Christmas Eve in Ottakers
Cake, coffee and hot chocolate surrounded by books in
Ottaker's Costa Corner
- finn's taking notes on the preparation of frothy milk.
Updated to fix broken link
Week of Two
Finn's extended week of birthday, seen here with one of several cakes.
"Cake" said finn. And he meant it.
smoke from graemes dyke
This is taken from Graemes Dyke Road in Berkhamsted, approx 6.5 miles from the Buncefield depot.
canal smoke
Smoke, not clouds, from a bridge over the grand union canal at Berkhamsted looking south east towards the smoke from the Buncefield explosion. Early in the morning the smoke covered the sky towards the south of Buncefield, later in the day most of the plume was east of the fire
Buncefield
The Buncefield distribution terminal (storing oil, petrol and kerosene) in Hemel Hempstead
exploded this morning
. This is the view from our house this morning, as the sun tries to poke through the smoke.
Bye bye crane
They
took the crane away yesterday, the houses at the bottom of the road are nearly done ('bout time too) with just the tiles and the inside fitting to do. So they used another big crane to take our one away and now our nice landmark and
finn's first word
is no more
Note: This post was updated on 2020-12-19 to fix broken links
Hair Cut!
Look who didn't eat their crusts this week. Finn takes top honours in the curly stakes; for now at least. Good job the
forecast
isn't for rain.
The view from Julian and Trudi's
The view from Julian and Trudi's, who, extremely kindly, allowed us all to descend for the weekend. Big thanks.
Some piccy's below, some more bonus material on
flickr
or flickr
slideshow
(make sure I have you listed as friends or family on flickr).
Monsal Head
Evening at
Monsal Head
, Roger, mad fellow that he is, cycled up from Cressbrook just for a pint.
Brussels
Well, having said I never get time to do stuff when travelling for work, here's something interesting from the second trip in a row. I was in Brussels last week for a meeting, and our CEO arranged a tour of Brussels, including Brussels cathedral. We were fortunate to get a guided tour by Paul De Ridder, who worked on the 17year restoration project...
2022-04-03: removed broken link
Fireworks III
The crew take a well earned break having safely dispatched all the explosives up into the atmosphere
Fireworks II
Harvey & Stan take cover on the deck as Rocket Man Paul sends up another 50lb firework.
George Eastman House III
I don't usually get the opportunity to go visiting places when travelling for work, but last week managed to sneak a couple of hours at George Eastman House (Mr. Kodak) in Rochester, New York State. This is one of the gate posts.
Thanks to Brent for the great idea.
George Eastman House I
Inside
George Eastman House
The elephant was a replica of one from an Eastman safari.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-08 to fix broken links
Ashridge
A muddy walk with Grandad, Kim, Simon, Ally, lots of mud, a troll and a spot of hide-and-seek.
Honiton Carnival
Saturday:
home via another stop in Honiton to watch the carnival with Graeme, Jo
et al.
Padstow Sunset
The ever changing sky around Padstow, Rock and the Camel Estuary. You could sit and look at this view for hours - and we did.
Alice's Jugs
A disaster is averted when we realise a previous occupant had re-arranged Alice's jugs into a random order, thus shattering the symmetry of the flat and raising the spectre of
Sick Building Syndrome.
Fortunately, we were on hand to replace the jugs in strict height order, as can be seen by the above piccy.
[Deleted] Beach
Thursday:
Finn inspecting flood defenses during major irrigation works on [deleted] beach. [Deleted] beach was a real find, small, quiet, continuous water supply for irrigation digging, surf shop, and a proper coffee bar with a decent coffee machine. The name and location of [deleted] beach have been removed by request of the locals we met who said it was even better a few years back - before some silly local paper listed it as one of the better beaches in Cornwall.
[The photo's of local sign posts being 'adjusted' have also been removed -
Ed
]
Sand Snipe
Wednesday:
Sand Snipe, the Padstow-based dredger, heading out of the harbour channel.
[
Padstow Harbour
]
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to fix broken links
Eden - and the first canopy bubble in captivity
Tuesday:
We had our second visit to
Eden
this week, lots of things have grown since we were there four years ago. They're now using a helium balloon to do pruning in the canopy.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to fix broken links
Rock Pool
Monday:
a short walk from the flat takes you to the beaches below Padstow. We had almost the whole of this beach to ourselves.
