Filed under: Uncategorized
Ok this blog has been sadly neglected for many months, but I’ll feeling more like correcting that than I have in a while so here goes….
For the last few months life has seemed either too busy or too slow to write about. Too much to do rather than write and then nothing to write about. But of course that isn’t true.
Since August I’ve been to Ireland, France, Germany and even back to NZ, I’ve joined a footy team again (yay) and broken my hand (boo), sat three exams, been to a wedding, taken many baths and spent entire weekends doing nothing but Warcraft. Sounds like a lot when you put it like that.
The latest adventure on the list was the trip to NZ for Jen’s wedding. My sister is at last happily married and it was a lovely day (pics here). A super 2 weeks in NZ and off work seems to have kick started my brain from its winter slumber and I’m waking up again.
So no promises to keep this very updated but it is a start. Even if its a fair bet that most of my blogs will involve footy, WOW and my very new and very small garden. (Huzzah for tomatos which actually have some taste!)
Filed under: London
Following the torrents of bad weather through June and July, summer finally arrived with a vengeance this weekend. After sweating through 27 degree heat yesterday we saw the forecast for today was over 30! So I forced James out of the house and off to the traditional seaside home for Londoners – Brighton.
Seemed like everyone else in London had the same idea so the train was packed this morning. So much so that James had a chance to do a little first aiding as someone fainted in the heat. Typically though, after shouting frantically for a first aider they then ignored everything he said so it was with relief we were finally released from the sweltering carriage.
First stop was the ‘Royal Pavilion‘ built for the playboy Prince Regent who was later George the IV. Its a fantasy of Indian architecture which was all the rage when the villa was being rebuilt. An odd sight in the midst of the city, and one can see why it wasn’t a favorite of the conservative Queen Victoria. She sold it to the town in 1850. James took a few photos of the exterior (the interior was £8 entry and the beach was beckoning.)
After a meander along the pier – taking in the ride which inspired the Beatles hit ‘Helter Skelter‘ we made camp in the shade of the ruined ‘West Pier‘ for swimming. It was fantastic to be in the water again and beach filled up ridiculously quickly. The heat sent us back into the town for a huge lunch at a nice wee Italian before sweltering on the train back to London to investigate my sunburn (whoops).
Filed under: Uncategorized
Just came across a story of a flight in NZ delayed so the Pilots could get their takeaways. Only in NZ would the plane load of passangers sit on a plane while the pilot went inside to pick up his fish and chips. Only in NZ would they know not to get between a man and his Watties sauce.
More here.
Filed under: London
The exhibition of the Heart is on at the Wellcome collection here in London. An eccentric millionaire, who James hopes one day to emulate, collected thousands of medical curios and some of Sir Henry Wellcome’s collections are on permanent display here in the Galleries on Euston Road.
Last Sunday, James and I took a break from the thunderstorms of the current English summer to have a nose. And it was well worth the look. The ‘Heart’ exhibition was a collection of all sorts of things, brought together as they had something to do with that organ. From early Greek teachings that the heart and lungs were separate, to a film about open heart surgery (I didn’t manage that one for too long.)
There were Arabic and chinese teachings from the dark ages in the same room as films of MRI scans showing a healthy and diseased heart beating away. It wasn’t all about teaching though. This guy had managed to collect an original Aztec knife and alter used for their human sacrifices. These were displayed opposite a 1960′s newsreel about the first heart transplant and the South African doctor – oddly it fitted.
Aside from the operation video, set to bloody ranting of some American evangelist, the other other object to give me a turn was also fascinatingly grotesque. They were two large tables from northern Italy circa 15th century. The veins of an unnamed person had been painstakingly extracted and laid out on the table in position before being varnished down. That these men had done this to further their understanding at a time when the all-powerful church condemned dissection was admirable, the result was fascinating and disturbing all at once.
Upstairs, the random collection continued, from torture masks and chairs to models used to teach early obstetrics. There were shoes for people with bound feet next to scarifying kits and Victorian snuff boxes hiding erotic scenes.
An odd and fascinating collecting, well worth a look on these damp, Sunday afternoons.
