Helen and I decided to take some time out of our preparations, to go on one of our favourite walks from The Old Swan at Swan Bottom. You take the gravel track from the left had side of the pub do a big circle then end up back on the other side of the road after passing along the outskirts of The Lee.
After the first woods we noticed in the field where the Yellow Hammers hang out that there were quite a few Beatles and Long legged spiders about. We usually do the walk in the Autumn/Winter/Spring time so it was a treat to see it in late summer mode. The blackberries are starting to become ripe, so you had to be careful to find a sweet ripe one if you did not want to end up with a real sour one.
Further round we came across a bare patch in a field that had more that it’s fair share of butterflies, quite a few browns, and a definite Holly Blue amongst the blues that were there. I made a mental note to learn a bit more about butterflies so that I could at least identify the common ones. I guess it is a bit like bird watching you need to start to identify them and after a while becomes second nature and you wander why it was so difficult.
We then crossed the horse field where you can often see Meadow Pipit, Red Wing, and Fieldfare in the winter and then took a wrong turning in the woods. I recognised we had stumbled across the edge of The Lee. Following our nose we eventually got back on track, I will remember that route in future it made a change to pass through some civilisation for once. Perhaps we could start the walk from Lee Common pub instead another time. I thought it is called the Cock and Rabbit but apparently is it called Graziemille . We also passed an old closed pub which looked a bit run down call The Bugle .
Back on track we headed through the farm and along the usually muddy bit, and it was muddy, then onto the final stretch along the arched hedgerow path up towards the big house, which is opposite the pub.
We decided to treat ourselves with a pub lunch, as usual we had veggie burger and chips accompanied by a pint of real ale. Helen had tribute and I had Chiltern Ale, both were great pints especially sweet after our longish walk.
I have been accused of letting my blog become boring, i quote “too many film reviews and not enough walks”. To try to put things back on track here is a post that you might find interesting.
Today was the annual Horticultural Society Fete in Aston Clinton, it is one of the bigger events on the calendar.
We turned up at 2:30pm and paid the £1 pound entrance fee, which entitled us to a program and I believe the chance to win a prize in a draw. The usual charity stalls were present, surprisingly for a land locked county, and about a far away from the sea you can get in England there was a stall for the Aylesbury branch of the RNLI! We worked our way round buying up all the raffle ticks on offer, and I bought some Victoria Plum jam, for the winter stores. Then it started to rain.
We popped into the produce exhibition in the old school building and checked out the the displays of long runner beans and themed flower displays. Some people go to a lot of effort for the show.
Back at the stalls we came to the main raffle desk and I noticed that Mark Webber (Formula 1 driver) had donated a prize for the raffle, a basketball cap with his logo on it which he had personally signed, how generous I thought.
Then it was off round the kids and craft exhibits where such delights and a garden on a plate or painted stones are pitted against each other for cash prizes. The garden on a plate would win the Eric Sharp cup.
On to the skill based stands where you could win prizes for putting and throwing balls at coconuts. I scored 225 on the putting golf balls though slots in a plank, which put me 2nd equal with “Mark” and the chance of winning a prize if the person who came first and “Mark” was not around to collect the prize at the end of the after noon.
Then on to the coconut shy I reluctantly agreed to have a go, 5 balls for £1, and managed to knock 2 nuts off of their holders. Not sure what I am going to do with them, as they are high in saturated fats I avoid them. Perhaps the birds will like them?
On my way to B&Q I noticed that my odometer in the golf was about to go to 5555 luckily when I parked up it was still showing.
As ever the toy story franchise has lived up to my expectations. All the usual characters plus a few more to keep the interest. At the beginning of the film I have fleeting thoughts that maybe they had run out of ideas, and we were going to see the same formula again but true to form the film makers had loads of new material.
My favorite bit was Buzz’s spanish mode. The quality of the images was amazing I suspect we were watching in very high resolution, as some of the adverts appeared to be much clearer than others. The animation was spectacular it took it to a new level, there was a scene in a garbage processing plant where there was literally 10′s of thousand of “bits” having to be rendered.
This film deserves full marks.
This film promised a lot from the trailer. Lots of action, great special effect and a novel story line. In reality the film is very confusing, with too many sub-plots within sub plots. You could almost call it a recursive film.
Having said that there were a few great scenes in particular one where DeCaprio and the girl are sat outside a cafe and things were exploding around them.
I five one star the the film and an additional star because of the special effects.
I sometimes do a search for my name on the common search engines to see how near the top I am. I have slowly been creeping up as I post more regularly. Today I notice that someone has taken out google advertising that means that you get an add which suggests that I am for sale!
This is a French film with Daniel Auteuil and Danny Boon. Auteuil plays an antiques dealer who appears to have lots of friends, and is always out on social engagements. At a meal to celebrate his birthday his “friends” tell him some home truths, and his business partner challenges him to introduce to everyone his best friend in the next 10 days. Turns out he struggles to come up with a best friend. That is until he meets a taxi driver played by Boon.
A great film with some funny and sad moments.
My walk to and from work takes me along a strecth of the Aylesbury arm of the Grand Union. The farmers have been recently cutting the grass to make hay and I noticed this morning that this means that the hares have no where to hide, and so it makes them easy to spot. In one filed I saw around 6 or 7 all sat together in a group, in a field next to the A41 Aston Clinton bypass.
Whilst I was walking along the canal tow path I noticed ahead on me a hare, which I assumed was running away from me because he had spotted me first. On close inspection it turns out he was running towards me, so I stepped back towards the hedgerow and stood still. Eventually he came to within two metres of me, but seems only slightly phased by may presence. He kept on eye on me whilst he sat there wondering whether he should gamble on past or turn back. He turned round, wandered off and eventually disappeared in to the hedge.
Story about a you boy the son of a senior SS officer, who befriends a boy in a concentration camp. Slowly he discovers what is really happening to the jews and what his father role in it all is.
