Yearly Archives: 2007

Silver Wedding Anniversary – July 10

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We don’t seem to be able to remember our wedding date and often when we do, we discover the date’s already gone, but this year we had checked well in advance, because we knew it was our silver wedding anniversary.  We spent it camping in France (about which more to follow eventually; R a big let down on write-ups).  That evening we sat in the car and looked out at the lashing rain on the widscreen.  Far too wet for a bbq, so what to do?  We decided to walk into Mayreuis (Languedoc-Roussillon), the campsite’s local village, and ate a pleasant meal in a local restaurant.  And, oh yes, it rained as we walked back and dived into our tent.

So it was a lovely surprise when we got home to hear from R’s brother Steve & sister-in-law Marilynn in Canada.  They had remembered; most impressive!  They said to watch out for a gift in the post.  Several weeks into August (we suspect it got held up in the various rotating postal strikes in the UK) a parcel arrived.  R waited until the Friday, when S came back from working in Edinburgh, so we could both open it – a lovely silver, footed, International Silver Co dish (brother Steve unsure whether made in the States or Canada) and a gorgeous cut-glass, silver lidded salt & pepper, around 1890 to 1920.  Both much admired by visitors.  But best of all is that M had cross-stitched a celebration sampler which means we now have one, as well as S&G whose celebrates their wedding, and R’s mum & dad whose celebrates their golden wedding anniversary.

Edinburgh

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It’s my fourth week in Edinburgh.  Eaten at the usual places, the Mai Thai, Petit Paris etc.  The weather has been awful, cold and wet.  The longest day has now gone by.  The flights home have always been delayed, such that last week I was not home until gone 10.00pm.

 At least I have a couple of weeks off next week.

[Editor’s notes:  Too long in Scotland must have caused Steve to spell “fourth” as “forth” (as in bridge)] 

 

Murder Mystery Night, 8 June 2007

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Friday night saw The Square Pants team (Selina’s idea of a name; R&S had no clue why that name, while Graham objected, but was overruled) try their luck at the Quaintwood Players Murder Mystery Night.  Held in Grendon Underwood’s village hall, we were entertained with a half hour play about, coincidentally, an amateur dramatic group. 

Beforehand we had sat down at tables & chairs and realized this was serious; a list of suspects and whodunnit solution piece of paper lay waiting for us to ponder & complete.  During the break, another clue was given to us as we ate of fish & chips and we discussed the intricacies of the plot and alternatively dismissed and accused every suspect.  The cast came amongst us and answered questions.  The finale was for the cast to sit on the stage while each table asked them clever questions.  Should we ask red herring type ones?  Smart-arse Selina pointed out we could do that only if we had a theory, which plunged us into temporary gloom.  But suddenly we realized who it was!  It was blindingly obvious!  Why had we not noticed before?  We looked around triumphantly. 

We sat there smugly as the murderer(s) revealed themselves…..but, wait, hang on, the cast had got it wrong and had the wrong person(s) and the wrong motives!

The Kingswood Tug Of War

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The ususal tug of war against our next village neighbours never took place.  Sunday the area was prepared.  Nettles were strimmed down, a foot bridge was built over the border-marking brook, and a dam built of corregated iron was placed against the road bridge.  All this was done in the cold, wet rain.  Hopefully the day of the event would be better.

Monday moring, George rang, wondering whether we should cancel the event.  It was still raining, and had been all night.  So we decided it should be cancelled.  Drove down to the border to dismantle the bridge and dam.  On arrival was a little worried our dam building might have been rather too effective, the water was flooding the surrounding fields and was higher than the bridge arch.  Luckily this was not the case; the whole of the river on the other side of bridge was also above the fields.  There was nothing we could do to retrieve the dam on the bridge until the water died down.

 It rained the rest of the day.

Final day in Paris and back home

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Today we visited the Pompidou centre, after a major delay in departure from hotel due to my not being able to find my passport, but finally it appeared in a highly original place.  The Pompidou centre is a building with the services on the outside, it is a truly dreadful, already showing its age with grimy pipes and services.  Each service pipe is colour coded; Green for water, Blue for Air, Yellow for electricity and Red for lifts.

The centre houses a library, which opens at 12.00 a.m and had students queuing an hour beforehand.  As well as the library, there is a restaurant on the sixth floor, with a good view of Paris and tables on the roof each decorated with a rose.  Alas the restaurant priced itself out of our reach, although not quite as expensive as the Jules Verne restaurant on the Eiffel tower.

