Holidays

We had a lovely holiday in France. We spent a couple of days with Matt and Sue where Brian was put to work chopping logs and strimming grass though the weather was a bit damp. Then we went down to the Haute Alps de Provence into a very nice gite, where the weather also improved and we had a nice time pottering about.

However the Tuesday morning we found a piece of bread on the floor that looked like it had been nibbled and assumed it was field mice, which we weren't that concerned about. However the following night when Brian went to the loo he saw a rat disappearing round a corner. Not mice then. Got up in the morning and scrubbed every surface in the kitchen/lounge area before we made a cup of tea. We wondered whether to go or stay and decided to stay but told the owners and asked for a cupboard we could put everything away into, as it was open shelves and curtains. They put down poison and got a cupboard and we washed everything and put it away, and you have never seen a kitchen which I run looking so tidy in your life! Nothing was out. Brian heard noises that night but saw nothing, and I didn't hear anything because I had earplugs in to block the snoring. The following night however they had decided to invite the neighbours in for a rave. There was a small roofspace above the bathroom and there must have been 2 or 3 in there judging by the noise, there was another one under the roof tiles and Brian saw one disappear behind the oven housing. This was all at 2 am. I had a really strong desire to hide under the bedclothes though what good that would do I have no idea. The bedroom was actually ok as all the walls had been plastered whereas the living room was stone and there must be small gaps between the render. So in the morning we packed up and I threw out my toothbrush (just in case) and went to tell the owners. They were a young couple, mid 20s and had only had the place since january. They were setting up a business making tapenade and special mustards etc plus the gite. They had people due on the Saturday and this was Thursday morning. So poor Veronique went to get the refund for the 2 nights we weren't staying, and came back in tears. So there we were patting her on the shoulder and giving lots of good advice about getting the rat man in, finding a farmer with a good terrier etc. Brian had already given lots of good advice about renovating the building (already done a stone cottage and really know what needs doing advice). We both felt quite parental in a way, but it was impossible to stay.

So we went south and spent the first night outside Aix en Provence within sight of
(Brian on path up to Mont)
Cezanne's Mont de St Victoire, and had a fabulous meal. The next day was wet so we abandoned the idea of staying somewhere beachy and pushed on to Nice, which is where we were flying from on the Saturday. Nice has the most appalling road signage ever! We saw the airport but couldn't get to it, so eventually headed for the sea and drove back along the Boulevard des Anglais, where we found an Ibis to stay the night. We had the worst meal I have ever had there, in fact my meal was inedible. However we had a nice potter round Nice the following day and went for a swim in the Med. But Nice has an awful beach, really stony and really, really hard to walk on.

Brian outside a gallery in Simiane de Rotonde - uncanny eh? Such a not-french name Brian

Then we went to Pembrokeshire and had a nice pottery time there. We were on Abereiddy beach on the Saturday (glorious day) and had a picnic and went for a walk along the cliff, but didn't go for a swim because the water was seriously cold. However we decided that actually the temperature of the water was the only thing we preferred about Nice compared to Abereiddy, which is lucky really as we are going to spend much more time there than in Nice.

it was such a nice break. Going back to work......

Look at this

Well me again! Having got the house clean I feel totally justified wasting time on the computer!

Here is Trev in front of the Trevi fountain in Rome


Here is a geezer in front of geysir!

Ho ho ho! (note to self, better stay away from manequin pis when we got to Brussels later this year

English

Well, me again! I have people coming over tonight and I am meant to be tidying up the house but I keep finding myself doing something else. I am up to date with all my games of scrabulous so I had better have a quick blog before I tackle the kitchen! (Actually, I may have to have another cup of tea after this)
Anyway, we noticed on holiday that there are many words in Icelandic that clearly have similar roots to English. Obviously, the nordic, germanic thing. For example, Foss is a waterfall and in the north of England a waterfall is a force. Also a church is a Kirkja which is like the Scottish word Kirk and also the German.
Heaven knows they are not pronounced easily even if they do have a common root to our own language. I took the view that I should be like Ian McKellan on Lord of the Rings ie. Morrrdorrrr.
Anyway while Trev and I were discussing the similarites somewhere in the back of my mind I remember hearing that in English most household words come from german roots, such as house and most ruling words come from French, such as parliament. However, I'm not sure if I just imagined that I heard that so I would be interested in other's opinions.

Iceland

We have just returned from an amazing holiday in Iceland. It turns out that we are not the new Aunty Peggy after all - we were just heading in the wrong direction, before. We had one day of rain but after that it was sunny and clear (although obviously it didn't get up much above 15 degrees).
It being June it was light all the time. I took this picture from our hotel room at 00.15. The guide books claim it did get dark but I always have to go to the loo in the middle of the night and it was always light enough to read a book outside. However, the downside of that of course is that it must be equally dark in winter. We stayed in a small town in the North which is surrounded by three mountains. Apparently the sun goes down at the beginning of December and it doesn’t manage to rise above the mountains until the end of January.



