Advertiser of plays.

Advertiser of plays.
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Better late than never, I can recall that we did manage to experience the Eastern Angles production "Bentwater Roads" last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. If it hadn't now finished I would recommend anyone within range snapping up tickets, but I'm afraid I rather missed the boat with that idea.

Anyway, the plot concerned a girl returning home to Suffolk on inheriting the family house along with vignettes from history of the location (Pagan, Middle Ages, Cold War). Which is what I really want to write about.

Billed as a site-specific production, the play was performed in the Hush House at the former Bentwaters Air Base. This being a hanger used for testing jet engines by the USAF during their years on site. It is a very distinctive space - part hanger, part tunnel of corrugated metal and I really would like the chance to wander around it with a camera and without the added scenery, lights, seats etc that made it usable for the drama. The tunnel made a good additional stage entrance, allowing dramatic processions etc to appear from the rear while using the hanger floor rather than adding a raised stage meant the camper van (as pictured on promotional duties) was also able to make an appearance. It also had the advantage of being effectively in the middle of nowhere by virtue of being on the far side of the airfield from the main gate, and also very close to Wantisden church, which also featured in the story, and looked lovely lit up when we cmae out. Must try to visit there in the day time. An actual review here.

Having said that though, I guess the show would work almost as well elsewhere as the location and natural features of the building could be glossed over. Unlike a site-specific play we saw at Landguard Fort in Felixstowe which used several rooms and the courtyard and had the audience moving between them with the actors.

Now to book tickets for the Christmas show.

Back in business

YAK 52 over the top
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Just a quick picture from the free air display we had on Sunday to commemorate various RAF anniverseries, which provided a good hour of entertainment at a price we could hardly refuse.

And also to make sure this is working after a week with no broadband...

New motor

New motor
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

As intimated in the last post, we finally took the plunge that had been threatening for a year or so and consigned the Escort to the great scrap heap in the sky. A pity we couldn't afford a brand new car while the scrappage scheme was still running, but such are the whims of finance. But having hummed and ha'd since February when the annual road tax came along I finally got my act in gear to have a proper look a couple of weeks ago when a spot of vigourous washing caused bits to fall off.

And now we have jumped from the ship of Ford (three Escorts and a Fiesta have ferried me from A to B since I passed my test) and hitched ourselves to a Citroen C3. That one in the picture there. OK, so it's no supercar but it gets me around just fine, and I do like the looks. Plus I'm quite pleased with the £30 road tax and lack of thirst. A little bit noisy from the tyres at speed, but that's easy to live with compared to the money we were blowing just to keep the old one going.

My only worry now is that I seem to have chosen a car based on economy and value and reliability and, well, boring stuff. Yes, it is quite curvy but we still have a small hatchback on our hands not some fire breathing monster you need a shoehorn to get in and out of. Having finally reached the stage in life where I could afford to have a serious go at a nippy two-seater convertible I've gone all sensible. And I've still got 7½ months until my 40th Birthday.

What next? Blue Harbour slacks with an elasticated waistband here I come.

Pungency of cleanliness

Why do bag-using vaccuum cleaners have such a distinctive smell? The cleaner has just come and sucked up rubbish from my desk area and the whiff of the cleaner takes me straight back to my Mum's old Hoover. Which was actually a hoover and not just a case of us using the generic name for floor sucking devices. That was a venerable old upright with a green cloth bag that the paper dust bags went into and had the same distinctive odour when in use that has just filled the office. We had one in a shared-house at college that also emanated the same noxious essences. Not something I particularly miss from our Dyson.

All very quiet here at the moment with loads of projects sitting in limbo while public sector finances get sorted out so nothing else thrilling to write just now. Although I am also waiting for the phone to ring and a chap to tell me when I can pick my new car up as we finally took the plunge last night and signed on the dotted line to replace the rusting Escort. More on that another day.

Holiday thoughts

Sherringham Gateway
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

OK, so I had a week off and never got round to writing anything. But I did think about what to write now that I do make it happen.

MrsB had a week in Spain with her sister and a couple of friends while I stayed at home (but did at least take the time off work, unlike last year when she went to the same place). I also had some days out which we won't mention other than pointing to the pictures of Maldon, Norwich and the Bentwaters Airshow...

Anyway, I'd been thinking about holidays past for a couple of weeks after a day out with friends saw us up on the North Norfolk Coast at Sherringham (as pictured here). Not the most exciting of places, and indeed this is not the most exciting of photos either (but click it for more on flickr if you like) but it brought back a flood of memories for me.

We had several holidays in the vicinity when I was small (see the evidence) and seeing this archway to the beach made me remember:

Hours digging in the sand creating what we termed Water Works. Lots of interconnected pools that we would send water scurrting around from a bucket.

Eating and enjoying fresh prawns in a pub garden, but I can't bring myself to eat them at all these days.

A summer house/shed affair in the garden of the place we stayed at a couple of times. It seemed much more exciting than any shed has reason to be and was a great place to play on rainy days.

Berol pens.

Those shops you only got at seaside resorts in the 70s, where you could buy buckets and spades, anything you like covered in sea shells, toys and sweets composed entriely of e numbers. I know similar ones exist today, but they aren't the same.

Walking through country lanes without worrying about traffic.

Seeing a mole scurrying down one of those lanes in broad daylight.

Seemingly endless journeys in the back of the car to get there (hello Ford Cortina, Hillman Minx, Chrysler 180 and Alpine) with a pile of comics to keep us entertained.

And more that has escaped me in the last few days.

Custardy

Custardy
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Nothing to say, just wanting to celebrate custard creams.

Rescued?

Beach Hut view
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So the episode of Duncan Bannatyne's Seaside Rescue filmed last year in Felixstowe finally hit our screens courtesy of Virgin 1 this week. Up against the first episode of Luther and amid the election overload I have no idea how many people managed to watch it, but there was a reasonable reaction on radio Suffolk the next morning. In the end I was pleasantly surprised by the result, not nearly as horrendous as it could have been.

Previous episodes in the series have tried to turn around the fortunes of struggling attractions elsewhere, many of which have really been on their last legs and in need of serious investment. And it was not made clear in any of the shows we have seen where the investment actually came from - Duncan himself, the production company, the owners of the sites or what. There was a bit of a hint in the suggestion that Charlie Manning repaint his main building, and he did refer on the show and post-broadcast to the cost of that being too great as well as being a bit difficult to acheive during the season.

For Felixstowe the show took a different direction, focusing on three different elements of our south sea front and helping with their image rather than the content or experience on offer. Some of the suggestions worked well, others were not taken up or just not practical but on the whole I think all three have seen a boost in trade. Certainly a lot of what was discussed is still in place eight months on.

I was disappointed that no mention was made of the other events that happen throughout the summer (including the two previous days mentioned in my earlier post) and there was not much discussion of the other parts of the town. I now the "story" of the show was the three businesses, but a bit of context would have been nice - especially if the aim as stated in a talk to various council people was to help put Felixstowe back on the holiday map.

And events are still going on. Sunday was the annual historic vehicle run (also mentioned before) which suffered from dreadful weather but still pulled a few people out. Then on Monday we had a fun run and the launch of a new coastal walk themed on our Martello Towers.

MrsB had to work, but I indulged in a walking tour of the south seafront (intended to be 45 minutes, it lasted over 90 and was fascinating) as well as a trip around Tower P from where the view above was snapped. More picks by clicking through to Flickr if you are so inclined.

My conclusion - Felixstowe is still doing OK!

(Semi)Traumatic TV

Been wondering for a couple of days what to write about the BBC drama Five Daughters, based on the Ipswich Murders of 2006. Hard to believe it was that long ago and yet still so fresh in the memory.

Being able to see the red light district from the office, and having the court opposite where Steve Wright was tried it was inevitable that we would get caught up in the events much more than if they had happened in a different town or even if we had been in a different office. At various points in both the investigations and the trial there were more TV crews hanging around our place than you could shake a stick at. So it was a bit strange to see it all brought back to life again in the name of entertainment. Because lets face it, no matter how worthy a programme is, TV exists to entertain rather than educate or inform these days.

Saying that both MrsB and I enjoyed the three-parter sounds odd, but hopefully you discerning readers will know what I mean. Trying to see it objectively, it was a compelling piece of viewing, and the fact that we got to see the background rather than the sensation was a superb choice of direction for the series. It did take me a bit of "suspension of disbelief" to fully appreciate the re-telling for what it was and to stop my brain screaming out that the locations were wrong (it was filmed in Bristol, whcih doesn't exactly match what I can see from the window here) or the Police people not being lookalikes of the real ones, but then in some ways that helped me to get beyond the bits I already knew.

