Category: Down South

Blackpool Tower Ballroom – 29 July 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We drove to Hamilton. Went on a bus. We danced. We went for a walk. We came home. It rained.

That’s the synopsis, here’s the detail:

The alarm woke us at 6.45am. After a quick breakfast and a cup of tea we drove to Strathclyde Park in Hamilton and parked as we’d been told, on the park road near the Holiday Inn. The bus arrived and we were driven down to Blackpool, listening to music played from a phone into a microphone. I hadn’t realised this was the ‘system’ that was being used until we were coming back. We are in the 21st century, aren’t we? The bus was a bit cold, but after a while the sun warmed it up. We shouldn’t complain, it was a comfortable enough journey.

We were dropped off at the Tower Ballroom and were shown to our seats in the ballroom itself. Lots of small round tables with seating arranged to let everyone have a view of the ballroom floor. Our Afternoon Tea was served on them. Posh little finger sandwiches on the bottom layer, macarons and brownies on the middle layer and scones with pots of clotted cream and jam on the top, and of course, tea or coffee.

It must have been a magnificent building in its heyday. Now it’s a bit tired and in need of some TLC. The ballroom floor, however is lovely to dance on. No slippy patches and no uneven floorboards. You can feel the 12,000 square feet suspended floor move gently when there are a lot of dancers on it. It’s almost nine times the size of the ‘Strictly’ studio dance floor and is made from 30,602 separate blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut. We danced quite a few of the sequence dances and also attempted a waltz and a foxtrot, the latter being much more successful than the waltz. Practise is required for sure!
Great fun watching the two organists on the stage and seeing the big white Wurlitzer organ and its pianist rising and falling while being played.

After our almost four hours of dancing and eating, we changed shoes back to normal walking ones and went down to a windy beach for a wander. The tide was miles out, so no chance of a paddle today. We walked along the sand to the Central Pier and took a few photos, then walked back to have fish ’n’ chips at Harry Ramsden’s along with half the bus party!

Fed and watered Scamp suggested a walk along to the North Pier and we fought our way through the crowds to get there. Just like Glasgow on a Thursday night. Drunk youngsters everywhere. We were both sober, I was driving later. We walked along the pier then Scamp noticed that our bus was just stopping in front of the Tower Ballroom, so we headed back at a much less leisurely pace. We needn’t have worried, we had plenty of time to catch our breath before everyone was on board.

Stewart organised a singsong on the way home, still using his home made LoFi. Just as we were almost passing Larkhall he played Donald Where’s Yer Troosers! I was not amused and told them that I absolutely hated that song and always have.

It had been raining on and off all of the journey home although it had stayed dry for most of the day. By the time we got back to Hamilton the rain was lashing down. Drove home and we had a wee drink to celebrate the day. Would we do it again? Probably, but maybe not next year.

In a break from tradition, this is not the PoD. I just thought you’d like to see inside the Tower Ballroom.

Tomorrow we’ll have a rest day, hopefully.

 

 

Homeward Bound – 11 April 2023

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This is the day I always dread, and yet I look forward to being home again. It’s just the bit in between I hate the most.

We sat around after breakfast. Jamie would already be at work by now, because his working week had begun. Simonne’s would start after she dropped us off at Stowmarket station. We took one last longing look at that expanse of garden. One last photo from ’The Library’. Then we got in the car and Simonne drove us to the station. We said our goodbyes and then we waited for the first train in the chain we’d ride today.

The train, when it arrived was quite busy. Folk just like us eager to get back home after the Easter break. It wasn’t overcrowded, though, just busier than normal. There were no holdups this time, just an easy ride to Peterborough. Only a half hour wait going home. Much more doable than the hour long wait, travelling south.

This train was full, folk everywhere, including in our seats, but a gentle word from Scamp and they apologised and rose to give us our booked seats. This WAS a busy train, the busiest I’ve seen the Kings Cross to Edinburgh train. Now I understand why standard class is called “Cattle Class”. Folk were crammed in everywhere and it didn’t help that two old ladies were having a discussion in the corridor about where they could put their suitcases, while folk were trying to get to their seat. We survived, and as the guard predicted, everything quietened down by the time we got to Newcastle.

We hadn’t long to wait for our final train to Croy and then only about ten minutes until a ramshackle taxi took us home. The sun was still shining when we got home.

