I saw a sign for Marks Hall garden yesterday and thought why not! It consists of some lakes, formal gardens and a arboretum.
I never tried the tea room. A mistake I will rectify at a later date!
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Sunday, June 06, 2010
and where to today?
I had made no real plans for today. The forecast looked very bleak and it was very dull this morning so I didn't rush out, but when the rain obviously wasn't coming I headed out.
I saw a sign for Marks Hall garden yesterday and thought why not! It consists of some lakes, formal gardens and a arboretum.
I never tried the tea room. A mistake I will rectify at a later date!
.jpg)
I saw a sign for Marks Hall garden yesterday and thought why not! It consists of some lakes, formal gardens and a arboretum.
I never tried the tea room. A mistake I will rectify at a later date!
Saturday, June 05, 2010
A day out on Dad's birthday.
It is Dad's birthday today. I never normally buy him anything but I knew there was something I could get him that he could use ..... a digital radio.
A digital radio? What was it you said the other day Quacky?
Ah well you see my dad listens to the radio every night and to only one station BBC Radio Essex. The thing is the FM reception where he lives is poor.
But hang on you said ........ yes but I noticed that one of the stations we can get here on digital is ..... BBC Radio Essex.
I delivered it last night we tuned it and ..... superb sound! He was rather pleased.
Today I got up and got him tea in bed and then we went to Frinton on Sea for a day out.
The birthday boy contemplates the world.
"When I was a lad you could buy fish & chips....."
like an idiot I used a small aperture for the above photo. Should have used a large one to blur the background more.
St Mary's Frinton. The smallest complete church in Essex or so it claims.
Weather was really good as well.
A digital radio? What was it you said the other day Quacky?
Ah well you see my dad listens to the radio every night and to only one station BBC Radio Essex. The thing is the FM reception where he lives is poor.
But hang on you said ........ yes but I noticed that one of the stations we can get here on digital is ..... BBC Radio Essex.
I delivered it last night we tuned it and ..... superb sound! He was rather pleased.
Today I got up and got him tea in bed and then we went to Frinton on Sea for a day out.
The birthday boy contemplates the world.
"When I was a lad you could buy fish & chips....."
like an idiot I used a small aperture for the above photo. Should have used a large one to blur the background more.
St Mary's Frinton. The smallest complete church in Essex or so it claims.
Weather was really good as well.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Great Sporting Moments
You may have noticed that the world cup is about to start. For about a month the telly will be full of nothing else. For Americans it's that game called SOCCER and we are playing you lot :D
My first sporting memory is the 1970 FA CUP replay. It's the pin up boys of the Kings Roads vs the Grim Dirty Northerners. Chelsea vs Leeds. Frankly I couldn't have cared about either of them but David Webb heading in the winner for Chelsea is my first sporting memory.
A month later is my first memory of the World Cup. Mexico 70, that tackle by Moore, that save by Banks and Gerd Muller breaking my young heart! Of course it didn't mattered as we got to watch Edison Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) as Brazil beat Italy playing fantasy football.
In the mid 70's we had a golden age of heavyweight boxing, we had Frazier, Norton, Holmes, Foreman and of course Ali. Its hard to believe that when Ali met Foreman in Zaire in 1974 he was the underdog, he hadn't been champion for 7 years after he refused to go to Vietnam. On his return he had lost the "fight of the century" to Joe Frazier, Ken Norton had broken his jaw and so it was feared that the brutal beast that was George Foreman (who had literally destroyed Joe Frazier) might just kill him.
For 7 rounds Ali laid on the rope absorbing punishment and then when Foreman was punched out in the 8th Ali caught him and the legend grew greater.
We move forward to 1981. Ian Botham swashbuckling boys own hero of English Cricket has resigned the Captaincy he's been booed off the pitch at Lords and at Headingley England are being slaughtered.
The time had come for a legend to be made. Botham threw his bat at everything and scored 149. We were still going to lose the Aussie's needed a paltry 131 to win with a day to do it.
The young quacky was in the lower 6th. Rumours were going around the school of something remarkable happening in Leeds a score of 50 odd for 4 was mentioned at one point when the next rumoured score did the rounds we went to our head of sixth form, who I frankly didn't like all that much, he was busy but at the words 75 for 8 he shot to his car radio and came back grinning to tell us that Bob Willis had bowled them out for 111.
It was a remarkable summer for Botham, he scored a 100 at Old Trafford and then one magic Sunday afternoon he took 5 for 1 as the Aussies crumbled again and became a nations hero.
In 1978 two Argentinian's arrived at White Hart Lane. Spurs had signed the silky skills of Osvaldo Ardiles and some bloke called Ricardo Villa had come along to keep him company. Ardiles dream was to play in the FA Cup at Wembley, in 1981 his knees were all a trembly (cue Chas & Dave) Spurs played Manchester City. Spurs were lucky to get a draw and Ossies mate was substituted and cut a forlorn figures as he trudged off.