Well worth catching up with on i-player while you still can.

And it has also helped refresh people of the great work the charities and other organisations have been doing for the last few years to tackle the issues that lead to the deaths. Hopefully they can keep it up and will benefit from a bit of renewed support.

Haunted by the past

Despite it now being over 12 years since I stopped working there (and indeed at least four now since they chucked Joan out as well), I am still having recurring dreams about going back to work at Argos. These nearly always feature the Felixstowe or Newmarket branches, which are the two where I had the happier moments of that part of my career, rather than say Ipswich or Stowmarket where things were not so rosy. I guess that must be significant one way or another but I'm not sure I want to delve too deply to find out more.

Of course, dreams being what they are, the representations of the stock rooms I used to manage tend to have unexpected extensions, increased floor space or indeed whole other floors attached which would have been very useful when I was trying to squeeze new product lines in each catalogue changeover. And in every case the dream narrative always makes it clear that I am going back to do them a favour/sort out a mess that people after me have made and that whatever crap I suffered in the past won't happen again.

Now I know I left there because my final manager ground me into a quivering wreck, and I guess this is an element of my subconcious trying to make it up to me, but really. Who wants to dream about work at all? Surely I should be flying, or slaying dragons, or living it up or soemthing exciting at night. Not stacking boxes, emptying pallets and counting stock.

Sunshine at last!

Dafoldillyskyness 1
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Well, it sure is nice to have had some proper blue skies again after weeks of interminable greyness whenever I have wanted to go out and exercise my camera muscles. I hope whoever was on that plane in the pic ended up somewhere nice, or they'll be kicking themselves for missing out on our sunshine.

Not that I have restricted myself to only going out with the camera when clouds aren't about, just that it is much nicer to have blue skies in the shots! Anyone wanting to see more recent things can always click on the picture to end up at Flickr for exciting bus pictures and the like!

Mind you, my thoughts have also been turned on to getting out and about by two recent books.

1 - The Tent, the Bucket & Me by Emma Kennedy. Hilarious recollections of childhood camping holidays, all of which feature assorted disasters and serve to remind me how lucky I was growing up. Unlike the Kennedy clan, our holidays were never under canvas (a school sailing trip to the broads and a cub camp don't count) and we generally ended up on the Norfolk coast rather than Wales or France. Makes me want to go for a look around and see how places have changed though.

2 - Map Addict by Mike Parker. This does pretty much what it says on the tin and looks at all sorts of maps of the UK, focussing mainly on the work of the Ordnance Survey, as well as those who collect them, live by them and so forth. Although I'm not a huge owner of maps, I love to look at them and can easily lose a few hours with an atlas or even a humble street map. The addition of the rest of the UK to Google street view recently is killing me with glimpses of places I have only ever seen as a collection of lines and symbols before and I am planning day trips by the score.

Going back in time

Richard Digance
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So last night we went to see Richard Digance here in Felixstowe. He comes along to the Spa Pavillion every couple of years to take us all back to the mid-80s, when he first came to prominence, with an acoustic guitar and a good sense of humour. Terribly unfashionable of course, and if it wasn't for my brother I'd normally be the youngest person in the audience (although last night there were a couple of mere pups obviously dragged along by parents), but always good value.

Our tastes don't always agree when it comes to comedy, so it is nice to go out with the whole family and have my folks laugh as much as Joan and I do at the same things.

There is never a huge turnout at the Spa Pavillion for his shows, and he often tells us that although the numbers are small, they are at least consistant and he enjoys coming here. I know most entertainers probably say that at most places they play regularly, but I do get the impression that he means it in this case. I don't think I would ever go and see him anywhere else though, as if that is an illusion I don't want it shattered! And yes, I appreciate that this is a terrible picture, but the best I could snatch!

Definitely staying in tonight though for the return of Ashes to Ashes, then Dr Who tomorrow. I may just have to spend all day lying down in a darkened room to stop myself getting too excited.

Which way now?

Which way now?
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Been stuck in a rut of not knowing what to write about that would lift things since the last post's negativity, so here's another post that doesn't know where it is going either!

Things just seem to go wrong

Having replaced the washing machine just after Christmas, in the last couple of weeks we have suffered from a dead dishwasher, dead telly and dead broadband and I've also had terrible toothache and lost the offending gnasher (first casualty in the war against empty gums which I talked about a couple of weeks ago).

Any one of these could have been coped with on its own, but arriving in close proximity was not fun on the old stress levels. And although replacing things (well, not the tooth!) has been expensive we did at least have cash in the bank so haven't got thoughts of repayments to dampen the future.

So, the old JVC 36 inch CRT has been replaced with a really rather nice Sharp 40" LED/LCD flat jobby. Having been generally unimpressed with "New" screens in shops and other people's homes I am pleased to say that with a bit of tweaking on the settings I have got this one to produce a nice, balanced picture with the colours at a suitable level of restraint. And as Mr Murdoch is now giving us a free box and free installation there is a man coming to upgrade us to Sky HD on Saturday. We decided after the trauma of having to upgrade the TV we may as well get the most out of it.

The dishwasher, hoever is more of a pain. After the old one died (taking our electricity with it, praise be for trip switches) we ordered a nice new one (Ariston, with a stonking great reduction on it from the same local firm as did us a good deal on the telly). They happily delivered but refused to install as it needed a hole cutting in the cupboard under the sink as this has larger connectors. When this was resolved and turned on the new one began chucking water all over the floor in minutes. Not good. nothing to do with loose pipes, this is a genuine fault with a brand new appliance. Fortunately they concur and are sending another one this week, but not quick enough for our liking. And the hardboard under the lino has warped with the soaking. Grrrr.

The tooth turned out to have shorter than average roots in a bit of bone that has eroded more than anywhere else in my mouth, so had to go. Annoying as it was otherwise perfectly healthy and unfilled. Still, pain all gone and I can eat crusty bread again.

Now the broadband signal has died. 20 minutes on the phone to India last night proved it is nothing to do with our router (or my reserve ADSL modem), micro filters, extension leads etc so definitely a BT problem. Wonder how long they will take to fix that.

And another funeral of a colleague tomorrow.

Not a happy bunny right now, so hopefully better news next time!

Time spent in Bondage

Time spent in Bondage
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

I've gradually re-read (or in some cases read for the first time) the entire Bond series over the last couple of years and loved every word. I did think of blasting through them one after the other (as I will often do with a good ongoing Epic) but as the links from tale to tale are often tenuous or non-existent I decided a steady drip-feed would be more interesting.

Thunderball and Dr No are closest to the films, but they really need to be forgotten about if you have never looked at the books before (Roger Moore in a Safari Suit is as far removed from the original Bond as Adam West as Batman is from Christian Bale). Fleming's Bond in these pages is a much more believeable person, inhabiting a world where the threats are real rather than being designed to draw in the crowds to the cinema and wow people with extravagant set design.

As the series goes on there are more links with the "real" world of the time (unless I just don't recognise the references earlier on) but despite the previous paragraph they are still definitely fantasy rather than full-blown detective procedural. Mind you, I do wonder why a so-called Secret Agent uses his real name so much. To the point that every organisation he comes up against knows his history and weaknesses etc with a full dossier to be slapped onto the head honcho's desk at an appropriate point in the narrative.

The books are also very much of their time when it comes to racial and sexual attitudes, but taking that into account they are gripping page turners and I can highly recomend them to anyone who has never dipped a toe in the waters.

Clary, Clary, Quite Contrary

As mentioned last month, we saw Mr Julian Clary last week in Ipswich. He was, as expected, really rather funny and not a little but rude. From his entrance on roller skates (add your own double entendres throughout!) to a demonstration of psychic powers he was at his campest and seemed pretty much on form. Not sure if he was truly giving us his all, but he certainly gave a good impression of putting everything into his performance. And anyone who can make a few titbits from the local paper that funny has to be worth a round of applause or two.

The only downer on the night was the fact that I had forgotten the Ipswch Corn Exchange does not bring in proper banked seating for events that require bums to be planted. So the view from the middle of the flat floor was not all that impressive. Must remember to go right to the back couple of rows or the balcony another time if seats in the first few are sold out.

