where art collides philosoperontap

Sat in the morning sun at the Wold’s Farm campsite. Facing east. At just before 7am the sun is already quite high. A fresh breeze gently carries birdsong. From my position in front of the tent I see a field of sheep quietly getting on with their breakfast and another field heavy with, presumably, wheat on the verge of turning from green to gold.

The birdsong is an interesting mix of beautiful and relaxing tunes emanating from the hedgerows and a cacophony of crows coming from a distant stand of trees at the brow of the hill.

Many campers are already up and sat in front of their pitches. Hushed tones keeping themselves to themselves, aside from the occasional nod to passers by en route to the toilet block.

New Flamborough Light House stands proud at the far end of the promontory. During the day a steady flow of ocean going vessels head both north  and south together with an occasional pleasure boat carrying tourists to on voyages of avian discovery.

On our walk yesterday someone mentioned that eminent naturalist Simon King was at a viewing platform just a little further along the cliff edge. Not having heard of SK I asked whether he was naked. The response was no he is a naturalist not a naturist 🙂 Don’t think they fully understood that I was joking.

We made it to the RSPB cafe at Bempton Cliffs whereupon, after a suitable pause for refreshment it being a hot day, the group spit into two. One party retraced their steps back across the cliffs to the campsite and another intrepid bunch continued along a single track road with the destination of the White Hart pub in mind.

Unfortunately the good citizens of Bempton do not appear to frequent pubs on a Saturday afternoon and the doors of the White Hart remained firmly shut. After a short break sitting on the picnic bench in the pub car park the party decided to continue the journey and removed to the Ship Inn in Flamborough. Chris and I had discovered the Ship the day before on our mission to pick up fish and chips for everyone’s tea.

The walk along the cliffs was very interesting. We saw a large number of nesting sea birds clinging precariously to any available surface. Gannets, razorbills and guillemots were there aplenty but of puffins, the main attraction, we saw but three. Turns out that puffins nest in burrows and do not emerge until their chicks have fledged.

As I sit here the day is warming up and shows promise. Another perfect summer day in the deep countryside. This area is truly a natural paradise and I would like to think we will return to this site which is located a long way up a farm track. Good luck if you are towing a caravan and meet another coming in the opposite direction 🙂

We are setting the compass south. It has been an action packed holiday but it is time to go home. There will be strawberries to harvest and I am excited to see the progress of my onions. A week of R & R in prospect.

Haloumi cheese – 3 block
Chicken breasts – 8
Feta cheese
Big tomaytoes
Cucumber
Olives – nice ones
Lettuce cos
Parma ham
Mozzarella
Baguette
Fresh lemons
Booze
Basmatti rice 
Ham
Cheese
Tin of tomatoes
onions

On the way home. Been a full on nine days. Very little downtime. Life is short. All the kids seen and loads of mates including Nik Patel from Vermont. I love the trips to Antwerp although my time there is totally knackering as the conference we have there is my show. At least the travel was made easy with fast track access through security and passport control. No British passport was used on the trip so no stamp 🙂.

Back in London the cricket was hot. When the last day of the Oval test finished at lunch we indulged in a pub crawl along the South Bank ending at Borough Market for a reunion. Some memorable nights out. Galvin Windows on the World exceeded expectations although I’m not sure why I had less than top notch expectations anyway. Guys and Dolls was brilliant and emotionally draining and The Greatest Night of the Jazz Age was entertaining and different. We got into the Punjab without having to queue. 

At home, CCUK council meeting apart, I’m going to put in some downtime this afternoon, shed doors wide open. Back at the coal face for a day on Thursday.

Alternative guide to coronation day. How to make the most out of Coronation Day. Have a good breakfast then go and play golf. Do not under any circumstances turn on the telly or the wireless set. If you end up in a pub after golf try to make it one that doesn’t have a TV (I realise this will be a hard one to get your brain around if you are from Amurica). Get home around tea time and fire up the barbie.

Busy week ahead. Prep for Antwerp today and then it’s off on Eurostar tomorrow. I’ve taken to travelling in business premier because the queues for standard class are ridiculous. 5 minutes versus an hour. It’s all about making life easy innit.

My biggest decision is which jackets to take. This is an important matter. The jacket choice for the cricket is easy. It’s the dull off white linen job. Just somewhere to keep phone and wallet really. I will also be taking my new panama hat obvs.

I’ve decided that a selection of silk numbers will suffice for the other days where a jacket is required. I’m not sure I really have enough shirts to go with all these but maybe a tshirt will do on some occasions. At least I don’t need to think about which coat to take 🙂Il fait assez beau yanow.

Outside the shed the garden is very green with a splash of colour provided by towels on the washing line. There are also pink roses around the arch. The flower beds are mostly hidden from view when I’m sat at my desk. I gave the wildflower meadow a bit of a watering this morning. The flowers are taking their time to germinate. Maybe some creatures ate the seeds. This is a long term project anyway.

