Getting away from it all…

We took a short break at the beginning of Easter by using a hotel voucher gifted to us by my family at Christmas on accommodation in Lyndhurst in the heart of the New Forest. We stopped at the large LyndhurstPark Hotel (which looks better from park than it does from the road) which is centrally located next to the open land where ponies, donkeys and cattle roam. We ate out the first night at the lovely, quaint, chocolate box ThatchedCottage in Brokenhurst the first night and at the mad and busy La Pergola the next, enjoying both in different ways. It was a holiday of food as we also sampled fish and chips at Lymington followed by ice-cream as we strolled around the old town and cream tea before returning to the hotel. We did get out and about too, with walks on the heath land the villages and towns and an interesting exploration of Bucklers Hard (a maritime museum at the little ship building village that has a wonderful history).

We were also very fortunate with the weather as it turned grey and wet for the rest of the holiday weekend as we returned, visited Jamie and then we all went on to Sue’s sister’s where we helped her out with a few jobs before having a meal and staying over. The next day we went on to visit more friends where more eating and drinking was involved before finally returning home and collapsing in front of the TV. The last day of the Easter break was spent indoors clearing out old junk and tidying up before we could relax and put our feet up.

More of wot I have read…

Any Human Heart by William Boyd

I enjoyed this book but I hadn’t realised until I started it that I had already seen the TV mini-series adaptation that had been on Channel 4 recently. Luckily the book and the TV show were faithful to each other and it had been enough time since I saw it that it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story. It is well written in a journal style that engages and pulls you along in the wake of the main characters varied and interesting life.

‘Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, and Logan Mountstuart’s — lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century — is a rich tapestry of both. As a writer who finds inspiration in Paris and London, as a spy betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in ’60s New York, Logan mixes with the men and women who shape his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full — and a journey deep into a very human heart.’

High Technology…

I am no technophobe, but I am not an ‘early adopter’ either, so I was quite excited to buy into the whole Apple phenomenon recently with my purchase of an IPad 2 (just before they brought out the IPad 3 of course!) and I have been enjoying its design aesthetics and functional sensibilities whilst trying to justify the fact that it cost almost as much as my new desktop PC (bought to replace the ten year old clunker I was using and to allow me to get Photoshop so that I can play around with my digital photos).

Messing About on the River…

Sue’s work’s annual team bonding event this year was out in the Lee Valley, near Waltham Abbey, at the venue for Olympic canoe slalom at a purpose built artificial river rapids. Before getting in the water though they had to complete an orienteering challenge that was not taken as seriously by all, many of the team not knowing how to use a compass and just enjoying a stroll out in the countryside away from the office. Everybody though had to join in with the white water rafting by taking turns in different positions in the raft. Luckily they had a glorious day in the unseasonably warm sunshine and had great fun messing about on the river.

A Cultural Day in the City…

Last month we took a day off work and spent it out in London town exploring the sights and taking in the culture both high and low.

I wanted to visit the Design Museum where they were showing the designs of the nominees of the ‘Designs of the year 2012’ – a mixed bag of exciting, innovative, expected and unusual designs that included a couple of small electric cars, several building designs, quite bizarre clothes that fold up and look extremely uncomfortable and impracticable, and my favourite; a fascinating mine clearing device that looks like a cross between a giant dandelion seed head and a tumbleweed made with cheap plastic feet bamboo poles and a central unit complete with GPS mapping facility. The assembly is left to wander around at random where ever the wind blows it until it triggers a mine, the GPS showing the safe route through the minefield.

Whilst in the museum we had a look around the other exhibitions. One dedicated to the work of the influential product designer TerranceConran and another to a project called the MUJI Product Fitness 80 – this explained how if you reduced product materials to 80% of their current size how much you would save without necessarily noticing a reduction in the functionality or usability of the product.

Afterwards we went up to Camden Town and to an area we were unfamiliar with called The Stables. A deceptively large collection of disparate stalls and shops with an interesting array of merchandise on sale; mostly clothing either customised such as the gothic revival, 50’s revival, retro recycled, pop culture items, bondage and fetish items. Then there were the antique stores, the bag shops, drug paraphernalia, paintings and artworks and sweet and soap shops. As it was later on in the day and before the night time crowd came out it was pleasantly free from crowds which has put me off coming to Camden before (especially on the weekends when it is a horrific crush). We had dinner at the quirky Cuban restaurant and then made our way up Chalk Lane to the Roundhouse – a brilliant venue in what was originally a turning shed for steam locomotives before becoming a bonded store and now an auditorium with a large circular open space with tall steel pillars and intricate beams, where we saw the brilliant Dutch singer Caro Emerald perform her jazzy, retro rock ‘n roll style of music with a fabulous backing band and great projected graphics complementing each track. It wasn’t the longest show we have been to as she has only the one album out and is relatively new to the UK scene, but it was fun and we managed to get home before we turned into pumpkins.

More of wot I have read…

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick

This was a very interesting and enthralling book with a fascinating twist on the what-if scenario. I also liked how the voice of the characters had a foreign feel to it and captured a sense of different culture in the dialogue. It seems that the book might be turned into a BBC drama with Ridley Scott, who directed Blade Runner (from Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), as the executive producer.


‘Philips K. Dick’s acclaimed cult novel gives us a horrifying glimpse of an alternative world – one where the Allies have lost the Second World War. In this nightmare dystopia the Nazis have taken over New York, the Japanese control California and the African continent is virtually wiped out. In a neutral buffer zone that divides the rival superpowers in America lives the author of an underground bestseller. His book offers a new version of reality, giving hope to the disenchanted. Can other, better worlds really exist?’

A Little Light Gardening…

We have decided to make some changes to the rear garden as we were not please with the lawn, or rather expanse of moss and mare’s tail, and we wanted to make it more practical and inviting for entertaining in. So a few weeks ago a friend came over and helped me dig up all of the turf, prune and move a small tree and lay weed suppressing membrane in preparation for covering with shingle and paving stones.

On Wednesday the supplies were delivered by lorry and a pallet load was dropped off at the side of the road. We being in a mid terrace house I had to barrow the load around to the back in a series of increasingly weary journeys.

This weekend was lovely weather so we got out and as I laid the paving slabs the girls started painting the furniture in a wonderful shade of lavender.

The quantity of slate shingle we ordered only covered a third of the garden, so while I went off in my car to pick up another third we arranged for Sue’s mum to pick up the last third in her car (neither of our cars could have coped with a full load).

Returning together I then had another series of journeys with the wheel barrow and I could cover the rest of the space in plum coloured slate that complemented the furniture.

The next day started with more barrow journeys, this time taking the rubbish from the garden to the car, and from there onto the allotment and the dump as required.

After I returned I help the girls finish painting the furniture and we could relax with a drink in the garden – not on the chairs, as they were still wet.

It is looking good, but we still have the fences to paint and the boarder to replant, the deck to reseal, the shed to treat… …so now I go to work for a rest…

More of wot I have heard…

Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars

Folk-Country-Americana is one of those categories that seems to be made up for artists that don’t quite fit into the traditional mould or by fans who want to distinguish their newly found favourites from what went before in a ‘look what we found’ sort of way. But this band, or more correctly – duo, do draw on many styles that cross boundaries. They have a pared down sound that draws you into an intimate relationship with the songs in a way that I like – it is an album for people who like to ‘listen’ to the songs.