Oh, and contrary to what I said in that earlier post, I now remember I have attended a professional comedy gig once before. David Baddiel and Rob Newman in Felixstowe itself back in 1991 or 2. Will try not to leave it 18 years until next time!

Protest

Protest 1
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So how did I spend my birthday yesterday? Mostly getting soaked through to the skin marching along the sea front in order to try and save the Blue Cross centre here in Felixstowe which is threatened with closure. Something to do with the charity wanting to concentrate resources elsewhere and the current site not being suitable for expansion.

As we got our cats from there (Barney RIP and Tawny very much still with us) we felt duty-bound to show our support along with 300 or so others. There is a real feeling in the local press that this shouldn't be allowed to happen, and I hope all the efforts people are going to (not just this one small demonstration) make the decision makers see what a valuable resource our centre is. They may not be able to get bigger, but they do a great job locally and it would be a real shame to lose it.

Oh, we went out for a lovely meal in the evening after drying out again and I got lots of nice presents as well!

My disreputable jaws

My disreputable lower jaw
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Yup, that's a plaster cast of my lower jaw. Taken recently in order to make a custom gumshield to help prevent nocturnal tooth grinding which is making my already unhelpfully deep pockets deeper. That's pockets around the teeth you understand, where stuff can get trapped and erode away at the roots. Although as I seem to spend a fortune on dentists every year they must think I have deep pockets elsewhere too.

Back in the first wave of this blog (2003 late summer to autumn if anyone feels like looking back, I can't be bothered to dig out the entries!) I had my jawbone rebuilt (upper and lower) with bone grafts as I have naturally dissolving issues. It was not fun and set me back over a grand which we could ill afford, but decided to go for it. I was predicted to be full of gaps/false teeth by now otherwise so I think it was worth both the expense and the pain. (Some might say I would at least then end up with straight teeth, as these are a bit wonky!)

Anyway, I now get to see the hygenist every 3 months to be tortured and recently she noticed a new pocket developing which has been put down to pressure caused by teeth clenching and grinding at night. So now there is a plastic layer between my jaws as I snooze (click on the pic to go to flickr if you want to see that too!) which I am slowly getting used to.

Nothing thrilling to add to that, just a glimpse into my life and fulfilling the promise last time to talk about teeth! I hit 39 on Sunday so will no doubt think of something about age for a forthcoming post.

Links where they may not exist

Is it just me or is it totally unsurprising when links turn up between disparate items these days? Maybe I have been sensitised to it by recent media coverage (e.g. the London copper who
yesterday got sentenced for framing an innocent man turned out of have a history of "issues" and blemishes on his record that had been overlooked by him claiming harassment, and an article sent to me about a murder of a black kid by a white one in Seattle) but I am seeing elements of racism and racial politics everywhere I turn at the moment.

I feel totally unqualified to comment on the matter, as apart from my brother-in-law (and son) and the people in the Chinese takeaway at the end of the road my life is whiter than white. Not
through choice, there just isn't anyone else from any other ethnic background living nearby, working in my department, driving my bus, selling me groceries or just hanging around street corners trying to engage with me. It has been the same old story most of my life, and I have a deep ingrained feeling that I ought to do something about it, but then that would just be tokenism.

Anyway, what I meant to say was that the matter has cropped up in three of my latest, totally unconnected books. In the worlds of fiction the last two I read were Terry Pratchett's Nation and Dr Who tie-in Sting Of The Zygons. The former sees a young white girl stranded on a pseudo-Polynesian Island (in a parallel universe) and covers culture clashes, colonial attitudes and differences between religion and science in a generally lighthearted manner. The Who book, sees the Doctor and Martha thrown into 1910 Scotland with Martha receiving backhanded comments and snide looks from establishment figures. Both of these are ostensibly children's books and there is nothing overt or too offensive in the attitudes portrayed, but they both struck a chord.

The question is, would they have registered with me in this way if I hadn't simultaneously been listening to part three of Simon Schama's History of Britain? Throughout the three volumes, as we have seen the empire growing etc, he has covered the appalling treatment Britain inflicted on conquered peoples in a manner that makes me uncomfortable about descending from those times. OK, there is nothing in there I haven't come across before in other texts, lessons, tv shows and so forth but coming across all three references to the subject in close succession has rammed it home once more.

So, is everything interconnected? Do we just see links between things and events when they don't really exist or am I just being a tad sensitive? Answers on a postcard or sealed antelope...

I'll talk about teeth or something less thought-provoking next time!

Mobile test.

Just seeing if I can blog from my phone.

Left on the shelf

Left on the shelf
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

As I have now found time to sort out the stats, here are the the surprising number of books I managed to get through last year. Those marked * were audio, which I get through on the way to work, when travelling to meetings or site visits etc which helps the total numbers no end!

A few comments to add along the way, and more on some of the others another day. Oh, and these are in order of finishing them which may go some way to explaining how there are groups of audio or paper together at random. Some weeks I just don't have time for one type or the other.

Ian Fleming - Goldfinger
David Eddings - Enchanter's End Game* (the series wrapped over the year break)
Gareth Roberts - Doctor Who: I Am A Dalek
Stuart Maconie - Pies And Prejudice
Martin Wainwright - Morris Minor: The Biography
David Eddings - Guardians Of The West*
J. K. Rowling - The Tales Of Beedle The Bard (I came to the Potter books after being talked into a group outing to see the first film and while I found the series quite derivative and the later books full of padding did enjoy them)
David Quantick - Grumpy Old Men On Holiday
Andy Summers - One Train Later (possibly the best music book I have yet encountered)
David Eddings - King Of The Murgos*
Ian Fleming - For Your Eyes Only
David Eddings - Demon Lord Of Karanda*
Bill Watterson - There's Treasure Everywhere (Calvin and Hobbes is the greatest comic strip ever created and while I applaud Watterson for dropping out rather than be mega-exploited I'd kill for some more)
Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There
David Eddings - Sorceress Of Darshiva*
David Eddings - Seeress Of Kell*
Bill Watterson - It's A Magical World
Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine - Last Chance To See* (Thought I had best re-visit this one before the Stephen Fry tv series aired)
Bram Stoker - Dracula (this was read in deliberate preparation for Paul Bibeau below)
David & Leigh Eddings - Belgarath The Sorcerer*
Andrew Collins - That's Me In The Corner
Mike Tucker - Doctor Who: The Nightmare Of Black Island (I have no problem with tv tie-ins if the story is gripping enough)
Mike Mullane - Riding Rockets
Ian Fleming - Thunderball (you may have picked up a pattern by now - more in a future post on this)
David & Leigh Eddings - Polgara The Sorceress*
Tim Fountain - Rude Britannia
David & Leigh Eddings - The Rivan Codex (Couldn't get this in audio so had to actually read it myself!)
Bob Kane et al - The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Vol 2 (along with C&H I started to go back over comic collections as an alternative to magazines to accompany my breakfasts)
Paul Bibeau - Sundays With Vlad
Terry Brooks - First King Of Shannara*
Stephen Cole - Doctor Who: The Art Of Destruction
Nigel Slater - Toast
Ian Fleming - The Spy Who Loved Me
Jeremy Clarkson - Don't Stop Me Now
Terry Brooks - The Sword Of Shannara*
Terry Brooks - The Elfstones Of Shannara*
Bob Kane et al - Batman Vs The Riddler & Two-Face
Kim Stanley Robinson - The Years Of Rice & Salt (a hard slog but worth it)
Terry Brooks - The Wishsong Of Shannara*
Giles Chapman & Richard Porter - Top Gear: My Dad Had One Of Those (these were "Breakfast books" as well)
Don Hale - Mallard
Colin Brake - Doctor Who: The Price Of Paradise
Terry Pratchett - The Colour Of Magic*
Matt Master - Top Gear's Midlife Crisis Cars
Andrew Collins - Where Did It All Go Right?*
Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic*
Ben Fogle - The Teatime Islands
David Eddings - The Diamond Throne*
Ian Fleming - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
David Eddings - The Ruby Knight*
Bill Bryson - A Walk In The Woods
David Eddings - The Sapphire Rose*
Brian Augustyn et al - Batman: Gotham By Gaslight
Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites*
Peter Ashley - Pubs And Inns
Bruce Sterling - Schismatrix Plus
Terry Brooks - The Scions Of Shannara*
Terrance Dicks - Doctor Who: Made Of Steel
Terry Brooks - The Druid Of Shannara*
Richard Fortey - Dry Store Room No. 1
Terry Brooks - The Elf Queen Of Shannara*
Alan Witton - ECW Buses And Coaches (As made in Lowestoft, and a crying shame that the factory was replaced by a retail park)
Ian Fleming - You Only Live Twice
Tim Fitzhigham - In The Bath
Frank Miller et al - Batman: Year One
Mike Barr et al - Batman: Year Two
Terry Brooks - The Talismans Of Shannara*
Terry Pratchett - Mort*
Eric Clapton - The Autobiography* (read by Bill Nighy, who has the right sort of voice for the job, but I can't get the hang of something as personal as an autobiography not being read by the author!)
Jacquline Rayner - Doctor Who: The Last Dodo
Charlotte Morgan & Stan Fowler - The Little Book Of Camper Van
Richard Porter - Top Gear: Crap Cars
Simon Schama - A History of Britain I: At the Edge of the World? - 3000 BC-AD 1603*
Christopher Winn - I Never Knew That About London
Neil Oliver - Coast: From The Air
Dan Kieran & Ian Vince - Three Men In A Float (Lowestoft to Land's End in a milk float, absolutely hilarious!)
Simon Schama - A History of Britain II: British Wars 1603-1776*
Brian Minchin - Torchwood: The Sin Eaters* (I took an audio break for a month after this due to being in Canada and having no guaranteed listening time)
Ian Fleming - The Man With The Golden Gun (and so we end the year where we came in...)

