Evening!

I guess it’s time I posted a bit of an update from our trip to Scotland, and posted a few photos - before my reader shouts at me!

Friday 27 July
As all the bags were packed and ready to go by Thursday night - all down to Lynda’s planning! - we were able to have a bit of a lay in on Friday before setting off on the long trip north. We left home at just after 9:00AM and had a reasonably easy run up the M6, crossing the Scottish border exactly 200 miles later at 12:25PM. The next few days will see if we made the first part of the journey a little too quickly… mobile speed cameras covering all three lanes of the motorway may just have caught me!

After another 2½ hours, and 120 miles, we arrived in Balloch on the edge of Loch Lomond. At some point between crossing the Scottish border and arriving in Balloch, we passed through Glasgow on the M8, but I’m trying to put that little adventure to the back of my mind! That’s two years running we’ve run the gauntlet on that stretch of road; next time we go around it!

First job, after checking in at the Tullie Inn (our B&B for the night), was to head to Palombos, the local chip shop! This place does a great battered Haggis and chips! One complaint though… it’s 2007 and you STILL can’t get mushy peas with your chips in that part of Scotland! Still, things did pick up somewhat after the mushy pea saga. A quick look in the programme for the Lomond Folk Festival revealed a bit of a bonus for us. Not only were Albannach playing at the festival but also Clanadonia, another tribal pipe and drum band, fronted by Tu-Bardh Wilson!

The Tullie Inn - our Friday night B&B

By 6:30PM, we were outside the Lomond Park Hotel, drinks in hand, watching Clanadonia kick off the weekend’s entertainment. The weather was fine, the music great and the cider nice and cold. A great start to the holiday! After the band finished playing, we spent a short time chatting with Tu-Bardh (thanks again for the CD!) before heading back to the Tullie Inn for supper and another drink or two.

Clanadonia, outside the Lomond Park Hotel.

ALL OF FRIDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Saturday 28 July
After a very nice full cooked breakfast, we packed our overnight bags and headed off to the Lomond Shores shopping area. As we had a few hours to kill before we could get into our caravan (holiday accommodation, as the reception desk kept telling us!), we had a steady walk around the shops and also the visiting French market before returning to the caravan park at 12:30PM.

Our "caravan" for the week.

Orchid growing next to the caravan.

The accommodation proved to be very good, plenty of space, nice and bright, really comfortable and, although the park was very quiet, it was only a few minutes walk from the centre of Balloch, just about perfect. The only thing missing was a supermarket on the doorstep. Lynda went off in search of the local Morrisons (just down the road according to the map) only to return about an hour later having failed to find it! The Co-Op in Balloch proved easier to find and so got her business instead.

Soon it was time to head back to Lomond Shores and the first of the Albannach gigs. We found Jamesie and the band in the car park, had a bit of a catch up on what had been going on and then noticed a minor problem - no Jacquie! Turns out she had forgotten about this gig and was still on her way to Balloch for the second gig later in the afternoon! Still, the show goes on and the rest of the band played a storming set. The Albannach drums always sound loud but they simply roared at Lomond Shores - helped no doubt by the sound bouncing back off the huge stone wall they played close to!

Albannach!

Jamesie - Albannach.

With one show down it was time to move on to the Lomond Park Hotel for the second Albannach set. The pub had been busy the day before, when Clanadonia played, but word was obviously out that Albannach had now arrived, the place was packed! All seats and tables were taken, there were people standing on the car park wall, the pavement outside the pub was blocked, cars were pulling up in the middle of the road and bringing traffic to a standstill and through it all came the sound of drums and pipes. Yes, Albannach, complete with Jacquie now, were certainly in town.

The Lomond Park Hotel crowd.

Jacquie - Albannach.

Of the three Albannach sets we saw, I think this was the best. There was just about enough room for Jamesie to bounce around in the way only he can whilst playing the drum, the crowd loved every second of it and everyone could see what was going on. I’ll remember this one show for a long while.

After the Lomond Park Hotel, Lynda and I took a bit of a breather and headed back to the caravan for a bite to eat, a bit of a rest and to get ready for the last Albannach gig of the day. By just after 8:00PM we were back in the Tullie Inn. It was still at least an hour before the band would be playing but even so, we had problems just getting in the door, the place was packed out! After a while, we did manage to get to the bar and get some drinks but any thoughts of getting near the stage were quickly abandoned. If we could at least see the band then that would have to do.

