The night before the longest day we went to a BBQ at our allotment that was hosted by a couple of guys who had rebuilt their impressive shed after vandals had burnt it down. They were expressing their thanks to all of those who offered assistance and support and the Allotment Holders Association promoted it as a gathering of tenants to get to know one another.
It was a pleasant evening and everyone enjoyed themselves meeting people that they previously had only seen the backsides of from a distance as they bent over their plots attending to their crops. There were young families with children running around, middle-aged people of all professions, older couples with their home made elderflower cordial, and an elegant woman who had been on the site since 1964.
As the evening drew in a core group of revellers were left, of which we were two. It was then that the flavoured vodkas emerged – home made infusions of Fennel, Mint, Strawberry and Vanilla. Sue was more sensible than I, who had never had vodka before (and by now was less inhibited by the application of red wine), to consume all of the shots. I knocked them back and even finished some of Sue’s. We were sitting around the shed having a laugh and a good time as it got later. We had planned to walk back to Westcott (which meant a 2 mile trek across the fields, through a wood and along a main road), so Sue suggested we get on our way as we had plans for the following morning. It was then that I noticed I had drunken legs, and as soon as tried to stand I was on my backside again. We mumbled apologies, thanks and goodnights and staggered off into the gloom. It wasn’t the last time I fell over, and Sue had a hard time keeping me upright – berating me as I swayed close to the road ‘If you get run over I will kill you!’
Needless to say the next day was mostly spent in a haze as I endeavoured to set up Sue’s Aunt’s Broadband and Video package.
I don’t think I will be trying vodka again in a hurry… …though the boys have promised to invite us back for their cider making enterprise!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
More wot I have read…
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
This was a book that Sue enjoyed and suggested I read. I found it slow to start but the ending was nicely resolved without being too cutesy. A good period drama.
‘Summer 1924
One the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid at Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories – long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind – begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.’
This was a book that Sue enjoyed and suggested I read. I found it slow to start but the ending was nicely resolved without being too cutesy. A good period drama.
‘Summer 1924
One the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid at Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories – long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind – begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.’
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The history of Ranmore village…
We recently went on an evening walk around what was the village of Ranmore. The shops, cottages and church served the nearby Denbies estate and were built by the then landowner who went on to become the 1st Lord Ashcombe. The shops, post office, dispensary, school and rectors house are now all private residences, but we were allowed a closer look at some of them and were allowed to walk across part of the Denbies estate to see where the grand old house used to stand and the views it commanded over the local area.
Gardens in bloom…
We have been spending more time out doors in gardens now that the weather has improved. We have planted much of our allotment even though the ground is still poor and we are not expecting a great yield – the strawberries are going great guns at the moment and Sue has made jams and frozen the excess that can’t be eaten fresh. Around home the garden is looking good and we are seeing where we can move some plants around next year to improve the display. We have also been helping out with the Westcott in Bloom preparations by clearing approaches to the village of overgrowing verges and helping plant out display beds that should improve our chances of getting an award.
Recently we also joined the Gardeners Club in an outing to Parham House in West Sussex to walk around their lovely free-form gardens and the historic 16th C house. The gardens have a variety of ‘rooms’ within the large walled area and outside that is the please gardens with lake, maze and parkland. The house has a great collection of paintings, artefacts and a very grand long gallery. Still privately owned and occupied Parham House and Gardens is well worth a visit.
Recently we also joined the Gardeners Club in an outing to Parham House in West Sussex to walk around their lovely free-form gardens and the historic 16th C house. The gardens have a variety of ‘rooms’ within the large walled area and outside that is the please gardens with lake, maze and parkland. The house has a great collection of paintings, artefacts and a very grand long gallery. Still privately owned and occupied Parham House and Gardens is well worth a visit.
