Day 22 - Leaving On A Jet Plane

Day 22 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

Leaving On A Jet Plane

(Tell us your favourite travel story. Or what is on your travel wishlist? Or what do you think about travelling?)


Whoops, another belated BEDN post - and no excuse really this time, we just got caught up doing other things like wallpapering and cooking.


So...travel.
I like travelling (as do lots of people I'm sure); I adore Iceland and we went there for our honeymoon, but at the moment neither of us own current passports so we try and explore the UK as much as possible instead.
We have a few places we go to each year - Anglesey at Easter, Edinburgh in August and the Great Dorset Steam Fair in August - and we try and fit in another holiday or weekend somewhere else in the UK as well.
We've visited most of the south west and over the last few years had weeks or long weekends in Torbay, Tenby, Aberystwyth, Chester, North East Wales, Bridlington and Scarborough, Great Yarmouth, London, the New Forest and this year we had a week in Blackpool in April.

One of the best holidays we've ever had though was a two week road trip around Scotland - up the west coast, across to the Isles of Skye, Harris and Lewis, across the top and down the east coast. I know Scotland fairly well; I was born there and my parents spent every summer holiday touring round in a motorcaravan. Consequently name a town up there and I could probably tell you where to pitch your tent, get a pint of milk and sample the best fish and chips.

When I met Andrew, he revealed he'd never gone any further north than Carlisle and the Scottish border so I thought we'd better rectify that pretty sharpish. In May 2009 we packed up the tent, cooking stuff, an airbed and duvet and some clothes and set off up north. We camped in a different place almost every night, took hundreds of photos, ate lots of chips and met quite a few different people (including stopping off at an old friend of ours who lived on the Isle of Harris).


So now I'm going to become a boring cliche and show off my holiday snaps...
(feel free to fall asleep)

A viewpoint imaginatively called 'Rest and Be Thankful' in Argyll Forest Park

Glen Nevis Holiday Park at the foot of Ben Nevis

 

 

Glendale Toy Musuem of the Isle of Skye (sadly no longer open) - an amazing place filled to the brim with old childhood toys and a lovely owner who said to pick up and play with whatever you like!

 

 

Top - Portree harbour on the Isle of Skye

Bottom - the Quiraing (an impressive rock formation) on the Isle of Skye

 

 

Left - in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye is the largely unknown 'Giant Angus MacAskill Musuem'

Apparently an 7ft 8in giant once lived on the island!

Right - Kilt Rock waterfall on the Isle of Skye

 

 

Top - the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Uig on the Isle of Skye docking at Tarbet on the Isle of Harris

Bottom - Dun Carloway Broch (an ancient type of house) on the Isle of Lewis.

Andrew is actually in that picture somewhere!

 

 

Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris - an incredibly blue sea and golden sand, much like the Mediterranean, only without the hot temperature.

 

 

Top left - on the Isle of Harris. How often do you see a 'C' road in the UK?

Top right - me testing the waters at Luskentyre

Bottom left - the chef cooking breakfast

Bottom right - the sheep on the Isle of Harris were very very tame! 

 

Sunset near the Isle of Scalpay

 

 

Top left - Callanish Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis, just as old and impressive as Stonehenge but without the commercialisation.

Bottom left - Isle of Lewis Blackhouse Village

Right - Bragar Whalebone Arch on the Isle of Lewis

 

Back to the mainland at Ullapool in the north west Highlands

 

 Right up to the top of mainland UK, Dunnet Head, the most north you can get without taking a ferry.

 One of the best campsites we stayed at - the Lazy Duck Campsite near Aviemore!

 Only 4 tents allowed, swings, a cooking shelter, chimenea, bush showers, a wood-fired hot tub and plenty of ducks - what more could you want? :-)

 

 

Any recommendations which areas of the UK we should visit next?

 

 

Farrington's Farm Shop Christmas Preview Evening

We're quite lucky that we have an award-winning farm shop only a few miles away - Farrington's Farm Shop - and Wednesday this week was their annual Christmas Preview Evening.

 

 

I've never managed to actually go before beacuse the last couple of years they've held it on the same night as our local Carnival but thankfully this year it was moved to the week after Carnival season.

I think it definitely showed though because the place was packed!

Farrington's isn't just any old farm shop, it's a whole farm shopping park and if I had children, it could quite easily be a whole day out. There's the main farm shop, a fishmongers, a gift shop, a (very nice) cafe, a hairdressers, a vintage/upcycling shop, an indoor soft play area, an outdoor play park, a florists and a garden centre. The majority of the shopping park was open late although unfortunately we spent much more time inside sampling all the delicious goodies than looking round the park.

