We had a long weekend away camping at Hollands Wood in the New Forest with a bunch of friends and we were lucky with unusually bright and hot Bank Holiday weather. Much of the time was spent sitting around the site drinking copiously, but we did manage a few short walks and one long (and painful) bicycle ride in the forest.
We were impressed with the site and its location in the middle of the forest was ideal, though you had to be careful to move any foodstuffs and not leave any out in the campsite when you retired at night as the ponies would be around in the morning rooting through it for their breakfast.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
More wot I have seen…
Madeleine Peyroux is a French/Canadian singer songwriter with a soulful and mellow voice that transports the listener. She had a reputation of being stand-offish and difficult, but she was charming and engaging, and a little quirky… …which is not a bad thing.
She performed at the Brighton Dome which is an interesting venue and one that seemed to suit her very well.
The support act was from Sophie Hunger and her group from Switzerland who were very interesting and folksy (I have ordered her latest CD).
Cara Dillon is an Irish singer songwriter with the voice of an angel. She sings effortlessly with a clear and sweet sound and is supported by a talented band (including her husband Sam Lakeman – brother of Seth).
The venue was the Chequer Mead at East Grinstead, a smaller intimate theatre that suited this traditional folk music very well.
The support was from an unusual duo called Horses Brawl. They came from Norfolk and played a ‘mash-up’ of music that they say is rooted in renaissance, medieval, baroque and European folk traditions.
She performed at the Brighton Dome which is an interesting venue and one that seemed to suit her very well.
The support act was from Sophie Hunger and her group from Switzerland who were very interesting and folksy (I have ordered her latest CD).
Cara Dillon is an Irish singer songwriter with the voice of an angel. She sings effortlessly with a clear and sweet sound and is supported by a talented band (including her husband Sam Lakeman – brother of Seth).
The venue was the Chequer Mead at East Grinstead, a smaller intimate theatre that suited this traditional folk music very well.
The support was from an unusual duo called Horses Brawl. They came from Norfolk and played a ‘mash-up’ of music that they say is rooted in renaissance, medieval, baroque and European folk traditions.
More wot I have read…
The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross
This not the greatest book that I have ever read but it is not terrible either.
‘They were the perfect family. And he was the perfect family man. One day changed it all.
Arrested for racketeering, Ben Raab must take his family into America’s Witness Protection Program. Only his eldest daughter, Kate, stays on the outside.
But the Program’s perfect success rate is about to end. A case agent is tortured to death and Ben vanishes. The one person who might be able to find him is Kate.
Pursued by killers, forced to question everything she knows about her life, Kate is plunged into a terrifying existence for which nothing has prepared her.
Most people would call it certain death. The FBI calls it the Blue Zone.’
The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne
This book exposed me to a glimpse of what it might be like in a Jewish community, but otherwise the storyline and progress was a little to much like other better written books.
‘A series of murders as far apart as the backstreets of New York, the crowded slums of India and the pristine beaches of Cape Town can’t be connected, can they?
Rookie New York Times reporter Will Monroe thinks not – until his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped. The men holding her seem ready to kill without hesitation.
Desperate, Will follows a sinister trail that leads to a mysterious cult – fanatical followers of one of the world’s oldest religions – right on his doorstep. Now he must unravel ancient prophecies and riddles buried deep in the Bible to find a secret worth killing for, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more victims dying every hour and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out…’
Unchained America by Dave Gorman
This was an interesting read for me as I would be quite keen to take a road trip across America. The journey through backwater towns where unusual people and sites were found was entertaining.
‘The plan was simple. Go to America. Buy a second-hand car. Drive coast-to-coast without giving any money to The Man. What could possibly go wrong? Dismayed by the relentless onslaught of faceless American chains muscling in where local businesses had once thrived, Dave Gorman set off on the ultimate American road trip - in search of the true, independent heart of the US of A. He would eat cherry pie from local diners, re-fuel at dusty gas stations on remote highways and stock up on supplies from Mom and Pop's grocery store. At least that was the idea. But in a world of 30,000 McDonalds, 13,000 Starbucks, and 4,200 Best Westerns, could it really be done? When did you last see an independent gas station? Gamely, Dave beds down in a Colorado trailer park, sleeps in an Oregon forest treehouse, and even spends Thanksgiving with a Mexican family in Kansas. But when his classic coast-to-coast trip mutates into an odyssey of near-epic proportions and he finds himself being threatened at gun point in Mississippi, Dave starts to worry about what's going to break down next. The car...or him?’
This not the greatest book that I have ever read but it is not terrible either.
‘They were the perfect family. And he was the perfect family man. One day changed it all.
Arrested for racketeering, Ben Raab must take his family into America’s Witness Protection Program. Only his eldest daughter, Kate, stays on the outside.
But the Program’s perfect success rate is about to end. A case agent is tortured to death and Ben vanishes. The one person who might be able to find him is Kate.
Pursued by killers, forced to question everything she knows about her life, Kate is plunged into a terrifying existence for which nothing has prepared her.
Most people would call it certain death. The FBI calls it the Blue Zone.’
The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne
This book exposed me to a glimpse of what it might be like in a Jewish community, but otherwise the storyline and progress was a little to much like other better written books.
‘A series of murders as far apart as the backstreets of New York, the crowded slums of India and the pristine beaches of Cape Town can’t be connected, can they?
Rookie New York Times reporter Will Monroe thinks not – until his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped. The men holding her seem ready to kill without hesitation.
Desperate, Will follows a sinister trail that leads to a mysterious cult – fanatical followers of one of the world’s oldest religions – right on his doorstep. Now he must unravel ancient prophecies and riddles buried deep in the Bible to find a secret worth killing for, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more victims dying every hour and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out…’
Unchained America by Dave Gorman
This was an interesting read for me as I would be quite keen to take a road trip across America. The journey through backwater towns where unusual people and sites were found was entertaining.
‘The plan was simple. Go to America. Buy a second-hand car. Drive coast-to-coast without giving any money to The Man. What could possibly go wrong? Dismayed by the relentless onslaught of faceless American chains muscling in where local businesses had once thrived, Dave Gorman set off on the ultimate American road trip - in search of the true, independent heart of the US of A. He would eat cherry pie from local diners, re-fuel at dusty gas stations on remote highways and stock up on supplies from Mom and Pop's grocery store. At least that was the idea. But in a world of 30,000 McDonalds, 13,000 Starbucks, and 4,200 Best Westerns, could it really be done? When did you last see an independent gas station? Gamely, Dave beds down in a Colorado trailer park, sleeps in an Oregon forest treehouse, and even spends Thanksgiving with a Mexican family in Kansas. But when his classic coast-to-coast trip mutates into an odyssey of near-epic proportions and he finds himself being threatened at gun point in Mississippi, Dave starts to worry about what's going to break down next. The car...or him?’
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