More wot I have heard…
Wishful Thinking by Hot Club of Cowtown
This was the album that the band was promoting as part of their tour that we caught in Brighton recently. We have an earlier album (Continental Stomp – 2003) and this new one is similar but with a few more variations and is very enjoyable – I listened to it twice through on the way home on the weekend.
******
I have been into some aspects of the jazz genre for a while as my dad introduced me to traditional acts and I found acid-jazz/jazz-fusion later on. A friend in NZ gave me a list of his top jazz albums and I have recently tracked them down and bought them online.
Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk
This was the first album to be delivered, and it is described as challenging, provocative and disturbing. I know some jazz can be pretty weird, but I can’t say found it this album all that bad, in fact I found it was perfectly fine as background music.
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
This is probably my favourite of this jazz classics group, and the one I was most familiar with. It has a smoky, late night club feel to it and is great to let it flow over you.
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
I lot of these artists were familiar with each others work and often collaborated together and Coltrane features on the Miles Davis album. This, though, is one of his most celebrated albums and where it is a bit more ‘out there’ it is still well worth a listen to and has a lot going on in it.
Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus
Another very interesting jazz classic album, and for those keen on the genre it is full of really good stuff.
Also recommended by my jazz loving friend is this interesting album…
The Very Best of Play Bach by Jacques Loussier
I was unaware of his work until it was pointed out that he performed the ‘Hamlet Cigar’ music. This album is an easy listening joy that washes over the listener and gently carries them away. It is an antidote to the other albums above that require more active concentration on the behalf of the listener to get the most out of them. Where they are smoky jazz dive beats, this is a sophisticated cocktail bar soundtrack.
******
Made in Dakar by Orchestra Baobab
We saw these guys at the last Womad we went to and were impressed with their Afro-Cuban rhythms and beautifully orchestrated instruments and harmonious voices. For anyone who has an interest in World music and expanding their listening horizons this group would be high on my list along with the Buena Vista Social Club.
Sweet Fast River by Suntrap
We saw this group at our local folk club and were very impressed with their lovely songs. You can also find them on their own MySpace site.
This was the album that the band was promoting as part of their tour that we caught in Brighton recently. We have an earlier album (Continental Stomp – 2003) and this new one is similar but with a few more variations and is very enjoyable – I listened to it twice through on the way home on the weekend.
******
I have been into some aspects of the jazz genre for a while as my dad introduced me to traditional acts and I found acid-jazz/jazz-fusion later on. A friend in NZ gave me a list of his top jazz albums and I have recently tracked them down and bought them online.
Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk
This was the first album to be delivered, and it is described as challenging, provocative and disturbing. I know some jazz can be pretty weird, but I can’t say found it this album all that bad, in fact I found it was perfectly fine as background music.
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
This is probably my favourite of this jazz classics group, and the one I was most familiar with. It has a smoky, late night club feel to it and is great to let it flow over you.
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
I lot of these artists were familiar with each others work and often collaborated together and Coltrane features on the Miles Davis album. This, though, is one of his most celebrated albums and where it is a bit more ‘out there’ it is still well worth a listen to and has a lot going on in it.
Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus
Another very interesting jazz classic album, and for those keen on the genre it is full of really good stuff.
Also recommended by my jazz loving friend is this interesting album…
The Very Best of Play Bach by Jacques Loussier
I was unaware of his work until it was pointed out that he performed the ‘Hamlet Cigar’ music. This album is an easy listening joy that washes over the listener and gently carries them away. It is an antidote to the other albums above that require more active concentration on the behalf of the listener to get the most out of them. Where they are smoky jazz dive beats, this is a sophisticated cocktail bar soundtrack.
******
Made in Dakar by Orchestra Baobab
We saw these guys at the last Womad we went to and were impressed with their Afro-Cuban rhythms and beautifully orchestrated instruments and harmonious voices. For anyone who has an interest in World music and expanding their listening horizons this group would be high on my list along with the Buena Vista Social Club.
Sweet Fast River by Suntrap
We saw this group at our local folk club and were very impressed with their lovely songs. You can also find them on their own MySpace site.
