shepline: the journal
Springwatch: Revitalised
[when | 11th June 2009 09:04pm]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | nature, springwatch, television]
We like Chirs Packham. He's a wildlife geek but he's great. He's just the right kind of balance between knowledgeable scientis and personable personality.
I'm not about to knock Bill Oddie 'cos I do like him, but I do think that his presenting style was getting just that little too over the top for the programme. Now though, with the pairing of Chris and Kate, the dynamic is just so funny - it's great!
Woken With a Glass of Cold Water
[when | 11th June 2009 08:14am]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | cats]
We had - or rather more precisely Emma had - a rude awakening to her day, the first day back at work. I think how it happened was that Bella, pleased to be home again, spent a good part of the night when not sleeping plodding and purring on the bed and on us. At some point, Ronnie curled up between us (snoring like a steam engine) and we think Bella plodded to close; he woke up, hissed, she leapt away, across the dressing table to the windowsill and sent a glass of water flying, drenching Emma in icy cold water down her back. That was about five in the morning and not such a welcome waking.
Watching Arthur Watch Springwatch
[when | 10th June 2009 09:34pm]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | cats, springwatch]
I had been thinking earlier this evening about how Bella usually loves to watch Springwatch. She weould get up as close as she could to the television and even look round the back of the television to see where the birds had gone to. It's a memory that made me sad because I had thought I would never see it again.
But Bella is back. She's had some food and is now tucked up on the back of the armchair catching up on two week's worth of much needed shut eye. Deputising for his sister though, Arthur has stepped up close and personal to the TV to keep an eye on all the Springwatch action. I was able to enjoy the programme much more for having our little family complete once again.
Nineteen Days In The Wild
[when | 10th June 2009 08:34pm]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | cats]
Bella's back! She's home, and she's safe! We left it until after dinner to go out for a walk around the estate so that it would be that bit quieter about the place. The plan was to walk back round Cypress Gardens and then around the park. I was calling Bella's name quite a bit, even though I think Emma thought that by now it was a bit fruitless. At the back of my old house she held back whilst I went on to the corner. As I called I heard a miaow... could it be? I rounded the corner, and there she was, coming out from under a bush at the front of my old house. Collarless but complete - my Bella! :-)
She allowed me to scoop her up into my arms and began purring almost immediately. By this point both Emma and I were in tears of joy, as we headed for home. I held her to me, holding her by the scruff in my arms until we got back inside our home.
Like Weather Like Mood
[when | 10th June 2009 02:03pm]
[location | life, jobs]
[mood | 
blah]
Okay, so I almost didn't grab my waterproof as I left this morning to go and sign on. I'm glad I did tghough because the rain started almost immediately. It felt weird to be going somewhere in the car without Emma.
I got to the jobsworth centre plus in Oxford just in time (I had left plenty of time but unbeknown to me they had changed the bus times to three in an hour instead of four) for my 'returning from holiday' interview. After yesterday's telephone conversation with the payment office (should that be the non-payment office) I certainly haven't received anything for my trouble since the end of April(?!) wherein they actually hung up on me! So I was just a wee bit apprehensive about the whole signing on thing.
As it turned out they got to me reasonably quickly and the lady was actually not uninterested in my wedding and my honeymoon. A couple of minutes later I leave the room of beauocracy know that come Monday I should have seven weeks of sixty pounds something deposited into my bank account.
A Return To Home
[when | 9th June 2009 09:49pm]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[mood | subdued]
[tags | cats, honeymoon]
The last leg of our 1,439 mile road trop to Scotland and back was uneventful. We arrived home at lunchtime-ish to be greeted by four loving cats. Sadly, only four though, with still no sign of little Miss Bella.
We spend the afternoon unpacking, making a start on the washing and having a tidy-out. By the evening we are both a bit hot and tired to be cooking and so we have a take-away dinner whilst watching Springwatch - we decide that we like the new pairing of Chris Packham and Kate Humble - before we go for a drive round the estate looking for Bella. We are confused by a grey cat under a car in Cypress Gardens - for more than a moment we think she could be black and Bella. But she's not; she's grey and she's not. No sign though and our drive round turns up nothing. We go to bed tired from our holiday and a bit subdued by events.
At Home With The Shaws
[when | 8th June 2009 10:43pm]
[location | Wakefield]
[tags | honeymoon]
Our journey across the Yorkshire Dales was sublime. From as far back as Carlisle the electronic signage was warning us about horse drawn vehicles on the A66. What we discovered was a horse fair finishing up and on a couple of occasions, ploughing down the A66 and having to slow right down to an unnatural dual carriageway speed for a couple of horsess pulling an old romany caravan.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived at Caroline's house in Wakefield at half past five and just in time for dinner; steak pie and veg was very welcome.
We got shown round the house, and the children's the bedrooms and the sunflowers and the veg patch in the garden. We had a nicd evening catching up, two week's after the wedding, and for us, an excellent way of easing ourselves back into normal life.
From Underground To England
[when | 8th June 2009 03:14pm]
[location | Edinburgh, M6]
[tags | honeymoon]
At 15:14 hours we crossed the border into England for the first time in over two weeks. Still, and crucially, on the the road trip part of our honeymoon, we spent the morning back in Edinburgh on the Mary King's Close tour, a fascinating insight into life in 1500s and 1600s. Mostly, a historical insight ito the medieval Edinburgh, there were also spooky touches.
Emerging into th sun again we seek out some lunch - settling quietly for the St Giles Cafe (was once the Cafe Florentine) whereI had a very delicious bacon and brie waffle drizzled with maple syrop.
A pleasant walk back down through Grassmarket and we leave Edinburgh and out onto the motorway back towards Glasgow and down the M74 to Carlisle where Emma takes over the driving shortly before we cross the border...
1000 Miles to a Royal Mile
[when | 7th June 2009 11:00pm]
[location | Edinburgh, Glasgow, Edinburgh]
[tags | honeymoon]
Breakfast in Edinburgh started with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon; very nice. We didn't get going quite as soon as we thought we might've, having slept very well in the cosy hotel bed, but when we did get going we headed off to Glasgow; a straight-forward journey of not much over half an hour down the M8. Google's instructions for reaching a car park took us all the wa to a no entry sign so we went back to the one we first though of before finding the Charles Renne Macintosh's Glasgow School of Art building. Coincidentally, we were visiting this masterpiece of at deer architecture on would have been his birthday in the centenery year of the completion of the school.