We did manage to work our way a little closer to the stage by the time the gig started but we were still around 20 rows back, up on a small balcony to one side of the stage. As for the show itself, the crowd was the best of the three venues we attended and they really did get behind the band. The sound on the vocals wasn’t the best, the PA couldn’t cope with the size of the venue or the large amount of people packing into it, and it was certainly hot! Very hot! Quite how the band managed to play in such heat I’ll never know. Jamesie summed the evening up in just one word after the gig… MENTAL!

ALL OF SATURDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Sunday 29 July
Time for a change of pace. We left Balloch, and the music, for the day and headed up to Callander for the World Highland Games. As the games didn’t start until just after lunch we spent a while looking around the town, in some of the shops and getting a bite of lunch. It’s a small world, as the saying goes - one of the shops we went into was run by a man that used to live in Tibshelf, just a half hour drive from Derby!

River view in Callander.

Once at the games we positioned ourselves in front of the 56lb for height bar and watched most of the events from there. One or two of the big names from last year were missing this time but athletes we did recognise included Scott Rider (England), Gregor Edmunds (Scotland), Wout Zylstra (Holland), Sebastian Wenta (Poland), Larry Brock, Ryan Vierra and Harrison Bailey III (USA) and Mark Felix (Grenada).

A new field record was set in the Putting The Stone - 58.6 feet - by Scott Rider. The 56lb for height was won at 16.5 feet by Wout Zylstra. The hammer was won by Larry Brock. I’m not sure who won the Caber but I do know that no one managed to "turn it" fully during the afternoon.

Larry Brock throws the 56lb for height.

Tossing the Caber.

After a very pleasant day at the games, it was time to head back to Balloch and the music again. The evening’s entertainment in the marquee was Clanadonia and then The Raggle Taggle Gypsies. Tu-Bardh and clan kicked off the show in fine style, the drums and pipes sounding great in the large marquee. The evening was also helped along by the free whisky and ginger beer being handed out as people entered the gig! A little fancy footwork saw Lynda back in the queue for a second helping of this, her new favourite alcoholic drink!

The Raggle Taggle Gypsies closed the festival with 3 hours of upbeat, party atmosphere music that soon had the crowd dancing the night away - the whisky may have helped too! Me being me, I couldn’t stay sat down for too long and soon found myself bouncing around like a mad thing. The sight of my crazy dancing, accompanied by a slightly drunken Scotsman in a kilt, must have had some in the crowd wondering just what was going on! At least I didn’t end up dancing on the tables!

That blur on the left is me!

This guy was GREAT fun!

ALL OF SUNDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Monday 30 July
After the noise, chaos, drinking and rushing around of the previous three days, Monday was a very welcome chill-out day. We didn’t wake up until 9:45AM, and then spent the morning in the caravan watching TV and reading. In the afternoon, we took a two-hour boat trip out onto Loch Lomond, aboard the Silver Marlin. The weather was just about perfect for the trip, not too hot, only a small amount of high cloud, a gentle breeze and more importantly, no rain.

Looking up Loch Lomond from the boat.

Lynda out on the front of the boat.

By the time we returned to land, Lynda was starting to feel a little hungry - must have been all the fresh air, or the whisky the night before - so we decided to try an Italian restaurant we had walked past on numerous occasions over the past three days. Pizza for Lynda, Bolognese on Penne Pasta for me and a large glass of Merlot each soon had us feeling much better. The walk back to the caravan didn’t do too much to detract from a rather nice meal and we were both soon sleeping soundly!

ALL OF MONDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Tuesday 31 July
We left the caravan at 9:30AM, drove for almost 200 miles and returned to base at 7:15PM! In that time we had seen The Falls of Falloch, were I received my first mosquito bites, Beinn Oaher, Loch Tulla, Glencoe, Loch Linnie, Castle Stalker, Oban, where it rained, Glen Douglas and a beautiful cottage garden at Aldochlay! We also came across the first Highland Cattle of our visit, a young calf with its mother and another group of cattle in Glen Douglas.

The Falls of Falloch.

Glencoe.

How cute?

The scenery on this little road trip was, at times, some of the best I’ve ever come across. Glencoe was every bit as impressive as I’d imagined. The Falls of Falloch were so peaceful and yet so powerful. Castle Stalker was your typical Scottish castle, remote, set in beautiful surroundings and gave a sense of real history. Oban, that was just how I thought a small town on the west coast of Scotland would be. It was shrouded in a sea mist, it was raining, the fishing boats were in and you could buy all sorts of locally caught seafood. The thing is, why would you want to? Sorry, but I’m NOT a seafood fan! On a nice sunny day Oban would, I imagine, be a very picturesque town, on our visit it wasn’t.