Not staying in

Although I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions, I did decide while we were away that we need to get out and do more things during 2010. Not that we spend all night every night slumped in front of the telly or banging away at the keyboard - it just seems like most of them! I think it was partly realising that while we were in Canada we were out and about a bit more than we would be here. Now, I know some of that is the being on holiday syndrome, or there being more shops open late or just having relatives on hand with ideas of things to do, but we were definitely doing stuff. Here we seem to fall into a routine of, for example, shopping on a Sunday when we could just as easily go of an evening and then have the whole Sunday to do something else, go somewhere etc.

To that end we were out on Saturday night with friends for a nice meal and then to see Mansfield Park And Ride, the Christmas show from local theatre group Eastern Angles. The brief description on their page only gives a very faint flavour of the evening of laughs that awaited us. A quality cast of five managing to squeeze in at least 12 roles between them, song, dance and lots of breaking the fourth wall. Although as we saw them in a venue with seats on two sides of the stage I guess they broke the third one as well. We have heard good reviews of the Christmas shows in the past just never managed to catch them. This year I am very glad we did.

MrsB is a huge fan of the costume drama as perfected by the BBC, and I have been known to enjoy them from time to time as well (and sit politely through others!) so a send up of the genre was bound to make us laugh. Unlike any of the works of the Austens, Brontes or Dickens of this world it was set in the Ipswich Area and thus poked gentle fun at the Park & Ride services I look after in my daily life. And of course any play where the characters complain about the lack of production budget has to be worth seeing.

I am now very tempted by a show they are putting on at the old Bentwaters airfield in the summer which I am sure will not be a comedy but still worth investigating. In fact it sounds similar to something we saw at Landguard Fort here in Felixstowe last year which also featured a small cast in numerous roles, acting on the move between different rooms and ghosts.

Oh, and I popped out at lunch time to get tickets for Julian Clary next month. Never seen a proper stand-up in the flesh so this will be a first for both of us. Hopefully not a last.

The glories of the A&W Mama burger

The glories of the A&W Mama burger
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

While many people will probably disagree, the North American continent is not generally known for amazing cuisine and is more likely to be associated with fast food, huge steaks and huger people eating them. Although I can't exactly disagree with that general diagnosis we did have some very nice meals over in that Canada so here's a bit about some of the places we ate.

A&W - bill themselves as the home of the burger family, and for a fast food outlet I think they do pretty well. If nothing else they get credit for not putting ice in the drinks (as they reckon they are cold enough to start with) and the burgers have an actual beefiness about them.

Swiss Chalet - no longer have the waitresses dressed as Swiss milk maids, but for a chain restaurant do good quality food at reasonable prices. Their speciality is rotisserie chicken in various formats, my favourite being the gravy smothered classic sandwich, and they have a trademark dipping sauce which I'm not keen on. Part of a group which also includes:

Harveys - a slightly more upmarket burger joint where they take the time to assemble your beef in a bun in front of you, allowing your own choice of pickles, relishes, salad items etc. This was also where I finally got round to having the Canadian speciality Poutine. Which is basically a bowl of chips with gravy and runny cheese on the top. Not a staggering addition to the world of fine dining, but very tasty and warming on a winter's night.

Milestones - also linked to the two above. And a further rung or two up the quality ladder. For example their burgers are made with Kobe beef rather than you average Canadian cow. And they will sell them to you in miniature-slider form as a starter should you so desire. Very nice butternut squash soup as well.

Tim Hortons - the most widespread and successful coffee shop chain in Canada, named for the late Hockey player who started them but now owned by Wendys. Fabulous donuts (mine's a Maple dip), tasty bagels, soup, wraps and so forth. They always seem to have the longest queue of any outlet in a mall food court and there are even a couple of outlets here in the UK now.

I also enjoyed our Greek last supper, cinamon beaver tails (no beaver involved) in Ottawa, Japanese and Chinese lunches and other stuff too.

But the chocolate is still disgusting.

A Mountie always gets his reindeer

A Mountie always gets his reindeer
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

We went, we saw, we had a Canadian Christmas and we did a lot of shopping. Oh yes, that was an interesting three weeks away. And how come we have been back a week already? Where does the time go? Anyway, we managed to avoid the worst of Britain's Big Freeze (or Snowpocalypse if you prefer) but the start of it did affect our departure...

Travelogue stuff part one!

Ma and Pa very kindly took us down to Gatwick for the flight out, arrival being slightly delayed by frozen screen wash requiring numerous stops in lay-bys and on the hard shoulder to clear vision by hand. Then the plane was delayed by two hours while they cleared the runway and de-iced. Not that I was particularly bothered by that - we had decided to upgrade as a Christmas treat so I was able to sleep through the hanging around in a bit more comfort.

The trip was more intended to be a Christmas celebration with the part of the family we normally only see in warmer months. While my lot are all over here, MrsB has one sister here and the other in Canada. And she has children and grandchildren out there too so we were intending to spend as much time with them as possible rather than necessarily hitting the tourist spots. It certainly started off in fine family form with mother, daughter and grandaughter there to meet us as we fell wearily out of the arrivals gate.

Home for the next three weeks was Sheila and Stuart's house in Burlington. Which for those who have never heard of it is about 45 minutes west of Toronto. And if you keep going west and south another 45 minutes or so you end up staring at Niagara Falls. It is a nice little city with a couple of malls, lots of lovely parks and walks along the lake shore and far too many Canada Geese. S&S's daughter Caroline lives in town as well, with hubby Chris, daughter Bryanna and son Austin so there was lots of catching up with them to do. And from Austin'r point of view meeting us as he was only 6 months last time he was here.

What was missing, however, was snow. When we booked up in August we were told we were mad for going in the winter as there would be so much snow and cold weather that we wouldn't be able to go out half the time and would be stuck in the house. That didn't put us off, of course. And proved to be a false prediction. In fact most of the time we had lovely blue skies, although it struggled to reach freezing most days and lows of up to minus 25 were experienced. Still, Ma and Pa had also given us money for Christmas to buy new coats with, so after a trip to Mapleview Mall and then on to Mark's Work Wearhouse we were sorted for the rest of the trip.

So other than sitting around in various houses what did we get up to?

As intimated, and despite flying out with suitcases full of Christmas present, English sweets, Christmas puddings/cake etc we managed to obtain enough stuff to come back 16kg overweight. So that was the biggest dent on the credit card all holiday. As much as I try to resist when we do end up in the Malls, I seem to have developed a fondness over the years for Old Navy t-shirts. And even with the pound only hitting 1.6 dollars rather than the 2 we have had in the past, the CD prices just make them irresistable.

As can be determined by that photo, we did indeed make it to Niagara Falls for a look at all that unfrozen water. They are always a spectacular sight, especially if you can ignore all the tat up on Clifton Hill and the Casinos. Although Sheila did manage to pocket $1,000+ on the slots while we were wandering around! Even in the sub-zero conditions I could quite happily have spent hours just watching the power of nature at work. Amazing to realise what humble h2o is capable of when left to get on with things. Not that what we see today is all that natural any more with over half of the water running through tunnels and turbine to generate electricity rather than flowing over the top. Still wouldn't fancy the trip over in a barrel though.