A cup of tea and a comfortable seat were all that was needed to dispel the memories of wafer thin cushioning in the LNER seats. It was a long journey, but a good pair of headphones and another Stella Rimmington spy story made the hours pass.

PoD went to the photo of the Old Newton garden.

Early bed tonight because I’m up and out tomorrow to Larky to get my eyes tested.

 

It rained – 10 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

As predicted by the weather fairies, Monday morning was wet.

Instead of sitting at home, Jamie drove us to a garden centre fairly nearby. I really think this was a trial for Scamp because, while Jamie and Simonne were loading plants into the boot of the car, Scamp had to accept that live plants wouldn’t survive a five hour plus rail journey with two changes on what was going to be busy trains. We had lunch in a wee cafe at the garden centre and Scamp did get some seeds to take back. Not quite the same as live plants, but the consolation prize.

In the afternoon the clouds lifted, the skies cleared and the sun shone, so we all went for a walk. Much the same route as my walk yesterday, but much longer and covering different areas of the nearby countryside. With my ultra-wide angle lens on the A7 I got some quite excellent landscape shots and some pretty shots of daffodils in the churchyard of the church next door to the house. The landscape got PoD.

Unfortunately we were going home tomorrow, so after dinner we were packing bags and taking more last photos. Then Jamie came in to the living room and said “There’s a kestrel in the front garden.” My cameras were packed away, but I did manage to get two fairly decent shots of the young bird before it flew off on those narrow wings.

We watched the final episode of the strange South African film and were left wondering what to think about the even stranger ending. I won’t say any more, just in case you ever watch it.

Tomorrow we make the trek up north.

Happy Birthday to Me – 8 April 2023

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Out for a walk with the prospect of a posh dinner in the evening.

Jamie, Simonne and Vixen went to Run Free in the morning, but we stayed at home and lazed about.

After lunch, Jamie drove us all to Levington on the River Orwell for a walk. We walked from The Ship Inn down through the dried reed beds to the river. From there, Simonne suggested we walk west along the banks of the river. We walked for about a mile to Nacton Shores then turned north for a few hundred yards, then north east through woods until we reached a road. We followed the road back to the pub at Levington where we had a refreshing drink before being driven back to the house.

Back at the house it was time to get ready for dinner. We were booked at the Brewers in Rattlesden for 6pm. First thoughts were that it was just a noisy pub with ideas above its station. How wrong can you be?!

Starter:

Seatrout tartare for Scamp
Lobster risotto for Simonne
Lamb + black pudding for Jamie and me

Main:

Scallops for Scamp
Beef fillet with kale for Simonne and Jamie
Pork belly with black haggis for me

Dessert:

Treacle tart for me
Date pudding for all the rest

All washed down with a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, from zero alcohol beer to a porn star martini.

On the drive home through the gloaming along the misted narrow lanes that populate this countryside, we passed a statuesque looking deer that watched us, fearlessly, not 50 metres away in a borderless field. Countless pheasants risked life and limb by darting out in front of the car, but Jamie saw us safely back to the house without turning a hair.

A rum and coke each finished off our day while we watched a strange South African series with far too much swearing (and not ‘good’ swearing either) and a dialog that switched constantly from Afrikaans (with subtitles) to English. If you’re looking for it, don’t. It’s called Unseen. Might have been better all in one language and using actors who can act.

Tomorrow the weather fairies say it’s going to rain.

Off to the seaside – 7 April 2023

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A day at the beach was promised. A beach without sand? How does that work.

In the morning after breakfast, Jamie drove us all over to the Suffolk Dogs Run Free fields where we had an hour to let Vixen off the leash to do what it says on the tin. She didn’t run that far away, always keeping one of us in line of sight, but she DID run and so did Jamie and Simonne chasing her. I was glad I’d worn my boots because there were quite a few muddy puddles and we were slipping and sliding through some of them. After or allotted hour, we padlocked the gate and went back to the car then drove back to the house.

Giovanna Rana pasta. Veg for Scamp and meat filled for the carnivores, Never had the bolognese version before, but it’s not practical when one of us doesn’t eat meat and I’m happy eating the veg version. We both liked the thick grated ‘normal’ cheese on top, but missed the olive oil that we have.