 

 

We took along our friends M and C; M's been there several times before but for C, it was a completely new experience (and I think she enjoyed it!). First we spent quite a while ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the Christmas decorations - I was all for buying several of the bird-themed ones but Andrew put his foot down and said we had far too many birdies already in our house (surely not...).

 

 

We then moved down to the food stalls with hundreds and hundreds of samples laid out for us to try. I lost count of the amount of things we tasted, everything was so delicious and all the staff were really knowledgable and enthusiastic about their products, it was difficult to decide what we liked best!

 

 

 

 There was an amazing plate of cheese samples, so creamy and well, cheesy plus I tried a slice of Baileys cheesecake. I don't really like Baileys but the cheesecake was very good. There was also some incredibly tasty Bath Bakery garlic and cheese bread and we were all handed a pot of Marshfield ice cream to try.

I had Blackcurrants in Clotted Cream flavour which was amazing!

 

 

 

The best bit of the evening was the table and chefs serving a complete Christmas dinner made up of samples! When we first spotted it we thought they were perhaps selling turkey rolls or something but no, as we got closer we realised that it was all for us to try.

The roast potatoes were so good and the turkey and ham were cooked just right. We probably had far more parsnips and potatoes then we should have! Just as we were about to move away as well, they brought out a tray of steaming hot pigs in blankets, which we had to stay and try of course.

 

 

I could have easily spent a fortune there; we had to keep telling ourselves that it's still 5 weeks til Christmas and whatever we put in the fridge probably wouldn't last

(both in terms of use by dates and also because we're greedy pigs).

 

In the end we came away with a Quiche Lorraine and a Chicken and Chorizo Pie (which me and Andrew shared for lunch yesterday), some hot chocolate stirrers (to go in my Bloggers Secret Santa package), a small pot of Lemon Cheese and a reduced loaf of bread. It probably doesn't seem like much but we've also got a list pinned to the noticeboard in our kitchen to go back nearer Christmas and buy some Ham Hock Terrine, Mince Pies and delicious Barbers 1833 Vintage Cheese.

 

 

Have you started planning your Christmas food yet?

 

 

Day 21 - World Television Day

Day 21 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

World Television Day

(The invention of television certainly changed the world. Think about communication on a mass scale. You can talk about what telly means to you. Or your favourite TV shows. Make some recommendations, maybe?)


Andrew's dad has had a long history with televisions. When he left school in 1955 at the age of 15, his first job was as a Radio and TV Apprentice Engineer.

There was a local company a few miles away which rented TV's, fixed them and then later sold them to people and Andrew's dad decided he'd rather follow that as a career than go and work down a mine. He did that for about 10 years and then set up his own TV rental business which he still ran in the early 80's. Andrew can remember many evenings sat in his dad's car while they had to go and collect rental money from the customers. By the mid 80's it was pretty much a dying business as every man and his dog owned their own TV rather than rented but both Andrew and his dad are still interested in all things mechanical and electrical. We don't own any old TV's but Andrew's dad still has a 1950's Bush TV22 in his house proudly sat on display.

 

We don't tend to watch a huge amount of TV in our house; we don't follow any soaps or watch any kind of reality TV - we just never seem to have the time to watch anything!

I think our glory days of TV watching were when we were children - weren't all the best programmes on when you were a kid?


Andrew's favourites were:
Jamie and The Magic Torch (boy stays up late, goes down a hole into a magical world with weird creatures, oh and has a Old English Sheepdog which talks in a Somerset accent)
and Ivor the Engine (Welsh steam engine who communicates with his whistle saving the villagers from all sorts of calamities)

 

My faves were:
Fingermouse (a little paper finger mouse puppet who could make music),
The Family Ness (scary looking Loch Ness Monsters get up to mischief with two very Scottish stereotyped young children),
Bertha (a machine that could make practially anything set in a manufacturing factory)
The Raggy Dolls (toys and dolls from a factory reject bin make their own fun),
and Fraggle Rock (a selection of muppet 'fraggles' live underground with lots of dancing and singing)


I do wonder what the producers of these programmes were on when they dreamt up their ideas!
("Oooh, I know what'll work as a TV series; a machine that makes stuff in a factory, surely every 5 year old wants to see that!")


What were your favourite kids TV programmes?

The Midweek Hop - It's Only Fashion Baby (Day 20)

Day 20 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

It's Only Fashion, Baby

(Write about fashion. It could be an outfit post, or a wishlist, or even your thoughts on fashion.)

The other half's guest post - three music videos on a theme...

(inspired by Desmond Carrington's 'The Music Goes Round')
 

'Ami E 120' 1953 Jukebox

 

 

This weeks theme is...It's Only Fashion Baby

 

Inspired by today's #BEDN prompt all about fashion.

