September - A Review.

 As usually we headed to Bournemouth for a long weekend in early September but first I had a work event in London. It took place in the Oxford and Cambridge Club, the imaginatively named members club for both universities. 

I met 4 of my colleagues at Paddington before we took the underground to Piccadilly and walked to the club via Regent's Street. It was a roasting hot day and the rain they threatened never came so it ended up a very sticky evening. I have to say our first impressios of the place just cemented all the bad things you hear about Oxbridge being stuck up, elitist and full of themselves. 

The club has a strict dress code which we had all adhered to, but the person on reception could hardly bring herself to let us in. We were filming the evening to make some promotional videos and lord only knows what the film crew thought because the staff who were meant to be helping were hostile to the point of being obstructive, and yes we had paid a wedge of money to host the event there!

It was a beautiful setting, but I've never had to do registration and apologise to each person as they arrived for the way the staff at the venue spoke to them on arrival, believe me, we gave some very honest feedback afterwards...

The food was amazing and all in all the event went well. At the end a very charming man (yes there was at least one nice person there) gave us a tour of the whole building which was fascinating.

This is the ladies room, I loved the ceiling. 

It was a long night and I got home about 12.30pm. Luckily I had the next day off as our holiday started then so could have a lie-in. 

We headed off to Bournemouth the next day. As anyone who reads my blog knows we have been going for many years now in September and I have to say we have been really blessed when it comes to the weather. Apart from the odd wet day here and there we have always had gorgeous weather. So I guess we were due a bad year. 

As I said to my Mum when we got back, it wasn't a case of wet or dry, more levels of wetness. It basically went from drizzle to torrential and everything in between but it never actually stopped.

We tried a new hotel on our favourite East Cliff side of Bournemouth. It had great reviews on Tripadvisor & Booking.com, but turned out to have been on The Hotel Inspector TV show. I had already booked our stay when we found this out so we quickly downloaded the episode to watch in some trepidation. Thankfully it came out of it well. 

The room was fine, one downside was it overlooked the fairly busy road but luckily it had a fan in the wardrobe so we got that out and had it on at night and slept with the window shut. It was randomly very hot still, even though it was so wet. 

The only other issue was the size of the shower, which was so small you didn't so much get in it as put it on. This made washing your hair a challenge and meant you could only sort of shuffle around. I dropped my shower gel and couldn't pick it up until I opened the door and stepped out!

In theory the hotel was only a 15 minute walk from the station so Himself insisted we walk, I had suggested jumping in a cab as it was raining. Of course about 10 minutes into the walk it went from fairly heavy to torrential. We arrived looking like a pair of drowned rats despite our umbrellas.

Once we had checked in, unpacked and put on some dry clothes and footwear, we headed out. Thankfully it was now only drizzling so we walked down to the beach and mooched towards Poole.

There had been torrential downpours before we arrived and the water was still flowing down the chines onto the beach. For all the years I have been going I had no idea there was this brickwork at the edge of the beach, it's usually covered in sand!

The rain began to get heavier so we turned around and headed back. Usually we buy chips to eat on the beach on our first night, but it was pouring down by the time we got to the pier so instead we went inside the restaurant at Harry Ramsden's and ate them there. In my case with an absolutely delicious piece of haddock.

The next morning we had a full breakfast courtesy of the hotel breakfast buffet which was delicious and a treat. I rarely eat a cooked breakfast. I don't eat sausages and have to be in the mood for bacon, it was nice to be able to help yourself so I could just have egg, tomato, mushrooms & potato with a cheeky piece of fried bread. Genuinely can't remember the last time I ate fried bread! It was nice as a one off.

Repleat we set out into the rain to have a look around the town centre before catching the bus over to Poole. We spent the day mooching around Poole taking shelter in a cafe when the rain got too heavy. We headed back about 5.30pm to get chaged for dinner. 

I usually meet my friend Alison for a day out, but this year she and her husband had something on, so we all met for dinner instead. We randomly co-incided, us walking up the hill from the town, and them walking down it from the carpark at the top. 

They have just moved house so we caught up on news and admired pictures of the 7, yes 7 sheds they are now the proud owners of. Why anyone would need 7 sheds was a mystery to us all, but the previous owner of their house clearly was that anyone, even if he did then leave them all behind when he moved out. 

