Pizzas better than Tesco.

If you want to have Pizza at home don’t bother with take away ones, or ready made ones, just make your own. You can get all the bits from the super market including the tomato sauce for the base. It helps if you have a bread machine.

The recipe I use for the dough is: 500g strong white flour, tea spoon yeast, glug of olive oil, big pinch of salt, 320ml warm water. Makes 4-5 bases. Recipe is courtesy of my brother.

Oven ready Pizza
Cooked Pizza

Wild Flowers and where to find them in the Chilterns

Helen got me a book called “Wild flowers and where to find them in the Chilterns”, I had ordered a fondle slab 3 from John Lewis for pick up at 2pm, and the two things came together in a walk from the book starting at Sonning Eye.

Sonning Bridges

We were up relatively early for the second day of a holiday and after putting back together and tidying the newly decorated dinning room we headed out in the car at about 10, towards High Wycombe, then towards Marlow then Reading. We crossed the river Thames at Sonning, parked in a public parking space opposite the French Horn Hotel at Sonning Eye.

The walk heads away from the river up hill then parallel to the river towards Shiplake, and along the river back to Sonning Eye.

We left the car at 11:10, and headed towards Botany Bay, along Spring Lane, we followed the permissive path off the A4155 north east. We had 3 target plants from the book to tick off. Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard, and Summer Snowflake.

We had soon ticked off Garlic Mustard, which Helen spotted in the hedgerow in Binfield Heath village. From there we headed along the footpath passing through Shiplake Copse to Shiplake village.

Chip Butty

The Plowden arms www.plowdenarmsshiplake.co.uk was a welcome pit stop for a beer and a sandwich. Helen had a chip butty and I had a fish finger sandwich. The food was well cooked and the staff friendly and welcoming. Suitably refreshed we headed out to hunt for the elusive two.

Take the road opposite the pub which goes down hill to the river skirting Shiplake College grounds. On the way we looked in a church with very ornate windows. Give that it was the most unholy day of the year it was no surprise that the church was quiet and empty. Down at the river a few canoeists were taking a break break for some lunch. We spotted a trio of mandarins, two male one female. The female only had eyes for one of the males though, and there was a bit of a Mexican stand-off going on between the two males.

As we headed through the boat sheds I spotted the Summer Snowflake flower which turned out to be bigger (12 inches tall) that I expected. So it was one all in the flower spotting competition, we just had the Cuckoo flower to find. We spotted an Egyptian Goose as we headed into some woods and I spotted the Cuckoo flower on it’s own about 12 feet from the path. Looks like I won 2:1. Helen denied that I had ever mentioned that it was a competition.

Summer Snowflake

Along the river I got some great photo’s it is funny how adding some water to a picture makes all the difference. Eventually we arrived back at the French Horn pub and jumped back in the car to head to John Lewis to pick up the Fondle Pad 3.

John Lewis was busy but we did manage to see a shop assistant to order a blackout roller blind for the newly decorated spare bedroom. We now have only two more rooms to go and we have a whole house; the box room and our bedroom.

Once home the Fondle Pad was quickly unpacked and connected to the Wifi. It is a thing of beauty, the new screen resolution makes all the difference.

Improbable research – The Ig Nobels London 2012

The Natural History Museum London

A welcome day off began with ticking off some chores. Neil had a haircut and Helen made a Herman. Neils birthday watch arrived and we booked tickets for Highclere castle for a family jaunt. Leaving a cinnamon scented house we headed towards Wendover station before realising we would miss the 12:43pm train so diverted to Amersham for the tube. We did see the main line train en route but it beat us. A very helpful LU employer helped us get tickets and then onto the Metropolitan line. An Independent and a Metro later (1hr 15) we arrived at Baker Street. We were hungry and luck would hjave it there was a Pizza Express just over the road, although despite complaining of hunger pains, a fag break was necessary. The service in Pizza Express was as usual swift and the pizzas up to the usual standard.

Chilean miners rescue capsule

Suitably refreshed we headed to the Natural History museum to have a wander round a temporary exhibition about Scott, of Antarctic fame. The exhibition cost £9 and I felt that it was well done and worth the money.

We had a coupe of hours to spare so we went to the Science museum. I can always fritter away time there as there are so many interesting and ever changing exhibits. My favourite bit on this occasion was the opportunity to have my head 3D scanned then being give the opportunity to view the results on a computer. We also saw the Chilean miners rescue capsule. I will try to post a video we took of it. We finished off the visit with a quick coffee and cake before heading over to Imperial college.

We arrived a good time and hung around the entrance to the hall. The doors were advertised as opening at 17:30 but did not open until about 17:50, by that time there was quite a crowd hanging about. We had manoeuvred ourselves to the front of the queue so when the doors opened we had the pick of the seats. The show started a few minutes after 6.

