Went to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Warwickshire.? Mixed day, with some showers, and still very cold for the time of year.? No snow showers though.? Had the usual excellent lunch, with a lovely tender and well-cooked leg of lamb.? We had a lovely walk down the lane, viewing the flora in the lane banks, and commenting on the expense the council had gone to in placing gates and bridges on the ill used foot paths.? Back to the house for a cup of tea.
Yearly Archives: 2006
First Cut
Sunday, back at home, so the lawn was cut for the first time this year. Yes life is so exciting. Evening we went around to John and Carol for an excellent supper, and came away with a camera bag for our up coming holiday. I think this caused John much amusement with my previous opinions on camera bags. Any way this was very kind of John and Carol.
Hundred House, Wales
For the long weekend we decided (well Steve did ) to go to Wales, staying at the camp site where he had learnt to para-glide. Fforest Fields, Hundred House in Mid Wales. Arrived there at around 10.00 on Friday. First person I saw was Katie, the owner, and she remembered me, it must be over 5 years since I last visited the site. She said she had very recently looking at my Glastonbury pictures from the 20th Century. Such a welcome back, the site was definitely a lot busier than a few years ago.
Alas the group were not turning up until Sunday. So a visit to Builth Welles for some steak and wine, at which stage we realised we had brought virtually nothing with us for camping. Yes we had matches, but we did not have a corkscrew, one knife and a few plastic plates. Back at the site, we went for a walk, and then to the pub for a quick half pint of beer, (literally), because Steve was due to meet Will on Treman. A long slog up the hill, (that glider gets heavier with advancing age) and I made it to the top. No Will, he had long gone on to Elan valley. A few minutes rest in the peace and quiet, on with the helmet and some ground handling.
I can tell you the ground handling was so nice and easy, compared with trying it back at home in our field. The wind was so smooth; the glider flew above my head with so little input. I even managed without thinking the correct reverse hand launch. Alas no one was around, so I decided on caution, a simple top to bottom for my first flight in over two years. Also the wind was not on the hill, so I was expecting the dynamic lift to be poor. I should have realised the thermals were there instead, looking down the hill, in that cold air, but warm sun, you could see the shimmering air.
A dream slow launch of the hill took me straight into lift, but my flight plan was for a top to bottom. so straight through this broad lift , over the farm, a 360 and then into land. Instantly surrounded by 6 under 6 children who wanted to see the paraglider, and the young farmer, who I presume was taking over from his father. Good news.
Back at the campsite, we lit up the disposable BBQ, cooked our steak and went to bed. It was still pretty cold during the night, so lots of cuddling to keep warm.
Next day we had Welsh bacon and bread for breakfast. Realised we had been camping next to Vern and Lynda, whom I had flown with in Nice. They now had an offspring, and stopped flying. Later in the day Mark arrived, as did a few more Welsh Borders members. The weather though was not conducive to flying and we left to go home.
Norwich, Norfolk
Turns out Graham has never been to Norfolk, so to cries of Very flat, Norfolk we set out with Selina and Graham for a week-end at Mike & Anns’ in Norwich. Could we disprove the Coward quote? Hedgerows all still looked very bleak, but a scattering of white (presumably blackthorn) on some bushes, so a hope of spring.
Arrived mid-morning in time for coffee at Unthank Road and a look around at the luxuriant orchid and other plants in their conservatory before setting off firstly to view Beccles. The river and sailing club at Beccles appeared largely unchanged; some very nice cruisers but some frightful motorboats, too. R had queried why an A for Amateur in Beccles Amateur Sailing Club, but that was told it was to be to do with the professionals on other parts of the river. The club’s 100th anniversary is due next year and all old members are invited back for regatta type celebrations. Lunch at Prezzo, an Italian restaurant in an ex-cinema in Beccles, very well designed with very interesting rustic bookcases. Came back past Waterloo and so diverted into the hamlet to admired Steve’s 25 year old plus car porch which is still standing. Admired Hassingham & Brundall Park railway stations which S had known in his long gone youth; much changed at H, no buildings! We used Reedham Ferry, a lovely chain link ferry over the Yare, with a hydraulic rise and fall system on its gates. Still run by the Archer family. We found a lamppost made out of chain links and wondered whether that was the old main chain or one used to raise and lower the gates. Watched a yacht come up to the railway bridge in Reedham itself. It had to wait until a train had gone over the bridge and then went through after the bridge had swung out of the way.
A leisurely & enjoyable lamb evening meal before bed.