Filed under: Uncategorized
James has rediscovered the joys of World of Warcraft and after only a few weeks hard grafting with his new Mage character is now a level 45. This has taken quite a few evenings and one might think I’ve been using my time wisely writing and blogging. But Sean Bean has been on the box. UKTV History have been doing re-runs of the 1990′s series of ‘Sharpe‘ and frankly what else is a girl to do?
Still its coming to an end just in time for the second series of ‘Rome‘, the joint effort between HBO and the BBC. It is quite fantastic, American money thrown behind a british script and actors make for ripping viewing. Well worth watching. The first series leads up the the assassination of Julius Caeser and this next covers the power struggle following.
It is just as well the viewing has been good as the weather certainly hasn’t been. One month into summer and we are struggling to get over 20 degrees. The UK has had the wettest June on record with thousands forced from their homes up north. London has missed most of it but at the moment the Wimbledon Tennis Open is on so the weather has truly packed up. On Tuesday this week a freak thunderstorm flooded main roads and the hail was banked up ankle deep. I’ve been rained on every day this week – Ah a British summer. (James’ photo of the hail from our flat).
Still finish on a laugh as they say and I’ve just come across this in the Harpers Wine and Spirit magazine. A new series of Manga comics devoted to the subject of fine wine is proving popular in Japan. Kami no Shizuku (‘The Drops of God’) had this tasting note:
“The aroma is like a rock concert, with notes of butterflies dancing over a pond and an aftertaste of Jesus Christ and his disciples.”
Damn I’d love to try that wine.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Its been something I’ve been meaning to do for donkeys years, every one has ‘learn a language’ on their ‘to do at some point’ list. My language to learn is French. I’ve had a notion it would be a handy language to get a grip on ever since I started working in wineries.
I did make several sputtering starts at it, but now things are getting more serious. Working on the right side of the world has made a big difference as has working in a trade where it’s absence is sorely missed. Our Burgundy contacts speak, unsurprisingly, French and while some have excellent English some have the same grasp on English as I currently do on French.
Having successfully negotiated a weekend in Paris last year when I managed to buy food, tourist tickets etc. I thought I’d made a great start. But thats all it was, a start. The trip to our afore-mentioned Burgundy suppliers at the end of the year proved that getting food was about all I could do. Conversation while eating the food was a different matter all together.
So after a winter of listening to French tapes, I can speak and understand at a basic level. But reading – now that is something else. The ‘Teach yourself Beginner’s French’ grammar book from the local library is going some way to help. Unfortunately, my grasp on grammar itself is rather shaky. The partitive article, the conditional perfect – these are terms I know I learnt once upon a time and promptly forgot them after the end of year exam.
Learning them again in a different language is challenging, especially with the French having gender nouns – the wine is male while the jam is female. But its actually quite fun. And hopefully come the trip again I’ll be able to do more than smile and nod……
Filed under: Uncategorized
Well thanks to the free trial on offer after their ‘Burning Crusades’ release, I’ve wasted most of my weekend playing World of Warcraft (WOW) again. Impressively my character was still on their system. They say they keep them for at least six months, but as it has been a year since my subscription lapsed I was expecting to have to start all over again.
So I’ve spent a very geeky weekend getting my gnome up to a level 37. My aim is to get up to a point where James and I can play together (he’s lvl 43). Its addictive and takes up a huge amount of time – but hey its fun. As London is finishing off on the warmest April in over 300 years and heading towards what is likely to be the warmest summer on record, I may just have to stay cool by drinking Pimms and playing Warcraft.
Ah what a geeks life. I’d stay to chat but monster killing time is ‘a wasting….
Today I was a happy cyclist. My rides to work and back felt the safest and fastest yet. This is because I rode in the middle of the road and made drivers think about me. The fact I was there and made myself an issue on the road meant they had to allow for me as they drove.
Up till now I’ve been tucked away as far to the side as I could. I thought this ‘Don’t mind me I’m not really here’ attitude when biking would make me safer. But today drivers had to account for me on the road and I forced them to make way. It made for a much more enjoyable ride as drivers waited behind me until they could pass. Most of them did at a much slower pace and giving me more room than they did when I was tucked away at the side.
Why the change of attitude? Its all come out after an study was leaked from TFL (Transport for London) about the risks faced by cyclists and female cyclists specifically. It was shown to me by a fellow, though far more experienced, London cyclist with whom the discussion about safety on the road has been on-going.
