Family Camping

Over the last couple of months we started with the purchase of a 6 man tent.

This was followed by 4 sleeping bags, 2 double self inflating mats, a tent carpet, 2 camping chairs (we were given another two for the boys, plus a small windbreak), a camping stove, gas bottle, gas regulator and gas pipe, pan set, kettle, folding table and 4 stools, tupperware boxes and containers, mallet, set of hard ground tent pegs - with luminous hooks, tent peg extractor, lantern, 2 collapsible buckets and a collapsible water container.

So with the addition of a cooler box (which we already had), and a couple of shopping bags of food, plus washkits and a change of clothes we were all set for our first family camping trip.
Decided to leave 12 iron spikes, 30 feet of rope and 6 torches behind :)

We stayed at Bryn Bach Caravan and Campsite, near Abersoch in North Wales. Set off straight after work/school last Friday, and arrived on a sunny evening at 8pm. Took about an hour to pitch the tent and set the stove up, whilst the boys explored the campsite playground.

Found that the 20 LED lantern gives a cold, rather weak light, so not too impressed with that particular purchase. It does have a remote control, so in theory you don't have to get out of your sleeping bag to turn it off.

The self inflating mats were certainly more comfortable than the ground, but are a little slippy, so the slight slope that we were on meant that everybody gravitated down the slope in the night.

It rained during the night. We discovered in the morning that we hadn't sealed the door of the tent properly (we know how to do it now), so water had got into the front corner. and had dampened a few things.

Fired up the stove - managed to brew up a cuppa, and produce bacon, eggs and toast for breakfat.

We walked over a field and down a steep hill to the beach. Samwise saw a rabbit dart across the road in front of him. We spent a damp misty morning mooching along the beach collecting shells and rocks, and looking at jellyfish.

The weather had much improved in the afternoon, which we spent loafing in the sun on the campsite whilst the kids played with some other children of a similar age on the campsite. Had a couple of beers, and a visit to the campsite by an ice-cream van meant ice-cream/lollies all round too.

One of the pastimes of camping is that once your tent is up and your camping area established, is to sit and watch newer arrivals struggling to set up theirs.

Cooked up a large pot of pasta for tea (made a bit too much), and the kids played out until the sunset.

Light rain during the night, and in the morning. Packed up all of the kit and took the tent down between showers. All done by 11:30 am, and headed home.

So a successful enjoyable weekend for all of us. Relatively cheap - if you don't count the initial 600 quid to buy all of the equipment. Should be doing it again soon.

Ullah!

We went to see Jeff Waynes Musical Version of War of the Worlds at the Echo arena on Sunday Night.

It's the 30th Anniversary Tour i.e. 30 years since the album was released - as it's only been performed live for about 3 years.

On the whole the performance was great. The orchestra was divided into a keyboards / percussion / electric stringed instruments and a 48 strong string section. Jeff Wayne conducting, of course. The music from the album was performed from start to finish, with an interval at the point where the second disc has to be played. No staged encores, or replays of favourite bits, the show finished at the second epilogue, as it does on the album.

To complement the music there was background screen displaying CGI animation portraying the story, live singers/actors who interacted with a hologram head of Richard Burton and a 35 ft Martian Fighting machine.

On the downside the sound technicians seemed to be having trouble getting the balance right between the spoken words, the singing and the music. The Richard Burton hologram and the actors were drowned out a couple of times by the music/singing, when they should have been speaking over the top of it.
The sound improved a lot by the second half, so it could have been a symptom of this being the only performance at this venue.

The CGI wasn't the greatest I've seen, but this isn't a cinema performance, and the heat ray scenes interacted well with pyros and flash bombs going off on the stage. It was a warm night, so you really felt like you were getting blasted and scorched.

At the start of the gig a new scene was displayed, showing the Martians plotting their invasion of earth. Personally I thought that this preview of the Martians lessened the impact of the later classic scene, as described by H.G Wells and narrated so well by Richard Burton when the cylinder lid unscrews, and a Martian is seen for the first time.