The hot water is heated geothermally so it all smells a bit sulphur like. It seemed worse in Reykjavik or we just got used to smelling a bit eggy. I always like to think of Trev as Lord of the Farts so he was in his element.
The land is amazing we saw geysers, lava fields, fjords, waterfalls and rifts. I should have paid more attention in geography in school.
The roads were quite exciting and, luckily, fairly empty too. As there are hardly any trees you could see for miles ahead so overtaking was a fairly simple option,which probably pleased the Icelandic drivers who could overtake us. Actually, our rough guide did warn us that Icelandic drivers do literally tear along the dotted line as they drive, but the roads are so empty that it did make sense. Some of the roads are gravel, Trev had a very exciting driving experience avoiding the potholes in them. Our Toyota Yaris did outstandingly, but in hindsight I think we would go for a four wheel drive car. There are some roads that are so rough that you are only allowed to do them in a four wheel drive.
Our accommodation and food was universally excellent. Apart from the night when we arrived in Isafjordur which was about an 8 hour drive from anywhere else only to discover that the hotel hadn't opened for summer. Fortunately they had booked us into the other hotel in the town! It is a VERY expensive place to holiday. There are not many places that make London look like a cheap date! A bottle of wine with dinner would have cost us £35. We had bought some over with us and then Trev went and topped up at a booze shop which was only open one hour a day and you had to access through a flower shop. Then they put the wine in brown paper bags like winos in American films. Talk about guilty pleasures.
The other thing we loved looking at was the bird life. There are snipes and puffins and arctic terns everywhere. The terns are very bold and apparently later on in the year they attack people! There were lots of eider duck who make a very comical noise. We took a boat trip to an island where there is one farm which makes it’s living from eider down. The ducks always nest in the same place every year and will sit on the eggs for 4 weeks not eating but they will go for a drink once a day and that is when the farmer goes to collect the down. They then process is to get rid of the bugs then they go through it by hand to clean it. No wonder eider down is so expensive. The farmer on the island lay on a tea for us involving lovely home made cakes. An Icelandic man on the trip had a slice of each of the four kinds of cake then he went back for seconds – he had 7 slices of cake! Clearly he was laying down his blubber for winter. Luckily he didn’t sink the boat.
Anyway, it is a wonderful place. We would love to go back and I would highly recommend it.Here are some photos if you want to see more you can go to our Picassa page here

Gullfoss


Reykjavik from Hallgrimskirkja


A gravel road over the mountains. The snow hadn't melted properly and there was a howling gale so the picture was taken from the car!


There were plenty of these everywhere. Although they have short legs you MUST call them horses, not ponies. Apparently they have 5 gaits.

Drangajokull Glacier from Isafjordur

Please sponsor me...

So after my abortive attempts to sign up for the Sport Relief 6 mile run (3 times online and twice over the phone and due to 'technical difficulties' had no joy) I have since been thinking about looking for another 'race' of about the same length to give me a bit of a challenge. Then whilst walking Saffy at Coate Water Park this afternoon I found a flyer (as if by fate) in the grass advertising a 10k run for Cancer Research UK in the autumn.

Before I could back out, I came home and signed up for it - argh! So I'm now committed to running 10k on 21st September at Bowood House and it would be wonderful if you could sponsor me to incentivise me to do it, and do it well (i.e. get round in under an hour). I have an online page set up which is this:

http://www.run10ksponsorme.org/katemcnabb

In addition to the obvious charity benefits, I am hoping to further improve my fitness and lose some more weight. The bridesmaid 'diet' I began a year ago was essentially a lifestyle change and has yielded results.; for my best friend's wedding, which is next Saturday, I have managed to lose a total of 24lbs (not quite the 2 stone I was aiming for) and a total of 19 inches from my chest, waist and hips. This 'race' is therefore a good challenge for me to keep up the good work and reach my overall goal of being a size 12 (I believe this is size 8 US or 38 European for our international readers).

So help me get skinny and sponsor me :)

Thanks in advance
Kate

Baaaaa. Humbug

There comes a time in every person's life when they should, of course, grow their own sheep. Sarah has reached a significant birthday this year so I gave her a grow you own sheep kit for her birthday and here is the result.
Apparently she also got a Grow your own toyboy kit but she hasn't sent me a picture of that!

