Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Cooking for one
It's difficult to eat sensibly when you're cooking for one.
Take, for instance, the casserole I've just put in the oven. It's huge. It's going to last at least three days, more likely four, by which point I'm no more going to want to eat it than I'm going to want to eat chicken and chillies with chilli noodles and sweet chilli sauce, which means that I'm going to be tempted to eat it in three large meals just to get rid of it. Yes, I know that I could freeze some, but my freezer is rather small and currently filled with frozen vegetables and part-baked bread rolls.
The problem is, as usual, that meat tends to come pre-packaged in family-sized boxes - which is fine if you're feeding the average Icelandic family (and remember, people have lots of kids over here) but not so good if you're a singleton. Of course you shouldn't really be a singleton, should you? You should be paired up having lots of kids...
I could, I suppose, split the meat into appropriate sized bags and freeze these (which I do with chicken breasts as it is definitely more economical to buy these in sixes when they're on offer at Bonus) but I never quite seem to get around to it with other meats. Instead, then, I end up looking at the contents of the fridge/freezer and having a bowl of cereal instead.
There's definitely a feeling of can't really be bothered, which I suspect may be low-level depression again. I'm quite capable of making healthy meals for one but I'm just not motivated enough at present. All donations of motivation gratefully accepted. :)
2 comments
Take, for instance, the casserole I've just put in the oven. It's huge. It's going to last at least three days, more likely four, by which point I'm no more going to want to eat it than I'm going to want to eat chicken and chillies with chilli noodles and sweet chilli sauce, which means that I'm going to be tempted to eat it in three large meals just to get rid of it. Yes, I know that I could freeze some, but my freezer is rather small and currently filled with frozen vegetables and part-baked bread rolls.
The problem is, as usual, that meat tends to come pre-packaged in family-sized boxes - which is fine if you're feeding the average Icelandic family (and remember, people have lots of kids over here) but not so good if you're a singleton. Of course you shouldn't really be a singleton, should you? You should be paired up having lots of kids...
I could, I suppose, split the meat into appropriate sized bags and freeze these (which I do with chicken breasts as it is definitely more economical to buy these in sixes when they're on offer at Bonus) but I never quite seem to get around to it with other meats. Instead, then, I end up looking at the contents of the fridge/freezer and having a bowl of cereal instead.
There's definitely a feeling of can't really be bothered, which I suspect may be low-level depression again. I'm quite capable of making healthy meals for one but I'm just not motivated enough at present. All donations of motivation gratefully accepted. :)
2 comments
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Goldilocks pool
I think that would make a great title for a novel.
But in fact it has nothing to do with a book, but instead is a comment on the swimming pool at Hrafnagil. It being Monday, and in spite my not going into the office (it's still July, dammit!) I took the time today to get back into the habit of going swimming (as opposed to my normal trips to the pool with Martha which should more correctly be described as 'going floating'). Not only am I doing the exercise thing once more but, it being the second month of serious swimming, I've increased my distance from ten lengths to twelve.
The main pool, when I lowered myself into it, proved to be distinctly on the chilly side for an Icelandic pool. This isn't a bad thing though, as if it's too warm then it's very difficult to swim any distance without overheating. Once I'd done the requisite number of lengths I then decamped to the childrens' pool, a smaller and much shallower pool which is always rather warmer than the main pool. This is the Goldilocks pool; not so cool as the main swimming pool, not so hot as the hotpot (which is normally about 40°C) but just right for lounging about talking to your friends while your toddlers splash about safely within within reach - or at least under your watchful eye.
Naturally I try to avoid the small children, but even with them the Goldilocks pool is an excellent place to spend half an hour on a dull grey Monday. Or any other day, I suspect.
0 comments
But in fact it has nothing to do with a book, but instead is a comment on the swimming pool at Hrafnagil. It being Monday, and in spite my not going into the office (it's still July, dammit!) I took the time today to get back into the habit of going swimming (as opposed to my normal trips to the pool with Martha which should more correctly be described as 'going floating'). Not only am I doing the exercise thing once more but, it being the second month of serious swimming, I've increased my distance from ten lengths to twelve.
The main pool, when I lowered myself into it, proved to be distinctly on the chilly side for an Icelandic pool. This isn't a bad thing though, as if it's too warm then it's very difficult to swim any distance without overheating. Once I'd done the requisite number of lengths I then decamped to the childrens' pool, a smaller and much shallower pool which is always rather warmer than the main pool. This is the Goldilocks pool; not so cool as the main swimming pool, not so hot as the hotpot (which is normally about 40°C) but just right for lounging about talking to your friends while your toddlers splash about safely within within reach - or at least under your watchful eye.
Naturally I try to avoid the small children, but even with them the Goldilocks pool is an excellent place to spend half an hour on a dull grey Monday. Or any other day, I suspect.
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Sunday, July 29, 2007
Harry Potter 7
Tick.
And I'm pleased to say that it all worked out much the way I expected, even if it did take rather a long time to do so. But at least it's now out of the way, I know how the story ends and I can get on with reading something else. I've come to the conclusion that I rather prefer the film versions as they've been edited to tell the story rather than get caught up on other things.
That's about all I've managed to do today. Still, it's given me a good excuse to have a very lazy Sunday.
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And I'm pleased to say that it all worked out much the way I expected, even if it did take rather a long time to do so. But at least it's now out of the way, I know how the story ends and I can get on with reading something else. I've come to the conclusion that I rather prefer the film versions as they've been edited to tell the story rather than get caught up on other things.
That's about all I've managed to do today. Still, it's given me a good excuse to have a very lazy Sunday.
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Saturday, July 28, 2007
Non-online gaming
I've never been a big one for buying computer games.
Fortunately, most new computers come with a few basic games loaded. My MacBook came with a selection of seven games in the Big Bang Board Games collection - chess, tic-tac-toe, mancala, reversi, draughts (checkers), 4-in-a-row and my personal favourite, backgammon. I have to say that a game of backgammon is much more satisfying than, say, a game of patience or minesweeper. Best of all, it allows me to practice for SCA events.
And believe me, I need the practice. My backgammon skills have always been minimal (at best) and, never really having had anyone nearby with whom I can play, irregularly practiced. Since I got this new machine I must have played at least a game a day, which has already allowed me to start seeing tactical possibilities. I think that I'm going to have to see if I can find a small portable backgammon/chess set that I can take to events with me; one that isn't going to take up much space/weight allowance. Or, come to think of it, I could just embroider a board and make some light wooden playing pieces. Except that gives me something else to add to the sewing list... :)
Now I just need to find a suitable piece of bridge-playing software. I know several folks around here who play bridge, but I'm certainly not up to their standard (Martha's husband Svenni, for instance, has many, many medals and trophies for bridge-playing). Mind you, as it's a game with a limited vocabulary so maybe I could even play it in Icelandic. I do need a bit more practice first though.
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Fortunately, most new computers come with a few basic games loaded. My MacBook came with a selection of seven games in the Big Bang Board Games collection - chess, tic-tac-toe, mancala, reversi, draughts (checkers), 4-in-a-row and my personal favourite, backgammon. I have to say that a game of backgammon is much more satisfying than, say, a game of patience or minesweeper. Best of all, it allows me to practice for SCA events.
And believe me, I need the practice. My backgammon skills have always been minimal (at best) and, never really having had anyone nearby with whom I can play, irregularly practiced. Since I got this new machine I must have played at least a game a day, which has already allowed me to start seeing tactical possibilities. I think that I'm going to have to see if I can find a small portable backgammon/chess set that I can take to events with me; one that isn't going to take up much space/weight allowance. Or, come to think of it, I could just embroider a board and make some light wooden playing pieces. Except that gives me something else to add to the sewing list... :)
Now I just need to find a suitable piece of bridge-playing software. I know several folks around here who play bridge, but I'm certainly not up to their standard (Martha's husband Svenni, for instance, has many, many medals and trophies for bridge-playing). Mind you, as it's a game with a limited vocabulary so maybe I could even play it in Icelandic. I do need a bit more practice first though.
0 comments
Friday, July 27, 2007
Clobbering devices
No, that isn't a typo.
Today has been quite gentle, punctuated by a trip to Bonus for the weekly shopping and then, later one, a longer swimming-cum-Chinese-cum-general natter with Martha. During my absence in the UK the shire has carried on quite nicely with people still meeting up to do things and also continuing with their own research. I'm really quite relieved at that as it shows that it is growing beyond being Nik's Club and is developing a life of its own.
One thing that Martha has been doing is looking into the legal requirements and regulations on the importation and ownership of assorted SCA weapons. As well as reading a lot of legal stuff (all of Iceland's legislation is available online, which is useful) she has spoken to the local chief of police and the Sheriff of Reykjavik (we both smiled at this translation - images of a nordic Alan Rickman came to mind). At present it looks like rapiers are fine and bows are generally treated as firearms but we may be exempt as we're using them for sporting purposes.
What is more amusing is the situation concerning rattan weapons. These may be regulated under the same laws as night-sticks, knuckledusters and other 'clobbering devices'. I love that term - 'clobbering devices'. The translation from the Icelandic is such an excellent description of a piece of rattan. I can see that I'm going to have to put links on the shire webpage to the appropriate legal documents and that we're going to have to build a file of hard copies that will be part of the shire's general paperwork. Thankfully someone else will be responsible for keeping it up to date; I'm having enough problems with simple academic Icelandic, never mind legalese!
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Today has been quite gentle, punctuated by a trip to Bonus for the weekly shopping and then, later one, a longer swimming-cum-Chinese-cum-general natter with Martha. During my absence in the UK the shire has carried on quite nicely with people still meeting up to do things and also continuing with their own research. I'm really quite relieved at that as it shows that it is growing beyond being Nik's Club and is developing a life of its own.
One thing that Martha has been doing is looking into the legal requirements and regulations on the importation and ownership of assorted SCA weapons. As well as reading a lot of legal stuff (all of Iceland's legislation is available online, which is useful) she has spoken to the local chief of police and the Sheriff of Reykjavik (we both smiled at this translation - images of a nordic Alan Rickman came to mind). At present it looks like rapiers are fine and bows are generally treated as firearms but we may be exempt as we're using them for sporting purposes.
