Isle of Wight 31 December 2016

Last day of a memorable year - and not memorable in a good way. It seems to me a fair part of the year was marked by waking up to astonishing news. Fortunately for me it wasn't on a personal level, but rather on a global level. Bad, but a bit removed.

Terrible acts of terrorism, the heart wrenching reality of refugees, violence on what seems an unprecedented level. Some places on the planet are far worse off than others, but no place is immune to problems. Nobody was more surprised by Brexit than the Brits and what more can be said about Donald Trump? It may well be another astonishing year coming up.  Time for this one to end.

But today I was in Portchester to meet up with my friends Lee and JJ visiting from South Africa and I was so happy to see them. The weather on my trip to Portchester was as grey as it could be. There wasn't a scrap of countryside to be seen for the fog.

Colin had arranged a trip to the Isle of Wight and we were avidly hoping that the fog would lift, as if wishing it away would do the trick.  Perhaps it did - compared to the previous day, the fog actually lifted but the day was still ghost grey.

The Wightlink Ferries run every half hour so we didn't have long to wait, just time for a quick look around the terminus.

The boarding is incredibly efficient and before you know it, you're up top ordering hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream.

But quick now. You'll miss the leaving.

This is a very busy harbour - how very quintessentially English, even the boats queue in an orderly manner.

It was really cold out there, but the views were so compelling we just bundled up.

This car bulk carrier was MUCH larger than the ferry we were on.

 

It's a quick trip and then we were on the island which is larger than I expected - 40 kilometres (25 miles) by 20 kilometres (13 miles) in size. Our ferry travelled from Portsmouth to Fishbourne.

We drove through Cowes and then on to the Needles on the other side of the island.

From a geological viewpoint these are very unusual, being vertically stacked columns of folded chalk on the western edge of the island. Really spectacular.

This site is also famous for being the site of the first Wireless Telegraph station where Marconi sent the first wireless transmission.  Coincidentally I have recently read a bit about Tesla and apparently there is still much debate as to who actually did invent the radio and the decisions to award patents to one or the other depended on the political influences at the time. Tesla, however, died in poverty and Marconi was awarded a Nobel prize in physics.

Onwards to lunch!  This being New Year's eve, there was almost nothing open but we found The Royal Oak at Wootten Rivers was serving a really good Carvery - almost Christmas dinner - which cheered everyone up no end. That and the cider and ale along with it.

 

Enough for JJ to feel up to taking on that pub machine which eats pound coins like peanuts.  This is the first time I've every seen anyone actually win at this game. Most impressed!

And then he had a discussion with a swan, must have really been excellent ale. For a while it looked like the swan was going to follow us home.

Our last stop of the day was Ryde back on the other side of the island.  It's a small English town which reminded me strongly of Bangor in Northern Ireland where I spent an afternoon with Ann back in July.

The Christmas sales are on everywhere so a bit of shopping happened, but lots of just wandering around looking too. 

But it was getting pretty chilly and I think we'd hit saturation point for sightseeing.

So it was back on to the ferry and head on home.

This is around 4pm, but full on dusk.

 

And I have to tell you, not one of us was up to seeing in the New Year! The stamina has gone ...

Happy New Year everyone.  Hope it's good for you.

London crazy 10 December 2016

This plan hadn't been thought through carefully enough.  London? Two weeks before Christmas? Harrods?  There have definitely been better ideas - fly south for the winter; stay in bed perhaps; go for a walk in the countryside - mud and all; think about hibernating for the rest of the month - any those would have been better. But we had made plans to meet up in London, the Pattersons collective and myself. And meet up we did!

The train journey into London was my first inkling that this was not going to be a comfortable day. Even in the middle of summer, often with standing  room only there is still a bit of space to zone out, but this trip was exceptionally awful - sardines in a can is the description that comes to mind. Balancing in the middle of the carriage, out of reach of any handhold, there were a couple of instances of grasping total strangers, much to their surprise, in an attempt to keep upright when the driver applied brakes. Fortunately it was an Express train, but it was a pretty awful 20 minutes. Absolutely no way I was getting on a tube!  So even though it was drizzling and grey it was a relief to head from Paddington into Hyde Park.