The house is quiet this morning after the invasion at the weekend. All invaders dispatched, back to where they once belonged, Jojo. We like quiet although we do also like it when we have a full house. It’s all about getting the balance right.

Pigeon scampering across the flat roof above me. Time for lunch, said Zebedee.

A slow start. We have a houseful with two front rooms being used as bedrooms as well as the rooms ordinarily designated as such. At ten thirty there was a sign of life upstairs and three lads joined Joe in the kitchen whereupon the subject of bacon sandwiches was discussed.

I am in the relative peace of the shed, doors open and birds singing away happily outside. A cup of tea sits on a beer mat on my desk, not long for this world. The beermat advertises Lenienkugel’s Summer Shandy. No idea where I picked that up. Googled it and it is a thing. Don’t think I’d like it. It’s a weissbier. I had particularly bad experience with weissbier at a wedding in Germany many years ago 🙂

Saw a bird in the garden that I didn’t recognise. A summer visitor no doubt. By the time I had whipped out my trusty S23 Ultra with 10 x zoom the bird had flown away. I may never find out what it was. Probably a sparrow 🙂

No cricket today as the test match finished yesterday. Everyone wanted Ireland to do well and at least people got a fullish day of it. The bigger test lies ahead with the Ashes. I may be able to watch most of the Ashes Series this year. Don’t have any tickets but will have the telly on in the shed.

Quite a busy week ahead. Antwerp tuesday ‘til Friday then 5 nights in London. Antwerp will be full on with me having to use my brain. Wosthatallabout? London is out and out vacation with two days at the World Test Cricket Final including meeting up with @Nikhil Patel on the Sunday. Optimistic it will make it to the last day.

We are also off to see Guys and Dolls and a show called The Greatest Night of the Jazz Age. Really looking forward to that. We have premium seats – table for two right at the front.

It is one of those perfect late spring/early summer days. The garden is growing well. Every time I walk by I look for signs of new growth in the wildflower meadow. It will come. 

The doors to the shed are flung wide open and there is cricket on the telly. I am not alone. Son Tom is busying himself with his laptop on the leather settee and the Head Gardener strolls occasionally by checking on progress in the borders.

Joe is also home and has brought some old Uni friends. Not totally sure how many. Last night it was four but two more turned up this morning and there could yet be others. They have gone into town but I believe are returning to watch the FA Cup Final and intend thereafter to fire up the barbecue.

This morning I pottered. Foster’s butcher, the Anne’s Vans depot and Waitrose followed by some tidying up jobs. We moved my childhood chest of drawers, recently retrieved from our house in Peel, into the shed where it will continue to serve me as a repository for interesting things. I have some Manx first day covers and a wad of old Manx postcards.

With me on the boat also came eleven posters of varying sizes. Too many really but I just can’t turn down a good poster. One thing that did not make it back from the Isle of Man was the model of HMS Victory. Aside from the fact that the seller decided he wanted more than the ninety pounds we had agreed there was absolutely no room for it in the car. It was either the chest of drawers or the ship. I did the right thing.

We are off back later in June and may yet ship it back with us to the mainland. Geddit.

Had my first experience of The Hay on Wye Book Festival yesterday. Must admit it was quite surreal. Hay is a lovely small town on the border of Wales and England. Gelli Gandryll in Welsh.

Found the Kilverts Inn easily enough. Attempted to park in front of it a couple of times but there was room enough for the car as long as you didn’t wantto get out of it. Eventually alighted on the perfect spot in the hotel car park at the rear. The car will now stay put until Wednesday.

Couple of beers with Rhys and Iwan then a stroll to the festival shuttle bus. The surreal bit was the people. Guardian readers one and all from an almost exclusively white middle class background, or so it seemed. Plenty of bookshops, which I like and will visit this morning.

Then we met Eirian and the rest of the family at the festival site. Eirian had managed to procure a ticket return for the Nick Cave session. Three quid. Bargain. We arrived at the marquee just in time.

Now I’d not heard of Nick Cave before I saw him yesterday. An Australian rockstar, apaz. He was entertaining enough. Just as entertaining were the poncey questions people in the audience asked him towards the end of the set. Pretentious in the extreme.

We ended up at the Black Lion for some great jazz. They played Round Midnight (for me) with the harmonica instead of trumpet. Twas brilliant. Surprisingly there weren’t many in. Maybe literary types get to bed early with a good book.

While I’m in Gelli Gandryll I’m going to see a few sessions but the main thing is to be here and enjoy the atmosphere. I’ve realised I’m not the book luvvie that most people here seem to be. I do read a lot of books but that is different from being a luvvie.

At breakfast there was a family of three who had all been reading the same book. Wot! It just ain’t me.

Felt quite relaxed at breakfast. Solo traveller but I am meeting Rhys and Eirian later and Steve Wildthing is coming down from Lincoln this pm.