What is more amusing is the situation concerning rattan weapons. These may be regulated under the same laws as night-sticks, knuckledusters and other 'clobbering devices'. I love that term - 'clobbering devices'. The translation from the Icelandic is such an excellent description of a piece of rattan. I can see that I'm going to have to put links on the shire webpage to the appropriate legal documents and that we're going to have to build a file of hard copies that will be part of the shire's general paperwork. Thankfully someone else will be responsible for keeping it up to date; I'm having enough problems with simple academic Icelandic, never mind legalese!
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Thursday, July 26, 2007
A long day
I am back in my flat, sitting on my sofa watching my television.
It's been quite a long day so far, given that I had an 04:00 start in order to get to Manchester airport in time for an 06:55 flight to Glasgow. It was interesting driving to Manchester, as they've changed some of the parking arrangements as part of the new security system. The two lanes into the car park and drop-off points have been reduced to one lane by constricting first one lane and then the other, forcing you to change lanes every 25m or so. This is clearly to prevent people driving vehicle-mounted explosive devices at high speed into the departure hall.
The queues for the security check were longer than ever, and they're now at the point of sending a chap along the line fast-tracking people whose flights are within the next half hour. Clearly the 'check in at least 45 minutes before your flight' should really be extended to at least an hour and a quarter to allow for the new security measures. Curiously enough, I didn't see any differences compared to before the Glasgow incident. Perhaps they've just turned the sensitivity of the metal detector up so they have to hand-check a significantly higher number of people passing through it.
I arrived well before my check-in opened in Glasgow - the joys of connecting flights - and so sat around the departure hall reading for a while. Both Glasgow and Manchester have shopping schemes that really annoy me: all of the decent shops are before you go through security, which means that you have to be able to put anything that you want to buy into your single piece of hand luggage. The shops beyond are quite pathetic in comparison - Glasgow doesn't even have a decent bookshop, just a small WHSmith, with the result that I didn't get any of the books that I'd planned to pick up on the way out. I think that Stanstead is still at the top of my favourite place for duty-free shopping list.
Given the current weather I was very surprised that the flight to Iceland was so smooth. The skies were clear above Keflavík, which meant that for the first time I actually saw the rifts in the landscape where the European and North American plates are splitting apart. There are a number of long parallel faults that are easily visible when the ground isn't covered in snow. I must wander around there at some point to have a closer look. Also close to the airport are a couple of very strange gold courses - blobs and strips of green amidst the lava fields. I imagine that getting stuck in the rough there must be quite unpleasant, as you'd be playing off fractured rock rather than out of grass.
For a change the normal weather was reversed. Usually I fly into Keflavík to be met by gale-force winds and horizontal rain, while Akureyri is in bright sunshine. Today, Keflavík was abnormally sunny but Akureyri was grey and wet. Jóhann next door tells me that I've brought the rain with me, as since I left there's been very little rain at all. Hmm... if I can 'distract' some of the rain from England then I'm quite happy to have it come up here instead. Actually, I'm happy to have the rain anyway - I can hear it through the open window, which is rather pleasant.
Tomorrow I need to go shopping, and this weekend I'm planning to blitz the flat with assorted cleaning agents and the vacuum cleaner. Then I can at least face the run up to the new semester with a bright shiny clean apartment. Tonight, though, I think I'll be in bed fairly early.
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It's been quite a long day so far, given that I had an 04:00 start in order to get to Manchester airport in time for an 06:55 flight to Glasgow. It was interesting driving to Manchester, as they've changed some of the parking arrangements as part of the new security system. The two lanes into the car park and drop-off points have been reduced to one lane by constricting first one lane and then the other, forcing you to change lanes every 25m or so. This is clearly to prevent people driving vehicle-mounted explosive devices at high speed into the departure hall.
The queues for the security check were longer than ever, and they're now at the point of sending a chap along the line fast-tracking people whose flights are within the next half hour. Clearly the 'check in at least 45 minutes before your flight' should really be extended to at least an hour and a quarter to allow for the new security measures. Curiously enough, I didn't see any differences compared to before the Glasgow incident. Perhaps they've just turned the sensitivity of the metal detector up so they have to hand-check a significantly higher number of people passing through it.
I arrived well before my check-in opened in Glasgow - the joys of connecting flights - and so sat around the departure hall reading for a while. Both Glasgow and Manchester have shopping schemes that really annoy me: all of the decent shops are before you go through security, which means that you have to be able to put anything that you want to buy into your single piece of hand luggage. The shops beyond are quite pathetic in comparison - Glasgow doesn't even have a decent bookshop, just a small WHSmith, with the result that I didn't get any of the books that I'd planned to pick up on the way out. I think that Stanstead is still at the top of my favourite place for duty-free shopping list.
Given the current weather I was very surprised that the flight to Iceland was so smooth. The skies were clear above Keflavík, which meant that for the first time I actually saw the rifts in the landscape where the European and North American plates are splitting apart. There are a number of long parallel faults that are easily visible when the ground isn't covered in snow. I must wander around there at some point to have a closer look. Also close to the airport are a couple of very strange gold courses - blobs and strips of green amidst the lava fields. I imagine that getting stuck in the rough there must be quite unpleasant, as you'd be playing off fractured rock rather than out of grass.
For a change the normal weather was reversed. Usually I fly into Keflavík to be met by gale-force winds and horizontal rain, while Akureyri is in bright sunshine. Today, Keflavík was abnormally sunny but Akureyri was grey and wet. Jóhann next door tells me that I've brought the rain with me, as since I left there's been very little rain at all. Hmm... if I can 'distract' some of the rain from England then I'm quite happy to have it come up here instead. Actually, I'm happy to have the rain anyway - I can hear it through the open window, which is rather pleasant.
Tomorrow I need to go shopping, and this weekend I'm planning to blitz the flat with assorted cleaning agents and the vacuum cleaner. Then I can at least face the run up to the new semester with a bright shiny clean apartment. Tonight, though, I think I'll be in bed fairly early.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The joy of meatballs
For dinner this evening I made meatballs in gravy.
Now, you may well think that this isn't exactly earth-shattering stuff, but the important thing is that they actually maintained structural integrity after they'd come out of the oven. Every time I've tried to make meatballs before they've fallen apart (in much the same way that my sausage burgers tend to fall apart) while cooking in gravy in the oven. So it was, I admit, with a little trepidation that I launched into making them tonight.
The reason for this experimental cuisine was that I hadn't realised that I was supposed to be cooking dinner and there was mince in the freezer. Mince is okay occasionally but I have a strong preference for meat in larger than ant-sized pieces so I decided to compact the stuff. Once I'd thawed it in the microwave, that is. Mince, chopped onion, some herbs and spices and a beaten egg later and I was frying the balls in olive oil to try to brown them and persuade them to maintain their shape. As you may have gathered, I was quite impressed that they did
Dad did ask how I made them but I have a suspicion that making the balls and frying them may be a bit too much of a faff for him. Nonetheless, I'm happy that I got them working at last, and I'm now confident enough (and have a large enough frying pan) to make them for myself. Maybe with spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Yeah, that has appeal.
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Now, you may well think that this isn't exactly earth-shattering stuff, but the important thing is that they actually maintained structural integrity after they'd come out of the oven. Every time I've tried to make meatballs before they've fallen apart (in much the same way that my sausage burgers tend to fall apart) while cooking in gravy in the oven. So it was, I admit, with a little trepidation that I launched into making them tonight.
The reason for this experimental cuisine was that I hadn't realised that I was supposed to be cooking dinner and there was mince in the freezer. Mince is okay occasionally but I have a strong preference for meat in larger than ant-sized pieces so I decided to compact the stuff. Once I'd thawed it in the microwave, that is. Mince, chopped onion, some herbs and spices and a beaten egg later and I was frying the balls in olive oil to try to brown them and persuade them to maintain their shape. As you may have gathered, I was quite impressed that they did
Dad did ask how I made them but I have a suspicion that making the balls and frying them may be a bit too much of a faff for him. Nonetheless, I'm happy that I got them working at last, and I'm now confident enough (and have a large enough frying pan) to make them for myself. Maybe with spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Yeah, that has appeal.
0 comments
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Avoiding gangsters
No, literally.
Tonight, being Dad's birthday, we went out for a meal with a couple of old family friends to Crichtons in Allerton Road. This was pleasant enough to start with, and we sat and chatted through the starter. As we waited for the main course to arrive a large and what would turn out to be rather noisome parter arrived a couple of tables away. This group was loud and obnoxious for the rest of the meal. So much so that I did wonder why the management wasn't asking them to quieten down. Or, for that matter, why one of them was clearly standing by the door but certainly inside the resteraunt smoking.
The reason, it turned out, was that these were members of the Ungi clan, one of Liverpool's foremost criminal gangs. I got the distinct impression that the management handled them with kid gloves so as to ensure that they had still had a bistro 24 hours later.
And to think that we went to Allerton Road in order to avoid the unpleasantry of the city centre. Ah well.
0 comments
Tonight, being Dad's birthday, we went out for a meal with a couple of old family friends to Crichtons in Allerton Road. This was pleasant enough to start with, and we sat and chatted through the starter. As we waited for the main course to arrive a large and what would turn out to be rather noisome parter arrived a couple of tables away. This group was loud and obnoxious for the rest of the meal. So much so that I did wonder why the management wasn't asking them to quieten down. Or, for that matter, why one of them was clearly standing by the door but certainly inside the resteraunt smoking.
The reason, it turned out, was that these were members of the Ungi clan, one of Liverpool's foremost criminal gangs. I got the distinct impression that the management handled them with kid gloves so as to ensure that they had still had a bistro 24 hours later.
And to think that we went to Allerton Road in order to avoid the unpleasantry of the city centre. Ah well.
0 comments
Monday, July 23, 2007
Butterflies, photos and books
I don't think I've photographed a butterfly before.
