To The Tower

As mentioned yesterday we took a trip to the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels and also the Olympic rings hanging from nearby Tower Bridge. For once (this summer) the sun shone and the sky was blue. It was as if someone "up there" had decided with the games starting soon, it was high time the UK had some good weather.

Here's a small selection of images from today.




The Tower.

LL and the Bridge.

Traitor's Gate.

















Even the weather vanes are a bit posh.

Pomme De Terre

Dug these up today. Can't wait to get cooking some of them.

I also had to spend considerable time sweeping up a mass of fallen leaves. It's just like Autumn come very early. What is wrong with this weather?


Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm up early-ish and taking LL up to the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. I'm under strict instructions not to go trying on any of the crowns LOL.

After Dinner

Readers of this blog may recall one of my favourite films is Ridley Scott's Alien. Absolutely love it and despite pretty much knowing it inside out, I still find it exciting and somewhat scary.

You can imagine my delight at the thought of a trip to the cinema this week to see Prometheus, Scott's (possibly maybe) prequel. Definitely set in the same universe and playing by the same rules or as I think Scott put it, it shares the same DNA. A good film- certainly superior to Alien 3- with big spectacle set pieces to please. Not as scary as perhaps I would have liked but there you go.

Regardless of whether Prometheus fits into the Alien canon, there was I noted quite a big plot hole that got over looked. Just taking the film as a stand alone, a pretty big plot device had been used and then contradicted later on. I won't spoil things here, see if you can work it out.

Oh and while I think of it, I had real difficulties with the main character being named after a well known After Dinner Mint brand. Would have thought fellow Brit Scott would have known LOL...

Has anyone noticed today is meant to be the longest day (at least in the northern hemisphere)? It's more or less rained all day (see previous post re- summer weather) with temperatures likely to have struggled to get to the low 20's grrr. Of course now all we can look forward to is the nights gradually drawing in as we head towards Christmas. Cheerful soul aren't I?

By the way has anyone else been enjoying the excellent sitcom 2 Broke Girl$? See what they did there with the title LOL? Nothing ground breaking and a bit obvious at times but quite fun.  

At Last

Temperatures in my little part of England finally exceeded 25 degrees Celsius (around 77 degrees Fahrenheit)- yea! It was a bit of a shock leaving the nice air conditioned office at 3.30 I can tell you. I'm now working in the middle of the office so no outside windows. Wasn't too much of a struggle to stop at ASDA on my home to pick up two litres of Cornish Ice Cream mmm.

Looks like summer might actually be on it's way (about time) although we do have a double public holiday for Her Majesty's Jubilee coming up, so you can bet cool weather and rain can't be far off LOL!

Winter- The Sequel

Apparently it's been snowing in Staffordshire today.

Isn't it supposed to be Spring by now?

Happy Easter

Have a peaceful day.

Go easy on the buns and chocolate eggs LOL.

BST

Last night our clocks went forward an hour, into British Summer Time, bringing with it lighter evenings and the first outing of my short trousers and flip-flops (or thongs as the Aussies would say).

So I spent a good few hours today doing a few chores about the garden, having a bit of a tidy up before planting my first crop of seed potatoes, which should be ready towards early July. I had quite a bit of success last year and a whole lot of fun, finger's crossed for this year. In addition I've sown 5 varieties of Chilli Pepper, which are now in pots on my kitchen window sill waiting to germinate.

Judging by the weather we've had this past week, it looks like we may have a cracking summer in the UK. The flip side of that of course is that due to the lack of rain through winter, we have already been told hose pipe bans will be in place from early April. Oh joy.

Speaking of water, I got home from work on Tuesday to the sound of running water. Seems something nasty has happened to my toilet, which means that until the plumber comes on Wednesday I have to make do with using a bucket to flush. I'm just pleased this happened now, if it was going to happen at all, rather than when GFDU was here. I can just imagine the conversation: " Welcome to England. By they way we're so backward here, we have to use this to flush with." LOL.

Followers to this blog might also like to know I have uploaded images of three more pots to Webshots. You'll need to navigate your way to about page 15 for the latest stuff.

And finally the Royals continue their push for promotion.

