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.