We saw this one on a holly bush just outside Layer Marney House, and I photographed it out of curiosity. The photos turned out surprisingly well, allowing me to identify it (thanks to google-fu) as a Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus).
The rest of the Colchester photographs are now online here. Most of them are of Layer Marney House, although there are also some of the Red Lion Hotel.
And finally, as a service to my SCA shire, I will be returning to Iceland with a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be available for loan as soon as I've finished it. :)
P.S. Sorry about the silence for the last week or so - as you may have realised, I didn't have a internet connection while at that caravan or on holiday,
2 comments
We saw this one on a holly bush just outside Layer Marney House, and I photographed it out of curiosity. The photos turned out surprisingly well, allowing me to identify it (thanks to google-fu) as a Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus).
The rest of the Colchester photographs are now online here. Most of them are of Layer Marney House, although there are also some of the Red Lion Hotel.
And finally, as a service to my SCA shire, I will be returning to Iceland with a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be available for loan as soon as I've finished it. :)
P.S. Sorry about the silence for the last week or so - as you may have realised, I didn't have a internet connection while at that caravan or on holiday,
2 comments
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Someone else's new toy
I am faintly amused.
Not by The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which, even a mere two chapters in, is making me think this is so obvious - how can any rational being seriously believe in a personal God?. For the record, I'm one of those people who is quite convinced that science will eventually explain any strange things that I've ever experienced before now. That doesn't mean that I'm not immensely impressed and moved by the complexity of the universe, but I'm happy to believe that all of this arose from the action of a basic set of physical laws.
No, the thing that's amusing me is that Dad has a new car, a black Saab 9-3. I knew from things he'd said over the last few months that he was considering replacing the old Saab 9000, but all of these comments were accompanied with the normal mutterings about the cost of new cars and the plan to get something smaller and perhaps second-hand. In the end, though, he couldn't resist the new car, although I must admit that the 9-3 is smaller than the 9000.
The most amusing thing was the look of small boy with wonderful new toy that he gave me when I noted that it was a new one. It seems that he got a very good trade-in deal on the old one.
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Not by The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which, even a mere two chapters in, is making me think this is so obvious - how can any rational being seriously believe in a personal God?. For the record, I'm one of those people who is quite convinced that science will eventually explain any strange things that I've ever experienced before now. That doesn't mean that I'm not immensely impressed and moved by the complexity of the universe, but I'm happy to believe that all of this arose from the action of a basic set of physical laws.
No, the thing that's amusing me is that Dad has a new car, a black Saab 9-3. I knew from things he'd said over the last few months that he was considering replacing the old Saab 9000, but all of these comments were accompanied with the normal mutterings about the cost of new cars and the plan to get something smaller and perhaps second-hand. In the end, though, he couldn't resist the new car, although I must admit that the 9-3 is smaller than the 9000.
The most amusing thing was the look of small boy with wonderful new toy that he gave me when I noted that it was a new one. It seems that he got a very good trade-in deal on the old one.
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Saturday, July 21, 2007
Water everywhere
The roads were clear, but the fields certainly weren't.
This afternoon Penny and I drove up to Liverpool along the M5 and M6. We started off in north Worcestershire, just far enough north so as to have been out of the main areas of devastation in the Midlands. The motorway was clear enough - no standing water at least, although we did drive through a couple of patches of extremely heavy rain - but the fields on either side were more like lakes with trees occasionally piercing the water's surface.
It was damp, but no longer raining by the time we arrived in Liverpool, and seemingly it hasn't been too bad up here. Nonetheless, the lawns are a quite spectacularly lush shade of green, the sort that you don't tend to see in Iceland.
I could do with a few more geothermal swimming pools over here though.
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This afternoon Penny and I drove up to Liverpool along the M5 and M6. We started off in north Worcestershire, just far enough north so as to have been out of the main areas of devastation in the Midlands. The motorway was clear enough - no standing water at least, although we did drive through a couple of patches of extremely heavy rain - but the fields on either side were more like lakes with trees occasionally piercing the water's surface.
It was damp, but no longer raining by the time we arrived in Liverpool, and seemingly it hasn't been too bad up here. Nonetheless, the lawns are a quite spectacularly lush shade of green, the sort that you don't tend to see in Iceland.
I could do with a few more geothermal swimming pools over here though.
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Friday, July 20, 2007
Rain rain rain
Il fait du sog. It is, indeed, very soggy.
On the way back last night we came through some very wet bits, and this wetness continued all night. This morning, then, was extremely soggy, if quite musical thanks to the rain dancing down and bouncing off the roof, windows or ground. This change from the brilliant sunshine of Colchester was reflected in our energy today, and both of us spent quite a while just relaxing, snoozing or generally slobbing about.
There was an energetic interlude around lunch time, sparked off entirely by a very pleasant pub lunch with Tom and Claire, but we lapsed back into lethargy soon afterwards. We had planned to do some dressmaking and a bit of computer stuff during the rest of the day, but the most active we got was doing a bit of embroidery whilst watching an old Midsomer Murder. I did manage to take a few photos of Georgina the cat - partly because Penny admitted that she didn't have many photos of Georgie but also partly because Georgie was being a complete camera tart. :)
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On the way back last night we came through some very wet bits, and this wetness continued all night. This morning, then, was extremely soggy, if quite musical thanks to the rain dancing down and bouncing off the roof, windows or ground. This change from the brilliant sunshine of Colchester was reflected in our energy today, and both of us spent quite a while just relaxing, snoozing or generally slobbing about.
There was an energetic interlude around lunch time, sparked off entirely by a very pleasant pub lunch with Tom and Claire, but we lapsed back into lethargy soon afterwards. We had planned to do some dressmaking and a bit of computer stuff during the rest of the day, but the most active we got was doing a bit of embroidery whilst watching an old Midsomer Murder. I did manage to take a few photos of Georgina the cat - partly because Penny admitted that she didn't have many photos of Georgie but also partly because Georgie was being a complete camera tart. :)
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
Colchester - Day 3
Penny's car really does hate me.
Today we left Colchester behind and crossed the country to Penny's place in Alvechurch, although not without one or two problems (and a thing of joy) on the way.
The plan was simple: Get up, have breakfast, pack, go shopping, check out, retrieve the car, head west (taking in a heritage site or two on the way) and get back at a reasonably sensible hour. It started reasonably well in that the 07:00 planned time of rising turned into an actual time of 07:30, but we still managed to get breakfast over and done with well before 09:00. Packing was a little slower than planned (mainly because we were thinking too hard of how to schedule other things) but we got out to go shopping just before 10:00. Shopping was relatively painless, punctuated by some dramatic blurb reading at the independent bookshop (one of the senior staff found this quite amusing and wished that he could employ me as a professional blurb reader and general vocal advertiser). Our final explorations completed we finally checked out just before 11:00. So far so good.
That was when the fun started. First of all we'd managed to lose the car parking ticket at some time in the preceding 48 hours. Fortunately the excess for a lost ticket was about the same price as the overall cost for two and a bit days of parking, as Penny discovered during her first visit to the car park while dumping some shopping and searching for the ticket. After meeting up at the hotel to sort out where to load the larger luggage Penny headed off back to the car park while I got the luggage from the hotel to the appropriate loading area and waited for her. And waited. And waited. About half an hour later she returned to tell me that the battery was completely flat and that it was going to be an AA job. Fortunately the AA man arrived soon after and was both cheerful and efficient, two qualities that we both really appreciated.
As a result we didn't get on the road until about 13:30. several hours later than planned. This called for a rapid rewriting of our plan for the day and, sadly, we crossed Cressing Temple off the to-do list, leaving us with Learey Marney House. This house contains an eight-storey Tudor gatehouse, the tallest ever built, within its own grounds with a formal garden. The building is constantly being restored and renovated, and it's interesting to see just how much work is not only going into this but also how much still needs to be done. It was interesting to compare the renovation and repair work to the hotel we've been staying in, as there have been several things over the past few days that have suggested that the Red Lion runs on a very tight budget - beautiful public rooms but bedrooms and corridors that look a little 'tired, and perhaps not quite as many staff as you'd expect. I can understand it, given how much the upkeep of a Grade 1 listed building like that must be. The tower has the same problem, while some sections are clearly currently undergoing work others are clearly in need of attention. The main stairwell up the tower that had clearly held the nursery at some point was wallpapered in an, er, interesting wallpaper whose design looked as it had come from the thirties.
We spent an enjoyable three and a half hours wandering around the house and its gardens in bright sunshine before heading off west towards Birmingham. It became clear that we were heading into the bad weather and we drove through some quite impressive rain before finding an other 16th century coaching in in a little village on the A421 where we stopped for a meal. This was clearly a real village pub - domino sets and cribbage boards sat beside some books on a shelf and a dartboard hung on the wall beside our windowseat. The food was excellent, and extremely large steak for Penny and a simple but flavoursome chicken curry for me. We were talking to the landlord at one point and he told us a most interesting thing - since the smoking ban came in he's seen a huge increase in the numbers of women going into the pub for a drink or meal and a chat. It appears that this pub has now become an alternative to the coffee shop as somewhere to get together for a chat.
It was almost 23:00 and still raining heavily when we arrived at Penny's to be greeted noisily by Georgina, her cat. To whom it appears I am violently allergic, which is unfortunate as she's a very sweet thing who loves people. Fortunately I still have some of the antihistamines that I bought against hay fever at the van so I'm going to be able to see and breathe after all.
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Today we left Colchester behind and crossed the country to Penny's place in Alvechurch, although not without one or two problems (and a thing of joy) on the way.
The plan was simple: Get up, have breakfast, pack, go shopping, check out, retrieve the car, head west (taking in a heritage site or two on the way) and get back at a reasonably sensible hour. It started reasonably well in that the 07:00 planned time of rising turned into an actual time of 07:30, but we still managed to get breakfast over and done with well before 09:00. Packing was a little slower than planned (mainly because we were thinking too hard of how to schedule other things) but we got out to go shopping just before 10:00. Shopping was relatively painless, punctuated by some dramatic blurb reading at the independent bookshop (one of the senior staff found this quite amusing and wished that he could employ me as a professional blurb reader and general vocal advertiser). Our final explorations completed we finally checked out just before 11:00. So far so good.