A six hour car journey took us up to Ottawa for a few nights with Darrell and Marnie (S&S's son and wife) with their daughter Stevie. That was another first meeting as she was still a bump when we were over there in 2007. Plenty of snow up there (like, 3 or 4 feet in places) so I got to do proper driveway clearing after the snowplough had been past and heaped it all onto the sidewalks. The capital is a lovely city and one of these days we want to go there for a week or more to properly explore it, take in the museums, parliament etc in suitable detail.

We also managed to squeeze in some ice hockey, lots of overdecorated houses, festivals of lights, icewine, more food than was strictly necessary and a brief interlude of bus spotting. Oh, and between us reeled off the best part of 2,000 photos which are slowly being sorted and put up on flickr, so feel free to click on our faces to see more for now and I'll write something else about other parts of the trip next time...

And so this is Christmas

As we head of for Canada on Sunday this will be my last post of the year and while I thought of several topics I could cover (snow!, Christmas telly, chiropodists, cameras) I am instead leaving this year with some random reminiscences from Christmas past...

Delight at finding the biggest parcel under the tree was for me - and even more delight on finding it to contain a set of dropped handlebars for my bike!

Sharing a room with my brother every Christmas Eve for years due to a grandmother stopping over.

Waking up to find the future MrsB making a cooked breakfast on our first Christmas together.

The family stories of Christmas events that come out every year - Uncle David with a big red circle on his forehead after being hit by a sucker arrow, baby me crawling round the tree removing the labels from all the presents leading to much guesswork, how the Danish side of the family wouldn't put their tree up until Christmas Eve - and have real candles on it and so on and so forth.

Being slightly creeped out by my Dad dancing to Sade with my cousin.

Uncle Mick slouching so low in his chair that only his head was vertical, party hat askew and glass of wine dangling perilously.

The first time MrsB and I hosted Christmas dinner - taking the empty plates back to the kitchen and coming back with the desert to find her family had put the telly on in the two minutes we were occupied.

Lengths of string bearing a zillion cards crashing down in the night.

Spending hours licking and sticking paper chains together.

Working late-night shopping when still at Argos.

The joy on the face of an Australian Christmas temp when she saw her first snow at the age of 23.


So, have a great Christmas and New Year. Thanks to everyone who has read my ramblings, look out for more in 2010!

Music for the masses

Well, as much as I get frustrated by things being sealed before they are ready*, I have just cast my votes in the YakYak Dancing About Architecture Festive Fifty to add my views on the music of the year.

So, for what it is worth, here are my favourite songs of the year:

1 – The Prodigy: Omen. This was destined to be my number one for the year as soon as I heard it, just top notch stuff.
2 – The Wildhearts: You Took The Sunshine From New York. Would have been number one if not for the Prodge. A sad song when you listen to it, but I find it quite uplifting musically and as some of my flickr contacts have been to the big apple this year I have some great images to go withi this.
3 – The Black Crowes: I Ain’t Hiding. The Crowes get funky in a 70s disco.
4 – Bruce Springsteen: Queen of The Supermarket. He can still do beautiful stuff about the ordinary world, although I wonder when he was last in a supermarket.
5 – Heaven And Hell: Eating The Cannibals. Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice - Metal majesty!
6 – Jem: I Want You To… Not sure why, but this song has been stuck in my head all year so had to go on the list.
7 – Go Home Productions: Everybody’s Looking Rosy In My Garden. Home grown fun.
8 – Iron Maiden: Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (Live). A cheat really, but having loved the song since the 80s the live album gives me an excuse to vote for it.
9 – Pixie Lott: Girls And Boys. Fun pop and very catchy.
10 – Slayer: Americon. Maximum heaviosity.

Not expecting much from my selection to make the final fifty as I seem to be quite wide of the beam from many other forumites, but participation is the name of the game.

Other lists of things I liked this year to follow after it finishes!

* I can still recall being gobsmacked at seeing the book "The Chronicle Of The 20th Century" in the shops in the late '80s and thinking stuff might still happen that was worth putting in. Given that a few months later the Berlin Wall came down, communism collapsed etc I think I was ight to never buy the thing.

Moving Swiftly Along

I've just noticed that my phone now believes me to have walked over 1,000 miles this year and that I will pass the 2,000,000 step mark next week. And that's without trying at all over the last couple of months since dark evenings and generally wet lunchtimes set in. Now I suppose I will have to use that as a target to beat next year.

Register this

Prehistoric Buick
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

There is something about number/registration/licence plates that has always seemed to catch my attention. We used to make up words or sentences from them on long family journeys and eagerly looked for the first new car whenever the year letters changed. I can remember my Dad's old cars (CBM130T and FTM252Y spring immediately to mind), ones that made me laugh when we were out as a family (BOO36T had us in hysterics for no real reason) or other prominent vehicles (ADX1 is the first Ipswich motor bus, now in the Ipswich transport museum).

Maybe it was Lady Penelope's FAB1 in Thunderbirds that grabbed me early on, but I seem to spend half my life scanning plates as I pass them or they overtake me (usually the latter as I have this annoying habit of keeping within the speed limit). I used to judge whether I was early or late for work by where on the road into Ipswich I would see L15ETT coming the other way - never considering that she might have been the one not running to time - and could pick out other members of staff in the car park from their plates rather than the type of car (well, there were always duplicates of model and colour).

So when I stumbled across Richard Herring's Consecutive Number Plate Spotting (where you look for 1-999 in order) I had no choice but to give it a go.

After over a year of looking, last week I finally passed the 100 milestone (which was becoming something of a Millstone). I'd been dedicated enough not to count the new style 02, 03, 04... and 53, 53, 54... seeking instead older plates with those digits, but that didn't really slow me down. In fact both runs that could have been got through "cheating" actually fell to me each within a single day when I reached them numerically. No, I don't believe it either, but it is the truth. No point playing this game if you can't be honest about it.

The scrappage scheme which is taking older cars off the road has made me wonder if I will ever get to 999 (there are at least three 999 cars in Felixstowe that I know of, but they can't be counted until their time) but I am aware of myself enough to know that I will never give up.

Oh, the picture was one I saw in Canada two years ago, and one day I might post my American States plates collection...

Mixed feelings on news from the past

Just had a text from MrsB - one of our former managers from the Argos days has died, and another ex-employee I didn't know has killed himself. Not got any details, and we haven't been in contact with the manager in question for 10 years or so. But, not sure how I feel or ought to be feeling about it.

On the one hand he was actually quite an inspiring manager for me, helped me out with applications and encouraged me to go for promotions, gave me more responsibility than I should have had in store. But on the other he definitely scuppered MrsB's chances of a promotion in favour of another, was against our relationship (claiming it would never work, yet here we are 14 years of married life later) and, in theory the extra responsibilities I had could be seen as others dumping stuff on me they should have been doing themselves.

I don't know whether there is a family for my thoughts to be with or anything like that, but all told feel a little bit odd just now.

...of little brain

I have just seen a woman in the corridor clutching some sort of stuffed dog, and across the office from me I can see Paddington propped up against a monitor.

Turns out it is Bring Your Bear To Work day. Oh what joy.

I hope nobody brings one to the meeting I have later and expects me to take them seriously. Not meaning to be a grump, but I think this is one charity thing too far. I wore it pink last week for Breast Cancer (well, I have two pink shirts and wear them to work anyway), I've donned my Jeans for Genes and will no doubt come casual for Children in Need but I'm not lugging Mr Fox around with me all day.

Read me a story

As I think I have mentioned, I do like a nice audio book. Since getting a phone with built in MP3 player I have become particularly addicted to them, but this is an interest going back as far as I can remember. Maybe it links back to Mum and Dad reading to us, then story time at school and Jackanory on the tv but there really is nothing like having a tale read out to you while driving around, sitting on the bus or just wandering aimlessly around town. Non-fiction can also work well too, I hasten to add.

The first ones I can recall hearing over and over again were four LPs of the Rev Awdry's railway stories narrated by Johnny Morris, complete with whistles and brilliant voices as per Animal Magic. The disappointment when the TV series got Ringo to do them... I now have copies of these on CD for occasional nostalgia blasts. Other childhood favourites were an LP of Swallows and Amazons (not exactly a book that one, but the dialogue from the film version with added narration), Alice in Wonderland and, er, The Guns of Navarone.