Weather forecast not very promising but we were off after breakfast to visit a proper broad, Salhouse, where we could watch both river and broads traffic and a lovely selection of lovely ducks. Moss dog enjoyed racing around and having people to herd. We tried for lunch at Hickling broad, but just had a drink in the end. Watched house-martin/swallows chasing over the water, so another spring sound. We decided a visit to the coast was a must and raced past the wind turbines to bracing Winterton. Steve, naturally, managed to get wet trousers in the sea.
Back to Unthank for a lovely early supper of pork loin and salad. Drove back through sleety snow type weather in Woburn which had settled in the cars and grass to drop S&G at their house and then back home.
Recorders Day, Green Park, Aston Clinton
Recorders Day, Green Park, Aston Clinton, Saturday 1 April 2006
We went along to this as members of the now defunct Bucks County Council Ponds, Pools & Puddles project. Unfortunately the main protagonist, Martin Harvey (of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Environmental Records Centre (BMERC)), was very ill with flu, but others from BCC stepped bravely and ably into his chair.
Steve attended two sessions, and R one, on using a digital camera to record wildlife. Steve was delighted to hear both people had SLR cameras, just like him. Apparently it completely justifies his new Canon purchase and the extension rings he “had” to have. One piece of very good advice was to read the camera’s instruction book thoroughly, which he did when he got back home and found out quite a few things.
R heard a lecture on wildlife recording in general – interesting points, for example so few recordings of rabbits have been done in Bucks they look like an endangered species! Is the Great Crested newt really endangered, we wondered? Why do we always record the unusual and ignore the commonplace? We also heard a lecture on being a species champion (for a moth).
Leaving was slightly complicated by the car’s hand brake having got stuck, but a few strategic thumps and we were away. Local rabbits posing for counting and recording purposes when we got home; red kite hiding.
A very inspiring day attended by representatives of many organizations and groups specializing in local natural history or different classes of fauna (eg bat groups) and flora (eg fungi). We recognized a few faces. An excellent buffet lunch was had, too. Specialist bookshop https://www.pemberleybooks.com/ held a display. To share wildlife news, discussion and identification tips in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes join the BMERC egroup. Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BMERC/
and click on “Join this group”.
Birthday meal
Today was Rosemarys’ birthday, so we decided to have a meal at Carluccio’s in Bicster village. Carol and John Curd came along to comiserate with Rosemary and I.
I think we had the following:
NIBBLES
SAVOURY BREAD TIN Our own focaccia, grissini, Ligurian ciappe and sliced breads served with either butter or extra virgin olive oil.
BOWL OF OLIVES
STARTERS
ANTIPASTO DI SALUMI (Steve) Speciality cured meats including fennel salami, spinata romana and our Milano salami served with caper berries.
SICILIAN ARANCINI DI RISO (Rosemary) 2 crispy deep fried rice balls. One filled with melting mozzarella and one with meat ragù. Served with pepolata; red pepper sauce.
MOZZARELLA ISCHITANA (John & Carol) Mozzarella and roasted red an yellow peppers and tomatoes with basil and extra virgin oil.
MAINS
OSSOBUCO ALLA MILANESE (John, Carol and Rosemary) Braised shin of veal with tomato sauce and saffron risotto.
CALVES LIVER (Steve) Braised shin of veal with tomato sauce and saffron risotto.
Glasgow
Monday, our final day, checked out of the hotel, leaving the bags to be collected later. Walked over to the Cathedral and the St Mungo Museum of Religion. Here we saw an excellent picture Christ of St John of The Cross by the artist Salvador Dali.
We then took a look around the cathedral. Unusual in that there appeared to be two complete floors.
Lunch was again at the Gandolfi, where we had eaten on the Friday. This time we went for mains and puddings.
Back to the hotel, and the train journey back to Oxford. Car was waiting for us in the car park.
Glasgow Sunday
Today woke up to 9 inches of snow in Glasgow. At breakfast, several guests appeared in evening dress from the party the night before. Apparently just before they were to leave, the snow fell with a vengeance making travel difficult and dangerous.
We ventured out into the snow, to look for the Glasgow Museum of Art. Found it, and waited for the opening at 11.00, only to be told that it would not open today, lack of staff making it into work. Of course there was one couple that had travelled miles, claiming they had come from Dundee.
Oh well, on with a walk down to the St Enoch centre, and then to the Clyde where we crossed by the St Andrews Suspension bridge. Back to the hotel to dry out, and then lunch of beer and a Greek dish. The hotel is all glass at the front, going up 5 stories, alas the heating is not enough to counteract the cold pane effect, and they had to have a series of fan heaters to prevent the customers from freezing. After lunch we had a lazy afternoon reading the papers and some wine from a supermarket
Then out to the mussel inn for excellent Sea Food Chowder followed by Mussels. There were six different sauces for the mussels, Natural, Shallot, Tomato, Lemon, Moroccan and Blue Cheese. I went for the Moroccan.