The report was on the e-zine for bike couriers – ‘Moving Target‘ – before being picked up by the Times. For any cyclists and drivers, indeed every road user out there, its worth a read. There was an interesting interview with a bike courier and a member of the TFL on Radio 4 which unfortunately has gone now. It was this interview that changed my mind.
Scarily, the report suggested that those who waited patiently in the designated cycling lanes at the lights were more likely to be killed. Those cycling lanes, where the cyclist wobbles and plods their way up the left hand side of traffic, trying to avoid drains, side mirrors and careless smokers thrusting their cigarettes out the windows, are known to the professionals of Moving Target as ‘Suicide Zones’. Now there’s an attractive name.
Women cyclists were being killed by lorries turning on top of them at the lights, and it was revealed that unless there is an independent witness to the crash the police will not prosecute. They still might not even if there is one. Even more scary, if a lorry driver turned on top of me, there was an independent witness, the police did prosecute and they won a conviction, that lorry driver would face nothing worse than a fine and a few points on the license. A slap on the wrist for taking a life?
So all this has sparked the new, assertive me. Watch out for me driver, I’m not hiding in the ‘suicide zone’ any more.
Filed under: London
Yes another birthday to add on to an ever increasing number. James and I have been celebrating by eating copious amounts of chocolate. Apparently the Montezuma shop close to James work had a sale on Friday and I am certainly not complaining. Beautiful, if normally expensive, dark chocolate.
So on a warm day in London – not hot but decidedly warm for those doing the marathon – we’re off to see the Blue Man group. Not quite sure what to expect, when booking tickets I decided not to go for the really cheap seats at the front – apparently you get splattered with paint from the stage and ponchos are provided… Should be good.
You may notice this hasn’t been updated for quite sometime. March turned out to be a very hectic month. Filled with sleet and sun and holidays and stress. I claim to still be relaxing after it, but really I’m just lazy and like reading books in the sunshine on a Sunday. Can you blame me…?
Filed under: Holidays
With James needing to take some holiday before the end of March, we each took a week off work to see what mischief we could get up to. The plan for a tour of the battlefields of northern France was out, partly because we’d need to hire a car but mostly because neither of us could work up the energy to look into and book it.
Thus the decision to holiday on English soil where we could be sure of a hot cup-pa and a scone (and a reassuring que to get them) where ever we went. York beckoned as a place I had vague memories of 20 years previously and with a Gothic minster and mediaeval wall to meander along James was in. So despite the maps in London showing everything north of the M25 marked with ‘Ye North – ere be dragons’ we plodded up on a train for two nights in the ancient town.
Arriving at mid-day and dumping the bags in a nice wee B&B 5 mins walk from the Minster, the first stop for the afternoon was a meander round the National Rail Museum. This was something James had really been looking forward to and set about inspecting engines and taking photos with great enthusiasm. The first two sheds with exhibits on the ‘Stephenson Rocket‘, the royal cars and little details like the Victorian picnic baskets was quite a treat. While it was amusing to watch James studying the engines with all the enthusiasm of the 5 year olds beside him, it was a little worrying to see the inner anorak coming out.
I’ll confess though by the time we were half way through the third shed full of engines I was lagging behind and dreaming of a scone. James took the hint when my comment ‘What’s around this corner? Oh another train’ hit home. So we headed out in to the the bright sunshine for a tour of the city walls. Its a very nice walk round the existing 3km of the mediaeval walls with views of the old town centre and across to the Minster. They are well preserved all the way along, with some of the ‘bars’ (In Yorkshire gates are called ‘bars’ and the streets are called ‘gates’) still showing damage from the siege by the parliamentarians in the civil war.
A meander round the Museum Gardens turned up something we had been advised to seek out by the friendly B&B owners. Some quite well excavated remains of the city walls dating through Mediaeval and Norman times down to the Roman fort. The later builders had built on top of the Roman fortifications and had as such preserved them quite well. The excavations had also turned up several old Roman coffins which were strewn around the grass. The gardens also boasted the ruins of the Abbey of St Mary’s, built at roughly the same time as the Minster, but with a bigger footprint.