Yesterday I finished another lot of Terry Brooks Shanarra tales. I know I have been troubled by the continuity in those before, but you would think that a writer would remember chopping the arm off one of his own creations and not have him later place both palms against a door etc. It may only be a fantasy epic but still needs to pass a few tests for rigour!

Time for something meatier now I think, and I've got Simon Schama's history of Britain lined up for when I have time to update my memory card.

(Uncanny Update - on publishing this post Blogger found me an advert for Audible. Why, you could almost believe they search for key words and line things up to match!)

Sister Act and other diversions

Sister Act
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

As foreshadowed, Saturday saw our visit to London to see Sister Act. It was absolutely superb - definitely the best west end production we have seen so far. OK, so perhaps they have an advantage at the Palladium with revolving stage, trapdoors etc that you may not see in other venues, but by 'eck do they make the most of it. Acting, singing, dancing and the scenery all superb.

We were both impressed by Patina Miller in the lead role and Sheila Hancock as the Mother Superior with perfect comic timing. For our show we got the understudy for the priest, instead of the anticipated Ian Lavender* but he was really good anyway, and somehow the thought of Private Pike with an American accent would have been wrong anyway.

As we arrived with four hours to kill we had a bit of a mooch around Oxford Street, Soho and the general area. No real intentions other than seeing some of the back streets and bits we've not wandered around before. Plus it wasn't enough time to get to and then do justice to a museum or gallery as well as fitting in a bite of lunch. Some more pics gradually making their way up onto flickr.


* This was not such a disappointment for me as I have actually met him. We were holding a bus users forum in Bury St Edmunds which he attended with some questions for us. Nice to see someone with a modicum of fame using public transport. Anyway, one of my colleagues got the job of taking down his details and had no idea who he was talking to. When he asked for his name I had to bite my tongue to not shout out "Don't tell him, Pike". I'm sure he must get that all the time.

Sweet Emulsion

Some comedian I can't recall once said that you know you are getting old/turning into your Dad when you see a stick and think "I'll keep that for stirring paint" or something along those lines. In my case it is a strip of plastic edging from when we had the kitchen refitted, but the idea is much the same. And it got a fair bit of use this weekend as I chose to recover from my cold by repainting the bathroom. Again.

Can anyone tell me what a normal level of decoration rotation should be?

We've been in this house thirteen years now and have so far done:

Kitchen, Bathroom, Lounge - four times each
Bedroom, Dining Room - three times
Stairs/Landing, Spare Room, Study - twice

Those totals seem a bit extreme to me, when compared with my nearest point of reference - my parents. They have been in their current house twenty years now and only got round to redoing each room for the first time since taking possession about two or three years ago. And only then because they had an extension built which meant some walls got moved around. In the one we lived in for eighteen years before that I can't remember any room being done more than twice.

I know it isn't constant, but it seems like we are always thinking about colours and how to do each room next. And I just can't say no to MrsB when she starts hinting that a freshen up is in order. I think she may be obsessed with change. And its not that I object to the actual slapping on of paint, it is just all the preparation, living with a room out of use and all the contents distributed everywhere else for a few days etc that gets me down.

And there are a couple of pots of Moroccan red waiting for the kitchen to get a fifth look this side of Christmas too...

Atchooo!

So, this week I have mostly been off work with a cold. Sounds pathetic really, doesn't it? I felt a bit grotty and did lots of sneezing on Sunday, struggled in on Monday then gave up half way through the day and haven't been back. I always feel guilty when I'm off sick whatever the cause, but this really does feel a bit stupid to be home with. The trouble is, when I do get a bad cold I get dizzy and have trouble staying upright.

What with hayfever and a dust-mite allergy I sneeze pretty much all year round, so can cope with that side of the business just fine. But when I can't more than a dozen steps without feeling like I could fall over or throw up, it kind of makes being in an office all day a bit tricky. And the thought of driving with it was just too much.

As such, I've done lots of sleeping, a bit of reading and watched a few old video tapes that have been sitting around waiting for me (no Sky+ here you know!). Oh, I've also consumed lots of Lemsip and done some general feeling sorry for myself. Feel almost back to normal again now so hopefully back to the real world on Monday.

Mixing with the gricers

Georgina
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Took a trip to Duxford yesterday for the Showbus event. Went four years in a row when I first started at the council due to free bus journeys and reduced entry being offered, but this was my first visit since 2001.

A glorious day in terms of weather (they normally call it Showerbus) and I quite enjoyed getting back into the old buses as art kind of thing. And of course I like to see the planes as well. Lots of pictures which will gradually make their way onto the usual place.

OK, so the buses do bring out the bus enthusiasts, some of whom can be a little scary in their obsessions (and in need of a good wash/spray down with Sure), and there really was no need for wooly hats yesterday, but a generally harmless crowd. Some of whom I know of old, and some of whom drive me to work on a regular basis. Good to bump into some of them.

Funniest moment was two women I overheard. As they reached the end of a line of buses one said "Oh no, not more of them" and the other responded with "Aye, there's not much here for them of us as don't like buses or planes". Which tickled me. I assume they had husbands off jotting down chassis numbers somewhere.

Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Bad start to the day
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Eagle-eyed readers will already have spotted what greeted me when we left the house this morning. It seems that somewhere on the way home last night my car got screwed (click pick to go through the Flickr and you can see the actual screw in the next image - top class photo reporting here!). And of course this particular tyre has only been on for two weeks. Fortunately I bought some with a lifetime guarantee which includes accidental damage so it was repaired OK at no cost.

This is only my second puncture in 21 years behind the wheel, so I guess I've been pretty lucky. The first was within days of having moved up to Felixstowe. Mum and I were heading in to Ipswich to meet Dad for lunch, taking some rubbish to the tip on the way. I was still on L plates at that point. Having turned off the A45 onto the road up to the tip we immediately noticed a real rumble, limped a bit further up to the next village and pulled over. As this was 1989 we weren't equipped with mobiles so while I started emptying the boot to get the spare Mum went in search of a phoen to warn that we would be late.

She was able to flag down a passing police motorbike before I had finished unloading. Turned out not to be a copper but a mechanic taking the bike for a test ride so he gallantly did the tyre change for us in about thrity seconds flat.

My only other experience of a flat tyre was at the age of 10 or 11 on the way back from a chess tournament (I wasn't playing, just supporting my friend Howard). His dad had to do a change in the dark with us two far enough away from the edge of the road to be safe but near enough to hold a torch for him.

Here's hoping it can be another 10 or more years until the next one.

Sources of annoyance

Came home tonight to find the third charity bag through the door in as many days. Whay have they all decided to target us this week? Something to do with the distributors having been off over the school hols perhaps? They have all gone straight back outside where they will no douibt sit on the drive for a week before we give up and thrown them in the bin. I've never known an empty one be picked up for re-use despite them promising to. When we have clothes to get rid of they are generally in no fit state to go on to anyone so these bags really are a waste of time. So on that note, here are a few more things annoying me riight now...

Masterchef - The Professionals. Who the hell thought up the broadcast format for this? Having 45 minutes per group of hopefuls rather than 30 is great, but why is the first show split over two days? Makes no sense at all. Loving the show though, nice to see people who think they can do it all making the same mistakes as the amateurs.

People phoning up to complain about bus shelters. Especially the ones who see a pole or kerb go in and assume we will follow it up with a shelter. If only I had the budget. (OK, that's a pretty specific moan that won't be relevant to most people!)

Dark evenings. Autumn isn't supposed to come on this quickly. When I come home from work I want to enjoy a nice light evening still, not be thinking about putting the lights on to make the drive. It is still only September after all.

The Beatles remasters being yet again full-price discs. Haven't they had enough money off us all over the years? They should have done the decent thing and made them bargains. Especially when the first three albums would probably fit together on one CD.

Not being able to remember the other thing I was going to moan about!

'Orrible Grizzly Murder

Watching You
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So we came home one day last week to find the living room full of flies. A little searching found a mouldering bird under the sofa. No need to guess as to the culprit, as this was the second little brown job that Tawny had brought in in a week or so.

The question is, why has she suddenly taken up hunting again after a break of at least seven years?

When we first got her (and late lamented brother Barney) she was a regular hunter, bringing in mice, shrews, voles, frogs and, er, twigs and stems. We didn't mind the twigs (although how she got them through the cat flap remains a mystery) - some of them even had flowers attached, but as the wildlife was generally still alive and kicking it tended to enliven the day somewhat more than necessary. And we had to start keeping her in at night after being forced to dismantle our bed at 3am on several occasions to remove presents.

