Sunday, 28 July 2019
An idiots guide to an Idiot: BBQ
An idiots guide to an Idiot: BBQ: With the weather going berserk, hitting 40 degrees will I was sat in traffic by Heathrow on Thursday, we thought an impromptu family BBQ wo...
An idiots guide to an Idiot: BBQ
An idiots guide to an Idiot: BBQ: With the weather going berserk, hitting 40 degrees will I was sat in traffic by Heathrow on Thursday, we thought an impromptu family BBQ wo...
BBQ
With the weather going berserk, hitting 40 degrees will I was sat in traffic by Heathrow on Thursday, we thought an impromptu family BBQ would be a good idea for Friday, the weather had cooled (by comparison anyway) but it was still 24 ish with light showers so absolutely fine!
As usual I managed to over cater on food but what the hell! I'd be mortified to under cater! The fare being sausages, chicken (T had marinated the chicken in olive oil,soy sauce, onion, rice wine, Worcester sauce, brown sugar, chilli's) which was delicious, also a side of salmon and burgers with loads of salad type nibbles and sides. Including pork pies, (obvs!) with strawberries and raspberries and cream for pud.
Just us, Gary & Ellie & Olly & Laura and a very pleasant evening it was in their company. We don't often have just them round, its usually the wider family as well so it was especially nice for us. They are all just the best company.
BBQ's and me have a strange relationship, we went gas ages ago as I could never judge when to light the coals, get them to stay lit and cook on them, however when Oliver arrived the marinade I'd liberally coated on the chicken caught fire. The base of the BBQ needed a little time to go out , by that time Oliver had taken over the cooking. Just as well I think so I wisely poured myself glass of red wine. The usual chaos and laughter before, during and after dinner. No one rushed to go home even though G&E had an exciting trip to cycle in the velodrome on Saturday, and O&L had a party to go to the next night.
A grand evening, even though some of the photos don't look like it!
As usual I managed to over cater on food but what the hell! I'd be mortified to under cater! The fare being sausages, chicken (T had marinated the chicken in olive oil,soy sauce, onion, rice wine, Worcester sauce, brown sugar, chilli's) which was delicious, also a side of salmon and burgers with loads of salad type nibbles and sides. Including pork pies, (obvs!) with strawberries and raspberries and cream for pud.
Just us, Gary & Ellie & Olly & Laura and a very pleasant evening it was in their company. We don't often have just them round, its usually the wider family as well so it was especially nice for us. They are all just the best company.
BBQ's and me have a strange relationship, we went gas ages ago as I could never judge when to light the coals, get them to stay lit and cook on them, however when Oliver arrived the marinade I'd liberally coated on the chicken caught fire. The base of the BBQ needed a little time to go out , by that time Oliver had taken over the cooking. Just as well I think so I wisely poured myself glass of red wine. The usual chaos and laughter before, during and after dinner. No one rushed to go home even though G&E had an exciting trip to cycle in the velodrome on Saturday, and O&L had a party to go to the next night.
A grand evening, even though some of the photos don't look like it!
Thursday, 25 July 2019
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Dorset
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Dorset: Another night away working had me staying at the Coppleridge Inn at Motcombe near Shaftesbury which as you know has a long history with the...
Dorset
Another night away working had me staying at the Coppleridge Inn at Motcombe near Shaftesbury which as you know has a long history with the Morgan's and other members of my family tree and also with Tara's ancestry.
Finished a very hot day and pootled over to the Inn but stopped off at the cemetery in Mapitts Lane in Shaftesbury to visit Mum & Dad's grave. Strange how it makes me feel so sombre even after all this time (17 years for Dad & twelve and a half for Mum), not sad as such but sombre. Took a cloth to clean the stone, it's the only thing we can do for them now, though it wasn't very dirty to be honest.
On to the Inn, I've stayed here before so knew it was good, booked in and got myself a very refreshing pint of Sixpenny Best bitter from the local Sixpenny Brewery in Sixpenny Handley, at 3.8% it was a good beer for such a warm night. Dinner was a very nice Pan-Seared Scallops, Haddock Bonbon, Cucumber Chutney, Saffron Aioli as a starter and a chicken breast burger and chips for main. Too full for a pud so left it there.
Slept well then after a decidedly average cooked brekky I was off to do it all again but home at the end of it.