The fighting machine was quite impressive at first, when it descended from the lighting rig - although most of us had seen a much better mechanoid just outside on the steps last September :) This tripod was animated by chain motors, rather than the hydraulics and was a lot more cumbersome in it's movements. It reminded me a little of the old Motorhead Bomber lighting rig which was "flown" in a similar manner.

The Richard Burton hologram head is a bit weird at first. It's projected onto a clear plastic backdrop stage right and carries out the narration, as heard on the album. The weird thing is that the hologram is of a much younger Richard Burton than you might have expected him to look (the voice sounds older than the image).

The singers/actors all performed their parts well. We were amused at the start by the performers being introduced on the screen, which reminded us of an American mini-series intro - particularly "The voice of humanity" who was punching the air with his fist. They reacted to the hologram well, which in turn reacted to them.

Justin Hayward played the journalist - getting on a bit, but singing well - the right voice for "The Eve of the War" and "Forever Autumn". I didn't think that the other performers would top the original voices from the album, and I was mostly right, but surprisingly, for me, Jennifer Ellison as the preacher Nathaniel's wife did. I've only really seen her on the cover of FHM, and other magazines of that ilk, so I'd assumed that she was only famous for her other assets.

So a great musical piece, well performed, but not perfect. The complementary special effects are not for the CGI/Video games generation, but make a good piece of theatre all the same.

This week I have been mostly...

Decorating!

Took a week off to decorate the hall. Spent most of the week stripping paint off the bannisters and sanding them down. Some philistine had painted the solid oak hand rails and posts black - probably to hide the flaws - I've revealed them all again for that 'distressed' look. This is a job that I started about 5 years ago. Onto the last stages now, so hopefully I'll crack on next week, rather than leaving it for a few more years.

Novelist Supermum has done a good of stripping the woodchip from the landing walls, then painting the plaster underneath, plus the doors and doorframes.

I've stripped all the woodchip from around the stairwell walls - ready for painting next week.

Our well earned lunchbreaks have been keeping the local Cafes and Delis in business, not to mention the take-aways for easy and tasty evening meals.

We got to wave Frodo goodbye on Friday, as he headed off for his first weekend away from home. 2 nights with his schoolfriends at a local centre making shelters in the woods, and other outdoor activities - should be good fun for him. Samwise is at Grandma's tonights - we've moved an old set of 'bunk' beds round there, so he's bagsied the top one.

Summer Day, Summer Night

Visited some old friends yesterday, who live in Rawtenstall Lancashire. Took the boys with us to play with their children, and to have a sleepover.

It was a scorcher of a day. We had a great time chatting, drinking and eating whilst the kids splashed in the paddling pool, and explored the huge hillside garden at the back of the house.

After a cracking barbecue'd feast the cool evening was warmed by a roaring log fire in a chiminea. This provided a focal point for the wine-drinkers to keep going until after 11, when it was time to let the fire burn out and move into the house.

The boys didn't get to sleep until after 10pm. I was woken by Samwise at 4am, who had woken up with a nosebleed. I sorted this out for him and put him back to bed. Then up again around 8:30 am to give two over-excited and hungry boys breakfast.

Frodo discovered the attic room at the top of the house, and was enjoying the view from up there. Samwise enjoyed playing with the other children, and loved the Guinea Pigs.

We headed home in the early afternoon - taking two teary-eyed boys with us who'd had far too good a time - they always love staying somewhere else, and never seem to want to go home!

"The Company" Logo

I'm made up with this T-shirt that Novelist Supermum bought me for my Birthday, amongst some other clothes by Fat Face, and the latest book in the Mortal Engines series.



The T-shirt is made by Last Exit to Nowhere who have a great range of similarly themed products.

Stealth Destroyer - HMS Daring

This strange looking ship arrived in Liverpool today.
Of course we didn't see it as it sailed past the office windows :)



It's designed to only give a radar profile of a small fishing vessel.

My own personal theory is that this is all bluff, and it isn't like Eliot Carver's stealth ship from the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. The trapezoid panels are just hiding a normal ship's superstructure. You tell your enemy that you've got a few of these craft, and he wastes ordnance taking out the local fishing fleet.

