Morris Weekend Away…

This year’s Aldbury Morris Men’s annual weekend away was centred at the lovely market town of Stamford in Lincolnshire. We stayed at the Candlesticks hotel and after a long journey up on the Friday evening we met them at the Bull & Swan where they had a jam session.

The tour proper started on Saturday with a dance out in Stamford with representatives from the intriguing Goth/Steampunk looking Hemlock Morris side. Then we ventured on to Empingham a quaint hamlet (with nice pub) and then to Uppingham for lunch at another drinking establishment. In the afternoon it was onto Charters Bar at Peterborough before heading back to Stamford. The evening was a meal in the vaulted cellar at Candlesticks and another musical session.

On Sunday morning we were at our own devices and so we visited the grand dovecot and barn at Willington before joining up with the Aldbury and Hemlock sides at Great Baford where they danced by the riverside.

As an added treat we witnessed several historic planes fly over including the last flying Vulcan bomber on its final flying tour of the UK.

The Summer Tour…

Mum arrived from NZ for a holiday in the northern summer.

Our first outing was to visit the National Archives where we got our Reader’s Cards and did a little research into the family tree. Afterwards we came home and visited the inaugural WestFest village fete.

Over the next couple of months mum plans accompany us on the Aldbury Morris weekend before spending some time visiting family and friends in Lancashire. Then we all go out to Dubrovnik and later she travels with a friend around Italy before returning home (presumably for a rest).

Just Playing…

I bought another new game that I had seen a couple of years ago at Essen. It is called Sultaniya and is often the way with the games I buy is pretty and simple to learn. We played it first with Chris and Carole.

Rustic Charm and Educational Pursuits…

We visited Andy and Jodie near Ludlow to help with their garden, go to the Hay Festival and to play games – we especially enjoyed Ticket to Ride and Stuff and Nonsense. Our first ever visit to the Hay Festival was great fun with a relaxed atmosphere where we sat in on a talk about environment issues in literature nicknamed CliFi (Climate Fiction). We had a lovely meal together at the Bennetts End in the very Tolkienesque sounding hamlet of Hope Bagot.  

In the Name of Charity…

A gang of us recently went to an evening outdoor concert to see a Sinatra and Buble tribute act at Carew Manor for St Raphael’s Hospice. It was a civilised affair with picnic and drinks a plenty. Evidence can be found here.

Posh Nosh and Lazy Sunday Jazz…

As a treat for the two of us Sue and I booked a table at our friend Paul Baker’s restaurant, Kinghams, located in the picturesque village of Shere a couple of villages over from home. We had an absolutely delightful and indulgent lunch there.

  

The next day we took advantage of the lovely weather and drove over to Polesden Lacey to enjoy a restful few hours at the Sunday Jazz on the Lawn

Hard Graft and Poppadoms…

We had a busy day out in the garden with our ‘slave’ Debbie helping us out, and as a reward we all went up to the Bay Leaf Indian restaurant with some of the ‘Furlong Road Lads’ where we enjoyed a tasty curry before stopping in at the Prince of Wales for a drink and to list to a very entertaining covers band, Slim Jim and the Wildcards. Afterwards we had a couple of glasses of homemade limoncello at Howard’s. 

Toned Down…

Recently we went to see the Blues Band at Dorking Halls with a couple of friends. The band was an aging and experienced collection of artists with a long history of accomplishments. They were extremely talented but it was a sedate evening, possible due to the similarly vintage audience.

Pottery, Symphonies and Earthworms…

One evening we joined the Westcott Local History Group on a visit to the nearby Leith Hill Place run by the National Trust.

An atmospheric house with panoramic views across the Surrey countryside, Leith Hill Place was the childhood home of one of England's greatest composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who gave it to the National Trust in 1944. 

His grandparents, Josiah Wedgwood III and Caroline (née Darwin) moved there in 1847 and his great uncle, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, conducted earthworm experiments in the grounds.

More of wot I have read…

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

This is a short and fast paced novel with an interesting premise almost like an old school detective story but with a murderer in the lead instead of a Private Dick.

‘Spademan used to be a garbage man.

Before the dirty bomb hit Times Square. Before his wife was killed. Before Manhattan became a burnt-out shell.

Now he’s a hitman.

It’s not so different from his old job – waste disposal is waste disposal. He doesn’t ask questions, he works quickly and he’s handy with a box cutter. But his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, the client’s sordid agenda brings chaos into Spademen’s uncluttered life.

Spademan must navigate the wasteland of New York to finish the job, clear his own conscience and make sure he’s not the one who ends up in the ground.’

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

  

This story has an epic scale story with an intimate personal feel to it using a lovely turn of language to demonstrate the alien culture (non-gender specific). I really enjoyed it.

‘On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was Justice of Toren–a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose–to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.’