Having booked ourselves onto the 1 o'clock tour we wandered into town, and, having found John Lewis, we browsed potential bed spreads to buy with the vouchers that Emma's sister had given us. We found some possibilities for when we retun home and actually go looking with the vouchers in hand. We then wandered back, and found The Willow Tea Rooms, before retuning to the Glasgow School of Art in time to peruse the shop and buy some souvenirs before our tour.
The tour itself was given by a very knowledgeable first year student called Lotty who took us round the whole school showing us not just the grander elements of design but also the smaller, more intricate parts, like the motif detailing into the air conditionign and heating vents. Stand outs for me were the staircases in polished cement (or Glasgow marble) and the library which was stunningly beautiful.
Following the tour we went for lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms, a jewellers now on the ground floor, we sat in the gallery. Whilst the setting was stunning we were a bit disappointed by what we received and the service. Also, I found the background hum of all the tea-making machines, an intruding distraction to the ambience, and one that I find impinges the relaxation.
We leave Glasgow spending half the journey time getting between the two rival cities, and half the time geting through Edinburgh. Eventually we arrive at our chosen car park in Holyrood Park in the shadow of Salisbury Craggs and Arthur's seat.
We mooch up the royal mile in a leisurely fashion, getting distracted by various closes and shops. We manage to restrain being seduced by the fudge shop. Emma does find her MacGregor tartan scarf. We also book tickets for the Mary King's Close tour for tomorrow and make our way back to our hotel, going on a circumnavigous route through Edinburgh to avoid the tram works to return to our hotel in time for dinner.
From Island To Edinburgh
[when | 6th June 2009 10:36pm]
[location | Eilean Shona, Edinburgh]
[tags | honeymoon]
Packing and cleaning goes swiftly this morning and we are ready ahead of schedule to leave our little red-roofed cottage in the woods with the gurgling pipes and the peat-brown water.
We walk down to the jetty as Paul goes up in the quad bike to collect our luggage, and then we get the boat across. All too soon we are back on the mainland for the last time. We don't rush though, driving to Ackarackle first to post postcards first and then quite deliberately in the wrong direction to the Arts Centre on the banks of Loch Sunart - a gallery run as a studio by a collective of artists. We see almost immediately a gorgeous picture of Castle Tioram with Eilean Shona behind by Andrew Stewart, but it is £1100. We do treat ourselves to a large, limited editon print though, from the honeymoon fund.
From there we go back on ourselves, through Ackarackle ofr the last time, and on to the road to the isles to return first to Glenfinnen where we have the most satisfactory lunch in a 1950s railway carriage and then a look round the station museum before we are back on the road to the isles, Glen Coe and Edinburgh.
We arrive uneventfully at the hotel just as they are rolling up the red carpet to a wedding reception, and with the sound of bagpipes ushering us in we frind our room and relax before dinner.
That is, we do relax when we are not disturbed by the raucous calling of baby birds within the wall behind our bed. It's all a bit of a culture shock, with the TV and the free wireless internet, from the far away peace of Eilean Shona.
In the evening w have a lovely meal that is included in our stay and go for a walk around the grounds before we return to our room to plan our next day in Glasgow and/or Edinburgh.
The Best Last Night Meal
[when | 5th June 2009 09:51pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
At around 5 o'clock I headed down to The Bothy to collect our venison stew. It's actually turned out to be a pie as Rose discovered that she didn't have any suet but it looked delicious none-the-less. Whilst there, I discovered that there was a rain shower that I sat and watched from our little red-roofed cottage in the woods was actually falling on The Bothy! Apparently we also missed a Sea Eagle going over, damn it.
We made a start on the packing, the cottage looks so different with the wedding cards and the bunting down, but the stove keeps chugging away, a reassuring warm glow from across the room.
We have the best of last night's meals that we could have asked for in the Stalker's Pie that Rose provided for at the fantastic price of just eight pounds.
Our favourite arrived at 9.30 and carried off whole blue muffins in his mouth after he had fully checked on all the option tonight's menu.
Appropriately enough, as our holiday on Eilean Shona comes to a close, we also reach the end of the playlist, although inappropriately the last song is Tainted Love. Tomorrow, the honeymoon moves on to Edinburgh.
The Island Village (and beachcombing)
[when | 5th June 2009 03:51pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
Another quiet day on the island. Emma has kept the fire going for into the third day, so some time was spent getting it going again for day, stoking up the hot coals and refilling the skuttle from the coal shed.
We had a little wander down through the woods and then explored the gardens of Eilean Shona house. Rose came out of the house to chase us away until we explained that Alistair had said that after Sunday it was okay ato. But apparently people have a habitg of coming ashore from yachts and snooping around inside the house. The gardens are beautiful and lead us down to the shore, and the quay. We potter on the beach for shells and driftwood.
Returning to our little red-roofed cottage in the woods for lunch we finish up the Alsager oatcakes (they've lasted well!), the herring and the mushrooms.
As Emma has an afternoon sleep I settle back in my chair with a view of the loch and write postcards. I note that it is raining on the mainland but still perfectly dry on our totally peaceful and tranquil island.
It's been a fantastic stay here this past week. Such a beautiful island, only 2½ miles long and ½ mile wide you can go for days if you choose without seeing a single other soul. We've seen a pair of buzzards, two red deer, logts of smaller birds (including some very greedy chaffinches) and pine martins who come to visit us almost every evening for nuts, and cake, eggs, cheese and even the occasional beef olive!
It's been an inspirational place too. J.M. Barrie was apparently inspired to create Neverland by coming here, and with its little islands, inlets, lochs and castles I can well believe it. I've begun writing my next novel here, the curious one about Mr Tumnal. It's all very restful and I'm not sure that we want to leave. We certainly would like to come back here, and maybe bring my parents with us for I'm sure Barney would love it here.
Thrice Visited
[when | 4th June 2009 11:34pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
This evening we were visited by at least three different pine martins, all as greedy as each other. I say 'at least' because we didn't see which one of them snuck in at the beginning of the evening and stole away with our last egg, or if it was a separate fourth.
We put left-over mini-muffins from the wedding out fo them with the nuts today and the first of the three liked this food so much, he was intent to try and fit as many in his mouth as possble. It would have worked to if the greedy whatsit hadn't spotted the banana and tried to take that too!
The second of three polished off most of the rest of the food and the afore mentioned banana, so we snuck outside and put out some cheese and grapes before settling back to snaffle our own cheese, biscuits and a wee dram of whiskey watch the final pine martin enjoy his cheese supper.