Four days later the replay its 2-2 enter the man Ossie's Mate Ricardo Villa.
I may just have jumped around the room a few times. Ah 1981 a wonderful year that!
My final great sporting moment is chosen for highly personal reasons.
It's a sunday in 1991, in England the weather was pretty good my dad was in the garden enjoying the sun. In Tokyo it's the final day of the world Athletics championship, the last event the Men's 4x400 relay was the might of the USA (including the individual gold and bronze winners) against GB. The british team had two very good 400 metre runners Derek "the crock" Redmond and Roger "Pretty Boy" Black (who had won silver) a 200 metre sprinter John Regis who seldom did the 400 and a bloke who wasn't could enough at the 400m so had turned to the Hurdles Kriss Akabusi.
The Brits gambled by sending there best runner, pretty boy, out first and leaving the bloke who wasn't good enough to run last(I'm being a bit unfair on Akabusi he was a damned fine hurdler). The idea was to get a lead and hang on. It didn't work and world champion Antonio Pettigrew was in front as the last lap started.
As they came into the final straight Pettigrew was still in front with Aka on his shoulder logic tells you that class tells.
In England my Mum and I are SCREAMING at the telly for Kriss to "STUFF THE YANK" (so loudly were we screaming at the telly my dad thought something awful was happening).
As I say logic says class will tell. But on Sunday 1st September 1991 with Mum and I yelling him home Kriss found his moment and hit the front.
My first sporting memory is the 1970 FA CUP replay. It's the pin up boys of the Kings Roads vs the Grim Dirty Northerners. Chelsea vs Leeds. Frankly I couldn't have cared about either of them but David Webb heading in the winner for Chelsea is my first sporting memory.
A month later is my first memory of the World Cup. Mexico 70, that tackle by Moore, that save by Banks and Gerd Muller breaking my young heart! Of course it didn't mattered as we got to watch Edison Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) as Brazil beat Italy playing fantasy football.
In the mid 70's we had a golden age of heavyweight boxing, we had Frazier, Norton, Holmes, Foreman and of course Ali. Its hard to believe that when Ali met Foreman in Zaire in 1974 he was the underdog, he hadn't been champion for 7 years after he refused to go to Vietnam. On his return he had lost the "fight of the century" to Joe Frazier, Ken Norton had broken his jaw and so it was feared that the brutal beast that was George Foreman (who had literally destroyed Joe Frazier) might just kill him.
For 7 rounds Ali laid on the rope absorbing punishment and then when Foreman was punched out in the 8th Ali caught him and the legend grew greater.
We move forward to 1981. Ian Botham swashbuckling boys own hero of English Cricket has resigned the Captaincy he's been booed off the pitch at Lords and at Headingley England are being slaughtered.
The time had come for a legend to be made. Botham threw his bat at everything and scored 149. We were still going to lose the Aussie's needed a paltry 131 to win with a day to do it.
The young quacky was in the lower 6th. Rumours were going around the school of something remarkable happening in Leeds a score of 50 odd for 4 was mentioned at one point when the next rumoured score did the rounds we went to our head of sixth form, who I frankly didn't like all that much, he was busy but at the words 75 for 8 he shot to his car radio and came back grinning to tell us that Bob Willis had bowled them out for 111.
It was a remarkable summer for Botham, he scored a 100 at Old Trafford and then one magic Sunday afternoon he took 5 for 1 as the Aussies crumbled again and became a nations hero.
In 1978 two Argentinian's arrived at White Hart Lane. Spurs had signed the silky skills of Osvaldo Ardiles and some bloke called Ricardo Villa had come along to keep him company. Ardiles dream was to play in the FA Cup at Wembley, in 1981 his knees were all a trembly (cue Chas & Dave) Spurs played Manchester City. Spurs were lucky to get a draw and Ossies mate was substituted and cut a forlorn figures as he trudged off.
Four days later the replay its 2-2 enter the man Ossie's Mate Ricardo Villa.
I may just have jumped around the room a few times. Ah 1981 a wonderful year that!
My final great sporting moment is chosen for highly personal reasons.
It's a sunday in 1991, in England the weather was pretty good my dad was in the garden enjoying the sun. In Tokyo it's the final day of the world Athletics championship, the last event the Men's 4x400 relay was the might of the USA (including the individual gold and bronze winners) against GB. The british team had two very good 400 metre runners Derek "the crock" Redmond and Roger "Pretty Boy" Black (who had won silver) a 200 metre sprinter John Regis who seldom did the 400 and a bloke who wasn't could enough at the 400m so had turned to the Hurdles Kriss Akabusi.
The Brits gambled by sending there best runner, pretty boy, out first and leaving the bloke who wasn't good enough to run last(I'm being a bit unfair on Akabusi he was a damned fine hurdler). The idea was to get a lead and hang on. It didn't work and world champion Antonio Pettigrew was in front as the last lap started.