We ate delicious Italian food and ended up being the last people in the restaurant, only realising it was time to leave as they were clearing up and closing down around us!

The next day Himself and I walked in the rain to the train station and caught the train to Dorchester. I had heard it was meant to be lovely, and it was also the home town of our late friend Murray, so we thought we'd give it a visit. 

The train station is near what was an old brewery which has since been redeveloped into shops, restaurants and bars. We had a look around a couple of the shops there before walking to the town centre.I just had to buy some tomatoes from this amazing display. 

I love tomatoes and I will confess there were none left by the time I got back to the hotel. I just kept snacking on them all day like a bag of sweets!

It rained so relentlessly we gave up trying to walk along by the river or going to see the iron age hill fort. The museum was surprisingly expensive at £15 a head so we gave that a miss too. In the end we found a pub near the station where we raised a pint in Murray's honour and watched a group of absolutely drenched walkers, who has visited the hill fort, come in trail puddles of water everywhere and leave again. 

Once back in Bournemouth we had something to eat in the Harvester on the beach at Durley Chine, then walked up to The Anvil bar and club for a drink as they have a great rock & metal jukebox. We knew there was a Blink 182 cover band on donwstairs there that night, which we hadn't planned to go and see, but in the end we did. They were great fun and did 2 sets, the second being 90's covers which included Bowling For Soup and Rage Against The Machine so we were both happy. 

We went back upstairs to find a DJ had set up so we sat drinking beer and in my case singing along until an extremely drunk Glaswegian chef latched on to us so we decided it was time to leave. It turned out to be 1.30am so probably not a bad thing.

It was still raining when we headed home the next day so it was nice to get home and have a hot shower with room to move!

I was back at work for a couple of weeks then I had another day off this time to visit Kelmscott Manor with Soo, and her friend Gina (who I know from when I used to work at the Bodleian Library.) Gina had never been and whilst Soo and I have been there together before,  we were trying to remember exactly how long ago. Then Facebook did it's memories thing and apparently it was 10 years ago. Wow where did that time go??

Kelmscott was the home of William Morris from 1871 until his death, his widow Jane Morris continued to live there with his daughters. His daughter May bequithed the house to the University of Oxford providing they used it to house upcoming artists. According to one of the guides the problem was she also refused to let them update the house so with no electricity or running water noone really wanted to live there and in the end it was sold. It is now run by the Society of  Antiquaries. There were major refurbishments done recently and the manor reopened in 2022, so we were interested to see what was new.

We parked at Buscot and walked across the fields to Kelmscott. We were armed with waterproof as the weather was meant to be stormy with torrential downpours. Thankfully it was dry for the walk there.

Sadly there was no photography allowed inside though I did manage to sneak a couple of pics. 

There were guides in every room so that wasn't easy. One of them seemed to take am liking to Soo and basically talked at us, we were finally able to escape when another member of staff came to ask him something, good job really we would probably still be there now otherwise!  

It was fascinating to see the attic space which is now open and used for exhibitions, the beams were beautiful.I know they have pretty much all been replaced over the years as the house fell into disrepair. 

After we have finished in the house we looked around the outhouses, the wash house was amazing, then the gardens which were lovely.

By this time we were all hungry so headed to the cafe. We ordered and were going to sit outside but ominous rumblings started so we decamped to the only free table left inside.

Not a moment too soon. The heavens opened and the most incredible thunder storm with hail and torrential rain. 

No one gets between an Englishman and his cigerette and cup of tea!

Very soon the courtyard was completley flooded and I heard one of the staff come in to say the offices had flooded and they were mopping up in the shop when we looked in there.

And just like that it was over.

The walk back along the river was gorgeous though the skies were starting to look like they might not quite have finished after all.

I did love these hay bales that looked like giant humbugs.

All in all a lovely day out. 

 

An August Round Up.

The first weekend in August saw us going for a couple of walks one quite late on Saturday because we had had a very lazy day at home. I took a picture of these collared doves because they are birds I love. 

We had a pair nest in the garden of our previous house every year and I loved the way they were always cosied up together. 