To The Lighthouse
[when | 4th June 2009 06:58pm]
[location | Eilean Shona, Ardnamurchan]
[tags | honeymoon]
After yesterday's exploits, I am sitting writing these pages now in front of a warm coal fire that Emma has succeeded in keeping alight since yesterday evening just by stoking and loading and tending it in the right way.
Today was our second off-island adventure; this time we returned to Ackarackle (where we learnt how to pronouce the name perly - Ak - har -ackle) to stock up on mid-week provisions from the local store. Then we drove down to Salen, and beyond where we failed to visit an art gallery randomly located in the middle of nowhere, before heading off down the *main* (single lane with passing places for overtaking) road along the Ardnamurchan Peninsular.
We had an excellent stop at the Glenborrodale National History and Wildlife Centre. I crawled through a very dark place to see where the wild cats lived and was almost scared witless. And then we had a very good talk through the Golden and Sea Eagles that they have nesting there (and near there). We decided to take out joint membership of the RSPB as a result.
Following the talk we had a very nice lunch of hot smoked salmon salad at the little cafe there and then moved on further down the peninsular to the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse at the the end - 140 steps to the top, adn then two step ladders and one cracked head to the lantern room. Seeing round the exhibition we see both old and new lanterns, and decide that, even with a range of 24 miles the new lantern just doesn't have a patch on the old lantern with its cut glass lens.
Back at Loch Moidart the tide is at the highest we've seen it with the causeway to Castle Tioram all but underwater, and the river hight above the seaweed at the jetty. Allistari collects us in the (slightly delayed) 5 o'clock crossing and speeds us back at top speed with the wind rushing past our faces it is exhilerating.
Down near the jetty there is an old schoolhouse which is in the process of being turned into an artist's colony. There is a stack of oldjunk and machine parts next door, and whilst I am taken by some old scales, Emma has an eye on an old enamual bath with feet. We return to our cottage where the fire is still burning and relax into the evening. I guess I should think about making dinner of sausage and mash...
The Day Off
[when | 3rd June 2009 08:34pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
No boat off the island today; not even if we wanted to. Not that we actually wanted to - preferring instead to have a quieter day. Not that the day was any less nice. We had a bit of a lay-in and a leisurely start to the day. Emma was determined to figure out how the stove worked to get it going.
I had one of those nice sort of days when I got to catch up writing my journal for the holiday - including also an account of our wedding day. I had the chance to dip between the current novel John Harwood's The Seance, which after a quiet start is picking up pace with some quite chilling scenes; I also read some more of Monty Hall's account of bothy life in Beachcomber Cottage.
Whilst Emma did some drawing in the afternoon I worked on the beginnings of my Mr Tumnal story. I've decided to write it long-hand, in ink in the nice leather notebook that Mum and Dad gave me for my birthday.
We had an early-ish dinner; our smoked kippers from Mallaig, lightly fried in butter and lemon juice with salad and tatties. After dinner we went out for short stroll down to, and around, the lilly pond; the lilly pond which actually is a sizeable damn which used to power the sawmill.
On the way back up to Red Cottage we see a red deer buck charge down out of the woods and across. Later in the evening we see Mr P. Martin once more (having already seen him for a spot of lunch earlier on).
A Walk To The Beach
[when | 2nd June 2009 09:42pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
After the *early* start to the day yesterday we had a bit more of a lie in and a leisurely start. When it came to the business of the day I was glad of the egg for breakfast for today as we decided to walk to the beach at Shoe Bay.
The walk proved to be a 2½ mile one to the far end of the island and involved going up hill and down headland. We realised just how isolated the cottage at South Shore is (no wonder they have a separate Sunday start). Further on, and our target beach which kept on proving to be just 'one more headland' further on down a track of decreasing size and increasingly overgrown. Another cottage confuses us - we thought South Shore was the most isolated. Every little inlet has its own crofter's ruin and its own fresh mountain stream.
Eventually we arrive at the beach of silver sand and rocky prometaries complete with rock pools. We waste no time in stripping down to our swimming costumes and entering the freezing but refeshing waters that our clear and turquoise.
Since we began our walk the tide has come in, and where once was a wide, double-sided beach, now there is water to paddle in, up to waist height. Whilst we are there, the couple from South Shore arrive but they cross the water to spend time in another cove. We see our first red deer - a doe - high up on the rocky prometary.
I struggle a bit on the walk home - but it is by then mid-afternoon and we have had no lunch. I think of bacon and mushroom oatcakes, and of an Alsager oatcake filled with Wesh goats cheese and Dower House chutney. The thought sustains me all the way home.
We have a leisurely end to the afternoon although we do both manage to do some washing and Emma succeeds in getting the fire lit to the point of hot coals that causes the hot water tank to gurgle and splutter in conversation with us.
We have dinner of haggis and tatties and then settle down to write our diaries. Whilst we are sitting, drinking whisky and writing, Mr P. Martin visits us again, quickly demolishing the peanuts we have offered him.
The Road to the Isles
[when | 1st June 2009 10:07pm]
[location | Eilean Shona, Mallaig, Glenfinnen, Neptune's Staircase]
[tags | honeymoon]
An early start today; we are down at the jetty in good time to get the 9.30 boat across a loch of flat calm and low-tide-shallowness. We get the impression that Allistair is a little unimpressed that we have chosen to leave 'his' island.
Back on shore we drive round the end of Loch Shiel to join the road to the isles, making first to the fishing port of Mallaig and last stop before the ferry to Skye. At Mallaig we buy fish from a small fishmongers next to the station (in a building that might have once part of the station).
From Mallaig we journey (in reverse) the famous Road to the Isles. First stop are the silver-sand beaches of Morar, where we pause to paddle. Then its on to Glenfinnen and a picnic lunch of smoked salmon rolls from the Mallaig fishmongers and Irn-Bru as a train crosses the famous Glenfinnen Viaduct. Seeing the train cross really does make you realise how big the viaduct is, even if sadly it is just a regular commuter train and not a glorious steam locomotive. There is also the monument to Bonny Prince Charlie, but I am less sure about this once I discover that its not even the original memorial, and they aren't sure where that was.
Further down the Road to the Isles we stop at a town by the lochside to get one of the best views of Ben Nevis and its summit, set against blue sky and fluffy white clouds, and reflected in the clear blue waters. We watch as sailing yacht is let through one of the large locks at the southern end of the Caledonian Canal. Moving on a little further we see the greaness of Neptune's Staircase - a series of 8 locks leading into the Great Glen. Having taken day boats out on our own Oxfordshire canal, the extent of engineering seen hereis awesome and incredible to even think about. And when we think of it all as a manual operation and the need for a crew of 12 lock keepers it is unbelievable.