Once back in Balloch, we finished the day off with an excellent Chinese take-away, and a rather welcome drink.

ALL OF TUESDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Wednesday 1August
Another lazy start to the day and another day spent at a slow pace. After a late breakfast, we went to the Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre. The highlight for me here was most definitely the Seahorses, they were just amazing. To see such beautiful and delicate things so close up was a real treat. We were also very lucky to visit just after a brood of baby Seahorses had been born. The day old babies were no larger than a big speck of dust and yet they looked so graceful swimming around in their own little tank!

Seahorse.

The Seahorses could have been given a run for their money as highlight of the day but the otters were fast asleep in their bed, having not long been fed, so all we saw of them was a rather cute nose and a pair of sleepy eyes!

In the afternoon we visited the conservation village of Luss, on the banks of Loch Lomond. This village has been lucky enough to have had a bypass built around it and is now spared the heavy traffic of the A82. Although only very small, this was one of the prettiest villages I can ever remember visiting. Luss was also the place were I was bitten by a mosquito, again!

Cottages in Luss village.

As the weather was once again rather nice, we spent a good part of the evening back at the caravan sat outside reading and just watching the world go by.

ALL OF WEDNESDAY'S PHOTOS - HERE

Thursday 2 August
Shopping day! Lynda decided that she would like to visit a couple of shopping centres in nearby Alexandria, so that is what we did! I cannot complain, I was treated to a bottle of Loch Lomond Single Malt Whisky - an early birthday present! This is a new whisky to me and, having sampled a wee dram in the shop, I’m rather looking forward to being allowed to open it. The packaging says "The taste on the palette is sweet, smokey, with hints of finest Madeira wine and has a long, mellow finish, with echoes of a raisiny Xmas pudding." The small taste I had certainly had the first three elements, maybe the Xmas pudding will reveal itself after a slightly larger measure!

In true Lynda style, we drove between the two shopping centres, only to return to the first one so that she could buy herself a shawl that she had taken a liking to! Why do women do that? There was no real sign of her buying one when we first saw them; an hour later… she HAS to have one!

We finished the day with a rather unhealthy supper at McDonald’s, followed by a gentle stroll along one of the country lanes that ran alongside Loch Lomond. I took extra chicken nuggets with me, just in case of emergency.

Friday 3 August
Our last full day in Scotland dawned dull and overcast, not that we saw dawn. We rolled out of bed at around 9:30AM, had breakfast and then watched TV all morning. At lunchtime, we took a walk down into Balloch and visited Palombos chip shop again. Here’s a small tip for you… if you order fish & chips here make sure you’re hungry! You get two large pieces of battered fish and a mountain of chips - the sort of portion that would be served to two people here in England. Of course, I ate the lot and enjoyed every last bit of it.

To work off a few of the calories we took a final walk along the side of Loch Lomond in the afternoon and saw a totally different view of the loch than we had seen all week. Light rain started too fall and the cloud cover became very heavy and low. Benn Lomond disappeared from view and the grey of the sky joined the darkness of the water completely obscuring much of the scenery. In a way, it was good to have this weather as it gave us an insight into how the place could look in other seasons, and also how quickly the weather could close in and put you in some real danger up in the mountains.

Loch Lomond, in the rain.

Saturday 4 August
Time to return home. We hit the road at 9:00AM and took the long route back to the M6 motorway, there was no way I was facing the M8 through Glasgow again! In the end, this more scenic route turned out to be only 6 miles further that the Glasgow death run. We arrived back home at just after 2:30PM, tired but full of memories of a great week - we will be back!

It's all about timing!

Perfect timing meant I was able to get to work and back on my bike on Monday and not get caught in the heavy rain we had on and off all day.

Even better timing meant that I got the lawns mowed on Tuesday evening after work. Just as I was packing everything away, it poured down with rain again!

Then, in true Richard style, I go and get a head cold just in time for our trip to Scotland! Perfect timing!

With a little luck, and a lot of Lemsip, I should have just about got over the cold (man-flu) by the time we get to see Albannach play on Saturday. It’s looking like we’ll get to see them play three gigs on Saturday - Loch Lomond Shores in the afternoon, Lomond Park Hotel early evening and then the Tullie Inn at night.

Right, time I finished off my packing!

Count down to Alba!

Well, so much for me watching what I eat! I was at the gym again this morning - I was there just before 9:00AM, on a Sunday! - and I checked up on my B.M.I. and body fat again and it wasn’t good!