Then it was time to lock Vixen in as house sitter while the gardener was working outside in the garden, because we four were going to the seaside at Aldeburgh. I’d never heard of it before, but I did know roughly where nearby Ipswitch was, and Sizewell Nuclear Powerstation and we were told it was near both.

It was a lengthy journey that would have taken a fraction of the time if we’d been crows and could have flown straight there. Or if we’d had jetpacks. We were promised jetpacks, weren’t we? A lengthy journey, but an interesting one passing between green fields that seemed to stretch to the horizon in all directions. Pretty little houses, the likes of which you see in story books. I dare say almost all of them are actually holiday homes, run through Airbnb!

We eventually arrived at Aldeburgh and Jamie found a place to park and then a place to buy a parking ticket, then we headed for the ‘beach’. The beach without any sand. Instead of sand the shore was covered in pebbles, worn round by the action of the sea. A great stainless steel scallop shell stands on the beach. It was designed as a tribute to Benjamin Britten who spent much of his life in Aldeburgh. Cut high into the sculpture’s upper edge is the line ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’ from Britten opera, Peter Grimes. You can find out more about it here:

 

We walked along the shingle heading into the town and Jamie bought some fish at a stall on the beach. Further on, we stopped beside a boating pond with lots of kids, mainly boys, sailing yachts. That brought back memories for Jamie and me. We all had ice cream cones at a convenient nearby shop and sat in an old seaside shelter which dated from 1911. Built to commemorate the coronation of George V. It was an excellent windbreak!

We had a quick walk through the town and Jamie stopped to buy some beer from an Adnams shop – the local brewery. Then we started the walk back to the car, walking on the road this time rather than the shingle that constantly moved under our feet. I was walking along beside Simonne when I spotted what looked like a tall windmill up above the trees in the distance, near the Sizewell reactor. It was really too far away to get a decent shot with any camera and I’d brought the smaller A6000 today. I googled it when we got back and found it was a water tower that is now a holiday home and is called The House in the Clouds. It has a really interesting history that you can read about here:

Just to fill the day up, when we got back I took some photos of the sunset over the  church next door.  Beautiful sunset.

Tomorrow is all about me – I wish!

In Training – 6 April 2023

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A fairly early rise and then we were off in a taxi to the train station.

The first stage of the rail journey was fairly familiar. Train from Croy to Edinburgh. We had time in Edinburgh to get some food for the next train to Peterborough. It was due to leave at 11am, but no platform was showing until nearly 10:50 and we were both getting a bit edgy. However, platform 5 appeared and half the folk in the waiting room stood up and left, en mass.

This was our first ‘Cattle Class’ train journey in a long time. We would have travelled First, but had left it late to make sure that none of the rail strikes would mess with our plans.
Actually the journey was really quite pleasant. We’d sandwiches to eat and a glass of wine each and also the ability to order coffee from the buffet by scanning a QR code at the seat and paying for it. We didn’t really need it, but it was good to know it was available if required. Also, I’d come prepared with my next Stella Rimmington book on my phone and a good pair of Bluetooth earbuds to listen to the story with.

Soon we arrived at Peterborough which I still imagine in my head as a little station in the middle of nowhere, but is really quite a nexus of lines from all around the country. It seems to have had a bit of an upgrade in the last year with comfortable, airy waiting areas. The downside was that we weren’t allowed to go out of the station for some weird reason and that meant we had to drink <spit> Starbucks coffee.

The next train arrived on time and off we sped to Stowmarket (which I always get mixed up with Stotfold which is where Jamie and Simonne used to live). We didn’t speed very fast because just outside Bury St Edmunds we came to a grinding halt and the announcement came that due to a passenger being taken ill earlier, there was now a backlog of trains waiting to clear the blockage. One of the problems with rail travel is that you can’t just overtake a blockage!

About half an hour late we reached Stowmarket and were picked up by Simonne and driven to the house. We were entertained by Vixen and had a catch-up with Simonne. Later when Jamie arrived home, we had dinner of roasted stuffed squash. Very nice and Scamp was delighted because it was vegetarian.

Early bed, well, early for us and a full day planned for tomorrow with a visit to the seaside and a chance to see Vixen running free in the safety of the ‘dogs run free’ fields.

Back and Forth – 11 May 2022

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After yesterday’s strange behaviour of the Blue car, I was hoping for some resolution, or at least an explanation.