We do complete our journey down the road by ending at the beginning in a quick loop around Fort William to see just how uninteresting a place it really is. And then we drive back down the road to the isles in the correct direction until we reach our turning for Loch Shiel, and Ackarackle and to our very own Castle Tioram to get the boat back across to our island. I am disappointed to discover that you cannot get into the castle.
Back at our little red-roofed cottage in the roof we put an egg out with the nuts tonight, and it is gone by morning, but sadly we see no more pine martins tonight.
Settling Into Island Life
[when | 31st May 2009 09:57pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[tags | honeymoon]
With a bed that looks straight out through a large front window at a view across the loch to the east, we slept with the curtains open. So we woke several times during the night as dawn came early.
We got up leisurely for our first morning on the island and had a quiet time just pottering around Red Cottage. I setled down outside and drew the cottage with the new pencils that Em got me for my birthday. We had lunch of Alsager oatcakes and a quiet early afternoon time of reading and sleeping before we headed out to climb 'our' mountain.
It took a couple of hours to reach the 265 ft summit. Sadly the red deer were off on some other part of the island but we did see two Rock Pippets and a couple of coppulating Oil Beetles. Winding our way home through the village we met the couple from White Cottage (who have found the glorious sandy beach) and we met the three black piggies at feeding time.
A pasta dinner tonight, but sadly no pine martins. It says in the visitor book, that deer sometimes come to the cottage at dusk. Still no red deer.
From Crowded City to Deserted Isle
[when | 30th May 2009 09:56pm]
[location | Eilean Shona]
[mood | 
relaxed]
[tags | honeymoon, springwatch]
Another scorching day in Scotland. We have a full breakfast before checking out of our hotel and making our way pack-horse-style to the car again. Escaping Glasgow proves to be not as hideous as I feared after the arrival. An hour into our journey we pause in Dumbarton to shop for perishables in Morrisons before descending further into the mountains. We travel the length of Loch Lomond before a picnic lunch.
In the afternoon, Emma takes the wheel and drives us through the spectacular Glen Coe - nowhere near as forboding in clear blue sky and sunshine as it would be haunting in the cold, grey and rain - to the Corran Ferry, and from there a winding and beautiful journey through oak forests on the way to the Ardnamurchan Peninsular and the small community of Ackarackle. I say community because the collection of shops and houses does not feel like a village in the usual sense. We have a cup of tea at the Blue Parrot Post Office, shop and tea room before travelling the last couple of miles to get the boat onto the island.
Alistair - the island manager of just eight months - meets us and several other couples also going across and loas us into the tiny motorboat launch for the 10 minute crossing. His assistant Paul drives the quadbike and trailor with all our stuff on board up to our little cottage in the woods.
An old crofters and/or shepherd's hut with a porch extension on one side and a bathroom extension on the other, it has a simple painted, wood-pannelled interior with a small coal burning stove.
On our first night on our tranquil island we are visited by a pine martin, who spends some time in front of our lounge window, scoffing the peanuts we put out especially to tempt him out of the woods.
From Lakes To Lighthouse
[when | 29th May 2009 08:40pm]
[location | Glasgow]
[tags | charles renne mackintosh, honeymoon]
Leaving Ambleside early-ish, we take a scenic route north-east and, pretty-much straight up, the side of a mountain. It's fairly busy and we decide that the 1:4 road has suffered at the hands of sat-nav. At the top of the pass there is a lovely inn half in the cloud.
From there we drive down the other side coasting on the clutch and break out of the cloud and into cloudless blue skies and sunshine. Ullswater proves to be a very long lake and takes us out of the steep mountains and into the lowland hills before we rejoin to the M6, pass Carlisle and leave both the Lake District and England behind us.
After about two and a half hours we enter the subhurbs of Glasgow via an increasing complexity of motorways - my first time driving in the big city. We find our hotel but also find that parking outside it for unloading purposes is impossible and so have to make our way from the fifth floor of the multi-story car park opposite, laiden like pack-horses with everything we have in the car (except for the two crates in the boot), to the eighth floor of the hotel.
Once in the room we avail ourselves of the air conditioner, lunch from our cool bag, and high speed internet access to look at wedding photos. As Emma takes an afternoon snooze, I download photos. Then we go out into the city in the late afternoon (but still sweltering heat) on part one of Emma's Charles Renne Macintosh tour.
At the Lighthouse we start at the top with a viewing platform where we get a good view of the city skyline and of the chimney to the old Herald building - a grand thing itself which I mistake for the lighthouse itself. A few floors down and we find the exhibition about Macintosh and the entrance into The Lighthouse and the 135 spiral steps to the top and an even better view of the city.
We wander through the city centre in the early evening as the shops are shutting before seeking out an early dinner. 'The Secret Garden' in Merchant City proves to be not as tranquil in either temperature, volume or ambience as the name suggests. In the end we settle upon Cafe Gandalfi in the old cheese market - a red sandstone building with wood pannelling and chunky oak furniture. The Rough Guide recommends their black pudding so we have that, and follow it up with a seafood linguini that is delicious.
Still in early evening we head back to our hotel for an early night.
The Cultural Tour
[when | 28th May 2009 10:04pm]
[location | Ambleside]
[tags | beatrix potter, honeymoon, wordsworth]
It was a dry but slightly grey morning, but over a full English breakfast the cloud burnt off and we had a nice drive south through the hills to Near Sawrey to visit Hill Top. Warned to go early we got our timed tickets and only had to wait for one hour, in the very nice gardens of Beatrix Potter's old farm before we got to go in. Delightfully small, the rooms were lit in such a way as to approximate how it would have been, and copies of her books were laid open next to the actual scenes or furniture form which Beatrix drew them. We recognised the dolls house ham from The Tale of Two Bad Mice straight away!
From Hill Top we had a leisurely walk down the hill to where Emma had had to park in the overflow car park by the lake. We drove back aroudn the far side of the lake, skirting at the edge of Grizedale Forest (and scene of another university jaunt) to Hawkshead.
We had lunch at Hawkshead's Hawkshead before going to have a look round the Beatrix Potter gallery which is situated in William Heelis' old solicitors offices. Walking back through the village we decide impromptu to visit the church. We were glad we did, not just because it was decidedly pretty but because, decending the hill a different way we came across a different way and discoveredd the old grammar school where William Wordsworth was schooled.