My B.M.I. has risen, slightly, from 23.4 to 23.5, which I can cope with. My body fat has risen from 21.6% to 25.2%! That I am not so happy about! If I’m honest, I didn’t do too well on keeping away from the chocolate and crisps over the past week and now it has come back to haunt me. This week, I will try harder - only problem is, on Friday we head up to Scotland for just over a week. By early afternoon on Friday, I should have already tasted my first tray of chips and deep-fried Haggis. Not the sort of food to lower your body fat!

So, onto Scotland. We’ll arrive at Loch Lomond around lunchtime on Friday, in plenty of time for the Loch Lomond Festival, which starts later that afternoon. How much of the festival we see on Friday depends on the weather, we may just have a meal and a few drinks at the inn we’re staying at! On Saturday, we should get to see two Albannach gigs - one during the day and then another at the Tullie Inn in the evening.

Next on the list is the World Highland Games at Callander on Sunday. We attended these games for the first time last year and really enjoyed them, so we’re there again this year and looking forward to another great day - fingers crossed for the weather. After the games on Sunday my plan, at the moment, is to head straight back to the Loch Lomond Festival to see The Raggle Taggle Gypsies play. I’ve never seen this band before but from the little bit of their music I’ve heard, via the internet, they should prove to be well worth seeing.

From Monday onwards we’ll be taking things as they come. Trips to Glasgow, Stirling Castle, and a whisky distillery or two are on the list but it will just be a case of taking time to enjoy being away from work, home and the usual routine.

Now a word of warning… I went shopping yesterday (something I hate) and came back with two new sets of batteries and a 1GB memory card for my camera! Be ready for rather a lot of photos from Scotland when we return! You have been warned!

A busy old week...

Well, it’s been a busy old week, one way or another!

Monday was one of those days at work…

Tuesday we went to the gym after work - the only time this week - and I came away feeling that once again I had had a good workout and that the gym is worth all the effort, and money! It’s just a pity that I couldn’t get to the gym again all week though.

Wednesday evening Lynda and I went to watch one of her old school mates crown green bowling. Yeah, I know, crown green bowling! What??? But, and here’s the worrying bit, I actually enjoyed the evening! I’m not going to say that we have a full grasp of the rules yet, far from it!, but as the evening went on we did start to follow things a lot more and got quite into it in the end. Lynda is checking with her friend to see when they are playing on their home green again, as it is only a few minutes walk from here. Another good reason to go again… the beer is cheap, very cheap!

On Thursday, it was my dad’s birthday so we went to visit him in the evening. I has hoping that we may be able to have a walk around the farm with him and visit the wildlife pond/area he has created over the past few years but the constant rain we’ve been getting meant that the fields would have been a mud bath. Whilst we sat talking, it came out that an old school mate of mine is very ill and suffering from cancer. I’m not sure what hit me the most, hearing that he was ill or the fact that he is only a year or so older than me.

Friday was Lynda’s dad’s birthday and we took him, and Sue, out for a meal at the Jasmine Garden Cantonese restaurant. There’s not a lot I can say about this place other than it is superb value for money! The eat all you like buffet was only £10.50 each (even cheaper Sunday - Thursday) and the food is great! As usual when we go here, we ate way too much again!

After work on Saturday afternoon, Lynda and I headed into Derby for the annual beer festival at the Assembly Rooms. Usually we would attend one of the evening sessions but this year I chose Saturday afternoon so that we could see a local band, Cold Flame, playing. And to try a beer or two of course! In the end it was a comedy skiffle band, Kick n Rush, that turned out to be the more entertaining! Cold Flame were good but much of their set was cover versions of other band's music - I’m not a huge fan of cover bands! Having said that, the stuff we heard Kick n Rush play was also familiar stuff from other bands, only played in a comedy way! We walked into the main hall just as they started to sing Wild Rover, all good fun for a Saturday afternoon at a beer festival!

Cold Flame, at the start of their set.

Lynda - before too many drinks!

Kick 'n' Rush - on the main stage.

Stupid grin, blurred photo, full glass - another good beer festival!

Maybe it's best that we head home!

Today, Sunday, I had planned on going for another early morning bike ride. I was up and out of bed by 7:00am only to find it pouring down with rain, yet again! So, no bike ride just a morning in front of the TV, followed by an afternoon in front of the TV! Staying home did have its plus points though… Lynda made a Sweet Potato Pie. It was gorgeous! When Lynda said that she would be making this pie I expected it to be a main course pie, a bit like a meat pie only vegetarian, but it is in fact a sweet or pudding if you like. Either way, it’s great with ice cream!