Logistics Wirral weekend

Saturday

Tref takes Anne and Han to hairdressers for 10am and brings back

Tom and John need bringing back from Jug & Bottle after 11am checkout – either Tref or Joe depending on availability

Tref takes Anne and Han to Thornton Hough church for 12.30

6 of us need to get to Inglewood Manor for 7pm for evening do (10 min drive). 2 shuttles in mum’s car. Tom, Joe or Tref can drive there.

Freestyle timing for return from evening do with Tom driving, fair play

Sunday H/G/T/J

Taxi for H/G/T/J ship inn parkgate to Nags Head, Wilaston to arrive by 12 midday. Needs to be able to take luggage. Tref will book

Tref take mum to meadow lane by 11.30 – drops her stuff off there

Tref departs for Hay on Wye

Joe and Lucy take mum’s car to Nags Head for 12

H/G/T/J taxi from Nags Head to Chester train station in time to catch 14.32 – Tref will book. Less than 20 minute drive.

After Nags Head take Sarah back to Meadow Lane 

Joe and Lucy dropped off at Hooton station either by mum or Jan and Ieu

Anne loads her car up and drives to Lincoln

Haloumi cheese – 3 blocks

Chicken breasts – 8

Feta cheese

Big tomaytoes

Cucumber

Olives – nice ones

Lettuce cos

Parma ham

Mozzarella

Baguette

Fresh lemons

Booze

Basmatti rice 

Ham

Cheese

Tin of tomatoes

onions

And we’re off. The boat moves slowly away from the quay. The safety video is mildly irritating. Some bloke pretending to be a pirate. It’s almost on a par with that BA safety vid which really used to get on my tits. The one with lots of celebs. That was supposed to be funny. It was funny the first time I saw it. Fortunately BA appears to have stopped using that. Either that or they just don’t show it in first class 😀.

We are sitting in comfort in the Premium Lounge. Table service. Splendid views over the Wirral which is slowly moving to the rear. Actually that could be a misnomer. ‘Splendid views of the Wirral’. I suppose I could say that our viewing position is splendid irrespective of the quality of the actual view.

…

The sea is very calm. Not quite a mill pond but nearly. This makes for a very comfortable voyage. I almost used the word journey there but voyage seems more appropriate. Earlier I had started using nautical terms such as ‘avast there’ and ‘ahoy’ with members of the crew but they all appear to be Phillipino or simlar and the terminology was lost on them. They are a great crew otherwise 🙂 

Other useful nautical terms include splice the mainbrace, cast off forrard (and aft), land ho and shiver me timbers. I’m sure there are others if I put my mind to it but do feel free to chip in. 

We are largely packed, though not loaded up. This is thanks to the Head Gardener’s insistence that the packing started a week ago. She is always right. Mostly.

Packing the car to go away was always a fraught time with family holidays. A high stress activity, especially when you thought it was all finished with every nook and cranny filled and you turn around to discover that more bags have appeared.

The pile of stuff to go in the car has grown over the week. It isn’t a pile per se. The jumbled array of goods being transported to the isle has spread out engulfing most available surfaces in the front room. At least we have a spare living room for this purpose. Almost as if by design. It is certainly a handy space for dumping all our gear when returning from a trip. Processing said gear could then be done at leisure.

In my mind the ideal scenario is that we fit everything into the boot of the defender leaving the back seats free to stick the odd coat and to accommodate any foot passengers catching the same ferry.

Reality is going to be v different. The baggage train includes bulky items such as duvets, three off,  and several kitchen bound trugs. As well as hiring a cottage on the prom we have our largely unfurnished house which is going to be occupied for the next few months, hence the gear.

It’s like going on a big camping expedition which actually was often the reality back in those stress filled days with four children’s worth of stuff to fit in plus the Gelert Zenith 6. The Zenith 6 was a huge family sized tent that would comfortably fit nine persons but was palatial for six of us. Two persons were needed to carry the tent and the whole team was well drilled for the erection, each with their own role in the process. Two hours was a good time from unpacking to moving the sleeping bags into position.

We eventually invested in a trailer which would take all the baggage leaving the interior of the car free for people and any entertainments needed to make the long journey more bearable. Nowadays the trailer sits in the corner of the front drive and is likely to be sold this summer.

For this family holiday all four now adult offspring will be flying from London leaving the HG and I to take the ferry, and the baggage in the car. The return trip will be without the bulky items but with more people as we are all Liverpool bound on the way back. Am hoping we will get everything in the boot. V shall c. 

Right now my condition is stress free and is expected to remain so even as I confront the task of loading up the car. I have already resigned myself to the fact that the back seats are going to come down. This is ok. This is one of the beauties of there being just the two of us.

Stay calm and if you are Belgian, enjoy your Ascension Day Bank Holiday.

Struggling to find something to watch to drown out Marsterchef on the pad of i. Quite tired tonight so will hit it early. Tomorrow is a day of sorting. A few workey bits and finishing packing for our jaunt to the Isle of Man. Dunno if it is all going to fit in the boot. Would prefer not to have to put the back seats down if at all possible. See howitgoze.