Before that could happen, there was some coffee to be drunk and some stories to be told. Before even that, Scamp was out to get her hair cut. With that done successfully, we headed hesitantly to the Costa in the Town Centre. Nothing untoward happened and the blue car behaved very well.

I met Val and we had Flat Whites and a cake each. He was telling me he’d had a fall and showed me the bruises to prove it. He has been renovating a 1946 radio. Val loves a challenge and this was certainly that. Of course, something of that age doesn’t have transistors inside, it runs on valves. Glass valves with all sorts of coils and things inside them and a multitude of pins protruding from the base. I told him I remember my dad taking the valves out of our old radio and cleaning all those fine pins with emery paper, dusting them off and carefully putting them back in place. It was a wonderful thing when he could tune into radio stations in faraway places and hear folk talking in foreign languages. Nowadays we just take without thinking that you can see and hear what’s happening all over the globe, instantly on TV or on your phone even. I admire Val’s ability to rebuild these old devices.  I showed him the photos in a photobook Scamp and I had had printed of our long weekend in Old Newton.  Jamie and Simonne, he was very impressed with the house and garden, as was Isobel when she saw the book.

I had a word with Isobel who was with Sheila in a different part of Costa’s. She looks so much younger now that she doesn’t need glasses after her cataract surgery. A very independent woman she delighted in telling me that she manages to put her drops in by herself.

I drove Val home because he’s feeling a bit stiff after his fall and also because he’s lost a bit of his confidence. Then I went and filled up the blue car before picking up Scamp and Isobel then took the lady with the new all seeing eye back to the Village.

Drove to Stirling, ready for a fight, as Scamp described it. The young bloke on the desk listened to my story and started telling me they didn’t have any free appointments today, then when I said I needed the car for next week he relented and managed to get me a slot at 4pm today. I thanked him and we drove home, had a bit of lunch before hoovering up all the sticky tree buds that always appear at this time of year. When I thought the car was looking at least a bit tidier than it had been I drove to Stirling again. Dropped off the keys and sat down to read my Kindle which I’d been bright enough to bring with me. Just over an hour later the young bloke came over and showed me the printout from the computer the blue car had been connected to. He agreed that there half a dozen different failures the test had thrown up. The mechanic had cleared all the fails and re-tested the car and it came up clean, so it was safe to drive. I thanked him for getting me the slot and for dealing with it so promptly, and I was on my way back home, through the rush hour traffic. I’d hate to have to drive through that every day. Fish and chips for dinner. Just what I needed after a stressful day.

The weather today was wild! Gusty wind blowing in heavy rain showers and then blowing them away again to let the sun shine though. PoD was a shot taken in the garden. It’s an azalea that lives in a sheltered corner of the garden and is flowering beautifully just now.

Tomorrow we are hoping for a more relaxing day, although it looks like rain for at least some of it.

Posh Lunch – 16 April 2022

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Another sunny day and we were being taken for lunch.

Wandered round the garden in the morning then Jamie drove us to Bury St Edmonds for lunch at Maison Bleu and what a lunch. Here goes!

Starter
Scamp: A Beetroot Gateau which really did look like a slice of Tipsy Cake.
Jamie & Simonne: Seared Isle of Orkney King Scallop, Chicken Wings, artichoke, Pancetta and Chicken Jus.
Me: Slow braised Beef Cheek, Lettuce Ravioli, Carrot Crisp Kohlrabi with carrot and Curcuma sauce.
Main
Scamp: Isle of Gigha Halibut, celery gel, nori seaweed powder, fish sauce grilled leek and broccoli.
Simonne: Fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef, Maury wine sauce, Celeriac, Roscoff Onion Confit, Béarnaise espuma, and salt fermented celeriac.
Jamie: Roasted Balotine of saddle and leg of Rabbit, reduction sauce, shallot confit, Jerusalem artichoke and chervil.
Me: Roasted haunch of Breckland venison, Tornatore black olive sauce, black potato purée and parsnip.
Dessert
Scamp: Pear with Honeycomb (which I’d have called Puff Candy).
Jamie & Simonne: Opera Gateau.
Me: My dessert was called, simply, Apple. It looked like a shiny red apple, but when you cut into it with a spoon it crunched like an old fashioned candy apple. Inside was an apple mousse.
We washed all the foregoing down with a bottle of wine which Scamp chose but Jamie chose instead to have a bottle of beer.