The building also houses modern art, three floors of it.  Starting on the sixth floor were a couple of exhibitions.   We spent rather too long on Samuel Beckett and the Airs De Paris.  Moving on then to the fourth floor of modern art, the type of art which is represented by the pile of bricks on the Tate Modern.  Again spent far too long in that area.

Back on the fifth floor was the type of modern art which did have some originality and graphical excellence.  Here there were pictures by Picasso, Leger, Jean Dubuffet, Matisse and Salvidor Dali.

Getting late, we went and ate in a nearby café, both of us opting for the Spaghetti Bolognese, far better and far cheaper than the night before.

Off to see La Defense du Temps, a special  clock in the Clock Quarter; disappointingly it was being worked on and hence not showing the correct time.

Back to the hotel to pick up the bags, then through the Metro in the rush hour and onto the RER to the airport.  Terminal 3 at Charles de Gaulle airport is not nice having very few amenities, no good food, no reasonable bars, and an extremely bad announcement system which is impossible to understand with all the echoes.

Sunday a very wet day in Paris

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Sunday was very wet.  It appeared to rain all day, cold grey sky which never broke all day.  First we met a walking group over the underpass under the Pont d’Alma where Diana had been killed 10 years previously.  There were flowers and tributes to her placed on the Flame of Liberty monument (sited there in 1987).  The tour we were joining was a visit to the sewers of Paris.  Here we were taken down underground to see a main sewer flowing to a point where it is taken under the Seine to the Northern bank.  Interesting aspects where that rain water and waste water are all passed down the same sewers.  The Parisians also run their fresh water pipes through the sewers, telecommunications and also a very old pre-telephone pneumatic communication system.  This allowed you to send paper messages across the city very much like the old department stores.  This system is no longer used. The pipe under the Seine is cleaned by passing large wooden spheres through the sewer The sphere is a little smaller than the sewer, and causes the water flow fast and flush the grit and sludge out.

 Paris sewer

After the sewers it was lunch and then up the Eiffel Tower.  I walked up to the 2nd floor, (700 steps), while Rosemary took the lift (and of course got there after me).  I then took the lift all the way to the top.  You were not allowed to walk to the top.  The lift journey was a little scary, I was right against the door facing out of the tower.  The door was glass.  It made one feel a little insecure.  On top the feeling of height rather disappeared.  Views were not great because of the rain.

Eiffel Tower

Back down again we walked to the Hotel des Invalides, we were waylaid on the way by a cup of tea. 5.5 euros for a tea bag and some hot water; world shortage of milk.  At the Hotel des Invalides took some pictures in the rain.

Hotel Des Invalides

Supper was in an restaurant, again not value for money and not that good.

Paris on Saturday

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We started the day a little later than normal after an excellent breakfast in the Radisson. 

Out on the metro, changed onto the line which takes us into the Latin zone.  First stop was a visit on the Pantheon.  This is where the great people of France are entombed.  We visited the tombs of Voltaire, the Curies and Victor Hugo and a few other famous authors.  At 11.00 we took the tour on to the roof.  This allowed us to take pictures from a height inside the building, and to take pictures of Paris from just below the dome of the Pantheon. 

 The Pantheon Paris

Next it was of to see the Notre Dame cathedral, stopping on the way for a coffee.  In front of the cathedral was a Fête du Pain; just what we needed.  We bought an Artisan Pain to go with the remains of yesterday’s Camembert. Trekked around the inside of the Notre Dame, looking at the Rose windows.

The Notre Dame Paris

Orsay was next on the agenda.  This building is an old railway station converted into an art gallery. Some very fine clocks adorn it. The building is definitely worth looking at, as are some of the pictures.  Large collections of Monet, Manet, Mondrian.  As usual in a Paris museum you were allowed to take photographs.

 picture.jpg

The evening was spent visiting the erotic museum.  This contained examples of erotica from many ancient cultures.  Afterwards we had a rather poor meal at a Creole restaurant nearby.

 

The Louvre and La Defense

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Today the sun shone on us, at least to start with.  Visited the Louvre first.  Here we visited the rooms of Napoleon the third, objects d’art, sculpture and various modern sculpture. 

 The Louvre

We felt we had to see the Mona Lisa, but it was probably the low point of the trip.  Pictures will appear on the website in due course.

