You will notice that the glass of wine was already being put to good use
Here I am again in Bagnoles sur l'Orne which is a spa town and very pretty. It reminded us both of Uriage, though I think Uriage is prettier.
This is the remains of supper on day 1. If you ever travel to France on a Sunday REMEMBER to take two days worth of food with you. Everything between Le Havre and Domfront was shut except one boulangerie somewhere or other. It had this pizza. I do use the word pizza with some reservations because no Italian would have recognised it as one. It was a pizza base, with tomato puree and then what looked like all the onions left after you have drained the soup from a french onion soup. Only hunger made us eat half of it, the other half went into the bin. Thankfully we also got bread, and the welcome pack from the gite contained cheese and wine, so we survived. We did have tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits etc, but not meals.

No more pics because I can't be bothered to fight with blogger to get them in. We had a good time. The weather was mixed in week one but fab in week two. We saw a fair few houses round the south of Normandy, and although the would probably be affordable the area didn't really appeal. It has some lovely places, but the area is clearly suffering a bit and we didn't feel there would be enough to do there in some ways. We went off to the coast near Mont St Michel which was about an hour away and instantly felt happier, so came to the conclusion that Normandy is just too far inland for us and we need to be nearer the sea.

Brittany was more us. We were staying in the Morbihan area which we both really liked, but which was perhaps a bit more genteel than we are - more Cowbridge than Llantwit. We loved Dinan, and so many of the towns round there are just lovely. So much mediaeval housing is retained in the town centres, and they have lots and lots of flowers everywhere, with parks, walks, no litter and no grafitti. It was lovely. We went to a town called Heulgoat in finistere for the day, and saw some houses there, and that area is now heading the popularity stakes for a few reasons. One is cost - it is cheaper there than the rest of Brittany, but the coast is half an hour away, the area is lovely, and Brian seems to have a tendency to go to nearly the end of a peninsula, not quite fall off, and feel he likes it there!

It was great fun, and we have lots of information now to think about whether it is sensible or worth doing, whether it would be too much work (we are talking cheap renovation projects here) etc etc.

We are now back in Pembs for the last few days of my hols (back to work on Monday!) with lots of food for thought, and a much,much nicer pizza for lunch!!!

Pink elephants (and many other colours) on parade.

Before I get started can I just say that we spotted Alice on Songs of Praise. She is on the left hand side of the cathedral and you can see her briefly during the third hymn. What a strange programme that is. The cameraman was obsessed with the vaulting so we saw more ceiling than people. And they cut the lovely soprano singing Handel to a flock of sheep!!

Anyway, I digress. Trev and I decided to go in search of elephants in London today. It is a huge art exhibition of over 250 elephants to highlight and raise money for Asian elephants. They are being herded up on Friday before they go to Chelsea Royal Hospital. From there they are going to be auctioned. I would love to buy one but I think they would be a little out of my league. They are all different and designed by different artists.

We spotted our first two outside Guardian Royal Exchange from the bus. Then we came across another six in Trafalgar Square. The first picture is me sitting in front of one.

From there we walked down to St James's Park where we saw 6 more. We then walked to Green Park and were passed by soldiers on parade! Something to do with the Queen's birthday I would think.

In Green Park there was a happy herd - there must have been 20 or 30 I think. Here are a few.








That top elephant should buy some good moisturiser.








We stopped for lunch on Picadilly and found this princess in Burlington Arcade. (That's the blue one I am not wasting any more time trying to get these pictures where I want them)
She is covered in Swarovski crystals! We also saw a 3 excellent hares outside the Royal Academy by Barry Flannagan. They had also decorated the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds with a garland.

After that we went back to Green Park then walked back to the river and saw some more on the South Bank. Eventually recrossing the river and seeing a couple more by St Paul's. If you want to see the lot you can look here. It made a brilliant walk and was great fun. I hope they make a lot of money for the cause.

I'm On't Telly!

Well, I might be anyway. Yes, for all of you who live in the UK you're in for a treat. As you all know, I am super-cool, but what you may not know is that I'm in a Church Choir. Woot!

A couple of months ago I, with some of my fellow choir members, took part in a recording for Songs of Praise, coolest TV show ever I'm sure you agree, and it's just possible I may be in the large group shots when they show the hymns in Winchester Cathedral. I know for certain they will have close ups of some of the cute trebles from our choir not that you'll know who they are, but I was standing nearby!

Anyway, I know you won't be able to contain your excitement when I tell you it's on Sunday 13th June BBC1, 15:30. Enjoy!

More anon

Spanish sojourn

So I had a wonderful time in Spain last week on my friend Sam's hen do. Sounds extravagant to travel all that way for a hen do but it was a bloody great excuse for a holiday, and actually worked out less than I've paid for some hen dos in the UK!

We went to a tiny village called Cortes des Baza in Granada and stayed in this amazing cave house. It's like something out of Grand Designs, carved out of the rock, and apparently are quite a feature of the region. It was an incredibly sleepy place to say the least and I think the arrival of a group of British girls for the week was the talk of the town. The locals were very nice though, albeit a bit too friendly - the local goat herder decided to invite himself over for a drink at around midnight on evening which we could've done without!!

We didn't do anything touristy (the Alhambra Palace will have to wait) we just really relaxed by the pool and ate and drank way too much. It was fabulous. I read a lovely book called 'Eat.Pray.Love' which I would definitely recommend for holiday reading and also got stuck into the Steig Larsson Millenium trilogy which I've been saving up. We had a few trips out to the local bars but it was really very chilled out and not crazy hen do-ish at all - I think we're all past that now!

To carry on the international flavour, Sam and Ian's wedding is in Italy in August which has definitely softened the blow of this fabulous Spanish trip being over.

Because blogger (and Facebook for that matter) hates me and won't let me upload any photos, I've resorted to another Picasa album instead:

Spanish Sojourn Pics

Love Kate xxxx