Eurovision 2009

Almost missed this annual masochistic form of entertainment, as I was at work until about 8pm.

Different voting rules, but the same result - a show of solidarity for old political alliances.

Graham Norton appeared to have been ordered not to be bitchy about the acts (come back Wogan!), so he ripped it out of the voting countries representatives instead.
e.g.
"You'd think he would have had a shave".
"Good god!".
"Looks like he's skipped lunch to join us".
"Plaid can be so concealing".

I also caught a bit on Radio 2 on the way back from work. They had a Wogan sound-a-like on, who wasn't doing a bad job.
His best line, after Russia had performed, was "Now I know why Anna Karenina threw herself under the train..."

Of course the fashion is now to use twitter to follow a celebrity who's watching the event. Apparently Wossy was commenting.

The weirdest part (if you don't count the Azerbaijanian entry) was the interval act, which involved people splashing around in shallow, perspex swimming pools flown from the lighting rig. How Bizarre, How Bizarre!

Star Trek

Just got back from seeing the new Star Trek film.

I won't put any spoilers here, for anyone that hasn't seen it yet, but what I will say is that I was expecting to be disappointed, and found it thoroughly enjoyable.

The writers and cast do a great job of breathing new life into old characters, whilst at the same time keeping them familiar. There's a fair amount of homage to the original series, which is fun to spot, but not enough to make the film just for Trekkies.

The special effects and sound effects are excellent - definitely one to see at the cinema.

My only quibble was that a couple of scenes are reminiscent of Galaxy Quest, but not enough to turn the film into a self parody.

Verdict: Thoroughly enjoyable, whether or not you're a Trekkie.

I see that impworks, who was with us, has also blogged a review

Dark Satanic Mill

I've been at work for most of this Bank Holiday weekend.
Sunday was a change of scenery, although I was still working.
I spent the day in this ex-cotton mill (now a business centre) in Darwen.
The chimney tower of India Mill is a fantastic piece of Victorian built Italian inspired architecture, and is a landmark for the town - you can see it from the M65. I didn't really need my Sat-Nav to find the place, I just had to look for the big chimney.

Witch Hunt

Sometimes I wonder if the pressures of my job are really worth it...

Made a mistake today, not entirely of my own making, but it was me that clicked the button which didn't give me a warning before the deed was done. I've now got to spend time making notes for my defence, before they throw me into the lake to see whether or not I float...

Just what I need before I Bank Holiday weekend, where instead of relaxing, or mowing the lawn, I'll be in for two days carrying out some mission critical testing, one day of which involves a trip to another site. Whoopee! (Not!)

DragonSlayer Day

St George's Day today - seen a few flags flying.

Swingball Wizards

Gran and Grandad had a Swingball at their house. The boys really enjoyed it. Guess what I'm going to have to buy for the back garden soon...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angel of the North

I've admired this sculpture since it was erected over 10 years ago, and have passed it by car and train, but have never stopped off for a closer look until last week.

It's pretty easy to get to it by car. Travelling North up the A1, after your first glimpse take the A167 sliproad and follow the brown signs until you reach a small car park at the side of the road (for about 20 cars, plus a couple of coaches and with 4 disabled bays in addition).

Up close you can really appreciate what an awesome piece of work this is. You feel dizzy just looking up at it. Everybody seems to get the urge just to stand their with their arms out for a bit.

Our little angels enjoyed the experience, and were particularly impressed that they could slide down the Angel's foot. Samwise (Desert in a cultural Oasis) was amused that you could see it's bum from a particular angle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Holidays

Spending this Easter relaxing at my parents place in the North Yorkshire countryside for a week.

Even more relaxing than usual, as we've spent two days with my parents, helped them pack their caravan and waved them off to their Caravan Club rally.

We now have the house to ourselves, and are planning a few trips out and about over the next few days. So it's a bit like having a holiday cottage.

Free Beer

Had a work night out last night, to celebrate the succesful completion, delivery and release of a couple of high profile projects.