After all the excess of the past few days, I think the gym will be well used over the coming week, if we’re not all under six foot of water by then that is. The rain has been pretty heavy for most of the day and right now it’s throwing it down again and we have thunder and lightening to go with it - a typical summers evening really.

The missing link!

Oops! I’ve just tried to play the video of the SOS All-Stars that I posted and found the link no longer worked! SORRY!

It’s now fixed and playing again - only it has better sound now too!

LIVE EARTH / SOS ALL-STARS

There has been a lot of press, both good and bad, about the Live Earth gigs at the weekend but one little bit did grab my attention and it was, I think, just brilliant! It was the opening from the London gig - The SOS All-Stars! I just LOVE drums and I thought this was an excellent opening - pity some of other stuff later in the day wasn’t as good!

As for the gigs themselves, and the amount of energy used/emissions created, I’m trying to keep an open mind on that.

So much for me saying that the gym was a priority and that I would be there last Tuesday evening, I didn’t get a workout until Saturday morning in the end! I packed my gym bag on Tuesday morning, put it in the car and was all set for a good workout in the evening, by early afternoon I had an evil headache and generally felt yuck! I still didn’t feel too good by Thursday, the day I would normally be at the gym, so no workout again then and on Friday, I decided that I might as well wait until Saturday morning for a gym visit.

When I did finally make it through the door of the gym I managed a good mix of cardio and fixed weights and came away feeling as though I had put in a good effort. Whilst there I also used the all singing, all dancing scales/B.M.I/body fat machine that they have. The results came as a bit of a surprise!

Weight - 11st 7lb (as I expected).
Height - 5ft 9½. (I’m not getting any taller!)
B.M.I (body mass index) - 23.4 (just about ideal)
Body fat - 21.6% (between good and excellent!)

I was expecting a lot worse on the body fat but it could still be better. I now plan to try to reduce that figure by watching what I eat a little more. If you see me with a chocolate bar… take it off me!

For the second day running, we had no rain today - in fact, it actually felt like summer! So much so that I was out of bed by 6:00AM, had a light breakfast, checked the bike over and then went for a ride around South Derbyshire! I covered something like 25 miles in just under an hour and three quarters and was back home by 8:20AM! I thought is was great - Lynda didn’t! I’d left my house key behind and, seeing as she was still asleep when I got home, I had to wake her up so I could get back in the house!

Cycle route 66 - just around the corner from home!

The ride itself was one of the best I’ve had. I didn’t see a single person in the first 45 minuets of the ride, the weather was great - nice and sunny but not too warm - and the scenery was gorgeous. The only minor set back was one of the cycle paths being almost completely blocked by a fallen tree. Even that didn’t cause too much of a problem as other cyclists, or walkers, had made a small pathway through the branches.

The blocked cycle path!

Breedon church.

The view from the church.

The rest of the morning was spent catching up on jobs outside. I’ve washed the car, mown the lawns and cut back a lot of the overgrown shrubs in the garden and all before lunch, when I came inside to watch the British F1 Grand Prix!

A tidy garden again!

Now, Lewis Hamilton. Is he going to be the next F1 super star? Some would say he already is. I’m still not quite sure. Yes, he’s had a superb start to his career and has finished in the top three in all nine of this season's races, so he can quite clearly drive, but is he really that much better than the rest or is he just a very good driver in the best car? Only time will tell. This country certainly needs someone that is capable of winning championships again that’s for sure!

As for this season - I’m not writing off Ferrari, or either of their two drivers, just yet!

Still quiet...

Another week goes by and it was more of the same… work, work, work, rain, rain, rain.

After the worst of the flooding last Monday, I managed to get out of work for half an hour during Tuesday afternoon and take a walk down to the River Derwent, at the rear of Pride Park. The water must have been a good 10 or 12 feet higher than normal and had, in places, actually come up and over the river bank and flooded the cycle path.

Camera phone photo of the River Derwent on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning saw a brief respite from the rain and I took the chance to use the bike to get to work. I just about managed to get there before the first shower came and was lucky enough to ride home at night during another dry spell. The ride along the river path showed that the river had dropped by about 8 feet in just over 24 hours. The rest of the week saw the bike back in the garage as the rain fell constantly - I love the bike rides but not enough to get drowned first thing in a morning!

The gym is still a priority - I managed to drag myself there on a further three occasions last week and will be there tomorrow evening. At long last, I seem to be back into a routine with my workouts and feel committed to them again, only time will tell. I have also been using Lynda’s pedometer to measure my steps and distance walked during the day. An average day is around five or six thousand steps, which works out at about 2 or 2.5 miles. I’m a long way short of the recommended 10,000 steps but at least I am trying to up the distance whenever I can.