The Ig Nobel presentation show London 2012

Mark Abraham the founder of the Ig Nobels started proceedings by explaining what they were all about and introduced each of the winners before handing over to 5 presenters who one by one would deliver a speech about their work in less that 5 minutes. The whole things was very enjoyable. You can get more details here http://www.improbable.com/ig/

European bike polo championship london

Boat show main sub-hall.

Last year I went to the outdoor show at Excel London, I enjoyed it so I thought I would repeat the trip this year. it is quite good value for money, the outdoor show is not that big but the ticket includes entry to the boat show and the bike show.

I purchased my ticket the night before, it’s £2 cheaper and saves queue on the day. I planned to get off early in the morning and have a look around the area with my cameras as the weather was predicted to be frosty and sunny.

I left the house at 0800 and headed round the M25, till the M11 took me into London Docklands and the Excel Exhibition Center. There is a lot of building work going on in that part of London with the Olympics imminent. The final turn of the sat nav was closed and the diversion poor. I ended up doing a circuit then a guess at where to go to reach my destination with instructions!

Big boats

By the time I was parked up (£15 for 6 hours) it was more or less 1000 so I went straight to the exhibition. The halls were just opening and they played a rousing tune over the tannoy, it was the one you hear at remembrance services. Not sure what the reason for it was perhaps to raise the spirits of the exhibitors.

I did a quick tour of all the halls before a more leisurely one to get an idea of what was about. The things that I enjoyed most are described below.

Velo Polo has a better ring than Bike Polo, was the one spectacle that I enjoyed the most. Three people to each team ride around on bikes with polo sticks. I figured most of rules out: a goal can only be scored using the small end of the head end, it can’t be pushed with the side of the hammer head. If you put your foot down you have to touch wall at the side centre of the court. Winner is first to 5 or highest score after 2 by 10 minute halves, when side do not swap ends. Sudden death if there is a draw at full time.

Arty shot of the docklands

The games is quite fast and the cyclists are very skilled. Most were on fixies. The teams were from Europe by invitation, France and Geneva were mentioned.

Go ape had a very long zip wire, but I could not be bothered to join the queue. Andy Rouse and Joe Cornish shared a stand selling their photo’s and books of photo’s.

I happened upon a stand where Stuart Conway was publicising his attempt at the cycle round the world record, which is now 96 days, which tens of days less that Mark Beaumont’s record set some years ago. Apparently there will be a few riders attempting it at the same time although not by the same route.

The boat show had the usual wares. Some of the boats were massive and only just fitted beneath the roof struts of the building. I looked around a couple there is a serious amount of luxury that gets built into them there boats. There were some demonstrations of rope work which I found interesting, the guys doing it make it look so easy.

I had lentil curry and rice for lunch from the Indian food retailer.

My parking was about to run out whilst I watched one of the Velo Polo semi-finals, so I had to go before the traffic warden got to my car. All in all it was a great day out, I will return next year.

 

Day trip to Southend on sea, Essex

We are off to Snape, Suffolk, for the new year with friends, so we thought we would take to opportunity to drop in on an ageing relative in a nursing home near Southend on sea.

We were up and about with plenty of time to spare, so we had a leisurely breakfast then headed off at about 0900 and arrived in good time via the M25. We found the home easy enough as we had taken a peek on Street View the evening before. The home seemed to be well run and the staff were friendly and helpful. P seemed to be happy enough but it took some time before she figured out who we really we’re. We chatted for about an hour and got a few laughs out of her.

The Barge Inn, Battlesbridge

We then headed off in the direction of Snape but not before I gave Helen the official guided tour of Southend. She seemed very impressed. The highlights included Shoeburyness beach huts, St Mary’s church and school, and the infamous Priory park in Prittlewell. We tried toi spot the restaurant with the wooden revolving door that P loved so much but it seems to have gone.

We headed out via Rayleigh and stopped at The Barge Inn for some lunch, I had a Adnams Fish burger with chips and Helen had a Goats cheese salad with chips. Both were tasty and good value.

We got stuck in a jam on the A12 which meant we got an unexpected tour of Witham as we tried, in vain, to bypass the queue.

Arrived at Abbey Farm, just outside Snape at about 1620, after some confusion over which building we were in Helen called the owner who sorted us out and gave us the guided tour. Very nice property will serve us well for New Year.

