Let the Train take the Strain

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Off to Carlisle in the morning, at least this will be on the train most of the way.  This last week has been a bit of a strain.  One day in Doncaster, the next day in Bournemouth, and then back to Doncaster the day after.  Putting a few miles on the old Citroen, hopefully it will see my working days out.

Also had sleepless nights this week.  The A41 was closed for road resurfacing in Waddesdon overnight for the last week.  The sound of silence was a tad disturbing, lay awake at night wondering when the next vehicle would come by, they never came, so couldn’t get to sleep.

I did a little bit of work on the Blasdale website this weekend.  Upgraded to a  version 3.6 of WordPress, and a new version of Nextgen Gallery, 2.0.  Nextgen 2.0 has a new way to implement galleries, and a really quite nifty gallery display which works on mobile phones with the swipe action.  Love it.

No new pictures, but hope to get the Cambridge Society visit to the Malverns online this week.

Larder Envy

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IMG_2824Several months ago, Rosemary had a serious case of larder envy (seems to affect ladies of a certain age) after seeing a friend’s. She came home and sighed at her larder shelves built of fronts of old wardrobes, bits of tongue and grooved, brick supports and even spare end pieces from new kitchen. She wrote a to-do list item and began her search.

She was triumphant and now has the larder of her dreams complete with three roll-out wooden boxes, one of which is a snazzy two drawer vegetable rack. The larder is under the kitchen stairs and the shelves have been designed so you can stand right inside and hence see everything and reach into the full depth.

IMG_2825Designer and maker, in oiled ash, was Mark Williamson of Mark Williamson Furniture.

She’s crossed the “larder shelves” item off her to-do list.

But shelves are an addiction…….

Glastonbury Festival 2013

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Well I made Glastonbury 2013, my sixth Glastonbury, the last four all in a row, This time I arrived on Wednesday evening, driving up from Bournemouth where I had been working. Arrived at 7 to a nice sunny evening, pitched my tent in a quiet spot and met up with Ed for a few pints.

Weather wise it rained on Thursday evening and most of the night, and cleared up for a lovely festival weekend.

Bands I saw all the head lines on the Pyramid stage, Arctic Monkeys, Rolling Stones and Mumford and Sons. Other bands to remember were Nick Cave, and Vampire Weekend. The rest of the weekend was a bit of a haze.

 

Bournemouth, sand, sea and Thai

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2013-06-18 20.03.01Warm evening, the pub was noisy as I walked past it. The raucous conversation, normally held inside, was now outside disturbing those quietly walking by. Down at the beach, it was a clear view to the west, but looking east towards the Isle of Wight you could see mist around the island, rising up from the sea. Yes you can see it, but the picture from the phone is a bit on the crap side. Thunderstorms predicted for tonight.

2013-06-18 20.05.15The evening meal was at a Thai restaurant called Tiien. Smart, seems part of a posh hotel, quite busy. I started with soup, usual Tom Yam something, with prawns. I asked for mine to be hot, and it came hot, very spicy hot. It brought tears to my eyes as I drank. Great stuff. Followed on with a vegetable stir fry. Yes, you read that correctly, no meat, vegetables.

Yes the Tiien Thai restaurant in Bournemouth gets a Blasdale star.

Bournemouth holiday by the sea

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2013-06-17 20.45.26Working in Bournemouth this week, so it’s a holiday by the sea. Raining on the drive down, but the sun came out to play just before sunset. Staying in the Durley Dean Hotel, not so bad, and they don’t stint on the size of the towels.

Went out to eat and had a reasonable tandoori chicken and nan bread at the Indian Cuisine. The Nan was a plain one, not soggy, not dry, but fluffy.

I followed that up with a beer at The Hop. Only real ale on was Doombar from Sharp Brewery in Cornwall. Good pint, but disappointing pub.

Pictures have been added for the Kingswood 2013 BBQ in the village circle

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The second Bank Holiday in May treated us to so some nice weather. The tug of war has been delayed to August, so instead a BBQ was organised in the circle. Well attended and fun with the usual suspects, drinking and feasting.

 

Has Spring arrived, a walk around Wotton Underwood.

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I seem to have failed in blogging. Maybe it’s the wet weather, or recently the unseasonable cold weather. Today the sun has shone, the wind has abated, and it was almost reasonable for a walk, though still on the cold side (made double figures at 11 Celsius).

So we did go for a walk, using our newly acquired passes that allow as to walk around the private grounds and lakes at Wotton Underwood. We had a good couple of hours ramble around The Lake, spotting birds as we went. Yes it has the very original name. No, we did not bump into Tone and Cheri, or their armed police guards. Identifications of birds will be placed in the gallery in due course. Yes I did identify the Swan!

Mystic Seaport

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Saturday managed to get the chance for a short drip down to the coat of CT.  We  (that’s me and Ian R) went to Mystic Seaport.  The drive was through much woodland that had turned to magnificent shades of orange, red and yellow.

Mystic Seaport is an old port which constructed wooden whaling and fishing boats.  They are in the process of renovating an 1841 wooden whaleship the Charles W. Morgan  Alas we failed to visit the reconstruction yard.  Time being short.

 

Joseph Conrad Mystic SeaportJoseph Conrad Mystic Seaport2012-10-20 17.08.44L.A. Dunton New England Fishing schoonerL.A. Dunton New England Fishing schooner

The Earth moved for me on Tuesday

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I nearly forgot this.  I was sitting in my room at the hotel Tuesday evening, working at my desk, when I noticed the table moving and shaking a bit, and slight vibration in the floor.  Went on for several seconds.  Yes it was an earth quake, and I now have confirmation in a news paper article.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/16/nation/la-na-nn-earthquake-rattles-new-england-20121016

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake likened to an off-balance washing machine shook New England as far south as Connecticut on Tuesday evening. No damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The earthquake occurred at 7:12 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was four miles from Hollis Center, which is about 20 miles west of the state’s largest city, Portland.   Initially, the USGS put the magnitude at 4.6, but later downgraded it to 4.0.

Either way, New England is not used to the earth shaking.