Sunday, 1 July 2007. A date that I have looked forward to for a long, long time! Smoking was finally banned from all enclosed public places in England! No more coming home from pubs, clubs, restaurants and gigs smelling like a week-old ashtray! Many people think this ban is a breach of their human rights… I say killing me with your smoke is a breach of MY human rights!

If people want to smoke that’s fine by me, I don’t have a problem with that, but non-smokers are equally entitled to clear air. As the adverts in the papers have been saying…

WELCOME TO THE GREAT INDOORS!

Evening!

See, I haven’t forgotten about this place; I’ve just not had anything worth saying. If I’m honest, I still don’t have anything worth saying! It really has been that quiet.

The weather has stopped just about everything that I may have done over the past couple of weeks. The rain has made it virtually impossible to do anything in the garden, it has stopped me going to two autograss meetings - and will almost certainly stop me going to a two day meeting this weekend - the thought of going out birding in constant downpours doesn’t appeal so, I’ve been sat around in front of the TV, or the computer screen.

Cycling to work has also been abandoned at the moment and that, combined with everything else, has turned me into a bit of a couch potato! Things had to change and, seeing as how the rain looks like being here for the next 10 or 15 years, I’ve had to get off my backside and start going to the gym again - what a shock to the system that was!

I made a rather uneasy return to the gym last Thursday and found it very hard going, but it did feel good to be active again. On Saturday morning another couple of hours was spent back in the gym, followed by yet another trip on Sunday morning! If I can keep up the enthusiasm then I might just get back into something like average condition by Christmas - just in time to eat like a pig again!

There you have it, the past couple of weeks all caught up with. Told you it had been quiet!

Time to go and find more stories, and photos, about the good old English weather now…

Three photos taken in North Derbyshire today. Photos from Radio Derby news story.

Hampshire and London...

I guess it’s time I posted an update from the weekend’s trip “down South”!

The drive down to Andover on Wednesday evening was quick - 2½ hours for 150miles - and uneventful with only minor hold-ups in the last of the rush hour traffic. I still need Lynda’s guidance for this trip even after doing it for the best part of 20 years or more!

On Thursday, we joined Lynda’s aunt and uncle, and their strolling group, for a morning stroll around the village of Monxton and the surrounding countryside. Monxton is a typical Hampshire village… approached down narrow country lanes, full of gorgeous old cottages - many of them with thatched roofs - and with a great little village pub! What more could you ask for on a Thursday morning?

One of the cottages in Monxton.

The walk lasted for just under 2 hours and finished back at the pub, where we had lunch and a pint. It sure beat being at work! The rest of Thursday was spent resting up, and sleeping off the rather large lunch, ready for Friday’s trip into London.

We caught the Andover to London Waterloo train at just after 9am on Friday and arrived in the capital at just before 10:30am. The first part of the day was taken up by a guided tour of the old streets around St. Paul’s Cathedral, the financial district and the Millennium Bridge. Following the very informative walk around the streets - guided by an American! - we headed down onto the shoreline of the River Thames for a little beachcombing. Yes I know, I thought that it was a bit strange too but it proved to be one of the highlights of the day!

After a brief history lesson from our American guide - who certainly knew his stuff - we were let loose by the river to see what we could find. It was just like being a little kid again! We were shown bits of old roof tile that would have dated back to the Great Fire of London - 1666 - and also the remains of clay tobacco pipes that would have been made around three or four hundred years ago. It was these tobacco pipes that grabbed my interest and I was soon engrossed in the search to try to find a complete bowl or even a complete pipe. I never did find a complete pipe, but one day…

Some of the tobacco pipes we found.

After the beachcombing, we left our American friend and headed off towards the Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Gardens, where we ate a picnic lunch before having a guided tour of the Albert Hall. This was one part of the day that I wasn’t too bothered about leading up to our trip but in the end, it proved to be very interesting. The guide was very informative without being “boring” and gave us the history of the building in a light hearted and humorous way. We were able to see inside the Royal Box, saw the private entrance halls and rooms used by the Queen and Royal Family and saw a few moments of a rehearsal that was taking place in readiness for that evening's show.