Don McCullin at the Imperial War Museum

The Lego tree St Pancras

Up early it was cold outside, -1, frost everywhere. The plan was a trip to London, not for christmas shopping, but for a cultural visit taking two photography exhibitions, and possibly the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery. We felt smug as Christmas shopping was all but done, if not wrapped. The roads to Berkhamsted were icy but the temperature was now a balmy +2. We nabbed the last parking space near the station, and jumped on the 0900 train to Euston.

I remembered that I had seen a photo of a Lego Christmas tree at St Pancras, so we agreed to swing by. It turned to be not as impressive as I imagined it might be. It was big, green and covered in lights and baubles tree, and 100÷ Lego. I took a few pictures while Helen resisted the lure of the champagne bar, then headed out to get the 59 back to Euston and on to the Imperial War Museum. It had started to rain.

We had booked up to see the Don McCullin exhibition the night before. Don McCullin is a famous war photographer, I am sure you will have see his work in the sunday supplements between the 60’s and 90’s. The most famous one is the close up of shell shocked soldier with the thousand yard stare. The exhibition was good with plenty of articles that McCullin had donated, including the Nikon with the AK47 bullet hole. The was an interesting interview video of McCullin and his stories of how he got into with anecdotes of war, and his subsequent shift away from war photography and into Landscape photography. We thought about lunch at IWM but decide that something on the Southbank near our next port of call might offer a better choice than the cafe.

The Imperial War Museum panorama

We jumped back on the 59 bus and got off at Southbank, on Waterloo Bridge. The regular Slow Food market was on by the Haymarket, but although tempting it was too cold for al fresco eating. We even fore went buying some nice bread because we were travelling light and did not want any luggage.

Helen spotted a Pizza Express so we popped in for some fast food. It was  the same one we took the took the Australians to some years, it might even have made it on to the blog, just.

Suitably replete we headed to The National Theatre to take a look at the Landscape photographer of the year exhibition, and it was brilliant, all the photos where printed and well lit, a real inspiration to any photographer. A sign of the times hardly any of the pictures were taken on film. Many used the Canon 10-22mm EFS lens that I like own and like so much. We headed out and took some pictures and video of the north bank of the Thames which was looking glorious in the winter sun.

The National Gallery, London

Out final destination was the National Gallery se we jumped on the 159 over to Trafalgar Square. We asked at the desk they had tickets for 2030! Apparently people queue up at 0700 3 hours before the pace opens just to get tickets. We popped into Waterstones (waste of time) then jumped back on the 59 to Euston, where a fast train was waiting to take us back to Berkhamsted.

Some friendly French people sat in the seats near us, and after exchanging a few word in French they started asking me French grammar questions. is it Londonien or Londonienne? How should I know. We were back home by 17:00 for some left over soup from yesterday. All in all a great day out if a little cold.

The Video

Fenton or Benton who cares the mashups are great

You will all have seen the Fenton Benton video doing the rounds on all the new websites if you haven’t I have included it below. Basically ASloaneRanger was videoing the deer in Richmond park when a man calling a dog Fenton or Benton crashes through the scene chasing and calling for his dog. The best ones are the mashups just do a search for Fenton Benton on youtube to find the, I have also included a few below.

The Fenton Benton original by JAGGL113

Then the Bambi Mashup

The Jurassic Park version

Benton Fenton is missing – Hitler finds out! Jesus Christ!

Benton Streisand – Jesus Christ Richmond Park Mashup

And another Bambi one

London to Brighton vintage car run 2011

It is the weekend of the London to Brighton vintage car run (#LBVCR) and as is traditional Helen and I are participating with a good friend Rory, who has a 1903 Humberette. I went over on Saturday to buff up the brass and polish the paint work before loading the car on to the trailer and securing it for the journey to Hyde Park on the Sunday. As usual Rory & Rob were bickering over the lack of preparation on Rory’s behalf and the right way to do things.

We were in bed by 20:00 because we had to be round Rory’s at 05:00 to leave. Helen was up and 04:00 and I surfaced at 04:35 and we made it to Rory’s by 05:00. Whilst sorting out stuff at home we got a call from Helens mum she had decided to cadge a lift to near Brighton to visit a relative. We picked up Helen’s mum of the way after leaving only 5 minutes after the planned time. Strangely we ended up in front of the others despite not having overtaken them, turns out that had also picked someone up on the way. I let them overtake and followed them down to Hyde Park.

Parking is never a problem at that time of the morning and we were soon over by the Serpentine, watching the pigeons lying round in a large flock. As predicted we were there far earlier than we needed to be, it was 06:15 and we had a 07:20 start so we went to the cafe that was doing a roaring trade and relaxed for a while. Back out at the start queue we chatted and took a few pictures then the 6 minute warning sign came round, the driver struggled to get the car started again  but a small drop of magic juice from a very old bottle with a nozzle seemed to do the trick, I didn’t ask what was in it sometimes it is best not to know.