More wot I have seen…
We went to see Hot Club of Cowtown recently with a couple of friends and we had one of the best nights ever as the band ripped up the club with an enthusiastic foot-stomping show. They are – as their name suggests – a band that incorporates the Hot Club of France sound with Country music into a hugely entertaining fusion. All of members of the band are amazingly talented musicians with the guitarist taking the Django Reinhardt role, the violinist the Stephane Grappelli, and the double bassist slapping out a thumping beat with support of the drummer.
The venue was an interesting and deceptive Komedia club in Brighton that is host of a variety of gigs including comedy, music and cabaret. It was a lively place with a mixed audience and a well stocked bar. Downstairs they have a coffee bar and a café that looks well patronised.
The venue was an interesting and deceptive Komedia club in Brighton that is host of a variety of gigs including comedy, music and cabaret. It was a lively place with a mixed audience and a well stocked bar. Downstairs they have a coffee bar and a café that looks well patronised.
More wot I have read…
My Name is Daphne Fairfax by Arthur Smith
I rattled through this book as it was a very entertaining read. I could hear Arthur Smith’s distinctive voice in the words as I read about his interesting life.
'My name is Arthur Smith, unless there's anybody here from the Streatham tax office. In which case, I'm Daphne Fairfax'. This has been Arthur's opening line at hundreds of stand-up comedy performances. In fact, he is neither Daphne nor Arthur. Friends and family know him as Brian. One of the 'alternative comedians' who shook up light entertainment in the eighties and nineties, Arthur (and Brian) is also a broadcaster, an opening bat for Grumpy Old Men, a West End playwright (his plays include An Evening with Gary Lineker) and a guest on innumerable radio and TV panel shows. In "My Name is Daphne Fairfax", he reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a road sweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again. Hilarious, scandalous and rude, his memoir incorporates a tender tribute to his parents and a vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive.’
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
The fourth book in the series that ties up the storylines for all the major characters nicely. This book got some bad press from the puritans as it celebrates the union between boy and girl, though I can’t see a problem with it as there is nothing graphic and the passion is highly romanticized.
It is an easy read, written as it is for young adults, but it is still entertaining and compulsive. Different in its approach from the previous books it allows the story to viewed from two characters point of view fleshing the second character out more while giving us a relief from the insecurities of the lead.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ I murmured. ‘We belong together.’
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words. This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it. His arms wrapped around me, holding me against him…It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
‘Forever,’ he agreed.
I rattled through this book as it was a very entertaining read. I could hear Arthur Smith’s distinctive voice in the words as I read about his interesting life.
'My name is Arthur Smith, unless there's anybody here from the Streatham tax office. In which case, I'm Daphne Fairfax'. This has been Arthur's opening line at hundreds of stand-up comedy performances. In fact, he is neither Daphne nor Arthur. Friends and family know him as Brian. One of the 'alternative comedians' who shook up light entertainment in the eighties and nineties, Arthur (and Brian) is also a broadcaster, an opening bat for Grumpy Old Men, a West End playwright (his plays include An Evening with Gary Lineker) and a guest on innumerable radio and TV panel shows. In "My Name is Daphne Fairfax", he reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a road sweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again. Hilarious, scandalous and rude, his memoir incorporates a tender tribute to his parents and a vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive.’
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
The fourth book in the series that ties up the storylines for all the major characters nicely. This book got some bad press from the puritans as it celebrates the union between boy and girl, though I can’t see a problem with it as there is nothing graphic and the passion is highly romanticized.
It is an easy read, written as it is for young adults, but it is still entertaining and compulsive. Different in its approach from the previous books it allows the story to viewed from two characters point of view fleshing the second character out more while giving us a relief from the insecurities of the lead.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ I murmured. ‘We belong together.’
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words. This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it. His arms wrapped around me, holding me against him…It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
‘Forever,’ he agreed.
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