We woke up early the next day to a very promising blue sky and with a ‘full Yorkshire’ breakfast under our belts set off to ‘do’ the Minster, anticipating some very fine views from the Tower. Unfortunately they were closed till 2pm for something called the ‘Installation of the Chancellor of York University’. Dona will be proud of her son, who complained very loudly of the steps of one of the most magnificent Cathedrals in the world – ‘Damn, it looks like their god-bothering’. He was too annoyed to see the looks on the faces of the people being ushered inside but it was a treat I assure you.
Disappointed, but determined to make the best of it we went straight round to the House of the Treasurer of the Minster for a good look through that – a second prize if you will. They were closed for refurbishment. By this time we were both getting a little annoyed – there was nothing about the closures on any notice boards the previous evening while we were snooping round like good tourists photographing everything.
So we went to the Information Centre to find if there was a decent way to get out on the moors and see some of this British countryside we hear so much about. The ‘Moor bus’ service round the moors and the trains to get you there were seasonal and started up in April. While the local bus could get us to the Moors it would just take about 2 hours each way, the next bus was in an hours time and the last bus back was at 5. The prospect of a 4 hour round trip to spend 3 hours in a wee village didn’t appeal so we were back out on the street.
Despite the failure of Plans A, B and C for the morning, we struck out across town for Plan D – a tour and tasting round York Brewery. Something which would definitely make the morning a little brighter and set us up for the afternoon. But when we got there the brewery was (can you see where this is going yet)…. yes it too was closed. It didn’t open till noon, still an hour away. Unbelievably we were in York at 11am on a weekday morning and everything was closed.
An aimless, disgruntled and cold meander round the centre found us standing next to the Merchant Adventurers Hall, a fine mediaeval building which was mercifully open. The hall itself was quite a sight, with a huge oak beamed roof and a floor which bowed in the centre like a youth hostel bed. So James got some decent photos in while I meandered round with an audio guide. It was an intriguing visit and it was nice to have found something open.
Half past one found us on the steps on the Minster once again, this time a huge Italian lunch inside but sadly an afternoon that was clouding over. There was still confusion as they were packing up from the morning service while setting up another one and for a moment it looked as though they’d be closed all day. We were let in free of charge however which was a bonus after our disappointment and while the Tower was closed the Under-croft was open for the usual fee.
With two huge meals already for the day, a big dinner was out of the question, so we went to a local iconic tea room called ‘Betty’s‘. Built in the 1920′s, it had art deco decor, staff dressed in suits and blazers, a proper tea trolley and a live pianist. Definitely the place to go in York for afternoon tea or a light meal. We polished off the Stem Ginger and toffee cake and the banana and toffee pancake between us and can vouch for both.
This morning beckoned bright again, so we set off to explore Clifford’s tower toward the south of the city centre. This is a Norman stone tower built on the site of one of William the Conquerers wooden castles built after the ‘harrying of the North.’ The old tower built on the even older mound makes for a very fetching landmark, especially at the moment with the mound covered in spring daffodils. Thwarted yesterday in our attempt to get nice shots of York from the top of the Minster tower we managed to take a few from here.
A nose around the Roman bath museum proved to be an interesting look at the remains of the legionary baths which were found under a pub in the 1930′s. While nothing on the scale of the ruins found up in Chester on Hadrians wall, the museum was an interesting wee distraction in the rather comercialised area of the centre.
But after this, we found ourselves again with several hours to kill before our train and out of options with what to do next. A meander past the Minster to see if the Tower was open proved fruitless as it was closed again, this time for the day. The Castle Museum and the York Museum were both advertising exhibitions ‘for the entire family’ and having shared our visits to the Minster, the walls and the Railway Museum with school groups this didn’t appeal.
After killing an hour or so in the art gallery I suggested the Railway Museum again out of guilt for pulling James away early before. This time round the break from engines had done me good and we spent interesting second visit inspecting the huge cutaway locomotive displaying how steam engines work and how the mail coaches of the ’30s collected and dispatched mail without stopping.
It is a little worrying how small a city of 300,000 was after living in London for a year. We seemed to constantly be looking for something to do with tours that didn’t open till after mid-day and some pubs that closed the kitchens at 7.30 sharp. But it was a very nice, relaxing break for two days and while we will be back to check out the Minsters tower, we will probably do so on a shorter visit.