Finished a very hot day and pootled over to the Inn but stopped off at the cemetery in Mapitts Lane in Shaftesbury to visit Mum & Dad's grave. Strange how it makes me feel so sombre even after all this time (17 years for Dad & twelve and a half for Mum), not sad as such but sombre. Took a cloth to clean the stone, it's the only thing we can do for them now, though it wasn't very dirty to be honest.
On to the Inn, I've stayed here before so knew it was good, booked in and got myself a very refreshing pint of Sixpenny Best bitter from the local Sixpenny Brewery in Sixpenny Handley, at 3.8% it was a good beer for such a warm night. Dinner was a very nice Pan-Seared Scallops, Haddock Bonbon, Cucumber Chutney, Saffron Aioli as a starter and a chicken breast burger and chips for main. Too full for a pud so left it there.
Slept well then after a decidedly average cooked brekky I was off to do it all again but home at the end of it.
Saturday, 20 July 2019
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Classics in Kent
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Classics in Kent: Another brilliant weekend with our great friends Gary & Cathie. We went down to Leeds castle near Maidstone to see their classical conc...
Classics in Kent
Another brilliant weekend with our great friends Gary & Cathie. We went down to Leeds castle near Maidstone to see their classical concert featuring the band of the Royal Marines (Portsmouth), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with solo singers Alwyn Mellor, Louise Dearman, Oliver Tompsett & Nicky Spence, some 25 pounder field guns, fireworks and a Spitfire no less!
We set off mid morning and got to our hotel, within walking distance of the castle with no problems. Settled into rooms and went to the bar for a well earned drinky poo.( Well I think we'd earned it!)
G&C suggested we load up with our chairs food drink etc for the walk to the castle, so off we went looking like Sherpas attempting Everest! The gates didn't open until 4pm but many people assembled near the gates in order to get a good spot once the gates opened. Couple of drinks later it was time heralded by a maroon going off to go in. Bit of a mad dash as there's more than one entrance, the capacity for the gig was 14000 so you couldn't all squeeze through one gate. Once at a suitable spot Cathie sprang into action and put up a table, table cloth, Union Flag bunting and an absolutely delicious feast for us all. She made it look easy but she had obviously put in an awful lot of work and fed us admirably. I must mention Gary's equally awesome sausage rolls. There, I've mentioned them, no seriously they were delicious too!
The Royal Marines started proceedings with the Corps of Drums doing their drumming par excellence. There were two special pieces written that were rather sombre, one in tribute to the RM bandsmen murdered in an terrorist bomb some years ago and another in tribute the part the HM Jollies had in the D Day landings along with a video and list, a long list, of the fallen. That said the music wasn't downhearted at all, they were fine pieces of music.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were superb! Highlights of their offerings were Nicky Spence's solo of Nessun Dorma, sea shanties ( could have been RM ,I forget),the wonderful Pomp and Circumstance No1, Jerusalem, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with church bells, fireworks and 25 pounder quick firing field guns (long since retired by the army so I guess handled by reenactors though I couldn't find out who), a truly magnificent piece of music that was second only to William Walton's Spitfire Prelude and Fugue taken from the film 'The first of the Few' made in 1942. To accompany this was one of the most iconic aircraft in the world. The Supermarine Spitfire. This one a mark IX (serial no TD314) coming off the production line in late 1944, it never saw action but did serve in the RAF, the South African Air Force and then ended up in Canada.
I have no photos of this display as I just wanted to enjoy the majesty and splendour of its graceful arcs and rolls as it flew over us time and again, also of course the growl of its Rolls Royce Merlin engine that could be heard over the orchestra, a truly magnificent aircraft, it really did make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
They finished the night with the 1812 and after the fireworks played some more modern stuff from Michael Jackson etc. It had been a brilliant night!
We set off mid morning and got to our hotel, within walking distance of the castle with no problems. Settled into rooms and went to the bar for a well earned drinky poo.( Well I think we'd earned it!)
G&C suggested we load up with our chairs food drink etc for the walk to the castle, so off we went looking like Sherpas attempting Everest! The gates didn't open until 4pm but many people assembled near the gates in order to get a good spot once the gates opened. Couple of drinks later it was time heralded by a maroon going off to go in. Bit of a mad dash as there's more than one entrance, the capacity for the gig was 14000 so you couldn't all squeeze through one gate. Once at a suitable spot Cathie sprang into action and put up a table, table cloth, Union Flag bunting and an absolutely delicious feast for us all. She made it look easy but she had obviously put in an awful lot of work and fed us admirably. I must mention Gary's equally awesome sausage rolls. There, I've mentioned them, no seriously they were delicious too!