After the Albert Hall, we decided to walk back to the railway station via some of the other sights of London. We took in Kensington Gardens, the Albert Memorial, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, the Serpentine, Hyde Park and the Cavalry Memorial. We then arrived at the Mecca for all London tourists, Buckingham Palace! This was the first time I had seen “Buck House” and I have to say that it did not grab me quite as much as I’d imagined it would. Yes, it is a BIG house and yes it does look rather imposing but it was not quite as impressive as I thought it would be - either that or I was starting to get a little tired by then! The gardens surrounding the approach roads were rather nice though.

Buckingham Palace.

The final part of the day saw us walk past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and then the London Eye. By now, it was getting on for 6:45pm and the sun was slowing starting to set over the London skyline. Our last glimpse of London, apart from Waterloo Station, was the sun going down behind the London Eye.

The London Eye.

Saturday was a day of leisure, I don’t think any of us could have walked too far even if we had wanted too! In the evening, we went to a quiz held by the local scout group to raise funds for a camping trip. We didn’t win but we certainly did a lot better than we thought we would - we even learnt a thing or two as well! Quite why Lynda and I couldn’t remember that Fluffy, the dog in the Harry Potter books, had three heads I will never know!

On Sunday, after a late breakfast in the garden, Lynda and I visited her cousin for a while before returning to her aunt and uncle's for lunch. After a gorgeous Sunday dinner, it was time for us to hit the road and head for home, unfortunately ending a great weekend.

The rest of the photos are HERE!

Well, here’s a thing… I’ve nothing to say! Well, very little!

It’s been a week with nothing to talk about, nothing to get excited about.

Next week we only have to work Monday to Wednesday and then we are off to Hampshire until Sunday afternoon. We will be staying with Lynda’s aunt and uncle.

Whilst there we plan to join them, and their walking group, for a walk on Thursday, on Friday we are going into London and on Saturday we are going to a quiz! Sunday may be a quiet day, apart from facing the motorway traffic on the way home!

SUPER RAMS!

Well, somehow they did it! After a hard fought game that could, to be honest, have gone either way DERBY COUNTY ARE BACK IN THE PREMIERSHIP!

Stephen Pearson’s goal on 61 minutes was all that separated the two sides in what is being called the richest game in football!

Derby County now stand to make something like £60 million in TV rights and sponsorship etc over the next three years! Not bad for a team that were almost relegated last season!

Newark Beer Festival

Newark went off OK - in fact, it was a GREAT day! The weather just about held out for us, we managed to have a look around Newark, and Newark Castle, whilst the sun was still out and the rain that did eventually set in didn’t arrive until early evening, by which time we wanted to be inside the Beer Festival marquee anyway!

We arrived in Newark mid-morning, found the hotel, parked the car up and set off in search of the Beer Festival site, so that we knew where we needed to be later in the day. Newark isn’t the biggest of places so this proved to be no problem - find the castle, then the river and the Beer Festival is on the opposite bank, sorted.

The rest of the morning, and early afternoon, was spent exploring Newark, finding something to eat - we finished up having our own little picnic in the castle grounds (Cornish Pastie, Sausage Rolls and Pizza!) - and looking around the remains of Newark Castle.

Newark Castle.

At around 2:00pm we headed back to the Beer Festival and, after purchasing our beer glasses (we have them from all the beer fests. we’ve been to!) started to sample some of the drink on offer. The "Golden Duck" was a nice beer as was the "Hophead". As well as our first beer, the afternoon also gave us our first music of the day, a singer/songwriter by the name of Guy Maile. Lynda and I spent much of his set trying to figure out where we had seen him before - I thought I’d seen him at Off The Tracks, Lynda thinks it may well have been at Saul! Wherever it was, Guy Maile was great entertainment. I never knew that Tom Jones’s Green Green Grass Of Home could sound so good - or so funny!

After the Guy Maile set, we headed back to the hotel to check-in and unpack. A little over an hour and a half later we were heading back to the festival site. By now the rain had started - nothing very heavy, just the sort of stuff that gets you wet without you realising it!

Once we were back in the marquee, it was time to start on the drink again and claim a spot near the stage, before the music started again. The first band of the evening was a group called The Boatrockers, a four piece from just down the road in Stapleford. Now, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of cover bands, and that’s pretty well what The Boatrockers are, but this lot turned out to be quite good. The set they played was certainly lively, got the crowd on their side and was a good start to the evening.

After more beer, a tray of chips and a rather nice burger, it was time for The Reasoning to take to the stage. This was the second time we had seen this band in just over a month and once again, they proved to be well worth the trip. It would be hard for me to pick a highlight from the set they played as every single track was great but Awakening was stunning as was Aching Hunger.

The Reasoning.

The old Karnataka track After The Rain was another that stood out along with Sacred Shape. The set closed with a track that is now over 30 years old, the classic Deep Purple number, Stormbringer!

