Arundel Arts Festival

On occasions when we've driven past Arundel and seen the castle on the skyline, a friend and I have commented it would be nice to visit one day.  A few weeks ago I googled and noticed there is an Arts Festival in the town in August, where the whole town becomes an Art Gallery.  An opportunity too good to miss!

I drove us down on Saturday.  We arrived about 10 am and left the car in the Norfolk Arms car park (where we'd booked overnight accommodation), had a coffee in a coffee shop and then strolled up the hill to the castle. I took lots of photos but I think these two are probably my favourites.

In the afternoon we went from house to house on the Art Gallery trail - people in the town open their homes to visitors and display the entries in the various competition categories: photography, sculpture, prints, jewellery, ceramics ... a very enjoyable experience altogether.

Besides the artwork, there are plenty of other festival happenings over the course of the 10 days, including free music concerts in the town square and elsewhere.  So much to do and to see, I think we may well go back next year.

Where in the world?

A friend rang yesterday feeling a bit jaded and wanting to be taken away from it all for a day.  I did some research and chose an inspirational place to visit.  Take a close look at the photo and see if you can work out where we went.

If you thought we jetted off to see the Sistine Chapel in Rome, it would be entirely understandable.  In fact we only went as far as the south coast of England.  In a suburb of Worthing called Goring-by-Sea in the English Martyrs Catholic Church there is the only known reproduction of Michelangelo's famous work.

De Vere Venues: New Place, Shirrell Heath, Southampton

This weekend I'm enjoying an Easter retreat at a delightful hotel near Southampton.  It caters to lone travellers as well as families, and my single bedroom is spacious and comfortable.  The staff are friendly and helpful - when I discovered the pillows were luxurious goose down, I asked if I could have them swapped for non-allergenic pillows and within a very short space of time, the duty manager appeared with crisp new pillows.

The photo above is looking out from the main house (the old mansion).  Below is a photo of the carving on the newel post.

Snow, so no go

Just when I was anticipating walking and swimming in glorious warm sunny weather, the snow arrives.  Last year I commented on the early snowfall on 20th/21st December - this year it's arrived even earlier, a winter visitor I could well have done without.  Today I was due to fly out from Gatwick to Tenerife.  After yesterday's snow, Gatwick was closed but looked set to re-open in time for my lunchtime flight today.  Fresh snow overnight put paid to that and my trip has been canceled.  What a disappointment.

To add to the disappointment, I've just come in from trying to build an igloo with absolutely no success at all!  The snow is very dry and powdery.  I suppose I could add water just like you do when building a sandcastle ... but it's not like I've even got a playmate to help me build it.  (Are you feeling sorry for me yet?)

In other news, I've bought a new camera to replace the old one after it developed an intermittent fault.  I asked a photographer friend for a recommendation and he made some suggestions.  In the end I went for a Canon Powershot SX30 with its super optical zoom.  Very nice too.  Sadly I won't be able to bring you pictorial delights of a trip to Mount Teide National Park - we'll both have to satisfy ourselves with others' photo-memories. 

If you're curious about the cartoon - this week I was sorting through some old photos and I came across my mother's autograph book.  I think it dates back to 1940 as there are a few cartoons in there signed like this one, 'C. Macpherson 40'.  I don't know who the cartoonist is, or how he fits into Mum's life, but he appears to have been extremely talented.  If memory serves correctly, Mum trained as a carpenter in the WAAF.  I also seem to recall she worked as a waitress in Croydon at some point before she became a mother, and I think the later entries (eg Donald Pleasance) relate to that post-war, pre-maternity period.

The Cruiser's Return

So I'm back on solid ground, and finally that rolling effect is wearing off.  I'm looking through my photos and some of them have turned out ok.  Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, the camera has developed an intermittent fault since I dropped it.  I'll maybe treat myself to a Digital SLR camera before too long.  


The cruise was called 'Colourful Coasts' and took me on an interesting voyage around the Canary Islands to Madeira and Morocco.  One of the highlights has to be the tree-climbing goats of Morocco.  It's like something out of the film, The Bucket List!  You remember the special coffee beans that caused Morgan Freeman's character so much amusement?   I have two words to say to you:  Argan oil.  Go on, look it up on Wikipedia.