That was when the fun started. First of all we'd managed to lose the car parking ticket at some time in the preceding 48 hours. Fortunately the excess for a lost ticket was about the same price as the overall cost for two and a bit days of parking, as Penny discovered during her first visit to the car park while dumping some shopping and searching for the ticket. After meeting up at the hotel to sort out where to load the larger luggage Penny headed off back to the car park while I got the luggage from the hotel to the appropriate loading area and waited for her. And waited. And waited. About half an hour later she returned to tell me that the battery was completely flat and that it was going to be an AA job. Fortunately the AA man arrived soon after and was both cheerful and efficient, two qualities that we both really appreciated.
As a result we didn't get on the road until about 13:30. several hours later than planned. This called for a rapid rewriting of our plan for the day and, sadly, we crossed Cressing Temple off the to-do list, leaving us with Learey Marney House. This house contains an eight-storey Tudor gatehouse, the tallest ever built, within its own grounds with a formal garden. The building is constantly being restored and renovated, and it's interesting to see just how much work is not only going into this but also how much still needs to be done. It was interesting to compare the renovation and repair work to the hotel we've been staying in, as there have been several things over the past few days that have suggested that the Red Lion runs on a very tight budget - beautiful public rooms but bedrooms and corridors that look a little 'tired, and perhaps not quite as many staff as you'd expect. I can understand it, given how much the upkeep of a Grade 1 listed building like that must be. The tower has the same problem, while some sections are clearly currently undergoing work others are clearly in need of attention. The main stairwell up the tower that had clearly held the nursery at some point was wallpapered in an, er, interesting wallpaper whose design looked as it had come from the thirties.
We spent an enjoyable three and a half hours wandering around the house and its gardens in bright sunshine before heading off west towards Birmingham. It became clear that we were heading into the bad weather and we drove through some quite impressive rain before finding an other 16th century coaching in in a little village on the A421 where we stopped for a meal. This was clearly a real village pub - domino sets and cribbage boards sat beside some books on a shelf and a dartboard hung on the wall beside our windowseat. The food was excellent, and extremely large steak for Penny and a simple but flavoursome chicken curry for me. We were talking to the landlord at one point and he told us a most interesting thing - since the smoking ban came in he's seen a huge increase in the numbers of women going into the pub for a drink or meal and a chat. It appears that this pub has now become an alternative to the coffee shop as somewhere to get together for a chat.
It was almost 23:00 and still raining heavily when we arrived at Penny's to be greeted noisily by Georgina, her cat. To whom it appears I am violently allergic, which is unfortunate as she's a very sweet thing who loves people. Fortunately I still have some of the antihistamines that I bought against hay fever at the van so I'm going to be able to see and breathe after all.
Labels: Colchester
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Colchester - Day 2
The plan for the day was to do the clock museum in the morning and the main museum in the afternoon and we actually managed to keep to the plan.
The clock museum is in the house of William Gilberd, the Elizabethan physician and physicist who originally coined the words electric and pole and published the first major work on magnetism, De Magnetica in 1600. Unfortunately they didn't sell copies of this so I'm going to have to do a bit more research before I can write an article for Baelfyr entitled Electricity IS Period. The museum contained a large number of both long-case and pedestal clocks and which led (much in the spirit of some other conversations we've had over the past couple of days) to a discussion of chameleon circuits and the Master's Tardis. Sad, aren't we? :) Particularly interesting was what was clearly a long case clock designed for scientists - as well as the clock face it had a thermometer and a barometer set into its front (we decided that this was the clock most likely to be the Master's Tardis in disguise). The house was full of the sound of clock mechanisms and chimes, all slightly out of step. In the Tardis room the combination of single- and double-beat mechanisms produced an extraordinary jazz-like syncopated rhythm.
The house also has a superbly pungent Tudor garden, recreated to contain the herbs, plants and trees common during the Tudor period. I was quite impressed by the number of identifiable aromas - although I'n useless at identifying plants Penny is exceedingly good at it and introduced me to walnut trees, purple sage and lemon mint amongst other things. I did recognise some of them, however, purely from blackwork embroideries, although naturally I had no idea what they were called. They looked like big spiky leaves with some gigantic morningstar ball on top. Or something like that...
Our afternoon was given over to Colchester museum, housed in the shell of the Norman keep of Colchester castle. This is very similar in design, although rather larger than, the White Tower in the Tower of London and the size difference is due to the walls having been built around the foundations of the old temple of Claudius, built a thousand years previously. We started off with the guided tour of the foundations and the roof. The foundations are rather strange, as you walk about within the voids excavated underneath the Roman foundations rather than them having excavated the foundations themselves. We then went up the main staircase - which is considerably wider than normal - up to the roof and the old chapel. The chapel has been identified based upon the building's similarities with the White Tower, given that the same architect was involved in designing both buildings.
The tour ended on the top floor of the museum which meant we did the museum in a most unusual order and almost lost the Normans entirely. In spite of this we dressed Penny in a toga (which was quite long and heavy), saw a pre-Roman rapier and the reconstruction of Boudicca's chariot build for the recent docu-drama. The thing I found most engaging was that we got to handle a piece of genuine Samian ware. I'm a big fan of Samian ware and would happily buy household items made of it. Unfortunately I've never been into a museum that sells it. I'm sure there must be a market for reproduction Samian ware - me for starters. We therefore managed to escape the gift shop without taking too much damage...unlike Virgin and the games shop earlier in the day.
For dinner, Penny introduced me to Café Rouge, what appears to be a French bistro range dotted around the South of England which serves a very curious version of garlic bread consisting of bread sticks drizzled in crushed garlic and melted butter. Rather unusual but quite pleasant. We had a minor panic when paying the bill as their electronics were down and we had to rummage around for cash which was something neither of us has had to do for quite some time. We then rounded off the day with Shrek the Third which was quite fun but simply drives home the message that babies are horrible messy things with which I want nothing to do.
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The clock museum is in the house of William Gilberd, the Elizabethan physician and physicist who originally coined the words electric and pole and published the first major work on magnetism, De Magnetica in 1600. Unfortunately they didn't sell copies of this so I'm going to have to do a bit more research before I can write an article for Baelfyr entitled Electricity IS Period. The museum contained a large number of both long-case and pedestal clocks and which led (much in the spirit of some other conversations we've had over the past couple of days) to a discussion of chameleon circuits and the Master's Tardis. Sad, aren't we? :) Particularly interesting was what was clearly a long case clock designed for scientists - as well as the clock face it had a thermometer and a barometer set into its front (we decided that this was the clock most likely to be the Master's Tardis in disguise). The house was full of the sound of clock mechanisms and chimes, all slightly out of step. In the Tardis room the combination of single- and double-beat mechanisms produced an extraordinary jazz-like syncopated rhythm.
The house also has a superbly pungent Tudor garden, recreated to contain the herbs, plants and trees common during the Tudor period. I was quite impressed by the number of identifiable aromas - although I'n useless at identifying plants Penny is exceedingly good at it and introduced me to walnut trees, purple sage and lemon mint amongst other things. I did recognise some of them, however, purely from blackwork embroideries, although naturally I had no idea what they were called. They looked like big spiky leaves with some gigantic morningstar ball on top. Or something like that...
Our afternoon was given over to Colchester museum, housed in the shell of the Norman keep of Colchester castle. This is very similar in design, although rather larger than, the White Tower in the Tower of London and the size difference is due to the walls having been built around the foundations of the old temple of Claudius, built a thousand years previously. We started off with the guided tour of the foundations and the roof. The foundations are rather strange, as you walk about within the voids excavated underneath the Roman foundations rather than them having excavated the foundations themselves. We then went up the main staircase - which is considerably wider than normal - up to the roof and the old chapel. The chapel has been identified based upon the building's similarities with the White Tower, given that the same architect was involved in designing both buildings.
The tour ended on the top floor of the museum which meant we did the museum in a most unusual order and almost lost the Normans entirely. In spite of this we dressed Penny in a toga (which was quite long and heavy), saw a pre-Roman rapier and the reconstruction of Boudicca's chariot build for the recent docu-drama. The thing I found most engaging was that we got to handle a piece of genuine Samian ware. I'm a big fan of Samian ware and would happily buy household items made of it. Unfortunately I've never been into a museum that sells it. I'm sure there must be a market for reproduction Samian ware - me for starters. We therefore managed to escape the gift shop without taking too much damage...unlike Virgin and the games shop earlier in the day.
For dinner, Penny introduced me to Café Rouge, what appears to be a French bistro range dotted around the South of England which serves a very curious version of garlic bread consisting of bread sticks drizzled in crushed garlic and melted butter. Rather unusual but quite pleasant. We had a minor panic when paying the bill as their electronics were down and we had to rummage around for cash which was something neither of us has had to do for quite some time. We then rounded off the day with Shrek the Third which was quite fun but simply drives home the message that babies are horrible messy things with which I want nothing to do.
Labels: Colchester
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Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Colchester - Day 1
Penny's car hates me.
As we'd arrived too late last night to find an appropriate long stay car park , first thing this morning before breakfast I got the car keys and instructions from Penny on how to disengage the alarm on the car so that I could move the car to somewhere more suitable. Indeed, when I pressed the button and opened the car door nothing happened and I was happy. Then, as soon as I turned the key in the ignition, the alarm started up. I silenced it and repeated the process three times before giving up and calling Penny on the internal phone system from reception.
We moved the car and walked back to the hotel, during which journey we came across a very suspicious looking wall. Penny thought that it was the original Roman one, but I was rather skeptical about the bricks and thought it a mediaeval repair. The question was settled in Penny's favour later in the day...