Roll on the next time I get to see The Reasoning.

There are a few more photos of the castle and also The Reasoning HERE!

Right, it’s the weekend again and this weekend I plan on staying fit and healthy for ALL of it!

Tomorrow, after an extra hour or two in bed, we are off to Newark for the Newark Beer Festival. The only reason that I have decided to give this event a go is because The Reasoning are playing there tomorrow evening - if they weren’t playing, we wouldn’t be going. The fact that there will be over 140 beers on offer has in no way influenced my decision! Neither has the choice of Cider - over 20 of those I think!

If the weather is kind to us, we hope to have a bit of a look around Newark, and also the castle, during the afternoon before going in search of drink and music. Photos and more details at some point later in the weekend!

On Monday, The Rams take on West Bromwich Albion in the Championship play-off final. We’ll be sat in front of the TV for that - unless the tension becomes too much, then we’ll be hiding behind the settee!

COME ON DERBY!!!

It's been fun... sort of!

Well, last weekend had a little bit of everything on offer!

I awoke on Saturday morning feeling somewhat worse for wear - nothing to do with alcohol; I hadn’t had a single drink the night before! I can only think that something I’d eaten did not agree with me because my stomach was not best pleased. I managed to get through work okay in the morning, and also the garden centre in the afternoon, but I wasn’t feeling quite right somehow.

In the evening, we went to the Peatbog Faeries gig at Kinver. Getting there proved to be a bit of a laugh; Wolverhampton ring road is not something I would recommend you try unless you really have no choice! Being in the very left hand lane of a four lane dual carriageway when you need to turn right can be a little tricky - still not quite sure just how we made that turn, but we did!

The gig was good, not the best I’ve been to and certainly not classic Peatbog Faeries, but the set of tracks played wasn’t anywhere near as upbeat as I had hoped. Still, it was good to see the band live again and it did have some good “dance” moments - “Friend Of Crazy Joe” and the superb “Folk Police” spring to mind!

The Peatbog Faeries.

By the end of the gig, my second ailment of the weekend had come to light - my back, shoulders and neck were killing me. Half an hour into the drive home and I was in agony, for the next hour Lynda was having to act as “spotter” for me at junctions and roundabouts as I couldn’t turn my head at all!

By the time I got out of bed on Sunday morning my back and neck had eased a little - at least I could move my head freely again - and I felt that I could cope with the drive down the motorway to help Gary with his race car. The meeting was very good with a reasonable turn out of cars, some very close racing, hardly any hold-ups and three acceptable results for us. Gary drove to a strong 3rd place in his first heat, managed 4th in the second after a bit of a hectic first bend and then drove like a man possessed in the final race to finish 3rd again.

This final race was, I think, the best race of the day for Gary. He was a little slow away from the start and was last going into the first bend; there was then a big first bend bunching as the lead cars seemed to brake just a little too hard on the damp track, this caused the rest of the pack to bunch up behind them and saw Gary finish up sideways across the track. The next few laps saw a typical “Cookie” charge around the outside line and, by the time the chequered flag fell, he was back up to 3rd.

Gary on a typical outside line charge!

By late on Sunday evening my stomach had started to remind me that it was not a happy bunny, I then spent most of Sunday night/early hours of Monday visiting the smallest room in the house! I was not feeling well! Needless to say, I didn’t make it into work on Monday; in fact, I didn’t manage to drag myself out of bed until just after 5:00PM.

Today, Tuesday, I do feel a little better but still haven’t managed work - maybe tomorrow, if all goes well.

Headlong into the weekend!

This weekend will be another busy one, one way or another.

I have work in the morning, a trip to the garden centres in the afternoon - so that we can start planting the summer bedding - and then we’re off to the Peatbog Faeries gig tomorrow night!

On Sunday, I plan on doing a little more work on the garden in the morning before heading off to my first autograss meeting of the year - yes, Gary FINALLY has his car ready to race! The meeting will be at Gary’s home club - Melton - so at least he will know his way around the track!

On Sunday evening, I MAY go to the gym for a short while, but then again…

Getting behind The Rams!

So, after Tuesday nights rather tense game The Rams can look forward to a Championship play-off final at Wembley on May 28. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that Derby will more or less come to a stand still at 3:00PM on Bank Holiday Monday as many people will be either in London for the match or sat in front on a TV screen somewhere!

COME ON DERBY!!!!!

Derby County - The Rams!




The penalty shoot out.




The moment the crowd realise Derby are in the play-offs!