Friday 26 December 2008

I don't want to winge but.......


After a great Christmas Day with lots of presents and lots to eat and drink we decided to go for a walk this morning. Bill got my walking boots in from the garage - but they were filthy!
How did this come about? I always clean my boots after use. But last week a certain relative borrowed them for a night hike with the scouts. I won't publicly name and shame him but he is ten years old and his name begins with J.
So, J--, if you read this please feel free to come round and clean the caked mud off said boots. Then my credibility as a fully paid up member of the Ramblers Association will be restored.
Anyway I wore my muddy boots for the walk and nobody we met seemed to gasp in horror at the sight.

Monday 10 November 2008

My new camera


Have finally taken the plunge and bought a new all-singing all-dancing digital camera. My Fujifilm F700 still works fine but the battery no longer holds its charge for very long. So I have lashed out on a Panasonic DMC-Tz5 with a wide angle lens and a 10x zoom. Not actually sure what a 10x zoom means but it sounds impressive.

Oh dear, perhaps I should have gone for something simpler and more in keeping with my technical abilities...... The instruction book is 104 pages long! So far I have set the clock and the date and have taken a few tentative photos. But Section 9 is Useful Features for Travel including recording your travel date and destination and registering local time at your overseas destination. Do I really need this? Surely if I later see a photo of a sandy palm-fringed beach I will realise this is Thailand and not Coventry?

Anyway I refuse to be beaten by an inanimate object so I will gradually work my way through the instructions. But will I ever understand what DPOF PRINT, ASPECT CONV. or HI-SPEED BURST really mean?

Aunt Ina's funeral

Just back from an overnight visit to Glasgow for the funeral of my Aunt Ina. She was born in 1924 and was the second youngest of eight children. She was born in Hutchesontown, Glasgow and later moved to Erskine just outside Glasgow. I remember her as a very fine looking woman with a sharp tongue! I last saw her about four years ago when I was in Scotland doing some family history research.
I was so glad I was able to go to the funeral as she was the last of my parents' generation - so very much the end of an era. And it was lovely to see some relatives again.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

More Autumn in the garden











The garden continues to change colour as autumn gathers pace. The field maple trees that I planted are still small but already we are rewarded with some lovely golden yellow leaves. I walked around the garden yesterday taking photographs and then decided it was an ideal time to wash the greenhouse down. But while I was doing this the sky clouded over and it began to rain - cold, icy rain. Then it started to snow. "It won't settle", we said. But it did! Snow in October..... how unusual is that? Is it a sign that we are in for a long cold winter or is Mother Nature just playing a few tricks on us?

Friday 17 October 2008

Caravan & Motorhome Show at Birmingham NEC




We had a good day at the 2008 Caravan & Motorhome Show at the NEC. We were not seriously looking to update our ten year old van but you never know what may take your fancy!


There were lots of motorhomes to look at - too many, in fact, as in the end they all began to merge in your mind. We did see a very nice CI motorhome with an ideal layout for us. We may even visit their showroom in Derby.


There were the usual American RVs as well as some enormous continental models (motorhomes, not girls). We are continually bemused by the desire of many motorhomers to have a fixed bed in their vehicle. This takes up so much space - Bill says if you are incapable of putting out a bed in the evening then you probably shouldn't be driving!


And why have a motorhome big enough to put a small car in the rear garage? Wouldn't it be easier and much cheaper to have a car and a caravan?


We were very taken with a small Karmann van on a VW base. It was beautifully laid out and all the fittings were very high quality. But its price tag was £61,000 - a tad high for us....


CREDIT CRUNCH NEWS: Apart from the entrance tickets we only spent £1 (on some groundsheet pegs) We used our travel passes on the train and took our own sandwiches, cake and a flask of coffee.

Monday 13 October 2008

Autumn in the garden







There is now a definite Autumn feel to the garden. I have cleared all the tomato plants from the greenhouse and will plant some winter lettuces soon. There are still some small green peppers to be picked. These have been really successful this year.
Bill mowed the grass yesterday and says he may only have to do one more mowing before the winter. There is lots of clearing up to be done and shrubs and trees cut back - should be out there doing it now instead of writing this!
Things successful this year were tomatoes (in the greenhouse), peppers, chillies, blueberries, blackcurrants, kale, leeks, sprouts, chard, lettuce, garlic, shallots, french and runner beans, beetroot.
Not so successful were my outdoor tomatoes, courgettes (very feeble), potatoes grown in containers (they just rotted). There are some radishes but they are getting attacked by slugs. Fortunately if my vegetables fail I can go to Sainsburys!

Autumn Trip to Castleton in our motorhome







On Monday we set off optimistically to Castleton in the Peak District in the hope that we would manage to complete a few walks while being based at Losehill Caravan Club site. The weather forecast said that although Tuesday would be dull we could expect fine weather for the rest of the week. The sun was shining when we arrived and we parked the van so that we had a lovely view of Losehill peak in the distance.
Bill was very keen to set up our new flat screen TV which he had only bought the previous day. It worked well and we even got good TV reception. Some of our neighbouring vans had very sophisticated digital aerials which rotate to find the best signal. We manage well enough with our cheap indoor gizmo suspended from one of the cupboard knobs with a bit of orange rope!
On Tuesday we planned to walk from the site to Hollins Cross then along the Great Ridge to Mam Tor and then on along Rushup Edge. But as we slogged up to Hollins Cross the wind became really fierce and the rain poured down on us. We struggled on to Mam Tor fighting the wind all the way and decided that we had had enough and made our way down and returned to our van via Winnats Pass. The only place we found to stop for a coffee and sandwich was a very wet bench outside one of the caverns! We were both soaked through - my boots no longer seem to be waterproof.....
Wednesday's walk took us from Hope village (which we reached on the local bus - free - yippee!) up the old Roman Road to Hope Cross and then down through the fields. A really nice walk with good weather for most of the time.
On Thursday we went further afield - taking the 35 minute bus ride to Fox House Inn from where we set off following the Burbage rocks as far as Ringinglow Road then returning via Higger Tor and Carl Wark (site of an old fortress) Unfortunately I did not read the route instruction properly and we ended up going through a large area of peaty marsh and had to cross a river via large boulders. More wet feet!
CRISIS OF THE DAY: "I am really looking forward to my coffee when we get to the top of Higger Tor," said Bill. "Yes, me too," said I. You can imagine our disappointment when Bill poured the flask and found it only contained warm milk - I had forgotten to put the coffee in! Needless to say I was reminded of this error numerous time throughout the rest of the day.
Not sure if I really want TV while I am away from home..... The financial markets seem to be imploding and each day the news is worse than the day before. But Brown and Bush are riding to the rescue of Western capitalism - so nothing to worry about then.