They had a free bar from 17:30 to 22:00, plus snacks, so I thought it would be worth attending.

I had a parents evening for Samwise (his teacher said that he's working well at school, and is starting to get a bit cheeky), and had to pick Frodo up from his first session at a new After School club for kids with Special Needs (which he enjoyed), so I didn't get there until 19:15.

Managed to make up for lost time all the same. Had a good night drinking, munching and gossiping - those of us who were left when the bar was closing all threw in a fiver each, to tip the barman. Rolled into a black cab with dodgy suspension and bounced all the way home.

Red Nose Day

Watched the celebrity team struggle up Kilimanjaro last night, which inspired me to get off my backside and drive to Sainsbury's to spend a few quid on a red nose for each of us, plus one for the car.

Watching the main event tonight and after a few laughs, and a few tears, I bunged off our main donation. Pleased to see that last years record total was broken just after I did this.

World Book Day

It was World Book Day on Thursday. The boys school asked all of the children to come in dressed as their favourite book characters. It was quite a sight seeing all of the kids, and the teachers arrive in fancy dress. Our two both went as Dirty Bertie.




They got a WBD book voucher each entitling them to a quid off a new book each. Went out to Borders today and bought two more Dirty Bertie books and a two about a new character for us Zac Power - a boy Secret Agent / Rock Star. We read the first chapter of "Poison Island" tonight, which ended with Zac jumping out of an aeroplane.

For Those About To Rock

On Saturday, we dropped the boys at their Grandma's and headed off to Nottingham for an old friends 40th Birthday bash, which was also a bit of a Wolves Poly Rock Soc re-union.
We had a splendid time, swapping stories, catching up, tattoo admiration, "where did your hair go?", "where did your hair come from?", sinking bevvies, boogie and bacon butties. Pushed the boat out and sank it again.

Break Step

On day 4 I got so brassed off with the reset button on the pedometer constantly resetting my step count that I ripped off the button. After this, about half a day later the pedometer missed so many step counts that I gave up on the cheap, promotional piece of junk. I'm still going to carry on the walking though. Hiked out to Zavvi's today and picked up a pile of CD's in their "everything must go" closing down sale.

Steps

No not the terrible popular singing group!

I've entered the Get Active challenge at work, to get up to walking at least 10,000 steps every day.

Every entrant who signs up is issued with a small, cheapo LCD pedometer (badly designed as the Reset button is a great big thing on the front, so you keep accidentally resetting it as you wear the thing).

You then measure the number of steps that you take each day, with a view to building up the number that you take on average to be 10,000.

According to the blurb that we were given most people take 3 to 5000 steps a day.
On day 1 (Monday) I got the pedometer around 10am and by the time I went to bed around midnight I'd done 4,900 steps.

On day 2 I went for a walk at lunctime to buy fruit, and buy the end of the day had notched up around 10,300 steps.

Today I went shopping at lunchtime. Checking the pedometer now I've done 9,300 steps.

So going for at least half an hour walk every day, and using the stairs rather than the lift seems to be the key. I'm feeling a bit fitter too.

Day Off Work

It's half term, so I took a day off work today.

Spent the morning with the kids in UnderWaterStreet.

Then we went for a walk around town to view an oversized Spider, "Turning the Place Over" and SuperLambBanana.

Walkie Talkies

For a Valentine's day treat I bought Frodo and Samwise a set of decent little Binatone Latitude 100 walkie-talkies.

They've been running round the house on rescue missions all weekend calling each other up and ending every sentence with "Over", or "Over and Out".

Wii Fit Obsession

I'm becoming hooked on Wii Fit.

I'm at the -starting to hallucinate whilst jogging around the Wii Fit island- stage.

Why do I find myself waving back at the Mii's who wave at mine on the roadside?

Why do I laugh as other Mii's fall on their faces?

Did that cute blonde Mii really flutter her eyes at my Mii as she went past? Look she did it again! Why did she ignore me the third time?

Why do I start to loathe the supercilious grins on the faces of the faster Mii's who overtake mine?