An excellent guide told us all about it and told us how the glass plate covering the 'supposed' grafitied signature of William Wordsworth is almost certainly a forgery - a spoilt I or J from John Wordsworth, his brother. William Wordsworth was a disinterested student, and a bit of a naughty lad, and would have almost certainly been placed in the corner just in the line of sight of the schoolmaster where he would have had to have climbed over 4 hulking boys to get out. Plus, there is a 'WW' inscribed into that heavily grafitied desk next to one by his best friend John Bird.
From Hawkshead we made our way to Grassmere via a pretty if windy and alarmingly steep back road, where we visited Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth museum. Our guide was a young girl/student, whom we were at first (whilst we were sitting in the parlour waiting) unsure about but she proved to be a real enthusiast, extremely knowledgable and passionate about the man, and about his sister, Dorothy.
A walk through the village, and a cup of tea by the river, we rounded off our trip by seeing the school where Dorothy and William taught, now the famous Grassmere Gingerbread Shop - where of course we purchased gingerbread. :-)
Back in Ambleside we changed and headed back out for a walk around the town, time for quiet contemplation in the park before going for an excellent meal at 'Lucy's on a plate'. Lucy seems to be the Deiniol of Ambleside with a restaurant, wine bar (poised to go nationwide), quality grocers and catering business. The food was excellent and cheap, with humourous names. Emma had 'I Spy Ribeye' steak and I had a delicious portion of 'Sweet Little Bambi'.
Back at the B&B we found an unsecured wireless network and hooked up for long enough to see some of - the brilliant - wedding photographs now posted by Phil on his website. The available internet connection is patchy though and so we decide to wait until we reach Glasgo to see them all.
From Roots To Lakes
[when | 27th May 2009 09:43pm]
[location | Ambleside, Cumbria]
[tags | honeymoon]
We set off a bit later than originally planned, starting off in grey skies and drizzle. By the time we reach Birmingham, the roads and the weather were clearing - we took the new M6 toll for the first time and found it very smooth and fast. Despite this, we are arrived at our first stopping place at 1.30. I took Emma to see Alsager, scene of my university stomping ground - we were just too late for a bacon and mushroom oatcake from the famous Barry's Pantry, so I bought a pack of 12 for £1.60 to make some for here when we get to Scotland.
Then we drove through the campus, and I was alarmed to discover that Woodiwiss East (and North, South, Bridge and West too) was no more - flattened to the ground - and we continued on my old 5-mile cycle ride along country lanes over, under, and over again, the M6 to Sandbach where I used to go shopping and we had our picnic lunch.
I took over the driving then, up the M6 through Manchester, uneventfully, and into the Lake District. Arriving at Windermere, we passed through it quite quickly and never really saw much of the lake as we drove north to find our B&B in Ambleside. Right in the centre of town we managed to get given free parking at the back as we were staying two nights. When Emma explained that it was the beginning of our honeymoon immediately upgraded our room to the family sized one at the front. Very nice.
OUr first night's meal c/o of Lucy, was at the reccommended Priest's Hole restaurant, and whilst our starters of prawns and potted shrimp were good, our main courses were not so good, and it was too hot in their to.
The Interlude (laundry and dead cats)
[when | 26th May 2009 07:14pm]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[mood | working]
[tags | cats]
Today has been a busy one, of turning around the washing and packing from wedding mode to honeymoon mode (of which we leave tomorrow...). Because we really don't have enough to do anyway, Bella decided that it was best to go 'walkabout'. We arrived home yesterday to be greeted by four cats not five. I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Last time we went to Craflwyn we returned to find William missing - later to be returned to us alive, if with a leg broken in three places and a whole the size of a black hole in his back end and swarming in maggots.
We registered Bella as missing with Animal Finders and have distributed posters around the local area. After phoning round the vets we go Hart's to view a dead cat that matched Bella's description. It's awful. She was involved in a car accident and its really hard to tell, but instinct takes over that its not her. We're about to go and have another walkaround calling for her as its dinner time for them. We're off on honeymoon tomorrow for two weeks. I know that we've got a vet coming to housesit whilst we are away, but it doesn't feel right going off without having found my Bella. Not right at all
The Best Day of My Life
[when | 24th May 2009 09:14am]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | emma, wedding]
Yesterday was the best day of my life, by far. This weekend has been the best weekend. At about quarter past two Phil The Photographer called upon me for pre-wedding photos. After the lowering cloud and horzontal rain of yesterday, today's weather was ever-improving. As the guests arrived they would ask me if I was nervous, to which, each time with increasing frustration I would reply, 'I wasn't until you asked me that!'. But my hand remained steady as I moved between entrance hall to front drive.
At five to three, two things happened. Fristly , after carefully working out the timing of the entrance music and the necessary signals between usher and best-man, Sarah announces taht she needs to close the doors to the main room soon. We resolve this but then came a dilemma. The hall still looked half-empty of guests but upon checking the seating plan I discoverdd that we were down on only four people: Amanda and Robert, Jane, and Steven. We held on for a few more minutes before I took my place at the front of the hall.
My brother starts the music - an excerpt from Vaughan William's Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis. I am by this point extremely emotional and can feel myself welling-up beneath my eyes. When I see Emma enter with her DadI feel really puffy, and she is red around the eyes.
We are left standing a the front, but it is Emma that has to tell me to sit. Our superintendent registrar, David Wynne Roberts introduces the cermony, Em's mum does her reading and the declarations are made, and Lucy plays the music brilliantly (the Third Entr'acte from Carmen - a haunting flute melody), my mum does her reading 0t eh whole thing passes almost as a blur. We kiss, we leave adn walk out into the sunshine. Deiniol hands me a Pimms; never has it been more welcome.
Our photographs are takien, with it not taking too long, allthough for us it did take longer as Phil took us about the estate for various one's on our own, and then gently coaxed us to don our walking boots (Emma's beneather her dress) and climb up the mountain for photographs by the wall that we built. Everyone was very amused by this idea but I think it was well worth it! :-)
The main room was, by now, transformed fro the meal and beautiful. The meal was the best 0 everyone seemed to agree that it was the best wedding breakfast they had ever had (but then again, Blas ar Fwyd have served royalty, and by royalty I mean as royal as you can get!). We had bubble fights with the little'uns, particularly Aelfthryth and Edith (although we didn't know it at the time but they kept on coming froward and going back to sketch us 'from life' for pictures in the guest book.