Breakfast was in a dining room dating back to 15-something, complete with oak beams and white fill. It was, as several other places we've seen today, crying out to host an SCA feast. After all, I said at the time, we do both have the gowns for it! After a leisurely breakfast we wandered into town in search of the tourist information centre, which we duly found in plenty of time to join a guided tour of the town before lunch. It turned out that we were the only two people on the tour and our intended 90 minute walking tour turned into a superb 150 minute tour with an excellent guide who seemed delighted to have not only such a small group but one in which the people were familiar with a lot of the applicable background history and archaeology and who could ask intelligent questions.
We started at the castle (built on the foundations of the temple of Claudius razed by Boudicca), and gradually worked our way around the Dutch Quarter (where lived the Flemish weavers who fled the Low Countries during the 15th century) and then out to the remains of the city walls, taking in a number of churches on our way. The most striking of these were the tiny Greek Orthodox church of St Helen (who was, according to British tradition, the mother of Constantine the Great) and Trinity church, one of the few remaining Saxon churches in England. The latter has a fascinating triangular 'arch', as the round arch only arrived with the Normans. I've taken some photos and am thinking of doing a drawing of it for Baelfyr; I suspect that I'll do an article on the delights of this town as seen by an SCA member.
We ended the walk outside a pub called "The Hole in the Wall" - which got its name from a 19th century publican blowing a hole in the city walls at his pub so that horse cab drivers could see the trains arriving at the railway station in time to get there to meet the passengers. By this time it was starting to rain and so we decided to go in for lunch. This is part of my campaign to support pubs now that the smoking ban is in place. I can certainly say that I go to the pub more often now. :) Lunch turned into a good hour and a half and a couple of glasses of cider.
By the time we'd had our long lunch there wasn't time really to do another museum so we wandered around the town and did a little more shopping before having a much-appreciated siesta. Well... rather later than the traditional siesta as we only had time for a quick meal before Die Hard 4.0 (I rather enjoyed it) late in the evening. Tomorrow is on to the main museums, but tonight I suspect that I'll sleep well.
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As we'd arrived too late last night to find an appropriate long stay car park , first thing this morning before breakfast I got the car keys and instructions from Penny on how to disengage the alarm on the car so that I could move the car to somewhere more suitable. Indeed, when I pressed the button and opened the car door nothing happened and I was happy. Then, as soon as I turned the key in the ignition, the alarm started up. I silenced it and repeated the process three times before giving up and calling Penny on the internal phone system from reception.
We moved the car and walked back to the hotel, during which journey we came across a very suspicious looking wall. Penny thought that it was the original Roman one, but I was rather skeptical about the bricks and thought it a mediaeval repair. The question was settled in Penny's favour later in the day...
Breakfast was in a dining room dating back to 15-something, complete with oak beams and white fill. It was, as several other places we've seen today, crying out to host an SCA feast. After all, I said at the time, we do both have the gowns for it! After a leisurely breakfast we wandered into town in search of the tourist information centre, which we duly found in plenty of time to join a guided tour of the town before lunch. It turned out that we were the only two people on the tour and our intended 90 minute walking tour turned into a superb 150 minute tour with an excellent guide who seemed delighted to have not only such a small group but one in which the people were familiar with a lot of the applicable background history and archaeology and who could ask intelligent questions.
We started at the castle (built on the foundations of the temple of Claudius razed by Boudicca), and gradually worked our way around the Dutch Quarter (where lived the Flemish weavers who fled the Low Countries during the 15th century) and then out to the remains of the city walls, taking in a number of churches on our way. The most striking of these were the tiny Greek Orthodox church of St Helen (who was, according to British tradition, the mother of Constantine the Great) and Trinity church, one of the few remaining Saxon churches in England. The latter has a fascinating triangular 'arch', as the round arch only arrived with the Normans. I've taken some photos and am thinking of doing a drawing of it for Baelfyr; I suspect that I'll do an article on the delights of this town as seen by an SCA member.
We ended the walk outside a pub called "The Hole in the Wall" - which got its name from a 19th century publican blowing a hole in the city walls at his pub so that horse cab drivers could see the trains arriving at the railway station in time to get there to meet the passengers. By this time it was starting to rain and so we decided to go in for lunch. This is part of my campaign to support pubs now that the smoking ban is in place. I can certainly say that I go to the pub more often now. :) Lunch turned into a good hour and a half and a couple of glasses of cider.
By the time we'd had our long lunch there wasn't time really to do another museum so we wandered around the town and did a little more shopping before having a much-appreciated siesta. Well... rather later than the traditional siesta as we only had time for a quick meal before Die Hard 4.0 (I rather enjoyed it) late in the evening. Tomorrow is on to the main museums, but tonight I suspect that I'll sleep well.
Labels: Colchester
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Monday, July 16, 2007
Driving to Colchester
Why is the debris always in my lane of the motorway? Why can I never remember which terminal I'm meeting Penny in? Is the A5 built entirely along a Roman road? How does a village get to be called Bradfield Combust? All of these questions, and more, I found myself asking at some point during the day.
Penny and I had planned to have a fairly early start, do a quick dash into Lancaster then amble down south to Colchester, dropping my car off at Manchester airport on the way at about 13:00. But the best-laid plans of mice, men and even women gang aft astray and at 13:00 we were still standing in the games shop in Lancaster. There was then as close a parking shave as you're ever likely to see as we were 20 minutes later than our pay and display ticket allowed and the warden was actually ticketing the car next to us as we arrived back. Fortunately he was working his way towards our car so we escaped with seconds to spare.
These slight delays (mainly caused by Waterstones and said games shop) meant that we didn't actually get on the road to Colchester until after 16:00. I always find it difficult to leave the caravan, which didn't help. First stop: Manchester airport. All well and good, and even the traffic on the M6 wasn't too bad except for the section where there had clearly been an incident of some sort as attested to by the shredded tyre sitting in the middle of my lane. Fortunately everyone behaved very sensibly (rare on a motorway!) and we fed into the two adjacent lanes without too much difficulty.
The difficulty came at Manchester airport. I had completely forgotten that Manchester has three terminals, arranged two and one with a long walkway between terminals 1 and 3 and the more distant terminal 2. And, of course, I ended up parking in terminal 2 when I needed terminal 1. So did Penny, although about ten minutes before me. Eventually I walked over to the defined rendezvous spot and waited a while before getting the helpful information desk people to page Penny. It turned out that Penny didn't actually hear the page as she had eventually moved from the terminal 2 car park to the terminal 1 car park and was, at the time, trying to work out how to find the arrivals hall.
Finally we got together and headed off further south, dodging things like Manchester during the rush hour and roadworks on the A14. We also avoided the A5, although it was on the same map page and looks, to my eyes, suspiciously straight for a road. The road from Bury St. Edmunds winds its way through some very picturesque little villages with equally picturesque names - although I have to wonder about Bradfield Combust. Is this a village likely to explode at any moment? Such thoughts were aided at the time by some quite spectacular pink lightning that lit the sky from behind the clouds ahead of us.
Colchester was a little larger than we expected, and we got lost amidst the roundabouts and the one-way traffic scheme. Nevertheless, just short of midnight we found the hotel - the Red Lion Hotel in Main Street. The website had informed me that it was a Tudor coaching inn but that hadn't prepared me for the astonishing vista of wooden beams with wattle and daub fill that greeted me once I walked through the doors. Photos will most certainly follow. Our room is a little bit more modern and, even for a hotel room, rather warm, but after the drive I doubt that either of us will have any problem getting to sleep.
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Penny and I had planned to have a fairly early start, do a quick dash into Lancaster then amble down south to Colchester, dropping my car off at Manchester airport on the way at about 13:00. But the best-laid plans of mice, men and even women gang aft astray and at 13:00 we were still standing in the games shop in Lancaster. There was then as close a parking shave as you're ever likely to see as we were 20 minutes later than our pay and display ticket allowed and the warden was actually ticketing the car next to us as we arrived back. Fortunately he was working his way towards our car so we escaped with seconds to spare.
These slight delays (mainly caused by Waterstones and said games shop) meant that we didn't actually get on the road to Colchester until after 16:00. I always find it difficult to leave the caravan, which didn't help. First stop: Manchester airport. All well and good, and even the traffic on the M6 wasn't too bad except for the section where there had clearly been an incident of some sort as attested to by the shredded tyre sitting in the middle of my lane. Fortunately everyone behaved very sensibly (rare on a motorway!) and we fed into the two adjacent lanes without too much difficulty.
The difficulty came at Manchester airport. I had completely forgotten that Manchester has three terminals, arranged two and one with a long walkway between terminals 1 and 3 and the more distant terminal 2. And, of course, I ended up parking in terminal 2 when I needed terminal 1. So did Penny, although about ten minutes before me. Eventually I walked over to the defined rendezvous spot and waited a while before getting the helpful information desk people to page Penny. It turned out that Penny didn't actually hear the page as she had eventually moved from the terminal 2 car park to the terminal 1 car park and was, at the time, trying to work out how to find the arrivals hall.
Finally we got together and headed off further south, dodging things like Manchester during the rush hour and roadworks on the A14. We also avoided the A5, although it was on the same map page and looks, to my eyes, suspiciously straight for a road. The road from Bury St. Edmunds winds its way through some very picturesque little villages with equally picturesque names - although I have to wonder about Bradfield Combust. Is this a village likely to explode at any moment? Such thoughts were aided at the time by some quite spectacular pink lightning that lit the sky from behind the clouds ahead of us.
Colchester was a little larger than we expected, and we got lost amidst the roundabouts and the one-way traffic scheme. Nevertheless, just short of midnight we found the hotel - the Red Lion Hotel in Main Street. The website had informed me that it was a Tudor coaching inn but that hadn't prepared me for the astonishing vista of wooden beams with wattle and daub fill that greeted me once I walked through the doors. Photos will most certainly follow. Our room is a little bit more modern and, even for a hotel room, rather warm, but after the drive I doubt that either of us will have any problem getting to sleep.
Labels: Colchester
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Sunday, July 15, 2007
Relaxing again
Sundays at the caravan are always pretty relaxed.