Helen has a new camera

I have got a new camera and so I am showing you some of the pictures I have taken. It has a fantastic zoom lens so I have managed to get some close ups. here we have the rare(ish) Brian gardening man - you can see he is at home in the knee deep grass after having not been at the cottage for a month in the spring.

here are 3 rooks pretending to be the 3 ravens in the folk song and looking surprisingly decorative against the sky


This is a ceanothus flower from the garden


This is Mrs Whinchat who we saw when we were out for a walk. She is about the size of a sparrow, and she was sitting on a branch looking decorative. However as is usually the way with birds, here we have Mr Whinchat who looks more decorative. He is really very pretty though. Last summer when we were out walking we saw a whole family - Mr, Mrs and 3 young Whinchats all sitting on the fence chatting to each other. I think they are pretty common round Pembrokeshire.

What a nutter

I just saw these photos in the Guardian newspaper. Lordy Lordy, it takes all sorts.
Check this out!

Doggy old age

Gromit our beloved Cavvy will be 12 in a few weeks time and he is very creaky now. He is not tremendously old for a dog but he is a thoroughbread and if you look at his family tree the same individuals do appear more than once. I've worked in a genetic research institute for long enough to know that this probably isn't good. One of his symptons cause his back legs to collapse sometimes making him land in his jobbie while on the job - most undignified. However he is not in pain and he is very keen on the cod liver oil on a little piece of bread that the vet recommended (served with a little balsamic vinegar, perhaps?)
As a result of this he seems to be able to get himself into trouble but hasn't got the flexibilty to get himself out. Last week I came into the kitchen and found that he had managed to get his neck through the neck piece of an pinafore apron that was flung over the chair. He was just sitting there waiting to be rescued. Then yesterday, Trev gave him the large bag that his biscuits come in which still had a few crumbs in it. Trev left the room for a couple of minutes and when he came back the dog was sitting there with the bag entirely covering his head! It is worth noting that Trev is a much better person than me, as I would have immediately rushed for a camera. However Trev thought he might be suffocating and rescued him.
Anyway, I wouldn't feel too sorry for the dog. He managed to eat an entire packet of cheddar and black pepper flatbreads that I had left on a side table in the length of time it took me to have a shower last Sunday so he can be pretty nifty if he wants.

Newport Pagnell

So this evening I find myself in Newport Pagnell. This is a situation entirely of my own making as I selected the Harben House Hotel in Newport Pagnell as a venue for a work event tomorrow....chosen principally for its transport links I'd not had the pleasure of visiting here before today, and some how I don't think I'll be back after tomorrow. Hotel is firstly (and weirdly) located in the middle of a housing estate and is also a very odd mixture of the new (reception and bar) and retro 60s/70s (bedroom) interior design which reminds me very strongly of my halls of residence at university.

Upon arrival I asked if I could take some delegate packs up to the conference room as I'd lugged them in from my car with me. The nice receptionist said 'Of course, Chris will help you with those, he's our night security.' Is it wrong I expected a big burly dude to come out and lift my heavy load with one hand? Instead a little Indian chap came out and proceeded to wheeze all the way around the building and up the stairs struggling under the weight of all my event stuff! Felt v.guilty!

So now having had a serioius guilt trip and a tasteless tuna sandwich but a nice glass of red, I'm off to bed to worry about my presentation tomorrow. Good night from Newport Pagnell :)
Love Kate xxxx

Our bluebells are better than yours

Alice and I went for a walk in the new forest on bank holiday monday, and saw far superior blue bells to those paltry essex examples that have been shown here- see below

It was a somewhat muddy journey, as our shoes bore testament to.

Along the way we saw a thousand year old church, with a thousand year old tree....

All in all, a rather beautiful place...

Mid-afternoon post

Ah, much better when sober.
Here is a picture of sarah and her 30th birthday cake:

Sarah and Boo sharing a joke
Andy's speech
And here is Alice (Kierans Fiance - and maybe that isn't the right spelling and punctuation)
and Brian at the Bristish Museum Courtyard restaurant

And Boo and Linda at the same venue
Now for the more exciting stuff - the Doctor Who exhibition that we went to after lunch. We being Martins plus Alice.

Look, K9 and Boo

Alice meets the Doctor by a phone box (shame about his face - the projection got washed oout by the flash I guess)
Don't blink!
The face of Bo (yes Bo, not Boo.............)
Daleks!
And now Cybermen - but the best picture is next

Yes, it is Kieran and he is inside the Tardis - woo!!
That's it for now. We've been to the Botanics today, had lunch in Cambridge, bought Asparagus, strawberries and Cherries, so slumming it again eh?