1. Fashion by David Bowie


This song was released at the start of a well...umm...interesting decade of fashion history...
'Fashion' entered the chart on 1st November 1980 reaching Number 5.


2. Dedicated Follower of Fashion by The Kinks


Don't feel as if you have to follow 'fashion', just wear the bits of it you like whenever you like!
'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' entered the chart on 3rd March 1966 reaching Number 4.


3. She Wears Red Feathers by Guy Mitchell

Always wear whatever you want - being unique is sure to get you noticed!

'She Wears Red Feathers' entered the chart on 13th February 1953 reaching Number 1.

 

 

Happy listening!
 

Day 19 - Newsflash

Day 19 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

Newsflash

(Talk about something that is in the news today.)



National News

I spotted this article on the BBC website about the UK's Mass Observation Project. The charity headquarters have just been moved to a lovely shiny new home and the article details '10 Things We Learned From Mass Observation'.

Source: University of Sussex

 

 

I stumbled across the project while at Uni back in 2001 when I found a journal article all about it and then I searched out the most famous of all mass observers, Nella Last and her wartime diaries.
The project was founded in 1937 by three young lads who aimed to create an 'anthropology of oursleves' and the basic idea is that thousands of ordinary people write about their ordinary lives, creating an invaluable and absolutely fascinating record of everyday life. The organisation has changed a few times over the years but the idea is still the same, with lots of people across the UK scribbling down their activities, thoughts and lives.

I wonder if bloggers will be considered as Mass Observers in the future? A lot of us do document our lives, complete with thoughts, ideas and photographs and that's exactly the sort of thing the project records.

Anything written by a Mass Observer is a really interesting read, but I'd definitely recommend starting with Nella Last's books about the Second World War. She goes into so much detail, most of it she thinks is mundane but it isn't, it really isn't. The BBC made a drama adaptation of the books in 2006 (featuring Victoria Wood as Nella) - it's called 'Housewife, 49' and is a wonderful movie whether you're interested in history, the war, everyday life or even just the way a community copes day to day. Basically it's fab - just watch it!



And in personal news...

We have an appointment with the chief IVF consultant on 18th December! This probably sounds like something really insignificant but in the IVF world, it's what's known as A Big Thing.
It's one step closer and hopefully after that appointment, I'll know what sort of drugs I'll have to take and inject - happy times! :-)

Day 18 - Anti Bullying Week

Day 18 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

Anti Bullying Week

(Let's stand up to bullies. Share your experience. Or list ways to promote anti-bullying.)


A rather belated post about Anti Bullying Week...
We went to Ikea after work yesterday and I mean to write and post #BEDN Day 18 when we got home but testing out sofas and opening wardrobe doors took longer than planned!



So anyway...on to Anti Bullying Week.
It goes without saying that all bullying is pretty despicable and no-one should be made to feel worthless or insecure by anyone or at any age.

Source: Anti Bullying Week Website

 

I do feel fairly fortunate in that I never actually got bullied at school, which is suprising considering the range of hobbies and interests I have. I also grew up in a time before the internet, social media and even mobile phones so there wasn't the constant pressure to have the latest gadget or the abuse/trolling you might get nowdays. Despite not having the internet though, Andrew did get bullied at school - the schoolchildren of the late 80s and early 90s weren't very forgiving to a young lad interested in vintage vehicles, traction engines and steam railways.

There's no excuse for it, everyone's ideas, thoughts, looks, mannerisms, clothing, interests or hobbies are all equally valid - the most important thing anyone can do is tell someone, there are people out there to help and both Childline and the NHS have some great advice and contacts.

Above all, always remember to stick to what you believe - you are not the one with the problem.
It's the bullies who have the real problem; people who have so little self-belief or worth that they have to pick on others to make themselves feel better.

And you are so much better than that.

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

Cooking - some chocolate brownies for a work birthday.

 

 

Wallpapering - the room we seem to have been working on for ages, but finally this weekend the blue and green bird wallpaper went up!

 

 

Shopping - in Street in Somerset before Glastonbury Carnival on Saturday, finding the last few things for my Bloggers Secret Santa gift and some books for my Bloggers Book Swap parcel.

I also found Rudolph! He's a gorgeous little wire and beaded reindeer and was only £1.49 looking forlorn in a charity shop doorway.

 

 

Watching - the last two Carnivals of the season here in Somerset; Wells Carnival on Friday night and Glastonbury Carnival on Saturday night. That's it now til next year - all across Somerset today, light bulbs are being taken out, speakers are being packed away, costumes are being washed and the start of dismantling everything has begun (ready to rebuild it all in a different design ready for next year!)

Listening - to The Muppet Christmas Carol soundrack, it's probably a bit early but hey ho, in less than 2 weeks time it'll be December!

 

  

What did you get up to at the weekend?