Standard operating procedures call for a leisurely breakfast, the cooking of which is generally interspersed with some roleplaying (currently Babylon 5). Today was no different, although we did also squeeze in a group photo before Fred and Jeanafe left early in the afternoon. Thanks to my gorilla grip and Jeanafe knowing how the delay function works on her camera we managed to get a photo of all five of us, which Fred has promised to email to me. I did manage to get one of Penny, Martin, Fred and Jeanafe though:
With F&J gone, the rest of us just lazed for the rest of the afternoon. Martin headed away late afternoon in an attempt to avoid too much of the threatened thunderstorms, leaving Penny and I to have a relaxed evening nattering, embroidering and watching Sharpe's Gold on UKTV History. I also managed to work out how the delay function on my camera works - I'm particularly pleased about this, as it means that I might get a couple of pictures of Penny and myself in Colchester later in the week. I've come to the conclusion that if I have one picture of me somewhere to prove that I was there then I don't need to be in any of the others. And I might even eventually take a decent one that's web-friendly.
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Standard operating procedures call for a leisurely breakfast, the cooking of which is generally interspersed with some roleplaying (currently Babylon 5). Today was no different, although we did also squeeze in a group photo before Fred and Jeanafe left early in the afternoon. Thanks to my gorilla grip and Jeanafe knowing how the delay function works on her camera we managed to get a photo of all five of us, which Fred has promised to email to me. I did manage to get one of Penny, Martin, Fred and Jeanafe though:
With F&J gone, the rest of us just lazed for the rest of the afternoon. Martin headed away late afternoon in an attempt to avoid too much of the threatened thunderstorms, leaving Penny and I to have a relaxed evening nattering, embroidering and watching Sharpe's Gold on UKTV History. I also managed to work out how the delay function on my camera works - I'm particularly pleased about this, as it means that I might get a couple of pictures of Penny and myself in Colchester later in the week. I've come to the conclusion that if I have one picture of me somewhere to prove that I was there then I don't need to be in any of the others. And I might even eventually take a decent one that's web-friendly.
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Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saturday at the van
Martin arrived at the van last night, which was good.
We sat and nattered until after midnight, sharing our mutual disbelief at how ludicrous university administrations are. He and I see the same sorts of problems from two different perspectives, which is both heartening and depressing as it means that HA isn't the only place with admin problems. Perhaps they're universal... now there's a depressing thought.
Penny phoned early this morning to say that she'd be a bit late, and indeed Fred and Jeanafe arrived before her. Jeanafe is both tiny and very young, as expected, and Fred is absolutely besotted. I wish them both much happiness.
It's been a very relaxing van day, with a little roleplaying in the evening but generally more sitting around talking, which was also good.
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We sat and nattered until after midnight, sharing our mutual disbelief at how ludicrous university administrations are. He and I see the same sorts of problems from two different perspectives, which is both heartening and depressing as it means that HA isn't the only place with admin problems. Perhaps they're universal... now there's a depressing thought.
Penny phoned early this morning to say that she'd be a bit late, and indeed Fred and Jeanafe arrived before her. Jeanafe is both tiny and very young, as expected, and Fred is absolutely besotted. I wish them both much happiness.
It's been a very relaxing van day, with a little roleplaying in the evening but generally more sitting around talking, which was also good.
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Friday, July 13, 2007
More retail therapy
I must find out what the population of Lancaster is. Because it certainly has far better shopping facilities than Reykjavík. :)
This morning I popped into Lancaster to pick up my new glasses and to indulge in a little more retail therapy. I've come out with another Christmas present (although again I have yet to embroider it), some more casual clothing plus an A4 laminator (you never know when a laminator's going to come in useful...).
The city centre is certainly smaller than Reykjavík's, but there are far more shops. A lot of this is, I suspect, because it's an old county town and so there are lots of little winding streets full of interesting little shops. I'm not the sort of person whose idea of a good afternoon is a wander around the shops, and even this veritable festival of shopping is very much a case of going to specific shops where I know that I can find what I want, but it's good to know that if I was so inclined then I could do it. Of course, it also means that I know that if I'm looking for something then there's a high chance that I'll be able to find it. For instance, on the spur of the moment while passing a camera shop I popped in and bought a gorilla grip like that which owns. It was quite amusing - I was offered the 'King Kong' version for SLRs or the,,, 'er,,, Cheetah' version for pocket cameras. The 'er' and the names were all the work of the shop assistant, which amused me greatly.
Now all I have to do is to work out how to fit it all in my suitcase to fly back.
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This morning I popped into Lancaster to pick up my new glasses and to indulge in a little more retail therapy. I've come out with another Christmas present (although again I have yet to embroider it), some more casual clothing plus an A4 laminator (you never know when a laminator's going to come in useful...).
The city centre is certainly smaller than Reykjavík's, but there are far more shops. A lot of this is, I suspect, because it's an old county town and so there are lots of little winding streets full of interesting little shops. I'm not the sort of person whose idea of a good afternoon is a wander around the shops, and even this veritable festival of shopping is very much a case of going to specific shops where I know that I can find what I want, but it's good to know that if I was so inclined then I could do it. Of course, it also means that I know that if I'm looking for something then there's a high chance that I'll be able to find it. For instance, on the spur of the moment while passing a camera shop I popped in and bought a gorilla grip like that which
Now all I have to do is to work out how to fit it all in my suitcase to fly back.
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Thursday, July 12, 2007
Morecambe
I feel sorry for Morecambe.
Morecambe is a small coastal town in northern England, a little further to the north of the more famous Blackpool and very much Blackpool's much-neglected cousin. It used to be quite a popular holiday resort, complete with quite a good funfair, but over the last thirty years is has suffered greatly from the increase in cheap holidays abroad.
The town has a marvelous promenade that stretches for several miles; it's just the sort of place that I, as someone who's allergic to hills, like to walk and enjoy the sea air. It also has a very good indoor market, which was my reason for visiting today.
In spite of these two features the town is dying. The funfair is gone, hidden away behind a wall of wooden boards with only the skeletons of the old wooden rollercoaster and the 'polo mint' viewing tower remaining. Most of the amusement arcades are similarly boarded up, as are many of the promenade shops.
It's sad to see the town cast so low. I remember several holidays there as a small child with my grandparents, where I spent my time building sandcastles on the beach or riding the carousel at the funfair; playing crazy golf - mini golf to those from across the pond - or just walking along the promenade eating a 99 ice cream.
If Blackpool needs a supercasino to revitalise it then Morecambe needs one even more desperately. Nothing else seems to be working, which is rather a shame.
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Morecambe is a small coastal town in northern England, a little further to the north of the more famous Blackpool and very much Blackpool's much-neglected cousin. It used to be quite a popular holiday resort, complete with quite a good funfair, but over the last thirty years is has suffered greatly from the increase in cheap holidays abroad.
The town has a marvelous promenade that stretches for several miles; it's just the sort of place that I, as someone who's allergic to hills, like to walk and enjoy the sea air. It also has a very good indoor market, which was my reason for visiting today.
In spite of these two features the town is dying. The funfair is gone, hidden away behind a wall of wooden boards with only the skeletons of the old wooden rollercoaster and the 'polo mint' viewing tower remaining. Most of the amusement arcades are similarly boarded up, as are many of the promenade shops.
It's sad to see the town cast so low. I remember several holidays there as a small child with my grandparents, where I spent my time building sandcastles on the beach or riding the carousel at the funfair; playing crazy golf - mini golf to those from across the pond - or just walking along the promenade eating a 99 ice cream.
If Blackpool needs a supercasino to revitalise it then Morecambe needs one even more desperately. Nothing else seems to be working, which is rather a shame.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Musings on marriage
The joy of News 24 is that it's giving me lots of things to ponder quietly as I sit and embroider.
Take, for instance, the current focus on tax benefits for married couples. This is all well and good, but I'm still not convinced that the whole 'till death us do part' bit actually works. Maybe a century ago, when the Church still maintained its stranglehold on social mores, but certainly not today when the Church is, on the whole, irrelevant.
Over the last few months I've watched some friends get married and others get divorced. It seems to me that marriage is nowadays a business contract rather than a religious one. It's something that shouldn't be entered into without a very carefully drawn up contract in case it doesn't work. You want it to work, but you never know what's going to happen in the future and you don't want to be seriously penalised for making a mistake when you probably weren't fully compos mentis as a result of being in love.
My suggestion - which no government is likely to take up because they are all still in thrall to the Church, no matter how disestablished the nation - is fixed-term marriage contracts. Maybe three or five years, renewable at the end of that period if both parties wish it, but otherwise both parties can walk away from it with no penalties and no social stigma. It might be sensible to have an automatic renewal for five years at the birth of a child, and this would entail a re-negotiation in order to make sure that the child is appropriately cared for.
I know that this shows quite a cynical - or is that realistic? - view of the institution of marriage, but after the last few months I can't help thinking that this is an institution that needs a radical overhaul rather than a few extra tax carrots to prop it up.
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Take, for instance, the current focus on tax benefits for married couples. This is all well and good, but I'm still not convinced that the whole 'till death us do part' bit actually works. Maybe a century ago, when the Church still maintained its stranglehold on social mores, but certainly not today when the Church is, on the whole, irrelevant.
Over the last few months I've watched some friends get married and others get divorced. It seems to me that marriage is nowadays a business contract rather than a religious one. It's something that shouldn't be entered into without a very carefully drawn up contract in case it doesn't work. You want it to work, but you never know what's going to happen in the future and you don't want to be seriously penalised for making a mistake when you probably weren't fully compos mentis as a result of being in love.
My suggestion - which no government is likely to take up because they are all still in thrall to the Church, no matter how disestablished the nation - is fixed-term marriage contracts. Maybe three or five years, renewable at the end of that period if both parties wish it, but otherwise both parties can walk away from it with no penalties and no social stigma. It might be sensible to have an automatic renewal for five years at the birth of a child, and this would entail a re-negotiation in order to make sure that the child is appropriately cared for.