Walked along Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe, stopping on the way for a coffee. (Off the Champs Elysee where we could afford one.)

Caught the metro to La Defense to see the the huge office block built as an arch.  This area is the business district with many new office buildings.  It is a continuation of the Champs Elysee, a whole straight road from the Louvre, the Obelisque, Arc de Triomphe and La Defense.  (Except the latter is slightly slewed – which must be intentional, but don’t know why.)

 La Defanse

Here we ate lunch, some camembert and bread, on the steps of La Defense.  We walked back from the Arch, through the business district, over the Seine and caught the Metro to the hotel from Pont de Neuilly.  Stopping only for a pint of lager at an Irish pub. Almost a reasonable price of 4 Euros from the seemingly bilingual barman.

Managed to catch Rosemary in the doors of the metro.  I was holding them open for her, she was not quite quick enough and they slammed shut on her.  Not quite the same as British underground doors.  These French ones really slam shut hard (or so I am told).

Now it was on home to the hotel, and back out for supper at a local restaurant where we ate a couple of courses.

Paris arrival

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First day of our long weekend in Paris.  Up at a reasonable time to try and get a good seat on the Easyjet to Paris.  Despite checking in a few minutes after the opening time, we still seemed to be in the boarding queue B.  Where were all those others who were loading before us.

Flight was uneventful, with this table cloth of white below us all the way. 

At CdeG we moved on to the RER for the 30 minute trip to Gare de Nord.  Here we caught the metro to the nearest stop for out hotel (Porte de St-Cloud).  Trying to buy a ticket was daunting.  It was lunch time, so all the ticket offices were closed.  So had to use a machine. At least they could be trained to speak English. Bought a ticket for the week, reasonable price, but later looking at the ticket we now realise it expires on Sunday.

At Porte de St-Cloud took the wrong exit, walked around the whole traffic island the wrong way, eventually found the road to the hotel.  Yes it was only two minutes from the Metro.  My route was 20 minutes.  Efficient check in by the Radisson staff.

Quickly back out to purchase a drink by the Metro.  How expensive Paris is.  Fifteen Euros for two beers.

On to the Metro.  We had decided to view the area of Montmartre.  Took the number 9 to Miromesnil.  Changed to the 13 and rode to Place de Clichy.  Here we walked and saw the Moulin Rouge, Moulin de la Galette, Moulin Radet, Chateau Des Brouillards, Basilique du Sacre-Coeur.

On the way back, (6ish) stopped for a drink in another bar for a couple of beers.  This reaffirmed the belief that Paris beer was expensive. (17.50 for two).  Lovely district by the Metro Pigalle with masses of sex shops, lap/pole dancing clubs and X rated films.  Almost persuaded Rosemary to visit the Museum of Erotica, but alas one exhibit in the window put her totally off the idea. This was a chair with a slit in the seat and a rotating paddle with the paddles protruding through the seat.

Near by we found a French restaurant where we had supper.  Both of us started with terrine starters.  Rosemary with a meat version, while I ate a fish terrine.  Main course was Cassoulet for me, and Tartiflette.  Far too much to eat.  Then back home on the metro. I managed to spay a Scittish woman sitting next to us with lemon from my lemon segment.

My impressions of France. 

How can they run a country where most things close for lunch.  Shutting all the ticket offices for lunch.  I got the general impression that travel was free at lunch.  Gates left wide open.

The graffiti on the buildings next to the rail lines makes the British version look rather tame.

Mobile phones run below ground.  How come we are so backward on London Transport.

 

Swan Group of Churches Flower Festival

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This weekend my new tripod went out for its first outing. It went around seven churches in the area where I live.  These seven churches all belong to the Swan Group of churches.  This was the 30th anniversary of the swan group, and they were celebrating this landmark with a flower festival. 

Rosemary’s bookclub had been asked to place an arrangement in our local church of Grendon Underwood. This was partly how we got to know about the event.

I decided to take some pictures on Saturday, this grew into a project to take pictures of every flower arrangement in the flower festival.  This was quite time-consuming in the end (had to go on Sunday to finish), but it got me used to my tripod, altering the height quickly, levelling it and eventually taking the picture.  Light levels were low, and I used no flash, so was taking long exposures of up to 15 seconds.

The weather was awful, but the tea and cakes were very welcome.