Paintballing and partying

As Boo has (rightly) commented we've all been a bit slack on the posting front recently, I thought I'd just pop up some photos from my friends' 30th birthday celebrations on Saturday. For some reason best known to themselves, my friends Lyndsey and Amy decided to go paintballing to celebrate their 30th birthdays. This is an activity I'd already participated in back in January and frankly was not an experience I was particularly eager to repeat. However, there was no way I was going to wriggle my way out of it, so here are a couple of photos of me and my friends getting ready to go and shoot each other with little purple pellets that actually really, really hurt when they hit you - wound here being illustrated by my friend Giles' hand after taking a shot at close range :(

Here's also one of me and my friend Jo at the party in the evening looking marginally more glam than we did earlier in the day. You can also see my new hair colour too which mum thinks is too dark but I actually quite like :)

Love Kate xxxx

Late night post

Hi,

Probably shouldn't post after 4.5 glasses of wine, but hey, let's live a little. Last night, we went to Sarah's 30th. Great time, thank you Andy, Phyll and Sarah, and Greg, who did a great job handing out drinks vouchers. It was a casino night, but as we had to drive back, we couldn't stay and win, so I lost all the fun money at black jack. Boo was brilliantly winning on roulette but foolishly gave me her chips and went socialising.....

Pictures tomorrow when I'm sober and have resized them - just started and realised 2MB+ files should not be uploaded!

Had lunch with Heleen, Brian, Linda, Kieran and Alice in the British Museum today. Then went to the Dr Who exhibition. Pictures tomorrow - including Kieran in the Tardis! And Cybermen and Daleks!

How can you wait? It is so exciting. Gotta go now.

Trevor

Bluebells 2008

It is that time of year again, so we went for our annual bluebell walk near Rickling Green. Fabulous as usual. Just one picture this time.

Posting for Mike

While in Ottawa yesterday I had half an hour loose so went for a walk on Capital Hill. Next to the house of parliament I spotted this. Focus on the Little Furry Object(LFO), not the blue anorak. LFO claimed to be the member of parliament for kicking horse pass, but I think he (or she, the voice was kind of neutral) was actually a Mountie in disguise to protect Ottawa against terrorist attacks. This suspicion was further supported by the local police nearby who claimed that the LFO who clearly was disguised as a groundhog, was in fact a gopher, very suspicious, unless, of course they were actually CIA agents from the US disguised as Ottawa Police, the CIA would undoubtedly think that Gophers and Grounhogs are both weapons of mass destruction and be unable to tell the difference between the two.

Anyway at last report, Parliament is still safe.

Mike

Names

Nobody is posting any more and I am really getting a bit perturbed by seeing Tom’s nether regions every time I check the blog.
So, just to prove that everyone’s lives our probably more interesting than mine. Here is my thoughts on names.
Cataloguing and ordering papers at work is often brightened up by laughing at people’s names. One of my favourites is Fartmann!
However recently I have been ordering papers on a specific somatic mutation. One prolific author is Mr Barstard another prolific author is Mr Randi.
Surely one day they must do a paper together. What joy that would bring to my life!

Deck chairs

Just to let you know that the family love of deck chairs is not over. While London was experiencing snow last weekend we were sitting on Deck chairs in the French Alps with Matt and Sue. Very nice time we had too.
Here is a picture of Tom, their airdale displaying dogly dignity. Really, Tom, put it away, you're not David Beckham!

Following on...

....from the conference-related story below, I was wondering if anyone has ever been to a conference or dinner where they had really excellent pre/during/after dinner entertainment, and if so, what was it? I find sorting this out even harder than keeping people awake after lunch (although that can be a challenge all day when talking about training software).

At the first conference I did two years ago we had a wine tasting challenge which was fantastic (www.tasteofthevine.co.uk) but last year we had a speaker who was just dreadful (so I won't include his website link). This year the favoured suggestion amongst the guys here is a casino night but I'm not that sold. Our audience are training/HR bods and range from graduates right through to those knocking on the door of retirement and is almost a 50/50 split male to female.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received :)
Love Kate xxxx

Graveyard spot

On Monday I went to a seminar at the British Library. Once again it proved to me that they keep the most boring speakers for after lunch when everybody is sleepy. Is there some kind of sweepstake among conference organisers to see how many people they can send to the land of nod?
Anyway, this time they excelled themselves. The bloke giving the talk was a substitute and he was clearly terrified! He was quietly spoken and had a strong Lancashire accent and he gabbled. He was incomprehensible. I tried to listen to him but after 5 minutes and I could feel me eyelids growing heavy so I decided to write a letter on the complimentary pad of A4 British Library paper they had given me.
When I looked round after 10 minutes or so there must have been at least 5 people asleep. There were others reading the brochures that had come with their welcome pack. Others were tapping away on their laptops - I bet they were playing spider solitaire. At least the speaker didn't notice as he never took his eyes from his notes or the screen. But it was toe curlingly awful. At the end of his talk the chairman who could obviously see everyone's inattention said: "Well, thank you, it's always difficult to deliver somebody else's talk"
The two guys in front of me were American and this speech (incomprehensible to everyone) had been proceeded by a talk by a Glaswegian! The last speaker before tea was an American and you could see them almost crying with relief!
Still, a trip to London is better than proper work. I got a lovely lunch and when I should have been networking at the lunch break I went for a little walk around the British Library and visited their lovely shop.