When the speeches came they were goo - even if David's was a bit unsuitable for anyone still eating or digesting their food, as it contained stories of Emma and her vetinary exploits, like the defrosting a dead dog with hairdriers and boiling a cats hind leg!! My borther's focused on my not doing things by half and involved him prducing a copy of Ruins of the Old which he threatened to, but didn't, read from.
My own, succeeded in being brief (for me, very important) and getting a laugh out fo the thank you's to the bridesmaids, and for my delayed (deliberately) opening of My Wife and I to the second paragraph.
And then to the music - wel, even I got up and danced for a bit. When I wasn't revelling in the Welsh cheese board.
Alone in our room later, Emma had a final surprise for me in a wedding day card for me. Everything was just perfect.
The calm...
[when | 23rd May 2009 01:25pm]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | wedding]
The ghost of room five didn't, as it happened, make a return visit to me in my wedding-eve night at the back of the house. I slept wll last night - that is until about 6 o'clock when I was awke and listing to the sheep in the garden at the back of the house, and unable to go back to sleep.
So I sat up and wrote my diary until I finnally got up and showered, dressed and decended to the kitchen/hall for breakfast.
Emma came down not long after me and we decided to go for a quiet walk - just the tow of us on the morning of our wedding down to the plunge pool and the waterfuall, where we see a Dipper. Em was very excited because she had never seen a Dipper before.
Afer breakfast, there followed a certain amount of manic getting things read for the wedding before the children and Emma's dad headed out for a walk.
Just a few of us are left to roam the hall, as Emma sits down with Lucy and Katie and my mum to make buttonholes. David arrives soon after and I show him around and then it is time for lunch. Emma disappears up to her room with her bridal party to get ready and I eat mine - hastily prepared whilst Deiniol begins to take over the kitchen - outside on the giant, carved wooden table.
Anxiety Dreaming (reprise)
[when | 23rd May 2009 07:08am]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | wedding]
Sleep no more. I've been awake now for the last hour; the last half of which I've been writing up my journal. I can't sleep anymore. The bed is quite hard with only one pillow; it seems to work okay when you've been out doing hard, physical conservation work all day long, but I'm awake now and I can't drift off again when I can't get comfortable.
I had another anxiety dream again last night. I dreampt that the wedding went off okay, but for some reason we never got a chance to exchange rings and then Emma was up all night talking to her friends so we didn't get to do all of that until the day after...
And the whole ceremony was weird. I was waiting in the wings of this auditorium, that was partly outside, with my Mum and then Emma walked up the aisle but without anyone. It was just really, really weird!
Birthday's In May
[when | 22nd May 2009 11:43pm]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | birthdays]
It's been very nice having all my friends and family, and 'new' family, around to share my birthday with. I have got a huge amount of cards and presents, and the largest birthday meal out I've ever been part of. Although I did also make sure that people know, with Carys two days ago, and Helen six days from now, that there were other 'fortunates' present - or those of us lucky enough to have birthdays in May! :-)
Anxiety Dreaming
[when | 22nd May 2009 09:43pm]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | anxiety, dreaming]
Weirdly, both Emma and my mum had very similar dreams last night. Em's was that she woke up to find that there were lots of people she didn't know staying in the house who had eaten all the breakfast and there was nothing left her and everyone she knew had already gone out.
Then my Mum revealed her dream that there were loads of people who were turning up to the wedding and all needing food and there not being enough.
The Tesco delivery did, in the end arrive, a little late but taking up two thirds of his van. I've never seen so much food - not even on National Trust holidays. It was surely the biggest food order I've ever seen, and possibly will ever, see.
Settling Into Craflwyn
[when | 21st May 2009 10:43pm]
[location | Craflwyn Hall, Snowdonia]
[tags | craflwyn, wedding]
It was nice to be first to arrrive at Craflwyn. With Emma driving up the drive ahead of me and my Dad bringing up the rear we arrived in convoy and settled into our home for the long weekend.
One of my abiding memories of that first night, was, with ourselves unpacked and dinner cooking on the stove, my dad sidling up next to me, hugging me and telling me that this was such a great spot - a wonderful place.
We thought so. it means a lot to us. :-)
When the Muse takes you
[when | 21st May 2009 10:05am]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | wedding]
I've been having a little it of a panic last night because I still seemed to have so much to do and a speech to write. This morning we got up early and got our cars largely packed leaving us with an unexpected breathing space before Em went off to collect flowers and parents and The Two GranniesTM arrived to join the Convoy To WalesTM.
As luck would have it, the muse for writing - and speech writing at that - struck me and I got the page written, pen to paper, first in the armchair and then at my desk (I think it helped that with my computer largely dismantled I had room to properly sit and write - at my desk with a real pen - that was very nice). By the time that my Mum and Dad arrived I was into typing it up in double quick speed. Thank thee for touch-typing to 50 wpm...
Euro-tastic
[when | 16th May 2009 11:23pm]
[music | Eurovision Song Contest 2009]
I think that it's important to remember when watching Eurovision to treat it with the unseriousness with which it deserves. Quite an incredible night of performances though. I reckon I can count on the fingers of just one hand the number of acts that deserved to be counted at all (Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, UK and Estonia in no particular order); otherwise they pretty much all seemed to involve wailing and catahawling. The interval act was impressive though with those people belly-flopping into puddles above the crowd. Oddly, as voting took place I had no recognition of the Norway song at all.
The only question that now remains is, will the UK try to repeat the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Graham Norton talent show pairing in selecting the singer for next year's contest. Certainly they succeeded in achieving their aim of finishing, respectably, in the top five, whilst crucially not actually winning it and thus having to host it next year.
One week, and counting...
[when | 16th May 2009 12:45pm]
[music | BBC Radio 4 - The News Quiz]
It hardly seems possible but in just one week's time I will be getting ready for a wedding - my wedding. I've come back home now and am currently engaged in a bit of jewellery repair to my Estonian amber necklace. I've left Emma at the hairdressers, having had my pre-wedding cut first (she's having the same hairdresser do hers).
It's suddenly all getting very, very close - I just hope there isn't we've forgotten to do. I'm sure that there isn't but I fear it none-the-less.
Revisiting the guest list (part 2)
[when | 15th May 2009 09:40am]
Emma has taken herself off to Bicester Avenue tgo buy birthday cards, and (I am led to believe) a present for me. I've been working through the seating plan, removing Marylebone (added yesterday) from the table list and shifting the friends around the tables. I've sent it off to the printers now and I am adamant that it is for the last time.
So, so kind
[when | 14th May 2009 10:47pm]
[mood | happy]
Just got back from band tonight - my last as a single person - with a very nice good luck on your wedding card and a Debenham's voucher for £25. For me I like this thoughtfulness particularly because I won't be getting anything similar from a 'workplace'.