Early enough to stop off for coffee at the Italian Gardens Cafe.

 
The Hyde Park Winter Wonderland was in full swing and there was a constant stream of people heading in that direction, but funfairs are not my idea of fun. 

There were lots of tourists around but also locals with dogs who see this as their own back yard. There was a fair bit of unsuccessful stalking happening. The birds just laughed at him and flapped a bit further on. Endlessly entertaining.

A Police Station in the middle of the park with their own colour coded Christmas tree.

As you get closer to the Serpentine there are lots more birds - these ducks completely ignoring the humans and striding out determinedly away from the water. I wonder where they were off to?

There were a few more people in this part of the park and increasing as I headed towards Knightsbridge. Desperately grey but not that cold, it had been a surprisingly warm December so far.

Whirling seagulls.

Posing.  Or waiting their turn to take off - a bit like Heathrow.

A lucky Heron.

Out of the park and over South Carriage Drive which was closed to traffic for repairs.  It's a national sport here - roadworks. Which gave me an opportunity to look at the artwork in the gardens alongside. The sculpture is called 'The Rush of Green' by Jacob Epstein - sometimes known as the Pan Statue with Pan piping a family with a dog towards the park. Not to be confused with the Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens.  Scary stuff.

This is 'The Search for Enlightenment’ by Simon Gudgeon in front of One Hyde Park. A bit empty headed perhaps?

 

Feeling more relaxed for having some air to breath and some space, I plunged back into the crowds and traffic of Knightsbridge. You can't really see it from this photo but Harrods is outlined completely in lights.  Must be quite a sight at night, not sticking around for that though.

 

I don't even know how I ended up in this corridor but it was EXPENSIVE...

This is more like it. We arranged to meet in the Food Hall.  It took 20 minutes to find everyone and what I found was not good.  Panic attacks were imminent.  Those unnamed persons in the group who don't do crowds were seriously stressed out. I thought I was bad. No comparison.

So after a quick look around and in the interests of public safety, we decided to come back next year. Phew! That was close.

Just around the corner from Harrods we found a Italian restaurant, Montpeliano.  London has some fabulous Italian restaurants run by Italians - no franchises here. Some are the small side street coffee bar type eateries that you will find in Rome, with excellent food - to be recommended for a quick lunch - I know of a couple near the Barbican that you wouldn't generally notice, but keep your eyes open, they are worth stopping for.  However the restaurant we found today is worthy of Knightsbridge and it's the long slow Italian dinner that can be expected.  Loved it - great food, attentive waiters, attention to detail, pricy but worth it.

The days end so early now that by the time lunch was over it was dark and starting to rain.  We all headed off in our respective directions - still walking. Nobody prepared to get on to the tube. We'll try again some other time.

Cows and Christmas lunch 4 December 2016

Just letting you know upfront that there are a lot of pictures of cows today ...

Ramblers were doing a walk in my corner of the countryside - Burnham, Hitcham and Taplow - and then we were heading for The Old Five Bells for Christmas lunch. Though fairly close (26 miles) to London, it's very much a region of countryside and little villages. This dairy farm is on the edge of Burnham and makes excellent ice cream in summer.  These cows were so photogenic, I couldn't resist.

How impressive is this mud though?

After days of rain and grey and fog, when the sun does come out it is blinding, as if it has to make up for the days it's hidden away. Not much warmth in it though. We headed out along the footpaths through the fields, observed by the basking ladies.

Much of the walk was along country roads - I know they look quaint but they're pretty dangerous for walkers and cars alike.  When I first got here, it absolutely terrified me to drive these lanes. I've got used to them and don't crawl along quite as much as I did then, but still, I'm very wary.

Quite a relief to turn off into the woods.

Time for a break at the Taplow Church. A sign announced that if you intended to attend Midnight Mass, you needed to book a ticket!  I've never seen that before.  Apparently they are fed up with the once-a-year attendees just pitching and leaving the regulars out in the cold ...

 

Lunch was calling so back into the fields

A very curious bystander looking like she wanted to chat.

Poser ..

They are so square, very appealing.

This is my idea of a perfect walk - lunch after.  Those roast potatoes were some of the best I have ever tasted.

It was fun. Merry pre-Christmas!