24 March Reading 3 - 1 Blackpool

Here's how the top part of the Championship looks at present:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Southampton	39	23	9	7	72	35	37	78
2	Reading	39	22	7	10	56	34	22	73
3	West Ham	38	19	12	7	59	38	21	69
4	Brighton	39	17	11	11	48	40	8	62
5	Middlesbrough	38	16	13	9	45	42	3	61
6	Birmingham	38	16	12	10	60	41	19	60
7	Blackpool	39	16	12	11	66	56	10	60
8	Cardiff	39	15	15	9	57	50	7	60
9	Hull	38	16	10	12	38	32	6	58
10	Leeds	39	16	9	14	59	57	2	57

Just Like Summer..?

Did you see the weather in England today? It was 15 degrees Celsius in my back garden this afternoon and when I went out briefly to run some errands, I actually saw a man walking down the road with his shirt off. In March. I kid not.

Just for the record the warmest place in the UK today was in Nottinghamshire, where 19 degrees Celsius (around 62 degrees F) was noted. It's not even officially Spring yet.

(And yes I have today taken the precaution of retrieving the short trousers out of storage.) 

I've also been been catching up on recent episodes of Top Gear. Try to find the one with the jet pack Rocket Man racing at 120mph (193kph) against a Seat rally car around the Welsh hillsides. Just mad but totally riveting. It's also the one with Matt Smith. Quite a nifty driver.

And finally yesterday Reading FC pulled off a win against visiting Leicester. The Royals are now on equal points with second placed West Ham but thanks to goal difference remain in third.

10 March Reading 3 - 1 Leicester

One more thing: you can't beat home-made banana and raisin bread pudding. Mmmm. 

A Bit Chilly

OK so it's finally getting officially cold here now. We've had something of a mild winter to date here in the south of England but this morning was quite a shock to the system: At around 8 this morning my weather station in the garden was proudly telling me it was -8 degrees Celsius (that's about 18 degrees F). Brrrrr!

And you know what? Around 4pm it started to gently snow and hasn't stopped since (it's a mere zero degrees at present). Here's a couple of images, taken this evening.

View into the street.

Garden seats and table, complete with carrots (no, really) growing in a container.














Tomorrow we get to go play in the snow with LL. I suspect however GFDU will be wearing even more layers of clothes. We've got to four already LOL.

Goodbye 2011

There's quite a lot I wanted to say today regarding this past year- my own personal highs and lows and in fact I've been formulating ideas of what to say for a couple of days. The truth is that I've left it all too late and only now have time for a brief entry. I guess I could blog something in the coming days but I suspect it will all seem so "last year" by then LOL.

To business, I took LL out today for a trip to Henley on Thames, which was lovely. Very few people out and about by the river and the weather was quite kind. We even came across this lovely black swan, who was very keen to make our acquaintance and eat the bread we were carrying. The other ducks, geese and mute swans didn't really get a look in!

You don't see many of these around here.












And later we found out that his new LEGO boat really did float (in the bath). Until that is we learnt a new word: capsize.

Elsewhere Reading FC have put on a good show over the Christmas period and have moved nicely into 5th in the Championship.

17 Dec Leeds 0 - 1 Reading
26 Dec Reading 3 - 0 Brighton and Hove Albion
31 Dec Reading 1 - Ipswich

The Royals travel to Cardiff on Monday 2 Jan.


All that remains is for me to wish everyone a happy New Year.

Nearly But Not Quite Christmas

LL came to visit today and spend some time with Dad and SM, who are staying for a few days. We all had lunch together and exchanged some gifts afterwards. This evening we had a go at tracking the progress of the Fat Man, here. Excellent fun. Maybe bookmark for next year..?

Don't you just feel all festive?












Only one more sleep to go...

Seasonal Greetings

I'd just like to wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and all the very best for 2012.

Getting Round To Christmas

I know I've been a bit "Blog-lite" of late and haven't posted a great deal. There's no need to send out the search party- I'm still alive (and well), just very busy at work. Ah the joys of employment- long may that continue (at least until I win the Lottery).

Having made a start helping LL yesterday to decorate the tree where he lives, I thought it was about time I did similar here. I've spent today tidying up and then doing my best to make the place look festive, although I think I might have gone a tad overboard, with the lights throughout the house. Another story for another time perhaps.