Sunset over Swanpool

Greetings from Falmouth!  It was cheering to drive down in gorgeous sunshine.  We arrived just after three after a pleasant journey.  The two-bedroomed apartment is called 'Seawatch' and lives up to its name with huge French windows opening onto a private balcony and a fabulous view out over Swanpool beach and the bay beyond.  We watched the pastel colours changing hue as the sun went down; a sky suffused with pink perfectly reflected in the still waters below.  Delightful!

Cardiff & The Moody Blues

I'd booked overnight accommodation at a guesthouse 300 metres from St David's Hall (the venue for The Moody Blues concert in Cardiff). When I'd booked it, the landlady had asked me what time I anticipated checking in and I'd said around 2 pm. She explained there was limited free parking in the street outside, on a 'first come, first served' basis. As we were getting ready to go on Friday, I emailed her an updated ETA of 3 pm and received the acknowledgment, 'see you then'.


As we crossed the Severn Bridge, we left the sunshine behind and entered the wet world of Wales. We arrived at 3.15 and were fortunate to find a parking space outside the Guesthouse, which looked across the River Taff to the Millennium Stadium.

Why do we never get an answer

when we're knocking at the door ...

We went to the door and knocked and knocked ... no reply. My friend tried phoning ... no reply. Eventually a couple came out and I took the opportunity to go in whilst my friend stayed with the car (we needed to get a parking permit from the landlady). Inside there was a bell to ring for attention. Still no reply. After a while another guest arrived at the front door and knocked. I let him in and (there being no lounge) we waited together in the hallway for a good twenty minutes. He explained he was an entertainer, booked for a nurses' party nearby, and had been hoping to get his head down for a nap for a couple of hours before his gig. I'm guessing he does John Cleese/Basil Fawlty impressions as there was a strong resemblance. Eventually our landlady arrived, dripping wet and full of apologies - she'd had an unexpected visitor and had to walk her to the station.


My friend and I were glad to get in and use the bathroom before donning our jackets and heading out into the city for a coffee and to collect the tickets from the box office. We walked around a while, enjoying some of the sights, such as this pelican statue, and the family group.

Sign on a shop window:

Laughter is the best cosmetic -grin and wear it!


A bumper sticker:

A still tongue makes for a happy life

The castle. Look, they've hung the flags out!

After a meal in Wetherspoons, we found our way back to St David's Hall. Having booked late, our seats were dizzyingly high, but the acoustics were good and we had an unimpeded view of the stage.

Besides Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward and John Lodge, there were 4 other musicians: a talented drummer (who also played the flute on one number), a bouncy guy with a large number of keyboards around him, and two gorgeous girls - a platinum blonde playing keyboard and guitar, and a brunette playing flute and guitar. Justin Hayward's voice is as true as ever. It was a fantastic experience, being bathed in the very rich smooth satin sound the group produced.

Each and every heart it seems Is bounded by a world of dreams ...	… and perhaps in my wildest dreams I might have imagined hearing the Moody Blues play live – in which case this was a dream come true
	…and somehow I’ll return again to you

Notting Hill Carnival

Having never been to the Notting Hill Carnival before, I decided it was high time I went along to see this (apparently) world-renowned celebration of Caribbean culture happening almost on my doorstep. Accordingly a friend and I caught the tube into London on Sunday, dropped our overnight bags off at the Whiteleaf Hotel in Bayswater and walked along to Notting Hill. We arrived early. The crowd control measures were already in place with metal barriers lining some of the route the carnival procession would take, and well-policed 'sterile zones' at the junctions.

This is one of the 'sterile zones'.
In the background you can see barbecue smoke

All around the route were vendors barbecueing Jerk Chicken, corn cobs, etc, smoke rising into the Sunday morning air. The weather was behaving; reasonably mellow - a few spits and spots of rain and occasional gusts of wind, but mostly harmless.

Some guys enjoying the procession from their balcony, the guy in the white t-shirt dancing like a Thunderbird puppet!

There were some highly creative costumes - very colourful and elaborate - I've put some more photos on my homepage. Email me if you'd like the link.

After watching the carnival procession, we caught the tube to Leicester Square and watched The Last Airbender in 3D. I thoroughly enjoyed the film - it had some interesting, complex characters, fantastic effects in 3D, amazing performances and I liked the story. Very much looking forward to the sequel!