The Royal Marines started proceedings with the Corps of Drums doing their drumming par excellence. There were two special pieces written that were rather sombre, one in tribute to the RM bandsmen murdered in an terrorist bomb some years ago and another in tribute the part the HM Jollies had in the D Day landings along with a video and list, a long list, of the fallen. That said the music wasn't downhearted at all, they were fine pieces of music.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were superb! Highlights of their offerings were Nicky Spence's solo of Nessun Dorma, sea shanties ( could have been RM ,I forget),the wonderful Pomp and Circumstance No1, Jerusalem, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with church bells, fireworks and 25 pounder quick firing field guns (long since retired by the army so I guess handled by reenactors though I couldn't find out who), a truly magnificent piece of music that was second only to William Walton's Spitfire Prelude and Fugue taken from the film 'The first of the Few' made in 1942. To accompany this was one of the most iconic aircraft in the world. The Supermarine Spitfire. This one a mark IX (serial no TD314) coming off the production line in late 1944, it never saw action but did serve in the RAF, the South African Air Force and then ended up in Canada.
I have no photos of this display as I just wanted to enjoy the majesty and splendour of its graceful arcs and rolls as it flew over us time and again, also of course the growl of its Rolls Royce Merlin engine that could be heard over the orchestra, a truly magnificent aircraft, it really did make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
They finished the night with the 1812 and after the fireworks played some more modern stuff from Michael Jackson etc. It had been a brilliant night!
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Beer
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Beer: We took Julian to the Victoria 's Beer Festival for his Birthday this year. The weather wasn't brilliant but I was surprised at how...
Beer
We took Julian to the Victoria 's Beer Festival for his Birthday this year. The weather wasn't brilliant but I was surprised at how poorly attended the festival was which is a great shame.
There was a good
selection of beers from local breweries and a couple of ciders as well, Olly & Laura & Gary joined us as well and we had a really good time. Even got a few games of darts as well thanks to Julian suggesting it. My standard was as low as ever but I think others did well.
Having only intended an afternoon session we were there until about 10.30pm having been sustained by a very nice buffet laid on by the pub. The Vic has changed since new owners took over about 18 months ago now, as usual some people just don't like change, I think its for the better with alot more young people, though as I say ,its sad that the fest wasn't better attended, we'd had a great time!
There was a good
selection of beers from local breweries and a couple of ciders as well, Olly & Laura & Gary joined us as well and we had a really good time. Even got a few games of darts as well thanks to Julian suggesting it. My standard was as low as ever but I think others did well. 
Thursday, 18 July 2019
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Harrow etc
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Harrow etc: Abit out of date now as I haven't been blogging very regularly but a couple of months ago we went down to Harrow for Tara's school ...
Harrow etc
Abit out of date now as I haven't been blogging very regularly but a couple of months ago we went down to Harrow for Tara's school reunion. First we'd booked a tour of Harrow School, they do this once a term. Its a guided tour and all the better for that, our guide was very enthusiastic and informative. Got taken into the building that serves as a memorial to an old boy killed in World War One, Alex Fitch. His parents renovated the room on condition that his portrait was hung there and lit night and day, which it has been. The room itself is a composite of floorboards, walls etc from far and near. Some from a battleship of the Napoleonic era, fireplace from a stately home that was about to be demolished.
The Speech Room was very grand as was the chapel across the road. When this chapel was built the masters had to agree a design for the spire. All but one master, William Oxenham agreed and did he make a nuisance of himself by flatly refusing to agree and so blocking the spire being put in place. Comes the day, in 1865 that Oxenham shuffles off this mortal coil, and being a master of Harrow School (even women teachers are called masters here!) a memorial was erected to him. What better memorial could there be but to erect the spire on the chapel...…
The original school was just once room , called the Forth Form, this room is covered in graffiti where boys have carved their names, its also featured in feature films such as Harry Potter, Young Winston and many more besides. It was a very interesting tour and one you could probably do again. I guess a different guide would tell you their favourite titbits of the schools history.
The main purpose of the exercise was Tara's school reunion. We were staying at a cheap & cheerful hotel in South Harrow (bizarrely it was a converted office block, an office Tara had worked in!) not far from The White Horse where Tara & her chums were to meet. It's very different inside the pub today. Its all one big bar rather than a public and saloon as it was 30 plus years ago! Food was excellent! Very good venison pie for me & veggie burger for T. I stayed just so Tara wasn't sitting there on her own but as others arrived I left for The Castle alittle higher up the hill to meet an old friend, Robert. We had a fine evening of beer and chat & eventually (chucking out time!) went back to the White Horse where their gig was winding up. Tara had had a very good evening with all her old school chums, about 20 there I think. It had been a great success and they've already booked for next year.
