Off to Egypt

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We set off to Heathrow Long Stay carpark (seemed cheaper than Purple Parking this time) putting the Post Code in the Sat Nav. Why? I have no idea. I never usually use Post Codes on Sat Navs. I thought it was taking me a strange way, a way I would not have driven under my own steam. Never mind, the location was where I anticipated the car park to be, so Google knew best, and there was a faster way with the present road conditions. (No holdups on the M40 / M25, as usual, these roads can be fast moving.) Near to the carpark, Google announced we were to turn left up a road but it had an unmovable barrier. Hummph, back to manual control and drove to where I knew the carpark really was, yes, we had attempted to drive into the carpark from the wrong side. Soon parked and on the airport bus to Terminal 2. Immediately on entrance, we were spotted by the Noble Caledonia representative (Sheila), who took our booking details and retrieved our EgyptAir boarding passes for us, pointing the way to the bag drop. A snack lunch at ‘EAT’ and then we were soon boarding the flight for Cairo. We were seated amongst other Noble Caledonia passengers at the back of the plane along with Sheila. We thought most of the passengers were a smidge older or so than us.

The EgyptAir flight was 4 hours 30 minutes with lunch and snack, no alcoholic drinks were served as this was a ‘dry’ flight. Apparently, in business class, they would open your duty free and pour it for you. At Cairo, we were issued with our visas (tourist tax) and passed quickly through customs. A long wait for our baggage, which was all collected together. Delay waiting for the coaches and the police escort (oh yes, indeed) to arrive, then we were off to the boat with our escort. The coach journey took us on to the Cairo Inner Ring Road. Just before we crossed the Nile on the Southern side of Cario, we left the motorway and headed to the moored boat. I was following this on Google Maps until I realised I had left data “on”! Thankfully I used only 500K of data, so my bill was not too bad. Six pounds a MegaByte is definitely usury.

On the journey around Cairo, we spotted lots of new flats being erected, large shopping malls, and an IKEA and of course McDonald’s and Burger King.

At the boat, the SS Misr, we were thrown slightly by the huge wooden staircase. We were shown to our cabins, where there was a rather large late-night snack waiting for us. We were also issued with the itinerary for the next day, including the time of the early morning start. Alarm calls for everybody were set for 6.00am. We managed to be in bed just before midnight.

Dr Peter Wothers’ lecture at the Chemistry Open Day

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We visited Cambridge, specifically to attend a lecture to celebrate 150 Years of Periodic Table given by Dr Wothers, as part of Cambridge Science Week. This was aimed at children (but I fancied the explosions as well) and the intention was to generate interest in science, so we took Julian, Phil and Selina.

Stopped by Caius College to show Julian where I had spent three years. Showed him the stone commemorating the life of Stephen Hawking place outside Professor Hawking’s college room, we also saw the double helix floor engraving celebrating Francis Crick and James Watson.

Lunch at The Copper Kettle and then we walked onto the the Chemistry Laboratory to attend the lecture.

Sandringham

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The weather was said to be good, so it was time to get Morrison out for a little outing. The Camping and Caravan Clubsite at Sandringham had just open for the year, so why not see what Queenie was up to? The club site is on the estate and is in easy walking distance of the visitor centre and restaurant.

Before we arrived at the campsite, we paid a visit to Sandringham visitor centre for some lunch. Of course, we had chosen half term, and the place was heaving with offspring. The restaurant good, Rosemary ate veggie (which she said was the best risotto she’d had), while I dined on Sandringham pheasant. Had mine been shot by Prince Phillip?

After lunch, we headed off to do some bird spotting at RSPB Snettisham. Here we parked in the free car park and then walked alongside several fishing ponds, and eventually made it to The Wash. There were several hides to view from. Nothing spectacular bird wise to see, other than a few Mallards and Shags. On the evening walk back to the car the tide was coming in and there were some large flocks of waders taking off, flying around and landing on fresh mudflats that had yet to be inundated with the rising tide. Good to see.

We now drove to the campsite, checked in and set up home for the next couple of nights. Huge site, not all visible from one place, and took quite a while to walk around. Good to find that the wifi was free, and it worked pretty well for web browsing.

In the morning we walked into Sandringham through the woods. Here we had a coffee and then viewed the chainsaw sculptures and discovered Norfolk Rocks. All the kids were searching for Norfolk Rocks, we had never heard of them before. After this excitement, we went to the Sandringham restaurant for lunch. Again I ate pheasant, and R ate the vegetarian dish. We washed the meal down with a very nice bottle of New Zealand wine. Oh yes we had puddings as well.

After lunch we walked back to the Campsite on another route and arrived home in time for tea.

The next day we packed up and headed home. We tried a couple of tourist spots on the way home, first was Castle Rising. This has one of the deepest dry moats I have seen, and incredibly steep slopes into it from the castle side and the surrounding countryside.

The next spot was the sluice gates on the Great River Ouse Relief Channel. Google found a route to the gates, unfortunatley Google maps had not factored in the locked gate to the power station.

Now it was off home after our brief stay away. The rain held off, the promised sun was not as much as it should have been, and it definitely was not as warm as it had been predicted. A week later and it would have been warmer.