After a meal in Yates (one of our favourite eating places in London), we walked back to the Hotel. We'd booked in advance thinking that with it being Bank Holiday weekend and the Notting Hill Carnival, rooms would be hard to find. In fact it looked like there were plenty of vacancies, and lower prices than the online rates. Oh well, can't win 'em all. Earlier in the year I spent a long weekend in Norfolk, and my room there was at the top of the three-storey Guest House, with several narrow staircases and corridors to get there. Same story at the Whiteleaf Hotel, with a tortuous route all through the building and up countless flights of stairs. Despite the many sessions I spend at the gym, my heart was beating pretty fast by the time I was able to put my key in the door and let myself in. When you look at the outside of the buildings in Inverness Terrace, you get the idea that once upon a time, it was a wealthy area. I like the architecture. It's a little sad that the once-gracious proportions of the rooms at the Whiteleaf Hotel are now lost as they've been divided into such small units.

It was reasonably clean but offering none of the refinements (no fridge in the room, no complimentary shampoo/shower gel), and although breakfast was included, all that was on offer was cornflakes and toast. Overall I guess it was cheap enough but I can't recommend it.

Domestic Goddess?

A number of years ago I bought this tired kitchen stool at a jumble sale, intending to paint it and give it a new lease of life. Two house moves and 25 years later and finally its time has come! I've bought some claret paint to match the decor in the kitchen and given it a first coat (not shown). I want to find some leatherette or something suitable to re-cover the seat pad.

I also got the sewing machine out and had a go at turning a long-sleeved shirt into a short-sleeved shirt. I wasn't satisfied with the result, despite taking an hour trying to achieve perfection. All good practice, though.

On another note, a friend and I are each going to research 5 potential holidays then choose the one we like best for later in the year. Now where in the world do I want to go?

Norfolk Lavender

I had the idea that lavender is an important crop in Norfolk so this weekend I went to see it. I'll confess I was the teeniest bit disappointed not to see huge fields of glorious colour, but it was a lovely weekend nonetheless, and the seals at Blakeney Point were one of the highlights. I've written about the weekend at length elsewhere, with photos. Email me if you would like the link. You'll find my email address on my profile page.

Coming soon - more on the weekend

I had a de-light-ful weekend with the Quakers at the historic Swarthmoor Hall(pictured here). More on this in due course. Meanwhile normal life continues. Today I attended an interview for an exciting position - I thoroughly enjoyed the interview and I hope that bodes well for my prospects! Funny thing, I'd been warned there would be an IT Test, so this week I've been revising all those amazing features in Word, Excel and Outlook that I haven't had much cause to use recently ... only to discover that the test was in two parts, neither requiring any in-depth knowledge of software. In the first part I was given some information and had to construct a suitable letter, type it out and save it to the desktop. Part 2 posed a scenario and invited me to make notes on how I would handle it.

After the interview I met with some friends for lunch (and got to cuddle baby Olive for a while .... big sigh of satisfaction), then came home to discover an invitation to attend an interview on Monday. It's for a job which will require some specialist knowledge, and to make sure I'm fully up-to-date, I've borrowed some library books to get genned up before Monday.

Experiment with Light... and salmon fishcakes

Well my lovelies, I'm going away for a residential weekend with the Religious Society of Friends (you probably know them as the Quakers). It's an 'Experiment with Light' weekend, trying to experience the Light as early Friends did, supposedly a very powerful experience. If nothing else, the surroundings are beautiful - it's up in Cumbria.

Yesterday I went to the Spiritual Journeying group. It wasn't my turn to lead, I could sit back and relax - very pleasant. One of my colleagues there commented on how the peace and joy I've found through connecting with the inner light is radiating from me. It's working then! Hopefully I'll have some more to share on the subject upon my return.

Dinner today was also an experiment - home-made salmon, dill and spring onion fish-cakes. I was making it up as I went along and the resulting mixture was perhaps a little sloppy, not lending itself completely to the perfect shaping I was looking for. Surprisingly bland, too - but plenty of tomato ketchup soon improved things on that score. Served with oven-roast sweet pepper and petits pois. I got the idea from an item I saw on a menu yesterday. A friend took me out for a meal at Bluebeckers in Chobham, and from there we drove on to Woking intending to see the film 'Dear John'. Unfortunately it was being screened in the smallest theatre and despite getting there three quarters of an hour early, all seats were sold. That was a big surprise! Normally we go on a Monday night when tickets are only £5 each, despite which the place is often almost empty. I guess Wednesday night attracts the 'Orange Wednesday' bargain-hunters.