People are nice, you know. :-)
The timing; oh the timing...
[when | 14th May 2009 01:37pm]
~ And just when I thought everything was settled it all changes again. I've just heard from my friend Tina - her David has to have an operation on his knee its down to be done next Friday! Which means, they can't make the wedding. Bad for Tina as she was looking forward to catching up for the first time in years, and bad news for me as it means losing another couple of friends from guest list.
~ Symmetry-wise, with the addition of the Poole family and the removal of Tina and David, it does make the two sides of the guest list completely even.
Edit: Of course, now I have to redraw the seating plan yet again, and to make matters worse they've already printed version 2!!
Revisiting the guestlist (part 1)
[when | 12th May 2009 08:14pm]
I know that I should have hung back on getting the guestlist. I didn't because I didn't know if I would be able to get it printed locally or if I would need to send it off somewhere and how long any of the above would take. Then, Lynne sent me a message this evening via facebook, to say that the work trip that was to take away across next weekend was no longer taking place and so that they would be able to come to the wedding if it was still possible. Great! Or it would be had I not confirmed numbers (yesterday) and the seating plan printed (yesterday). But we have room technically speaking, so I reply with a don't know. I can't say now but I shall investigate tomorrow and see. It might be possible.
The No That Says Nothing
[when | 12th May 2009 02:59pm]
Well that didn't take long. One of the agents that I sent my novel to yesterday - the one subbed by email - has replied already...
Dear Thomas,
Thank you for giving me the chance to look at this. I'm sorry but I don't feel it's one for me.
Best wishes,
Which is nice. I mean it's not horrible; it's not saying the characters, or the idea, or the quality of the writing, stunk; it's just not saying anything at all. Sometimes you feel that you would like some actual, definitive comment, however simply put. Something, however brash to make me think that I need to do something here. This though says nothing. It barely sayss that she read it; any of it.
A simple end to things
[when | 12th May 2009 09:34am]
I'm getting increasingly fed up with the media the way that they go and on and on and ... about whatever happens ot be top of their news agenda at the time. Recently its been the recession/credit crunch or what whatever it is you call it, then it was swine flu, and now it's MPs expenses...
This latest storm in the proverbial tea cup annoys me on two levels. Everyone seems to be attacking Gordon Brown lit it is his fault, and yet (on this at least) it isn't, and morever according to the rules as set down in the legislature, nor even have the MPs.
The whole thing is ridiculous too and so easily solved if you treat the MPs and their job as having a 'tied housing' system that goes with the position in much the same was farm workers . What's more there's going to be a whole 'village' of accommodation becoming available in September 2012 a the end of a new tube line into the city and right by a major new railway station with fast connections to the continent. What better 'legacy' for the Olympics than making use of the village to house our nation's politicians. yes, some might say it would be a terrorist target but really, is it any greater a threat than Westminster already is? And we'd be saving money keeping the security all together instead of in outlying regions of the capital.
And if we did also decide that the House of Commons, historic though it is, is too small for our 21st century needs, well there's going to be a nice new velodrome (or similar) which I'm sure could be converted to a new debating chamber. Heck there's even going to be a media centre for BBC News 24 to move into!
Productivity (is what you need)
[when | 11th May 2009 04:47pm]
[mood | productive]
Interviews aside (or should that be included), I've had a really productive day today. I've posted off final payment to our caterer and our photographer; and I've confirmed our numbers and our dietary requirements. I've finalised the design for the seating plan and sent it off to the printers to collect it just a few hours later. For just £16 I have a glossy A1 poster which I show to Emma when I pop in to take Nellie home - she's been in to be looked at for suspected sunburn on her nose and tooties and/or some kind of weird auto-immune whatsits that I don't really understand but sounds most definitely, not nice.
Following a late lunch I planted the remains of the contorted willow, formerly of Copes Shroves, in the vegetable patch for the peas and the beans to grow up. It's all very sculptural and beautiful - I like it.
I've also submitted my novel to a couiple more agents and a publisher, one via email submission, and two making use of Royal Mail's online postage printing service. Seems odd though that you can't buy multiple items to be posted and pay for them all in one go. Still, its not me that's going to have to pay the Debit card payment on the £1.24 - no wonder the post office seem to be in a financial sticky place!
Of course, with all this productivity and three loads of washing processed and hanging in the garden I did fail to finish off the weekend's cleaning. Ah well, there's always tomorrow... ;-)
Terror of the Telephone Interview
[when | 11th May 2009 12:10pm]
For me, interviews are bad things that must be endured. I know that I should see them as opportunities to show what I can do but the truth is that, like with exams, more often than not I stumble and I fall. So it is then that I've pretty much decided that in future I'm going to start declaring my aspergers as something they should know about before the interview - or at the very least, introduced it early on as a topic. It is, after all, a contributory factor to how I perform (or rather, don't perform) and is also very much of the moment, too.
For whatever reason, today I didn't. It was for a two month temporary contract at Oxfam working on their website/online shop. It sounds kind of cool and it seemed to be going well and with not much opportunity to talk about aspergers (after all, if successful they would invite me int for a face-to-face one tomorrow, and I could mention it then) so I didn't...
The dream: one's own woodland
[when | 10th May 2009 11:02pm]
Loaded down with a car full of pea sticks from the remains of Emma's parents contorted willow we leave Copes Shroves with a full stomach and several pounds lighter after a turn on the tennis Wii machine, we pass some woodland on the Wachet Lane that is for sale. How fantastic would it be to own your own woodland? It'd be bl**dy marvelous!
Lost and Found or Two Weeks To Go
[when | 9th May 2009 11:22pm]
Today has been all about quiet pottering. We got the shopping done and dusted first, if not quite as early as originally planned, and took a fairly leisurely drive home through the villages in search of pea sticks. Did you know that you can't get twiggy, branchy pea sticks these days? Incredible! Dropping back down to Bicester we discovered that some new allotments have been opened down by the road to Launton. At the garden centre we stocked up on bird seed for both the wild and and the kept varities and returned home for lunch.
This afternoon I spent a pleasant hour or so out in the garden staking the rows of peas with canes and weaving string cats-cradle-like between the poles so as to give them something to grow on. We then, both continued to potter on our own things. I needed to find my art stuff for my holiday and this proved a bit of a quest. I began in the garage, before heading up into the loft and then ending up in the draws under the spare bed (which was incidentally my first thought, but not my first look - why is it always the way?) and found most of what I was after. I couldn't find my watercolours though, which was quite distressing. In the end I ended up emptying the draws of my desk - where I found my watercolours - and this resulted in a full-blown but long overdue tidy out of my draws and a purging of 'dead pens'.