Really quite an excellent and very posh lunch. Many photos were taken of the food as befits foodies like us and many stories will be told about it in the future, I hope.

We had a gentle walk round the outskirts of the centre of Bury St Edmonds before Jamie drove us home where we sat in the garden and admired the sunset over the church. I found a miner bee digging in the grass at the back of the house. The first time I’ve seen one of those. The insects down south have been an eye opener for me.

PoD was a picture of the church taken when we arrived back at the house after our lunch.

Tomorrow we may be doing some gardening.

Walking the dog – 15 April 2022

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A bit of freedom for Vixen.

In the morning, after breakfast and a cup of Jamie’s coffee from his posh Sage coffee machine, we went for a walk round the garden, a conducted tour, in fact. The garden covers half an acre. I don’t know how big that is, but it is a fair swathe of grass with a veg area purely for Jamie and lots of island areas of flowers that are Simonne’s area. Best of all, he has a greenhouse, a real glass glazed one, not a little plastic one like ours. Lots of potential there.

After the tour, Jamie drove us to a dog walking field where Vixen could run as far as she wanted without fear of meeting any other four legged friends (or enemies). We spent about an hour wandering round three fields of different shapes and sizes. Vixen may have been the reason we were there, but I was searching the trees and hedges for photo opportunities. Almost right away I saw a Bee Fly, but of course my camera was still in the bag, but my phone was handy and was sure I could grab a snap with it. Next time I’ll buy a mobile with a macro facility. Missed the Bee Fly, but at least I saw one.

What I did find was an almost totally brown Shield Bug and I did get two photos of it. There were apple trees in one of the field hedges and they were still holding their blossom and one of the Lensbaby shots of the blossom was in for PoD. With Vixen exhausted and my Lensbaby having captured a potential PoD, Jamie drove us back home for lunch.

After lunch the other three went to do some gentle work in the garden and I took my camera for a walk past the old church and down the hill to the dried up stream bed at the bottom. I turned right before the bridge over the stream bed and walked for about half a mile to another bridge over the same stream bed, crossed the bridge, turned left and found my way back to the house. I was passing between two fields. One with what looked like beans and the other with some form of corn or maize. The soil was interspersed with big chunks of flint.

By the time I got back, there was just enough time to have a beer in The Gallery before dinner.

PoD did indeed go to the apple blossom.

Tomorrow we’re off to Bury St Edmonds for lunch.

Happy Christmas – 25 December 2021

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Christmas Day and the sun is shining. How did that happen?

After the presents were opened we both booted up and went for a walk in St Mo’s. Scamp went once round and then left to get the cooking started. I went round for a second try for a PoD, and also to get used to my new wooly hat which I needed today with the temperature just above zero. The wooly hat worked, but the PoD now so much, but at least I had contenders.

While I was out dessert had been made. We had just enough time left for a quick lunch and then an equally quick shower before our Zoom meeting with the other pairs. We ended up about three minutes late, but who’s counting. Jamie and Sim had a few problems with their webcam, but once they had it working, the took the rest of us on a live tour of the house and the garden. Both Neil and I were really impressed with Jamie and Sim’s wireless connection as they wandered round the garden showing of the surroundings as well as the garden. Vixen slept through the entire Zoom call, apparently after tiring herself out playing with the new Kong that Hazel and Neil had sent. All in all, we thought it was a great virtual visit. Almost like being there. Maybe that will happen in the new year.

A little G ’n’ T was required while the chicken was in the oven. That gave the cook a chance to relax and gave me the chance to have a first look at the photos.

Dinner was:

Starter Prawn Cocktail
Main Roast Chicken with Roast Veg
Dessert. Lime Cheesecake

Of course, we both had too much to eat and possibly to drink and it took a while for all that excess to settle down.

I’d originally though about making bread for today, but it’s been postponed until tomorrow … at least. PoD turned out to be a nearly mono photo of an old bramble bush.

Rushing now to get this blog finished and posted before Christmas Day is done for another year.

Thank you Hazel and Neil for organising the Zoom meeting. Thank you Jamie and Simonne for the virtual tour of the house and thank you Scamp for being a brilliant chef for the day.

Tomorrow we may get some snow! Whether we go for a walk or not depends on the weather really, and whether we can walk after a day of over indulgence.