Back to our cheap and cheerful hotel. Brekkers in the morning...….the hot plate was interesting consisting of: scrambled egg, boiled eggs, baked beans and that staple of a cooked breakfast, sweetcorn! Odd to say the least but there was plenty of other things and gluten free for T so it was all OK.
The Speech Room was very grand as was the chapel across the road. When this chapel was built the masters had to agree a design for the spire. All but one master, William Oxenham agreed and did he make a nuisance of himself by flatly refusing to agree and so blocking the spire being put in place. Comes the day, in 1865 that Oxenham shuffles off this mortal coil, and being a master of Harrow School (even women teachers are called masters here!) a memorial was erected to him. What better memorial could there be but to erect the spire on the chapel...…
The original school was just once room , called the Forth Form, this room is covered in graffiti where boys have carved their names, its also featured in feature films such as Harry Potter, Young Winston and many more besides. It was a very interesting tour and one you could probably do again. I guess a different guide would tell you their favourite titbits of the schools history.
The main purpose of the exercise was Tara's school reunion. We were staying at a cheap & cheerful hotel in South Harrow (bizarrely it was a converted office block, an office Tara had worked in!) not far from The White Horse where Tara & her chums were to meet. It's very different inside the pub today. Its all one big bar rather than a public and saloon as it was 30 plus years ago! Food was excellent! Very good venison pie for me & veggie burger for T. I stayed just so Tara wasn't sitting there on her own but as others arrived I left for The Castle alittle higher up the hill to meet an old friend, Robert. We had a fine evening of beer and chat & eventually (chucking out time!) went back to the White Horse where their gig was winding up. Tara had had a very good evening with all her old school chums, about 20 there I think. It had been a great success and they've already booked for next year.
Back to our cheap and cheerful hotel. Brekkers in the morning...….the hot plate was interesting consisting of: scrambled egg, boiled eggs, baked beans and that staple of a cooked breakfast, sweetcorn! Odd to say the least but there was plenty of other things and gluten free for T so it was all OK.
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| Harrow School Speech Room |
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| Ditto |
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| Alex Fitch, killed in action during World War One aged just 19. |
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| Window dedicated to him featuring his regiments badge, The Royal Garrison Artillery. |
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| The chapel with the spire erected in memory of a complete pain in the arse! |
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| Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, former Harrow School boy and champion of the poor and oppressed of Victorian Britain. |
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| Self and Memsahib in The White Horse |
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| Venison Pie |
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| Veggie Burger |
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| At The Castle with Robert, an old friend |
Tuesday, 16 July 2019
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Festival
An idiots guide to an Idiot: Festival: Rcently back from a brilliant weekend at the New Forest Folk Festival. You'll know that I'm not particularly a folkie but there'...
Festival
Recently back from a brilliant weekend at the New Forest Folk Festival. You'll know that I'm not particularly a folkie but there's some good stuff here! Our draw was the fact that the brilliant Oysterband were headlining Saturday night, neither of us are into camping so our big decision was whether we had a couple of nights under canvas.
We decided to bite the bullet & go for it, not least because the past two years have been scorchers, were we just about to jinx this weather!?
Luckily not! Although we had one night which was bloody cold (had 3 nights there) it all went well. Camping wouldn't be our choice in the normal course of events but it was that or don't go! Had the weather been completely karzi I suspect we'd have knocked it on the head, there was a short sharp shower one night but by morning all was dry again.
To my great joy Kas & Stan have a shower in their caravan that they kindly let us use. Not being able to shower is the thing I hate most about camping & this festival didn't offer any on site showers at all!
We got down there Friday afternoon after a tedious journey down there via the ever popular car park known as the M25, though we got held up on the M27 as well. Friday late morning/afternoon just ain't a good time to travel. Stan had very kindly erected our tent so we could be next to them as well as their friends Pat & Paul, all I had to do was put up the inner 'rooms.' This was especially good of Stan as they've bought a caravan to make life easier after the faff putting up a trailer tent but he still put up our tents!
I guess the only downside of where we were was our close proximity to the kharzas. We had to be there to get an electric hook up to S&K's caravan, of course it was quite good being near in the middle of the night!