The quest for the Lost and Found was not over though, oh no. then I couldn't find the nice watercolour sketch pad that my Mum gave me from Italy. Again I did eventually find this but not after some panic. Why is the that the last place that you can definitely remember seeing something is definitely somewhere they can't be. In this case across the top of some books on the shelves above my desk in the old house.
All, in all, a very nice, productive day of quiet pottering. :-)
From Words to Books
[when | 8th May 2009 06:11pm]
~ Okay, curse and damnation. One of the agents I sent my book to said that they take about a month to read and respond so since it was nearly two months I decided that it was time for a quick phone call. Despite my careful research and planning on the web and in the correct artists yearbooks it seems that I have made the error of not just sending it to an agent who no longer works at the agency but also to their old address. It doesn't help that their own website is currently a bit flaky. So now I have two more agents to send it to, plus a publisher. Hrmm, must get another ream of paper...
~ I've also done some washing today, made a start at the cleaning and rearranged the study. My desk is now at right angles to the window and facing my wall of books which is nice. I can still see out the garden without being blinded by the evening sun, and I get to gaze upon (some of) my lovely books *coughs* when not writing of course... :-;
From Computer Screens to gardening
[when | 7th May 2009 10:56pm]
As previously reported in these pages I've been busy this week, earning a bit of an honest crust doing the old web design work for Bicester Concert Band, and its coming along nicely. Today though I decided to have a complete break from the toils of the mouse and keyboard – hrmm, do you remember me writing about twenty-first century pub names? well there's one right there; The Mouse & Keyboard – and do some good honest gardening.
On today's agenda was to give the hedge a short back and sides, front and back. I borrowed next doors electric hedge trimmer (well, it is their hedge) and trimmed it back. Not drastically, but just nicely. Then, after raking up the bits (harder than you might think on gravel!) I set to laying the additional slabs of stone into the gravel, crazy paving and stepping stone.
After my exploits I feel pleasantly exercised. Just, nice. :-)
The End of (the First Opportunity)
[when | 5th May 2009 11:08am]
A week on from sending my novel out to an agent I get my first rejection. Not unsurprising really, considering it was the first attempt but also not really positive or negative in either way...
Dear Thomas,
Many thanks for sending us this proposal, which I read with interest. I considered it carefully but I’m afraid on balance it just doesn’t quite grab my imagination in the way that it must for me to offer to represent you. So I must follow my instinct and pass on this occasion. I’m sorry to be so disappointing, but thanks for thinking of us. Of course this is a totally subjective judgement, so do try other agents and I wish you every success.
Kind regards
The Last 18 Days
[when | 4th May 2009 04:15pm]
[mood | calm]
It's kind of ironic that the best of the weather this bank holiday weekend was on Saturday - really warm and sunny - and I was in the theatre for 6 hours. Not that I begrudge Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials anything at all for the pleasure! :-)
Today though, was more March than May; cold and grey, and damp and squally. We did venture out briefly but only to take a turn around the estate and buy some washing up liquid, before returning to our bank holiday activities. For Emma, this was making another 5 metres of bunting for the wedding, and for myself it was some quiet time writing catchup journal entries and scanning my parents' 'Life Before Children' album. It's been a surprisingly pleasant day.
First Barbeque of the Season
[when | 3rd May 2009 06:08pm]
~ Two hours on and we – my parents and I – completed a Tesco order for two weeks on Friday. It was the biggest ever shop I've ever been witness to, even if I was just the monkey behind the keyboard, but it made us glad that we can do an online order because we really couldn't face doing a physical shop of that size in either our home shops or in Wales.
~ Emma got back from seeing to a cat and we went for a breief walk amongst the bluebells in Stoke Woods before a snack lunch of cheese and biscuits and Vietnamese spring rolls all finished with genuine Bakewell Tart from Bakewell.
~ A number of my closest journaling frinends are switching to or trying out the new DreamWidth site. This is, indeed my 2,119th entry in the continuing adventures of Thomas, but also the first on DW. Actually, this is an edited version of a blank post with an empty title; the first few comments stand testament to this. I'm not sure where this DreamWidth thing has sprung from or what its intentions are, but they do seem to be honourable. I'm liking the fact that in only a little over over five minutes I was able to import the whole of my LiveJournal into the new home and that its OpenId support seems to be greater whilst retaining all the same friends filters and securities. It also seems to be cleaner and clearer in its setup. Definitely one to watch...
Another Nice Day For It...
[when | 20th April 2009 10:22am]
[location | Oxfordshire]
[tags | interviews, jobs, life]
For the third time in two years, my first day of unemployment has had the sting taken out of it by gorgeously beautiful and warm weather. That said I started the day positively, with an interview &#z2013; or be it an interview for a temporary job – at Nominet which is in the luxuriously landscaped Oxford Science Park.
It seems like an intesting job, helping to create their new intranet site, and the the interview went surprisingly well so I'm really feeling quite positive about things... :-)
The Jefferys' In Blissford
[when | 19th April 2009 11:19pm]
[location | New Forest]
[music | wedding playlist]
[tags | family, wedding]
After the hiatus of Easter weekend, and the worries concerning Emma's dad's cancer today was the day for heading off to the New Forest and a day with my parents. Thankfully, Mr Jefferys was up to driving again so we didn't have to drive the two sides of a triangle to collect them.
We had a very pleasant day, sitting in the garden, and going for the walks. We got to see my mum's new 'studio' in the part-converted garage, and tried out the iPod with the speakers and amplifier for the wedding.
After Em's parents left to go home, Em and I remained for a while longer to load up on paving stones to make a few paths through our expanse of gravel and for Emma to have a bit of a sleep whilst my Mum and I realised the shocking truth of just how big a shop it was going to have to be for our little holiday at Craflwyn Hall next month...
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of (The Music)
[when | 17th April 2009 10:39am]
[location | Abingdon]
[mood | busy]
[music | Wedding Playlist (Remember You're A Womble)]
One of the best things about organising my impending wedding has been getting our five song suggestions from the guests and sourcing them. It’s just so cool to discover/remember such a diverse range of music. Jane had already introduced us to Muse with their Invincible and it immediately became firm favourites of both Em and I. Today she pointed me towards their cover of Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You by Muse. Fantastic. Utter brilliantness. Thank you. :-)
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