We hurried back to may car and joined the 50 mile traffic jam to Brighton Madeira drive. It did not take too long to catch up with the old crock, I think it was around Purley. When we got to Streatham we had to be diverted off the usual route because the police had cordoned off the high street. Not a problem for my car but it involved a hill so some of the old crocks were slowed significantly. The Humberette just a about made it. Around Croydon we did a passenger change then we stopped again for a coffee and a swap over at around Merstham.

We were now into the usual routine and plodded on down to Crawley for the official coffee stop, where we all met up at the White Hart, for a beer. Rory had managed to upset a local taxi driver by nipping into a free parking space that the taxi driver had been waiting for. Even worse was to come as when we left Mark left his car in Crawley but not before swapping spaces with Rory’s car and again upsetting the locals. The traffic normally gets worse as you leave Crawley and everyone is now up and about, this year was no exception.

The weather was holding out, i.e. it was not raining, but it was overcast so not really ideal for taking photo’s, never the less I had a go at the technique where you set a long shutter speak 30th/60th and follow the motion of a car in the hope of getting a blurred back ground and static subject, essentially giving the picture a sense of speed. You can see the best shot in the post.

We passed Pease Pottage, which I only mention because of the strange sounding name. Then we we over the big hills without a fuss. We dropped off Helen’s mum and then did a final meet up with the car at the slip round just before the Needles, then headed to the west of the railway to dump the car at the NCP near the Travelodge, interestingly we were spending more to accommodate the car for a night than we were on ourselves, the NCP was £25 for 24hours and the room was booked early for £23.50.

Down on Madeira drive we met up with the others, the hospitality was not up to the usual standard as they were clipping the passes if you asked for more than one portion, and they were serving only the participant tickets. After sting around in the cold for a while we sent the girls off back to the hotel while the men packed the car up on the trailer for transport back to base.

We met up in the hotel lobby at 19:00 and the veggies outnumbered the meat eaters so we went to Food for Friends a veggie restaurant we had been to a few years before. I had a Thai platter followed by a Haloumi massala both of which I would recommend. We retired at 22:00 for some well earned shut eye.

On Monday we all met up at in reception and headed out to get some breakfast, as we had decided to splash out on a nice breakfast rather than the pretty basic fare at the Travelodge. It was really handy that The Independent on Saturday had a feature of the 50 best places to eat breakfast. There was one in Bright called Bills Placein and old bus depot. I must say that it is highly recommended, I had the veggie breakfast which was two slices of toast with Guacamole on one and Humus on the other topped with tomato’s, mushrooms and poached eggs, topped off with a sweet chilli sauce.

Suitably refreshed it was off round the shops of the lanes to see what we could find. I bought a pair of slippers and a print of a Treecreeper for the lounge wall. At around 13:00 we all met up said our good byes and headed home picking Helen’s mum on the way.

Rain on The Lizard

Penard in the middle

After an early night we were up relatively early, the rain the weatherman promised had descended. You could see sheets of rain rushing past the house up the valley. There was a bit of a swell and the waves were crashing on to the rocks off the beach.

After some breakfast we decided to do a drive about day and headed to Falmouth to have a look at the National Maritime Museum, which we had visited some years ago and remember being worth a look round. We took a detour to have a look at The Lizard, as we suspected it is a bit of a kiss me quick place, but it will be a welcome stop when we walk from the house when the weather is better.

Once parked up in the museum car park (£3.30 for 3 hours, but plenty of spaces!) we headed over to the museum entrance, we passed though the shops which included deli’s and a Rick Stein fish and chip shop. The museum was how we remembered it it was well worth a visit plenty of stuff for everyone you and old.

By the time we had had a good look round and some coffee and cakes, it had stopped raining, so we headed for a quick look round the town. The car park was now full and people were queuing for spaces! Much of the town was shut as it was Sunday, so we headed back to the hut taking in a detour to look at Gweek to recee the place in case we wanted to use it as a walking base later in the week.

Warm coat at the museum

The temperature was much higher as the rain had passed though, and we were on the tail end of the low pressure front. We went for a quick walk along the coastal path but it started to rain again. We saw plently of sea birds passing through some we recognised as gannets, others perhaps shearwaters. I also noticed that some opf the birds round here are rather trusting, in the village there are lots of jackdaw who let you get within two metres of them, then there was a couple dunnocks who were very trusting. Best of all there were some swallows gliding about 6 inches off the road surface up and down the hollow that the road made at the bottom of the village. The would glide towards you at about ankle height then steer away at the last moment.

We were back in time to watch the Canadian grand prix which looks like it will be wet, bring it on.