I know that this shows quite a cynical - or is that realistic? - view of the institution of marriage, but after the last few months I can't help thinking that this is an institution that needs a radical overhaul rather than a few extra tax carrots to prop it up.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Energised and invigorated
Being at the caravan is balm for the soul.
I've been here less than 24 hours and I feel alive again already. This morning I went into Lancaster for an eye test and a tiny bit of retail therapy - more like planning for a later bout of retail therapy to be honest, as when I go back in to collect my new glasses I'll pick up a few things while I'm there. Things like a laminator and a handbag large enough to hold a small country (or a MacBook) rather than merely an Italian city-state.
I'm also enjoying a diet of Jeeves & Wooster on ITV3 and real news on BBC News 24, plus all sorts of foods that I can't find in Iceland. I'm sure that I'm going to be at least eight stones heavier by the time I return to the Rock. :S
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I've been here less than 24 hours and I feel alive again already. This morning I went into Lancaster for an eye test and a tiny bit of retail therapy - more like planning for a later bout of retail therapy to be honest, as when I go back in to collect my new glasses I'll pick up a few things while I'm there. Things like a laminator and a handbag large enough to hold a small country (or a MacBook) rather than merely an Italian city-state.
I'm also enjoying a diet of Jeeves & Wooster on ITV3 and real news on BBC News 24, plus all sorts of foods that I can't find in Iceland. I'm sure that I'm going to be at least eight stones heavier by the time I return to the Rock. :S
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Monday, July 09, 2007
Bouncy Debby
I think that Debby may come down some time before the end of the week.
Last night I did a deal with Toby for his very old blue clamshell iBook. We set it up and this morning I presented Debby with an extremely well preserved box full of her very own laptop. With three boys, all of whom are at least a little computer crazy, she's been working on an extremely old desktop PC and has been suffering from a serious case of 'laptop envy'. It doesn't have a CD/DVD writer but I have a spare one that I'll bring over at Christmas.
So I left a fairly bouncy Debby and drove down to the caravan. It turned out that Dad had forgotten to let the site managers know that I was coming, even though he talked to them yesterday. At least they know me and were quite happy to let me in. I'm going to have to borrow a gate clicker for the week as he's taken ours home with him. Ho hum.
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Last night I did a deal with Toby for his very old blue clamshell iBook. We set it up and this morning I presented Debby with an extremely well preserved box full of her very own laptop. With three boys, all of whom are at least a little computer crazy, she's been working on an extremely old desktop PC and has been suffering from a serious case of 'laptop envy'. It doesn't have a CD/DVD writer but I have a spare one that I'll bring over at Christmas.
So I left a fairly bouncy Debby and drove down to the caravan. It turned out that Dad had forgotten to let the site managers know that I was coming, even though he talked to them yesterday. At least they know me and were quite happy to let me in. I'm going to have to borrow a gate clicker for the week as he's taken ours home with him. Ho hum.
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Sunday, July 08, 2007
Computers everywhere
After last night's barbecue I spent the rest of the evening setting up my MacBook, until suddenly it was 1am.
Definitely a case of new-toy-itis. This morning I carried on the computing theme, doing some general support for Jane. She's a Mac person but not a technical one, so I've put her in touch with Andrew and Toby for future work.
The 'putting in touch' mainly involved a fantastic high tea with Andrew et all, at which I had a great time and had a chance to catch up with people. Naturally there was much computer stuff discussed, and Toby managed to solve a problem with one of Jane's machines that I hadn't been able to fix earlier in the day.
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Definitely a case of new-toy-itis. This morning I carried on the computing theme, doing some general support for Jane. She's a Mac person but not a technical one, so I've put her in touch with Andrew and Toby for future work.
The 'putting in touch' mainly involved a fantastic high tea with Andrew et all, at which I had a great time and had a chance to catch up with people. Naturally there was much computer stuff discussed, and Toby managed to solve a problem with one of Jane's machines that I hadn't been able to fix earlier in the day.
0 comments
Saturday, July 07, 2007
New toy
I have a new toy.
It's small, black, sexy, has a 160Gb hard drive and runs Tiger. I realised a while ago that I needed to get myself a new machine and, after much deep thought I've ended up with a top-end black MacBook rather than a slightly more expensive bottom-end MacBook Pro. My reasons are that I'm really looking for something very light and portable, something for which screen size isn't a big problem as I've got a nice spare flat screen that I can add to it at home if I'm going to do any serious work upon it.
I will, of course, be claiming VAT back on it, but even at full price I saved a bit, so I'll put up with the lack of ð, æ and þ keys. Especially when it´s so easy to change between keyboard mappings that I won´t need to fart about with HTML codes any more. :) And I don't feel quite so bad about buying it as it's only half what my car cost.
My other feel-good items for the day were that I managed not to spend a huge amount during a visit to the coffee shop at Letham (the one that also happens to sell huge amounts of craft stuff) and I found a jewellry roll in The Gift Gallery in St. Andrews. I've needed one of these for a while and I knew that this place was the most likely place for me to find one. At last I can travel with stuff in something that isn't a plastic bag or a collection of boxes, which is definitely an advantage.
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It's small, black, sexy, has a 160Gb hard drive and runs Tiger. I realised a while ago that I needed to get myself a new machine and, after much deep thought I've ended up with a top-end black MacBook rather than a slightly more expensive bottom-end MacBook Pro. My reasons are that I'm really looking for something very light and portable, something for which screen size isn't a big problem as I've got a nice spare flat screen that I can add to it at home if I'm going to do any serious work upon it.
I will, of course, be claiming VAT back on it, but even at full price I saved a bit, so I'll put up with the lack of ð, æ and þ keys. Especially when it´s so easy to change between keyboard mappings that I won´t need to fart about with HTML codes any more. :) And I don't feel quite so bad about buying it as it's only half what my car cost.
My other feel-good items for the day were that I managed not to spend a huge amount during a visit to the coffee shop at Letham (the one that also happens to sell huge amounts of craft stuff) and I found a jewellry roll in The Gift Gallery in St. Andrews. I've needed one of these for a while and I knew that this place was the most likely place for me to find one. At last I can travel with stuff in something that isn't a plastic bag or a collection of boxes, which is definitely an advantage.
1 comments
Friday, July 06, 2007
Jenny & Fraser's wedding
There was a wedding. I went. It was good.
As the person with the hire car, I turned up at Andrew's place in due time to ferry people up to Montrose to the wedding. We even got there in time, in spite of almost being kidnapped by a mega-craft shop (Letham), a linen mill (Angus Linen) and a small craft shop (in Montrose itself). But what do you expect when the occupants of the car are myself, Kate, Mig and Andrea? :)
It was a very good wedding; a civil ceremony with a particularly good set of vows that Jenny and Fraser had written themselves, an excellent meal, and a celidh that tempted even me onto my feet. It was also a very fannish wedding - I knew a lot of the guests from prior Eastercons and Albacons, and by the time we got late into the evening it felt very much like sitting in a con bar... not that I'd wear the orange suite for a con, mind, although I might be tempted to add some more extras to my 'brainslug' and wear that for a con in future!
It was quite amusing to see that very few of the women were wearing hats/headware. In fact, I think that those of us who were were accidentally self-identifying ourselves as Englishwomen of a Certain Social Background, which was extremely funny. Photos will appear as soon as I manage to get them off the camera, although I'll have to depend on others for photos of the brainslug.
0 comments
As the person with the hire car, I turned up at Andrew's place in due time to ferry people up to Montrose to the wedding. We even got there in time, in spite of almost being kidnapped by a mega-craft shop (Letham), a linen mill (Angus Linen) and a small craft shop (in Montrose itself). But what do you expect when the occupants of the car are myself, Kate, Mig and Andrea? :)
It was a very good wedding; a civil ceremony with a particularly good set of vows that Jenny and Fraser had written themselves, an excellent meal, and a celidh that tempted even me onto my feet. It was also a very fannish wedding - I knew a lot of the guests from prior Eastercons and Albacons, and by the time we got late into the evening it felt very much like sitting in a con bar... not that I'd wear the orange suite for a con, mind, although I might be tempted to add some more extras to my 'brainslug' and wear that for a con in future!
It was quite amusing to see that very few of the women were wearing hats/headware. In fact, I think that those of us who were were accidentally self-identifying ourselves as Englishwomen of a Certain Social Background, which was extremely funny. Photos will appear as soon as I manage to get them off the camera, although I'll have to depend on others for photos of the brainslug.
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Thursday, July 05, 2007
The smell of paint
That was what greeted me as I walked into the main departure hall of Glasgow airport.
I must admit that I was extremely curious to see what Glasgow airport looked like after the recent terrorist attack. In fact it is surprisingly clear, something for which I take off my hat to the forensic and maintenance teams. There is a section of the outer wall that has been replaced with freshly-painted boards covering the damaged doorway, but these boards have had light fittings installed so that they don't really look out of place. If you didn't know about the attack you probably wouldn't notice them at all.
Although there were plenty of police visible not all of them were armed. In fact the overall security level was far lower than it had been after the problems at Heathrow last year when I couldn't even use the internal corridor to get to the car hire area. This time there were no problems whatsoever. Naturally I cast the odd glance or three towards the damaged doorway once I got outside, but although the area is cordonned off it's clearly for safety purposes as it's now a building site rather than having large numbers of police around the place.
Before this I had already had a novel experience. For the first time ever I bought perfume for myself. I'm not generally a perfume-wearing person, but given that there's this wedding tomorrow I thought that I should make the effort. The perfumes I own are all ones that Mum bought me at various times - Dune, L'Air du Temps, Nocturnes de Caron and, the most recent one, Chanel No. 19. All of these, I find are a bit evening-y. I rather fancied something a bit lighter, something for an afternoon. Now, not knowing anything about perfume, I thought what do I like? - lemon shower gel... lime shower gel... grapefruit shower gel... maybe I should be looking for something citrus... but I bet they don't do perfume that smells like shower gel, do they?.