Back at home, we were welcomed by a huge display of starlings. They congregated in our poplar trees. Some landed and fed on our field, and did that bit where birds on one side fly over the other birds and land on the other side. Eventually, the birds moved off to the trees on the other side of the road, and I assume then flew off to Otmoor.

Stowe Gardens for the Snowdrops

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On a sunny day, we visited Stowe Gardens to view the Snowdrops. We were told the displays were fabulous. On arrival, the car park was brimming with people. Why weren’t people at work, or were we all retired? We headed for the Snowdrops, assured by the NT ticket inspector that the displays were fabulous. We found the Snowdrops, though pretty and of various varieties, we were somewhat underwhelmed by the density of them. There were some nice winter aconites, cyclamens and crocuses planted through the snowdrops.

A walk through some more of the gardens on this bright, cool day, to view the lakes, the Rotunda, the Gothic Temple, Palladian Bridge and the Pebble Alcove with its beautiful crest and motifs outlined in pebbles. R hinted that she fancied one in our garden.

Back at the visitor centre we ate lunch, bought postcards and checked out the secondhand bookshop for some Science Fiction.

A Tribute to ELP by Carl Palmer

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Managed to persuade Rosemary to go out for a musical occasion. We were going to see a performance of some of the works of the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake are dead. Carl Palmer the sole surviving band member was the drummer, and with two other guitarists was touring Europe performing the works of ELP. Yes, they played the complete album side of Tarkus.

The concert was at The Stables in Milton Keynes, I had never been there, whereas Rosemary had, on a school trip with Selina when Selina was at middle school.

We started off by visiting Ikea and had supper there. I know how to treat a lady on a dinner date! Then it was on to The Stables for the concert. There was a support band, 4th Labyrinth, loud and not my taste, although the keyboardist had a good line in banter. R felt the female bassist would have a headache at the end due to all the dreadlock hair tossing she did. Carl Palmer then came on, his huge drum kit taking pride of place. The two supporting artists Paul Bielatowicz and bassist Simon Fitzpatrick played the guitars. Simon Fitzpatrick played the Chapman Stick for most of the concert. The music was recognisable as ELP, but very different. Well, of course, there was no keyboard. Despite the different instruments and interpretation, the music was excellent, even R agreed.

Carl Palmer intimated he was putting together an ELP 50th anniversary tour with some ‘A’ list musicians. Shall keep a look out for that.

Leicester Botanic Gardens

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We drove over to Leicester to stay for the weekend with Norman and Valerie. Richard and Andrea also stayed over. They had been visiting Leicester to see a preacher being installed into his new church in Leicester. Saturday we visited the Cradock Arms for a beer, and then walked back home. We saw the new garden shed, Valerie’s pride and joy.

Evening arrived, with Richard and Andrea duly arriving for supper after the church service.

Sunday after breakfast, the men plus Andrea, went for a walk around the University of Leicester Botanic Garden. Afterwards, we all visited the Lansdowne for a traditional English Sunday Roast. Well at least the men stayed with tradition, the women failed to follow tradition and ate off the standard menu.

Gallows Bridge

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Visited our local nature reserve in the hope of seeing some exciting birds. A new hide had recently been opened overlooking some scrapes. This hide is several hundred meters from the existing two hides. The walk is along the edge of the field on a raised bank. The final part is fenced off to hide the birders from the birds. The new hide is open at the back, and once you open the viewing windows the cold wind starts to drive through. Not a conducive place to sit in the winter. Maybe the summer will be better, but wait it will be closed because those little feathered creatures will be raising their broods! Anyway, there was not much to be seen, maybe a blue tit in the hedgerow.

Back now to the old hides, where there are some feeders. Here at least were some garden birds, a robin, coal tit, blue tit and a reed bunting. Out on the island in the pond, a single wagtail appeared. Not a good day birding.

RSPB Otmoor

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Today was a lovely bright and not overly cold day, so off we set to RSPB Otmoor to check out the Starlings. Would we recognise our local Starlings as they came in to roost in the reed bed! We arrived at around 2.45, the car park was already full, bar one space for us. We headed out slowly looking for birds. To be honest, there were not many around, the scrapes were empty. The walk to the reed bed is around 1500-2000 meters. There are several viewing points, we chose one a little bit further on, where there should be a few fewer people.

Shortly after sunset the Starlings started to arrive and did their murmuration bit. Interesting how small groups of birds had to join in with the big group before going in to roost. Once roosted there were large waves of starlings flying over the tops of the reeds as they moved around to other locations.

As we were leaving we saw a green flash in the sky, fairly low down and travelling North. The trail was very short, and it seemed to travel slower than a meteor, and faster than a sattelite. The short trail was also quite wide. It was visible for a couple of seconds. No idea what it was.

Starling murmuration, watch in 1080HD

Christmas at Home

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Christmas was at home with Selina, Phil and Julian. Usual fare of turkey, roast potatoes, parsnips & carrots, plus a stalk & a half of sprouts, bread & cranberry sauces, stuffing balls and rather a lot of pigs in blankets. Various Christmas puddings and lakes of wine, including a dessert one we’d brought with us from New Zealand. Not a white Christmas, but a warm one.

The Table Centrepiece