Dune
Sunday:
we took the
ferry
from
padstow to rock
and had loads of fun on the beach.
The Angel
Saturday:
At Graeme and Jo's new flat in
Honiton
.
The Angel
is the name on the outside of the building - we think because it is the
old Angel hotel
.
wedding of the month
Peter & Joanne's wedding, Saturday September 10, 2005 at St. Augustines Church
Southend-On-Sea
greenbelt
causing chaos with a bubble machine during a break at
greenbelt
.
bonus piccy's
available
.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to fix broken links
Giraffe
giraffe - finn's current best friend. Lost while picking plumbs at
park fruit farm
, but found while we were picking blackberries. Pictured here on a sandy beach, somewhere on the east coast. Reward if found.
Scooby
finn found another canine friend, meet scooby, who was enjoying a holiday with faith (at least until we arrived)
holkham beach
Holkham beach - scientists say the second best beach in england (that's england as in england, not england as in the UK).
Sources: The Times and Surrey University [1]. Obviously, they forgot to include frinton - we're off to petition Dr Dimitrios Buhal.
[1] Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to remove broken links
Beach Dance
a coordinated experimental sand dance on
holkham beach
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to fix broken links
quality control
every potato was measured, weighed; then washed in chlorine and refrigerated to 2 celsius for transportation from the field to the customer.
look out below
harvey takes off on the giant slide at the global graphics summer party -
police are currently looking for neil, the man caught on camera giving him a push
more at
flickr
All Aboard
Ready for the walking bus.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to remove broken links
The art of slip fielding
harvey goes to extreme lengths to teach grandad how to
slip catch
properly.
next lesson: teaching fielding at
silly mid on
with a baseball bat
1050
Cycling in wendover woods was probably a tad optimistic. half way round finn decided he was better off walking. [OS Map: Explorer 181]
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to update broken links
durham cathedral
drank beer with graeme & jo in sunny durham at the weekend, hence too late to get inside the
cathedral
.
this piccy shows a view close to the one in the painting over (great) granny's fire place.
wedding of the month
the wedding of clever cousin robin and beautiful danielle took place on sunday at st. michaels church, houghton-le-spring
that would; of course; be this st. michaels and not this one. easy mistake to make, obviously.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
1056
serious construction project. started by alice but harvey takes over after an explaination from gavin over what is a mans job.
[The picture of gavin drinking pims has been removed for legal reasons - Ed]
1055
found beautiful hemmick beach for our last afternoon
so tucked out of the way that google's
map is near useless
, but that's what the ordnance survey was invented for, you'll be wanting
OS Explorer Map 105
;-)
1058
west country break: flynn seriously not impressed by gavin's idea that he ride the 8 miles there and 8 miles back. needless to say flynn ran most of the way
1057
west country break: flying flynn made friends with finn. for some reason finn thought flynn was called alice. perhaps he thought it was less confusing that way
1062
west country break: by bike from padstow past wadebridge towards bodmin. there's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing
1071
whipsnade: it's a stick mummy, honest. I know it looks like something else, but that's camera blur
1073
the boys disguised as "little bo peep" & "the amazing super spider incredible man" [1] for a thankyou card
Footnotes:
[1] The exact super hero depends on the day of the week and the phases of the moon
1077
Morning trip along the canal - to the
pub
for lunch & back
May 17, 2005
[& yes, this
was
instead of venice ;-)]
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to remove broken links
1078
an oak tree (2005)
while this appears to be a glass of water, i assert that it is in fact an oak tree
you'll need to ask it for its current state of mind, last time i asked it was slightly bemused
this is, of course, a different oak tree from that currently in the tate bankside [
michael craig-martin
]
updated: 2023-08-16 because tate.org.uk don't do permalinks
1079
London looking east from
waterloo
bridge. inspired by
John Virtue
London, May 16, 2005
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to update broken links
1080
this space was reserved for pictures from a short break in venice...... instead, here's a picture of an out of date passport
1086
grandad teaching the fine art of carp fishing using his purpose built fishing simulator
Romford, May 15, 2005
1089
September 2004 @ the otter sanctuary where, obviously, it's raining.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-10-01 19:36:29 to remove broken links