So I strode boldly towards an assistant and asked for something light (although I didn't say anything about citrus shower gel). Clearly for once the universe was on my side, and she immediately went to the latest and newest thing, clearly being massively promoted, Moschino Funny. And it's a citrus fragance! I also had a sniff of the new Chanel Chance, but although it's also citrus it's a bit more sophisticated than the Moschino which wasn't what I wanted.
Tomorrow, then, I'm going to look and smell like a giant citrus fruit, as the skirt and top I've got for the wedding is definitely on the orange side. It appears that all of Evans' formal attire this season is black or white, neither of which is suitable for a wedding. I have, however, managed to find a super thing to stick in my hair. I tried it on in the shop, looked in the mirror and said that is so silly - I'll take it!, which got me an extra discount so I'm not complaining. The addition of a few orange beads to match the clothing and it looks quite good. No doubt photos will follow.
0 comments
I must admit that I was extremely curious to see what Glasgow airport looked like after the recent terrorist attack. In fact it is surprisingly clear, something for which I take off my hat to the forensic and maintenance teams. There is a section of the outer wall that has been replaced with freshly-painted boards covering the damaged doorway, but these boards have had light fittings installed so that they don't really look out of place. If you didn't know about the attack you probably wouldn't notice them at all.
Although there were plenty of police visible not all of them were armed. In fact the overall security level was far lower than it had been after the problems at Heathrow last year when I couldn't even use the internal corridor to get to the car hire area. This time there were no problems whatsoever. Naturally I cast the odd glance or three towards the damaged doorway once I got outside, but although the area is cordonned off it's clearly for safety purposes as it's now a building site rather than having large numbers of police around the place.
Before this I had already had a novel experience. For the first time ever I bought perfume for myself. I'm not generally a perfume-wearing person, but given that there's this wedding tomorrow I thought that I should make the effort. The perfumes I own are all ones that Mum bought me at various times - Dune, L'Air du Temps, Nocturnes de Caron and, the most recent one, Chanel No. 19. All of these, I find are a bit evening-y. I rather fancied something a bit lighter, something for an afternoon. Now, not knowing anything about perfume, I thought what do I like? - lemon shower gel... lime shower gel... grapefruit shower gel... maybe I should be looking for something citrus... but I bet they don't do perfume that smells like shower gel, do they?.
So I strode boldly towards an assistant and asked for something light (although I didn't say anything about citrus shower gel). Clearly for once the universe was on my side, and she immediately went to the latest and newest thing, clearly being massively promoted, Moschino Funny. And it's a citrus fragance! I also had a sniff of the new Chanel Chance, but although it's also citrus it's a bit more sophisticated than the Moschino which wasn't what I wanted.
Tomorrow, then, I'm going to look and smell like a giant citrus fruit, as the skirt and top I've got for the wedding is definitely on the orange side. It appears that all of Evans' formal attire this season is black or white, neither of which is suitable for a wedding. I have, however, managed to find a super thing to stick in my hair. I tried it on in the shop, looked in the mirror and said that is so silly - I'll take it!, which got me an extra discount so I'm not complaining. The addition of a few orange beads to match the clothing and it looks quite good. No doubt photos will follow.
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Wednesday, July 04, 2007
"We don't have evildoers in Iceland"
This is one of the good things about Iceland.
I'm currently sitting at the airport where I have discovered that I can access the net thanks to the service provider I use to get my ADSL television. Useful, that. When I arrived at the airport I gave my name, as usual, and went hunting about for my passport or other means of ID. But no, the chap at check-in didn't need that. I commented that this cheerful disregard of nornak security procedures was one of the things I found really refreshing about this country. He nodded, smiling. "That's because we don't have evildoers in Iceland".
There's not much you can really say to that.
0 comments
I'm currently sitting at the airport where I have discovered that I can access the net thanks to the service provider I use to get my ADSL television. Useful, that. When I arrived at the airport I gave my name, as usual, and went hunting about for my passport or other means of ID. But no, the chap at check-in didn't need that. I commented that this cheerful disregard of nornak security procedures was one of the things I found really refreshing about this country. He nodded, smiling. "That's because we don't have evildoers in Iceland".
There's not much you can really say to that.
0 comments
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Family Business
This is one of my favourite card games.
It's a game of mob warfare putting contacts out on gang members - the gangs are historical US mobs (I normally play the Bank Robbers because they've got Bonnie and Clyde). I was introduced to the game some years ago by Debby&Bob while I was still in St. Andrews, and it's one that I brought back to Iceland with me last year now that I've found a group of gamers with which to play it. Except that my gamer group generally want to play Fluxx, Zombies!!! or RoboRally. :) Nevertheless, tonight we finally got around to it.
Martha's dad Rick is currently visiting from the US, and he's also a gamer, so as none of us are at work at present we've had a gaming day. It's been quite a while since I've had such a concentrated gaming experience, and it was great fun. In fact, we actually managed all of the above games over the course of the day (which is no mean feat considering how long RoboRally and Zombies!!! takes) plus the card-based quiz game Battle of the Sexes.
One of the many good things about a trip back the UK that involves a trip to the caravan is that it also involves a trip to Interstellar Master Traders in Lancaster, purveyor of all things game-related. I need more zombies (100 just isn't enough) and I can be fairly certain that I can pick up a couple of new games as well. Now all I have to worry about is my luggage allowance. :)
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It's a game of mob warfare putting contacts out on gang members - the gangs are historical US mobs (I normally play the Bank Robbers because they've got Bonnie and Clyde). I was introduced to the game some years ago by Debby&Bob while I was still in St. Andrews, and it's one that I brought back to Iceland with me last year now that I've found a group of gamers with which to play it. Except that my gamer group generally want to play Fluxx, Zombies!!! or RoboRally. :) Nevertheless, tonight we finally got around to it.
Martha's dad Rick is currently visiting from the US, and he's also a gamer, so as none of us are at work at present we've had a gaming day. It's been quite a while since I've had such a concentrated gaming experience, and it was great fun. In fact, we actually managed all of the above games over the course of the day (which is no mean feat considering how long RoboRally and Zombies!!! takes) plus the card-based quiz game Battle of the Sexes.
One of the many good things about a trip back the UK that involves a trip to the caravan is that it also involves a trip to Interstellar Master Traders in Lancaster, purveyor of all things game-related. I need more zombies (100 just isn't enough) and I can be fairly certain that I can pick up a couple of new games as well. Now all I have to worry about is my luggage allowance. :)
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Monday, July 02, 2007
Cardboard cereal
Or possibly crunchy catfood cereal.
When I get back to the UK, while I'm at the caravan, I'm going to eat Shreddies three times a day. If I'm feeling really wicked I'll replace the occasional bowl of Shreddies for a bowl of Ricicles. Or raisin Fruitibix. I know this sounds completely crazy, but I really miss having a wide variety of cereals. I can only survive so long on Corn Flakes and Rice Crispies, and all of the other alternatives look (and, I suspect, taste) like crunchy catfood. I've tried the strange Quaker 'Havre Fras' Danish squares - cardboard. And the new Weetabix 'Pirates of the Caribbean' skulls and crossbones - cardboard. And, of course, the ubiquitous 'Cheerios' - cardboard. OK, so I haven't tried the chocolate flavoured versions but I just find the idea of chocolate cereal weird.
I've only got to hold out a couple more days, during which time I'll try the cardboard with sugar to see if that improves it. But I am looking forward to some real cereal again.
0 comments
When I get back to the UK, while I'm at the caravan, I'm going to eat Shreddies three times a day. If I'm feeling really wicked I'll replace the occasional bowl of Shreddies for a bowl of Ricicles. Or raisin Fruitibix. I know this sounds completely crazy, but I really miss having a wide variety of cereals. I can only survive so long on Corn Flakes and Rice Crispies, and all of the other alternatives look (and, I suspect, taste) like crunchy catfood. I've tried the strange Quaker 'Havre Fras' Danish squares - cardboard. And the new Weetabix 'Pirates of the Caribbean' skulls and crossbones - cardboard. And, of course, the ubiquitous 'Cheerios' - cardboard. OK, so I haven't tried the chocolate flavoured versions but I just find the idea of chocolate cereal weird.
I've only got to hold out a couple more days, during which time I'll try the cardboard with sugar to see if that improves it. But I am looking forward to some real cereal again.
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Sunday, July 01, 2007
Quieter
After yesterday's excitement today was much quieter.
I didn't do much at all. I got up late (allowable, I think, given that I've had some very late nights recently), lazed about all day doing nothing more energetic than catching up on a few documentaries that I'd recorded over the last rather busy week, talked to a couple of folks on the phone and sorted out the rest of my travel for my forthcoming UK trip. Which was a good thing, as for some reason I was under the impression that my flight on Thursday was mid-afternoon and so I'd need a lunchtime flight. In fact it's an early morning flight which required a hotel room in Reykjavík overnight... either that or blind trust that the 05:50 flight from Akureyri to Keflavík would be on time and that the 40 minutes between touch-down and the international take-off was enough. I wasn't convinced, hence the overnight stay. Still, it means that I have time to go shopping on Thursday for something to wear at the wedding on Friday.
Now all I have to do is try to get my body clock back in synch so that I don't find myself still awake at 2am with a 5am bus to catch...
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I didn't do much at all. I got up late (allowable, I think, given that I've had some very late nights recently), lazed about all day doing nothing more energetic than catching up on a few documentaries that I'd recorded over the last rather busy week, talked to a couple of folks on the phone and sorted out the rest of my travel for my forthcoming UK trip. Which was a good thing, as for some reason I was under the impression that my flight on Thursday was mid-afternoon and so I'd need a lunchtime flight. In fact it's an early morning flight which required a hotel room in Reykjavík overnight... either that or blind trust that the 05:50 flight from Akureyri to Keflavík would be on time and that the 40 minutes between touch-down and the international take-off was enough. I wasn't convinced, hence the overnight stay. Still, it means that I have time to go shopping on Thursday for something to wear at the wedding on Friday.
Now all I have to do is try to get my body clock back in synch so that I don't find myself still awake at 2am with a 5am bus to catch...
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