So when she seemed to give up all that stalking for a sedentary life we were a tad relieved all told. And now she seems to have been bitten by teh bug again. Nice to know she's still got the moves (after all, she is pushing 14 years now) but I really don't need any corpses under the furniture.

Drumming up trade

Bannatyne 2
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So, how do you get people to come and visit your town on a sunny bank holiday? We had an event every day over the weekend and only one of them was as a result of having a Dragon available.

Saturday was the annual Custom/American car run. There have been four or five of these now to my knowledge. Unlike the historic vehicle run in May (organised by the Ipswich Transport Museum and running for 30 years now) this is linked in with a commercial event - namely the NASC gathering at the Suffolk Showground/Trinity Park. But just as in May we get several hundred cars of varying interest passing the end of the road and gathering on the sea front. I enjoy the spectacle and had a nice walk along the entire length of the prom and back in the sunshice taking pictures and generally dreaming of a new car. And so do hundreds of others - the prom was heaving and many of the cars I would have liked to photograph were so surrounded by onlookers that I gave up.

Sunday was Art On The Prom - another comparatively recent happening but at the very least in its fourth or fifth year. I enjoyed that spectacle as well, walking half the prom and back gawping at the pictures, sculpture etc on display. MrsB even bought a painting this year (OK, a cheap one from a 9-year old artist, but it was still a sale). Again, the prom was thronged with bodies and some of the stalls were three or four deep in bodies. Again the sun shone, although it was a bit windy (leading to at least one girl experiencing a Marilyn Monroe moment as I passed - black lace if you must know).

Then Monday we had tv's Duncan Bannatyne and his Edwardian Extravaganza. This was part of a show he is filming for Virgin TV trying to inject life into flagging towns or something (I don't know the full details as yet - it is due to be shown next year). Working on the assumption that Felixstowe needs something extra to bring people in he treated us to a Land Train (well, it made the third walk along the prom in a row a bit easier!), a bathing beauty contest (co-judged with Zoe Salmon from Blue Peter - we missed that but did see her heading back to the hotel), a tug of war contest and a skiffle band (very Edwardian!) among other amusements. Not very Dragonish. For the third day we had lovely weather and people flocked to the sea.

But did we really need him? The two established events had just as many people out and about (if not more) and the beach hasn't exactly been quiet on other days I've ambled along either. I'll buy that anything to help the town is good, and the gift shops and food outlets were doing a roaring trade all three days, but I have a feeling they would have done just fine on Monday anyway. Maybe I'm being oversensitive and there is suffering in the town I don't know about, but I'd rather we were able to get on with it ourselves rather than relying on someone jetting in from his villa in the south of France for the day.

Now all I need to do is find the after sun - three days on the beach and my forehead is peeling nicely! Plus 10,000+ steps for three in a row as well. 4-weekly average has topped 9k for the first time.

Smile for the Camera

Bradfield Combust Wall
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

I'm not sure what triggered it, but I seem to have become re-obsessed with photography over the last couple of months. It was always something I enjoyed, but from the files just on this hard drive there have been big gaps when I haven't had the camera out at all over the years, never mind back in the pre-digital days.

Parlty this has come about through Flickr - having a few positive comments (especially from people I don't know in the real world), invites to groups and favouritising of shots is a natural boost to the ego. And of course that then spurs me on to try and do better or be more interesting next time. I'm also looking for more and different subjects to train the lens on - partly through browsing the groups or other people's photos randomly in search of inspiration.

But then I have tried to be a bit creative with my camera for as long as I've had one. Which I guess will be 20 years this Christmas for one of reasonable quality (OK, so that was only a cheap Halina point and shoot 35mm jobby, but it did at least take full-size pics in colour!). I also tend to overshoot compared to others.

When we went on a college field-trip to Morocco I used three rolls compared to the one averaged by most of the others. It seemed extravagant at the time (after all, three films and processing was a lot on a grant) but I did then have the luxury of choosing good shots for the essays and stuff when we got home. And the day after we first went to Canada and I took ten rolls in for developing still sticks in the mind too.

Of course now with digital cameras and memory cards cheaper than real film it is easy for me to whip off several hundred shots in a matter of days. Maybe quality is preferable to quantity, but at least I can weed out the good ones from the mundane before sharing them with the world.

But now I face a real choice - where do I go now? If you don't count phones, I am now on my third point & shoot digicam. The first lasted a good six years, the second a mere six weeks or so before dying and now number three is approaching its birthday. And I want something more powerful. So should I go for one of the new superzoom compacts (up to 24x zoom has a certain appeal) or move on up to a digital SLR?

I really fancy the latter, but am not sure I can justify the expense. Especially as I know I will want extra lenses which puts the cost up immensely (after all, I do love my macro shots, and also want to get that telephoto ability too). I just can't decide.

Of course, being able to stuff the current Samsung in my pocket is a big advantage too. Plus living in such a lovely County and having a job that takes me out into it on a regualr basis is also handy - especially as I have to get pictures of bus shelters/stops etc for work. So if there is something just as photogenic next door it isn't really any worse for me to stop and snap that as it is for the desk-bound taking a fag break every half hour.

Oh yes, and being out today has taken me over 16,000 steps in one day for the first time!

August hols three and four

OK, lets get this holiday wrapped up so I can talk about something else next time.

Thursday: You're Bard.

So we went on down to Stratford Upon Avon to do the Shalespeare thing. Well, three fifths of the houses and no play at any rate. Another Park & Ride visit (well, got to keep my hand in) and a journey into town through an unexpected industrial area.

Of the houses we visited, I think I enjoyed the Birthplace the most in terms of content, but if pushed to live in one of them would choose Hall's Croft, purely for the interior layout with the "consulting room" on a sort of mezzanine overlooking the front door. All three town houses have beautiful gardens - in fact the knot gardens on display put the Garden Museum to shame, frankly. Nash's house/New Place large garden also has a wonderful set of sculptures relating to the plays and as it is free to enter is well worth stopping for a few minutes in should you happen to be in town. Now all i need to do is read Bill Bryson's biography of the man, which is sat awaiting me on a shelf downstairs, and maybe have another go at seeing the plays. I haven't really given him any attention since O-level Romeo & Juliet in 1987.

The rest of Stratford is also a nice place to wander around. Lots of interesting buildings, many of which play up their Shakespeare connections (we had lunch in Crabtree and Evelyn of all places, and that building turned out to have housed one of his daughters for a time) but I do wonder how much of what we see now is original. All three of the Shakespeare houses in town have been "restored" to the conditions he would have known them in, having had various facades slapped on them over the years. I guess architectural history is something else I will have to delve into one of these days. We also managed to continue a holiday tradition by purchasing a Christmas decoration in the height of summer - there is a Christmas shop opposite the birthplace. Previously we have bought decorations up a mountain in Switzerland, by Niagara Falls and even in Yorkshire. Not that we will be in the country this year, but that's for another time.

Friday: Ruined splendour.

We finished the holiday with a morning at Kenilworth Castle. This one is operated by English Heritage and very much the ancient monument rather than a medieaval theme park. If forced to choose between the two I would pick this over Warwick, but then I prefer ruins to re-enactment. This is one of the sites deliberately destroyed by Cromwell after the Civil War and so much of the former splendour resides in the imagination. Mind you, mine can be pretty vivid so I have no problem mentally rebuilding the walls and populating the place with knights and queens (Elizabeth 1 visited four times). They also have a very good audio tour which fills in many of the gaps. Highly recommended.

Then it was home along the A14 and back to reality. All told a good relaxing break and just what we needed. Roll on the next one.

Ohm and for anyone counting, 10,000 steps acheived on three out of four days (somehow I managed it on the way there but not the way home, despite about equal time split between driving and mooching about).

August hols 2

Day Two: A-Warwick A-Warwick!

We hadn't decided what order to do days two and three (if you see what I mean) before arriving, but waking up to rain on Wednesday made the decision for us to stay local. OK, partly I wanted a day off from driving, but we figured that we could duck in and out of different bits of Warwick castle and stay reasonably dry better than trying to get between different Shakespeare houses. And it was forecast to dry up later anyway, which it did.

One advantage of Audrey's strict 0800-0845 breakfast rule meant we were up and about and in town nice and early. Warwick has a nice mix of medieaval and Regency architecture throughout the town centre and had more to offer than we had time to visit. We will definitely go back some time as I really want to look around Lord Leycester's Hospital which we had to miss.

