Author Archives: Steve

About Steve

Man of leisure.

Glasgow Saturday

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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

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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.

Edinburgh for three days

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Caught the early morning flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh on Tuesday.  Nice and early so missed all the dog owners going to the Crufts show at the NEC.  Lunchtime met up with Mary and Ed for lunch.  Pretty miserable damp day in Edinburgh, but lovely warm welcome at the Petit Paris where I indulged in a full three-course meal of

  • Lentil and Saucisse salad
  • Steak with a pepper sauce
  • Crepe au Citron.
  • Coffee
     

All washed down with a pitchet of Vin Rouge.

I was staying at the Apex International for the two nights, so made sure I got both of my free bath ducks each day.  They said welcome back.  I admit I have not been there for a while; the free Internet access at the Radisson is so welcome.

Thursday was a better day, weather wise at least.   During the evening I went to Whistle Binkies and ate at the Apex.  Not so indulgent, to offset last nights extravagance, but I really must stop eating Nachos .  Every time I eat Nachos I say never again.  I hate Nachos!!!!!

Thursday finished off at the back, having completed the evaluation.  Hopefully they will write a good report.  I ate lunch with Ed at the Café Royal, then back to Birmingham airport.

Cupboards in the spare bedroom

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Coldest night we have had for several years, dropped down to -7 Celsius.  Day was lovely and sunny. Keith has finished the cupboards in the spare bedroom, so we need to get decorating.  Also worked outside and opened up the foot path.

Manchester customer visit

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Today went out for a customer visit near Manchester. This is a project associated with replenishing the cash machines and bank branches with cash. Started out lovely and sunny, and then ran into a snow storm on the M6 toll road.  Though out the day there were snow showers.  Drive back was problematic, M42 halted, so diverted to Coventry where there were road works, snow storms and general chaos.

Gateshead

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Back from Newcastle, where I have spent the last two day working through some code and specifications for a project I am about to start.  Not alot of sightseeing, though I did drive into Gateshead town centre, got lost, found myself crossing the Tyne into Newcastle, and somehow magically being drawn towards Byker.  Luckily managed to turn around and find my way back to Gateshead.  Was told later, that Byker is not the place to go if you wanted to keep your wheels on.

The Old Trout

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Went out for a meal with Selina and Graham at the Old Trout in Thame. Stayed there most of the evening.  The meal we had was good, not excellent, I suppose because it was from the Telegraph special.

The place was reasonably busy, some tables being used more than once during the evening. Service was generally prompt but not intrusive.

John and Carol for suppe

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We had John and Carol over for supper.  Slow soak in the hot tub, beautiful dark, cold, and clear evening, followed by supper with a roaring log fire burning sustainable fuel in the house.

Menu

  • Avocado and Bacon?with tomato french dressing and tomato bread.
  • Shredded slow cooked should of lamb with pomegranate
  • Ice cream Christmas pudding
  • Welsh cheeses

Marylebone Cricket Club

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Our first Cambridge Society trip of the year was to the Marylebone Cricket Club.  We were counted in at the Grace Gate and congregated in the Tavern stand.  We were split into groups of 25 for the tour.

First stop was the pavilion, where we entered into the Long Room.  When matches are playing, the long room would have over 200 people standing and seated.  In the centre of the long room are the doors out to the wicket.  The players would have to come down the stairs from the changing rooms, walk through the crowded long room to the doors in the centre, and out onto the ground.  The trip back would either be elating or embarrassing depending on the outcome of the players innings.

Next we moved on to the committee room, where we sat and listened to the history of the MCC.  Rosemary was not overly impressed by the quality of the committee tables.  There was a lovely gavel, looking like a small cricket ball and bat.

Next on to the home changing rooms, where all the centuries scored in test matches by England are posted.  One century from Bill Edrich, and two from John Edrich.

Back down the stairs and up again to the museum.  The shutters on the entrance were jammed, so we had to take the back entrance through various small narrow corridors.  Here we saw the ashes and lots of memorabilia from test matches and the history of cricket.  There were odd exhibits, like the stuffed sparrow, which had been killed by a cricket ball.  There were many photographs of players, and numerous signed cricket bats.

Now we walked around the ground to the nursery end, where there is a small field for practice and for playing lesser matches, along with the indoor cricket ground and ECB offices.  At this end, there are the Edrich and Compton stands, these are not tall and must not be increased in size.  Making them bigger would hide the tress in the background.  To this aim the National Westminster Media Centre is tall, but build on two towers so that the trees can be seen under it.  We took the lift up to the Media Centre where we can an excellent view of the ground.  The Media Centre was a large monocoque aluminium structure, which was build, be a shipbuilder in Torquay.

Final visit was the Lords Tavern for a beer and lunch.

While in London we paid a visit to Alfies antique fair.  Here we saw lots of gorgeous goodies.  There seemed to be a lot of fantastic lighting from the 60s.  I was quite taken by it, until I spied the price on one rather small light fitting of £450.

Aylesbury Business Excellence Awards

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Rosemary and I were invited by Tony to attend the Aylesbury Business Excellence Awards run by The Bucks Herald.  Tony was on the short list for winning the Small Business of the Year award.  Tony owns Ladymead Joinery and specialises in top quality hardwood windows, doors, staircases and fencing. 

The event was a black tie dinner and awards ceremony at the Aylesbury Civic Centre.  Amazingly the trousers appeared not to have unduly shrunk in the wardrobe since they were last worn. The meal was a four-course meal, (Chicken and Smoked Bacon Salad, Lamb, Profiteroles and Cheese) with wine, and various speeches.  Our waitress was not a young thing, but was very proficient and quite a character.  The main entertainment was the impressionist, Steve Nallon from the TV show Splitting Image.  He provided us with the voices of Tony Blair, Anne Widdecombe, Alan Bennett and many other politicians and entertainers.  Dez Kay from Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio was the Master of Ceremonies.

After the ceremony, the disco started, hosted by Phil Gomm.  At which stage we decamped to the bar and some quiet.  Though I could have stayed and watched for hours, admiring the hairdressers from Destiny Hair Designs and the Bucks Herald girls dance.  Did though have a chat with Adstock Web who speacialise in Web solutions and search engine Optimisation,  who alas failed to win the innovation award, which went to Littlecote Soap Company.

Well did Ladymead Joinery come top of its class?  Of course they did!!  Their craftsmanship and customer service delivered by Tony Clark and his team make Ladymead Joinery a worthy winner.