As they came into the final straight Pettigrew was still in front with Aka on his shoulder logic tells you that class tells.
In England my Mum and I are SCREAMING at the telly for Kriss to "STUFF THE YANK" (so loudly were we screaming at the telly my dad thought something awful was happening).
As I say logic says class will tell. But on Sunday 1st September 1991 with Mum and I yelling him home Kriss found his moment and hit the front.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Listen to the Radio!
Pete-Dad: what did you watch last night?
Dad-Pete: Nothing, bugger all on.
Pete-Dad: I know what you mean.
Dad-Pete: I listened to the radio.
Honestly TV gets worse! My viewing is Dr Who, Classic mysteries on ITV3 and repeats of comedy show like Mock the Week on Dave! There is the odd good thing on Yesterday but they do seem obsessed with World War II.
If I'm honest there are far more interesting programmes on the radio. Listen to Radio 4 during the day and you'll find interesting programmes. The History of the World in 100 Objects, From Our Own Correspondent and History Mattters to name but three. They have programmes looking at religion and they are INTERESTING!
There are serials, good magazine programmes (Broadcasting House and the Fi Glover programme on a Saturday morning), I like Desert Island Discs (I could listen to Kirsty Young all day) and good quality news (it's a pity that there NEWS station 5 live employs attack dogs etc - OH AND THE MOVE TO MANCHESTER SEEMS TO MEAN THAT SIMON MAYO IS ON ONCE A WEEK!! THIS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE!!****).
Of course not everything good is on radio 4 and not everything on Radio 4 I enjoy - I turn off when the Archers comes on). Radio 7 has some excellent dramas and comedy (they are currently repeating the Sherlock Holmes serial with Clive Merrison excellent stuff). The World Service to me highlights much that is good about Britain.
**** why is it that many of the best presenters have left radio 5? Worricker, Glover, Garvey and now Mayo. The new breed of presenter are Richard "I got kicked off Blue Peter" Bacon, Stephen "Attack Dog" Nolan - the reason I've mostly stopped listening other than the footy, and Nicky "WATCHDOG" Campbell. And honestly? they aren't that good.
Oh a note to the BBC you do not have to be overly populist. Test Match Special feels like a public school boys day out and so it should. Bringing in blokey commentators doesn't work. Ok Tuffers is a bit of a lad but he actually knows what he is talking about and his humour fits the show!
Dad-Pete: Nothing, bugger all on.
Pete-Dad: I know what you mean.
Dad-Pete: I listened to the radio.
Honestly TV gets worse! My viewing is Dr Who, Classic mysteries on ITV3 and repeats of comedy show like Mock the Week on Dave! There is the odd good thing on Yesterday but they do seem obsessed with World War II.
If I'm honest there are far more interesting programmes on the radio. Listen to Radio 4 during the day and you'll find interesting programmes. The History of the World in 100 Objects, From Our Own Correspondent and History Mattters to name but three. They have programmes looking at religion and they are INTERESTING!
There are serials, good magazine programmes (Broadcasting House and the Fi Glover programme on a Saturday morning), I like Desert Island Discs (I could listen to Kirsty Young all day) and good quality news (it's a pity that there NEWS station 5 live employs attack dogs etc - OH AND THE MOVE TO MANCHESTER SEEMS TO MEAN THAT SIMON MAYO IS ON ONCE A WEEK!! THIS IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE!!****).
Of course not everything good is on radio 4 and not everything on Radio 4 I enjoy - I turn off when the Archers comes on). Radio 7 has some excellent dramas and comedy (they are currently repeating the Sherlock Holmes serial with Clive Merrison excellent stuff). The World Service to me highlights much that is good about Britain.
**** why is it that many of the best presenters have left radio 5? Worricker, Glover, Garvey and now Mayo. The new breed of presenter are Richard "I got kicked off Blue Peter" Bacon, Stephen "Attack Dog" Nolan - the reason I've mostly stopped listening other than the footy, and Nicky "WATCHDOG" Campbell. And honestly? they aren't that good.
Oh a note to the BBC you do not have to be overly populist. Test Match Special feels like a public school boys day out and so it should. Bringing in blokey commentators doesn't work. Ok Tuffers is a bit of a lad but he actually knows what he is talking about and his humour fits the show!
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
The Solenodon
Conservationists are in the Dominican Republic to save the Hispaniolan solenodon. The solenodon is one of the oldest animals (it has been around since the times of the dinosaurs), it is also the only mammal that inject venom directly from its teeth.
You can read alot more about this remarkable animal and see pictures and watch videos here.
You can read alot more about this remarkable animal and see pictures and watch videos here.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
You learn something new everyday.
I'm watching a programme on BBC2 the chap was talking about Whooper swans as winter visitors and mentioned that there were three pairs of breeding Whoopers in Scotland.
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