The rain had eased off to a drizzle but before we went down to the castle we had a look around the Warwickshire museum. I got the impression that most of it was last updated in the early 80s and it could use a bit of a refresh. Not that anything was wrong, it just gave me a feeling of being a museum about a museum rather than about the county as such. Still, there was some intereseting stuff on display including a nice model of the town before the great fire and also a temporary 40 years of the moon landing exhibition which naturally grabbed my attention.

So this brings us on to the castle itself and the first obstacle to an fun-packed day of knights and princesses: getting in. Physically not a problem, you just join a queue, pay up and wander through the turnstiles. Mentally, however, it is quite a challenge. Walk up admission for an adult is a kibblesworth under £20. Now, that's a fair bit in my book and quite how the enormous family groups we saw inside can justify the cost is beyond me. Entry to the dungeon was another £7.50 on top. Fortunately MrsB has a pass that gets her into many things free (or at least cheap), what with her being a tourist information officer, so that was a bit of a saving for us. The second obstacle was, as previously mentioned, the weather but that was clearing up by now. And the final obstacle were the huge family groups (I'm really painting myself as a boring old fart here, but too many screaming kids and I just want to run for the hills. I know, I know, don't go to a family attraction then complain about the families!).

Having made it through the gates we headed to the Dungeon bit first as that was a timed entry ticket. It still took us half an hour (standing in the rain) to get inside from joining the queue - mainly due to them only letting in small groups at a time and also insisting on taking everyone's picture in an execution pose first. We did like the resulting photo but declined to pay £5 for it. Anyway, that was really the end of the negativity and things got better from then on.

We went to the London Dungeon a few years ago and this was much like a cut-down version of that - lots of grizzly torture instruments and people dressed up with a loose degree of authenticity to do a bit of acting in each new chamber. There was also a fair bit about the plague, which I'm not sure quite fitted the torture theme, but I guess it was better there than elsewhere in the castle. In fact, I got volunteered to have my head cut open and a cure effected - all done very nicely with curtains and shadows which definitely made it look realistic from where I was sitting. I'm not aware that there was any communication between the denizens of the dungeon, but they managed to pick different victims in each instance of requiring one so nobody in our group ended up feeling like they stood out too much.

Interactivity was a theme of much of the rest of the day as well. There are numerous static exhibits with rooms done out in the style of various eras of the castle's history (we felt these could have done with a few more interpretation boards, and while we saw people carrying audio guides at no point were we offered the use of them) but there was also a continual stream of things happening around the grounds, in various rooms etc. As well as looking through the exhibits and climbing the walls we witnessed a fire breathing jester attempting to entertain the mob (he succeeded), jousting, falconry, general hand to hand combat and the firing of a Trebuchet. All accompanied by subtle use of facts and folklore to get the crowd involved and fired up for one side or the other in the various combats without them realising they were getting a bit of a history lesson thrown in with the spectacle.

Despite my misgivings caused by the cost, the crowds and the theme-park atmosphere (the Castle is run by the Merlin Group who also operate Madam Tussauds, Legoland Windsor, the Sea Life Centres, Alton Towers and much more so that was understandable) I ended up having a great day out.

We walked a mile or so the other way that night for dinner at a recommended pub. OK, but nothing special in my book. Staggered the locals when we told them we had walked it though (to be fair, we did get a taxi back but only because the rain had returned)...

August hols one

Cathedral Stained Glass
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

A few words about our little break in the midlands.

Day One: Home - Coventry - Warwick

Unexpectedly leaving home within a few minutes of our intended departure time, we hit the A14 and had a breeze of a drive to Coventry. The weather was overcast enough to make driving easy in terms of not having to battle with bright lights, rain or anything else untowards. Traffic was sparse and we were on the Park & Ride bus into the city centre by 1130 or thereabouts. Not the most impressive of P&R sites but the bus got us into town and the car was still where we left it and
undamaged when we came back so that's all you really need to worry about.

I'd been to Coventry twice before back in 1990/91. Both just fleeting visits from Derby - once to try and get tickets to see the Quireboys (failed) and once to escort a friend who didn't fancy making the trip alone to visit another friend who was at the universtiy there. I had some vague recollections of the cathedral from those but nothing else stuck in my mind. MrsB had never been before so it was basically a fresh experience for both of us.

While suffering from the same problems of closing shops and too many smilarities with everywhere else, it has to be said the City Centre is really quite nice. They have obviously spent a fait bit of money over the last few years cleaning up and re-paving and so forth, and if we had been there to shop I think we could have quite easily spent our money. Of course that wasn't what we were there for so we went off to gawp at the sights instead.

The cathedral was just as fantastic as I remembered. The contrast between the bombed ruins of the old and the mid-century modernity of the new makes for an unsettling and yet calming experience. If that makes any kind of sense. I'm not a religious person, but I do appreciate the varying styles of ecclesiastical architecture on offer in this country, and in this case found them both to be equally as appropriate as each other. Climbing the tower of the old cathedral (remarkably undamaged when compared with the rest of the structure) gives a great perspective on the sheer scale of the building which you don't always get from other such vantage points. I think the lack of roof makes it clear how big the place was, and experience of other churches helps interpret how the space would have been enclosed in times gone by. The newer building is just as magnificent in its own way, especially the stained glass curtain window (as pictured above - click through to Flickr for more views) and the way it spreads flashes of colour across what could otherwise be quite a dull interior. Some of the smaller spaces inside manage to capture the intimacy and feel of similar nooks and crannies in older churches and yet still reflect the hope of the new. I think in some ways I was most impressed that it was built at all, especially on such a grand scale. It is nice to know that we can still build "old fashioned" church stuff - such as the new tower put on Bury St Edmunds Cathedral for the millennium - but the fact that a city and the church was willing to go forward with something so radical is just great. I know there was opposition and controversy at the time, but I think know it fits in as a link between the different eras of construction.

After a spot of lunch the sun came out and we had a wander through a bit more of the town centre, ending up at Spon Street which wasn't quite the medieaval theme street implied by the signange but still nice to look at in parts. Most of the old buildings appear to now be bars and weren't open so we headed on to the Transport Museum instead.

Not having grown up in a town with a focus on manufacturing it is hard for me to comprehend just how dominated Coventry and surrounding towns were by the motor trade in its heyday, but the museum certainly gives a flavour of those times. Wandering past exhibit after exhibit built
within a 10-20 mile radius of the site did kind of bring it home a bit how much the town must have depended on the factories and how it must have suffered since their decline. Plus of course I'm a sucker for a nice bit of polished bodywork and a good old British marque. It was also good to see them give space to a number of concept cars - even if they are just plaster and mdf models some of the ideas that get touted at motor shows as "design studies" and so forth do give me interesting thoughts about what we could or should be driving by now.

The museum is also home to Land Speed Record breaking Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC, both of which I remember following eagerly as they screeched their way across the desert. A somewhat pointless exercise really, but fun to watch and both cars are impressive in the flesh.

Having used up the afternoon we then wound our way to Warwick and our B&B for the next three nights. The Seven Stars was lovely, the room was comfy, breakfasts tasty, Landlady Audrey and her helper Sue nice (we never did meet Audrey's husband John) and overall well worth the price. It would perhaps have been nice to have had the option of eating in at night rather than heading back into town but you can't have everything. What we saw of Warwick that night was also very attractive (more tomorrow) and we had a nice Italian dinner which went
down very well!

Major and Minorettes

Major and Minorettes
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Urp, where did that last week go?

Anyway, summer is now making a proper appearance and to go with it the carnival season is upon us. A much shorter procession than in previous years and no "extras" in the form of firework displays or concerts etc owing to the main sponsor pulling out. But then it would have been hard for them to justify pumping cash into this when staff are losing shifts.

Despite the lack of floats the majorettes were out in force. What is it that attracts girls (and indeed the occasional nervous looking young lad) to join these outfits? Most of the activities youngsters can get involved with I can sort of see a point to - cubs, scouts, brownies, even normal dance classes can add skills and things that might come in handy in later life. But what can shaking some pom poms or twirling a baton prepare you for? All the troupes have their lead car bedecked with trophies - presumably earnt through out-twirling their rivals - and lurid matching uniforms but I'm not sure why they exist other than to pad out processions and fill a ten minute slot at summer fetes.

Answers on a postcard!

And if you want to see more from Saturday just click on the girls to go through to Flickr.

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Now off to Warwickshire for a few days. Travelogue when I get back.