I managed to miss the ukulele workshop that I wanted to do but only because I'd gone on a really good walk with Paul. Not only is he a keen birder he's also into all aspects of nature so was able to point out butterflies,plants and insects etc, not only was it a very interesting walk but Paul is good company. Ida came along as well though she got bit of a shock running headlong into a bog! Needed to hose her down when we got back, she wasn't keen on that either!
There was music at this festival as well by the way, another good thing about our site was you didn't need to go into the main field to hear the music,it was all adequately loud from the tents. Stan managed to get hold of a fascinating football facts book. Both he and Paul are life long QPR fans and he regaled us with the odd titbit......much to Kas's chagrin I think! We went into the main field for Ralph McTell. he sang his one hit 'Streets of London' and many others. he does come over as a nice bloke ( though so did Ashley Hutchings but was bit of an arse when being interviewed by Dan), Gigspanner were the headliners for Friday and were as depressing as when we last saw them I'm afraid!
Saturday's music was better.The Urban Folk Quartet were very good and 3 Daft Monkeys were great,even though there was four of them! and the mighty Oysterband headlined who were fab! Although I think the sound was abit off on their first couple of songs. I was surprised how many of their songs I knew.
Sunday's offerings were OK. Plaitford Common were a local folk group and IOTA featured Marion Fleetwood who's always good. Banter were fine and The Sandy Denny Project quite listenable. The Ashley Hutchings Morris On Band were good, with , as their title suggests added Morris Dancing though they seemed bit of a quite end to the festival.
Really enjoyed it, so much so that we took advantage of the festival book early offer and booked for next year.
Plenty of food to choose from in the main field, covering vegan as well as veggie. There was also plenty for us carnivores as well. It was our 35th Wedding Anniversary on the Sunday and I bought Tara a nice dress from one of the stalls, & I got two hippy ish shirts.
It was a great weekend with great company, plenty of food and drink and good music. What better way to spend a weekend?
We decided to bite the bullet & go for it, not least because the past two years have been scorchers, were we just about to jinx this weather!?
Luckily not! Although we had one night which was bloody cold (had 3 nights there) it all went well. Camping wouldn't be our choice in the normal course of events but it was that or don't go! Had the weather been completely karzi I suspect we'd have knocked it on the head, there was a short sharp shower one night but by morning all was dry again.
To my great joy Kas & Stan have a shower in their caravan that they kindly let us use. Not being able to shower is the thing I hate most about camping & this festival didn't offer any on site showers at all!
We got down there Friday afternoon after a tedious journey down there via the ever popular car park known as the M25, though we got held up on the M27 as well. Friday late morning/afternoon just ain't a good time to travel. Stan had very kindly erected our tent so we could be next to them as well as their friends Pat & Paul, all I had to do was put up the inner 'rooms.' This was especially good of Stan as they've bought a caravan to make life easier after the faff putting up a trailer tent but he still put up our tents!
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| Views in and around where we camped. |
I managed to miss the ukulele workshop that I wanted to do but only because I'd gone on a really good walk with Paul. Not only is he a keen birder he's also into all aspects of nature so was able to point out butterflies,plants and insects etc, not only was it a very interesting walk but Paul is good company. Ida came along as well though she got bit of a shock running headlong into a bog! Needed to hose her down when we got back, she wasn't keen on that either!
Saturday's music was better.The Urban Folk Quartet were very good and 3 Daft Monkeys were great,even though there was four of them! and the mighty Oysterband headlined who were fab! Although I think the sound was abit off on their first couple of songs. I was surprised how many of their songs I knew.
Sunday's offerings were OK. Plaitford Common were a local folk group and IOTA featured Marion Fleetwood who's always good. Banter were fine and The Sandy Denny Project quite listenable. The Ashley Hutchings Morris On Band were good, with , as their title suggests added Morris Dancing though they seemed bit of a quite end to the festival.
Really enjoyed it, so much so that we took advantage of the festival book early offer and booked for next year.
Plenty of food to choose from in the main field, covering vegan as well as veggie. There was also plenty for us carnivores as well. It was our 35th Wedding Anniversary on the Sunday and I bought Tara a nice dress from one of the stalls, & I got two hippy ish shirts.
It was a great weekend with great company, plenty of food and drink and good music. What better way to spend a weekend?
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| Ralph McTell |
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| Us with added festival hat |
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| Dress for our anniversary |
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| Stn the Man |
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| 3 Daft Monkeys |
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| The Oysterband |
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