You might recall last year the tree was treated to blue lighting, this time I have picked mostly reds. What do you think?

I have positioned the tree to the left of the chimney, for ease of pressie delivery LOL.
















No word yet about whether the office will be open over Christmas grrr. I hope it will be: I could do with working Wednesday to Friday that week and saving my leave for next year...



Elsewhere, the Royals have hauled themselves to 10th in the nPower Championship on 30 points from 21 games, after a mixed bag of results:

19 Nov Reading 1 - 2 Cardiff
26 Nov Ipswich 2 - 3 Reading
29 Nov Reading 3 - 2 Peterborough
3 Dec Blackpool 1 - 0 Reading
10 Dec Reading 3 - 0 West Ham

Bwahaha!

LL and I spent some time Saturday carving a pumpkin in time for Halloween. I'm not sure looking at this image which one is more scary...

I think he might go out tonight with some little friends "Trick or Treating." Or "Demanding with Menaces" as perhaps it might more accurately be described. To be honest at his age it's just innocent fun and they don't go further than a few houses in the immediate area, where all the children are well known anyway but you get my point.


Have a ghoulish (and safe) evening everyone...

Ta-Dah!

Here it is, as promised....

Don't worry- I did wash the holly first LOL.

The Smell Of Christmas*

Some readers may recall last year I had a go at baking a Christmas cake based on the Delia Smith kit sold in a well known supermarket. If you need to, you can refresh your memory here and here LOL.

Now if ever there was an example of how imitation is one of the best forms of flattery, may I present exhibit "A" below?

All that's missing from this image is 170g of unsalted butter.















At £10 (the same price Delia's was offered for last year) you can understand that I couldn't refuse the chance to give it go. And in fact it requires fewer additional ingredients; how can I go wrong? It's in the oven now and should be finished after 3 and a half hours at a relatively low heat, so a couple more to go. There's whole almonds in the mix so I'm thinking this year perhaps I might leave it totally plain and adorn it with some holly from the garden...

Either way I might post an image later as it cools. Do check back soon to see how it went.


18 Oct Reading 2 - 2 Derby
22 Oct Reading 1 - 1 Southampton

* Don't you just love the smell of spices and mixed fruit that has been soaked in a generous portion of Brandy? I know I do LOL.

P.Y.O*

Who would have thought the first day of October would see us out in the sunshine picking strawberries and raspberries? In fact at 29.9 degrees Celsius (about 86 degrees F), today has been the hottest October day in Britain on record. Wow.

Now where shall we start?

Did we pick enough?
















* Pick Your Own. Just so you know.

Pepper

I've been growing peppers again this summer and recently decided it was time to harvest them. (I guess it's not rocket science to work out why Harvest Festival has always traditionally been held in September/October). Anyway here they are all lined up on the kitchen window sill a couple of days back.

And what do you know? They've started to ripen in the late Summer (or is it now Autumn?) sun, mmmm...

Cowboys And Buses

My recent life in brief...

• Last night I met a friend at the cinema and we saw Cowboys and Aliens. Absolutely brilliant concept and really well executed. Couldn't quite believe it had such a low certificate mind you. Ford and Craig, almost but not quite a movie dream team.


• Love the new series of "Who Do You Think You Are?"


• College beckons again. Seems like ages since I last had my hands in some clay.


• I've recently found someone really important.


• I have resumed work on the loft hatch cover. I intend to be snug this winter no matter how cold it gets.


• After 8 months out of work, just like buses, two different job offers come along in one go. For the record it's not all about the money but the prospect of having to drive 200 miles (about 320 km) each way at least twice a week sure had something to do with my choice.

Beanz

Picked my first crop of dwarf runner beans this afternoon and cooked a handful for dinner. Very tasty- the best way to eat produce is straight from the garden and into the kitchen. Of course you do realise you're invited round sometime if you fancy. Just let me know when you are free...
 

Oh and what's happened to Torchwood: Miracle Day? Six episodes in, lots of exposition and still no sign of a monster or alien. Mind you, finger's crossed for episode 7...

16 Aug Portsmouth 1 - 0 Reading
20 Aug Reading 1 - 2 Barnsley

Yesterday was the anniversary of mum dying. Miss her.