Glasgow Saturday
Rather a too large a breakfast, haggis, white pudding and fried sausage, along with all the other breakfast bits and pieces.
A quick search for the daily record building, eventually found down a rather sordid street, broken windows and in a rather bad state of repair. Not a very good advertisement by Glagow for the talents of CRM.
Second visit on the CRM trail was the Light House. Here we walked up inside a tower to have an excellent view of Glasgow. Pictures to follow in a little wee while. After the tower took a look around the exhibition. Here Rosemary saw an excellent water colour of herself painted in Walberswick by CRM. Alas the picture seems not to be popular; with the result there are no copies to be purchased.
Out of the lighthouse and down to the St Enoch centre and on to the SPT for a trip to Ibrox. Here on the way to the House of an Art Lover, we had a view of the Rangers stadium. Today was a home match against Dunfermline; Rangers won 3-0.
Back to the SPT and round the circle to Cowcaddens, where we disembarked and walked to the Glasgow School of Art. The Glasgow School of Art is supposed to be CRMs best design. Built well over budget. So much of the design seemed to hve been done to intimidate the student, with dark corridors, dark staircases, guillotines and coffins. On one floor, which was suspended, he had made it look as though the floor above was crushing the pillars with its weight.
We were shown around by an early twenties girl with bleached blonde hair, bright red lipstick and high heels.
After this visit, Steve had to revive with a cup of tea and some scones at the Willow Teas rooms. After tea, a quick visit to the Horse Shoe Bar. This is a Glasgow institution, longest bar in the UK. It was very crowded with everyone watching the football results on the masses of TV screens.
Back to the hotel, and then out to the Blue Bombay on Hope Street where we ate a plate of Tandoori followed by our curries. R went for the usual Biryani and S had a chicken tikka sag. Very good.
Glasgow
Yes some of you may think this is bizarre, but having arrived back from Edinburgh the previous evening, we were up early and out by 5.45 to drive to Oxford. Worries about road works, mis-communication of times for trains, could have allowed at least an extra 45 minutes in bed. There was no traffic on the road, and I have never seen Oxford so devoid of traffic and people.
Caught the 7:34 Virgin train from Oxford to New Street. Train quite crowded, until the NEC when the entire dogs show visitors debarked. Changed trains at Birmingham New Street for the Glasgow train. Arrived in Glasgow, and walked to the hotel, very close and a smart Radisson SAS.
Our first visit was to a National Trust Tenement House, this had remained fairly unchanged until the NT had been donated the house. The NT had restored the lighting back to gas. The guides were very chatty, Rosemary though started out saying how terrible the view of the M8 and tower blocks was and how it must have changed, the guide jumped in saying, that until the M8 had been built, there was no view other than the tenement block house across the fairly narrow street. R bought some PCs, and a porridge spurtle (that being an object they had failed to identify on a table of handle-me objects for children). What a spurtle has to do with stirring porridge I have no idea. Websters definition of a spurtle is \Spur”tle\, v. t. [Freq. of spurt.] To spurt or shoot in a scattering manner. [Obs.] –Drayton.
Quick late lunch at a Weatherspoons for a pint and a five bean chilli each. Not too bad, but the pub reeked of damp.
Had a wander around Glasgow, and found the Café Gandolfi, where we wanted to eat tonight. We managed to book a table for 9.30. It was then back to the hotel to get ready and then out again. First to the Bar Gandolfi, above the restaurant, where we drank beer and some wine, Steve lashed out and had a rather large martini, for which “Olive” magazine said they were famous.
Downstairs we were ushered to a table in the restaurant, with our remaining drinks following us down.
Steve had gravadlax to start with, followed by sea bass on lemon-crushed potatoes. Rosemary ate a tomato and red pepper soup, followed by smoked venison with red current jelly and dauphinoise potatoes. R did not expect raw and thinly sliced venison, not sure where she has lived most of her life.
Two of the distinguishing features of this restaurant were the furniture and the stained glass. All the tables and chairs were made of thick pieces of wood, with interesting knots and odd inlays of contrasting wood. All the chairs were different, with large and subtle style differences. Not sure if the designer, Tim Stead was interpreting a design statement by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. John Clark designed the stained glass.
Left the restaurant some time past eleven and walked back to the hotel.