Came back home and watched a DVD I'd borrowed from the library: 'A Serious Man'. I really, really, REALLY didn't get it one little bit ... sat through the whole film waiting to understand what the opening scene was all about and how it fitted into the rest ... and couldn't quite believe it when the titles started rolling, leaving me with the sense that the film had been abandoned halfway through. Hmmm... definitely not one of my better choices.

Jersey Boys

Gorgeous weather - blue sky and sunshine - for our trip to London. My friend picked me up around 10 am and we headed into town. There's a cafe called Ossie's in the city centre we like to patronise - stopped there for lunch then drove on to Leicester Square and checked out what films were showing. After enjoying 'Up in the Air' (George Clooney), we bought tickets for Jersey Boys at the half-price Tkts booth (where the sales assistants are extremely helpful). We walked around a while, browsing a couple of Waterstone's stores to give me a chance to spend my book token. I was looking for 'Factoring Humanity' by Robert Sawyer. I read 'Flash Forward' recently and enjoyed it, and I'm reliably informed that 'Factoring Humanity' is the author's own favourite of the novels he's written. Unfortunately it's not currently available in the UK, as far as I can gather.

After a cheap and delicious vegetable lasagne at Yates' in Leicester Square, we walked down to the Prince Edward theatre and took our seats for an evening of entertainment based on the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Super day.

Barcelona, Spain

From the cafe on the top floor of El Corte Inglés, the city lay spread out beneath us basking in the sun. Beautiful!

Toulon, France

Loved it! Toulon opened her arms to us and we strolled through wide and welcoming streets, browsing the market on Cours Lafayette.

Naples

Surely the place which gave the world the stereotypical image of Italian driving - a bustling blend of anarchy and horn tooting!

Of all the ports we visited, this felt the least hospitable to the casual tourist.

Civitavecchia, Italy

It was easy to pick out the British tourists as you strolled through the town - everyone else was wrapped up in several layers topped with puffa jackets despite what to us Brits seemed pleasantly warm sunshine.

Marina di Carrara

Marina di Carrara nestles on the Tyrrenian coast, protected from the cold north winds by the Apuan Alps - origin of the flawless white marble used since the time of ancient Rome, with the Pantheon and Trajan's Column being constructed using it, besides famous sculptures such as Michelangelo's David, and London's Marble Arch

Mediterranean Treasures Cruise

Follow the arrow (and the tourist trap pulled by a very skinny horse) and that's the Thomson Destiny, home for the next 8 days.

If you want to browse a web page with the full story, email or leave a comment using the comment facility below.

Weekend in Cornwall: The Eden Project

A friend who hadn't taken a holiday in 30 years invited me to join him on a trip to Cornwall to visit the Eden Project. We made an early start, I picked him up at the station and drove us down making really good time - we arrived just after noon having stopped for coffee on the way. Lunch at the project was tasty: baked potato and hot bean salsa - I can recommend it! Fortified, we explored the biodomes. It has been a while since I went and for some reason it hadn't occurred to me that visiting it at this time of year, the thing I had most enjoyed about my previous visit (seeing citrus fruit ripening on the trees) would be out of season.








I do find this sculpture impressive. The story of how the piece of rock was carefully chosen and specially quarried, etc, is interesting, too.













We went and booked in at the Travelodge then walked down to the local harbour where I snapped this attractive sailing boat (schooner?). Having stretched our legs, we returned to the Travelodge for a very tasty meal of ham, egg and chips, then drove back to the Eden Project for the Arts Cafe evening event.



It was a beautiful evening weather-wise, and the site looks pretty lit up at night. I'd been looking forward very much to the evening of live music but sadly it proved a disappointment. There was different music playing in each of three venues around the site, but it was so painfully loud that it was far too uncomfortable to sit near the source to listen and watch. The staff had been issued with ear defenders. I'd guess from the fact that there was a large clear area around the speakers at each of the venues that other guests also found the music to be too loud. People were clustering at the outskirts, but the problem then was that the different style of music from the neighbouring venue intruded.
We cut our visit short and went back to the blissfully quiet Travelodge.