It seems our old landlord had every tree, bush and all the ivy cut down which must have been such a shock to all the resident birds, he also had all the flowerbeds dug out and then grassed everything over. If I had known that I would have taken more with me when I left. It absolutely broke my heart to see it.

 

Sunday’s walk was a blissful amble between a couple of nearby villages. There were loads of blackberries out already so I was telling himself how my Mum used to make bramble jelly every year which he had never had. 

In the evening he was off to the cinema as they had started something called Star Wars Sunday, basically they are showing all the Star wars films in order over 10 weeks, and yes he’s going to them all.

 

On Monday I had the day off to meet up with Charlotte for some belated birthday fun. I caught the bus over to Charlbury where she met me at the station in her car and we drove over to Burford for the day. We parked at Burford Garden Centre where we had a mooch and bought a couple of bits which we popped into the car before walking into Burford itself. I loved that they have all these old pieces dotted around, the sign on this coach did make me laugh. I can so relate. 

We went for lunch at Huffkins before a wander around the town and into any shops that took our fancy. 

We headed back to the garden centre late afternoon for a cup of tea and piece of cake. Charlotte then dropped me off at the train station in Charlbury where I had another train journey complete with an unwieldy plant! It does seem such a good idea at the time when I buy these things, I really need to start thinking about how I get them home!

 

Saturday the 10th we got up and went blackberry picking, something I haven’t really done since I was a kid because whilst I love the flavour of blackberries I hate all the pips so never eat them now. After seeing so many rip ones last week I had messaged my Mum to ask if she still had all her jam making stuff and if so, did she fancy making some bramble jelly! She answered in the affirmative and I knew I was going to see her on the 11th at my brother’s. 

I don’t know whether it was all the rain this year but the fruits were huge and before we knew it we had picked 2 bags of blackberries and some bonus wild plums. We walked home via Sainsburys to buy some jam making sugar. Weighing our booty when we got in we discovered we had picked 6 kilos of berries!

 

Later that afternoon we went out for another walk as Himself had discovered a new to us footpath. It went through a new housing estate and next to them were some fields. We were surprised to see them full of grape vines. 

We could have been in the South of France not the outskirts of a (constantly growing) urban town.  

 

On Sunday we headed over to my brother’s early afternoon for a family catch up and to test out the new barbeque he had treated himself too. 

It was a lovely afternoon sitting out on their new decking, enjoying the sun and admiring their finally finished garden. We got home that evening and Himself headed off to the cinema so I sat out to watch the Perseids meteor shower. 

As the 12th was meant to be when the shower was at its peak, we both lay out in the garden loungers for a couple of hours watching in awe. 

Even with the amount of light pollution here it was an amazing show with an incredible mixture of slow moving and fast streaking meteors lighting up the sky. Of course we both then had to discuss the 1970’s TV series Day of the Triffids

luckily we both woke up the next day able to see and not overrun by giant walking plants!

 

My Mum messaged me to send me pictures of jam in progress 

and to tell me my cousin’s daughter Chiara had called to ask if she could come and stay the next day for a very last-minute flying visit. 

It was so last minute I think she ended up going with Mum to all her various clubs and activities as Mum hadn’t had time to cancel them. Seriously my Mum is busier now than she ever was when she worked, I swear she is literally never at home! 

I can only hope I get to enjoy the same lifestyle when (if ever) I finally get to retire.  

The pair of them also popped in here on the Wednesday afternoon for a cup of tea as I was working from home that day. It was lovely to see Chiara again and catch up on all the news. It turned out she had had a crazy journey to get here from Heathrow, accidentally ending up on the Elizabeth line to London. This meant then getting a train back out of London to Oxford and bus from there to Mum’s village. Whilst they were here we looked up the airline coach timetable which got her back to Heathrow the next day in a third of the time.

 

The 16th spelled boiler dramas, and quite scary ones at that. It started with a guy coming out to do the annual gas safety inspection. Randomly the boiler in this house is in a cupboard in the living room because that is where the original teeny tiny kitchen was. We actually went to see one of these houses that hadn't had a kitchen extension and the kitchen's were so small you could literally touch the walls whichever way you stood!

 

So I was sitting in the kitchen working as the gas engineer did the needful. The minute he took the cover off the boiler his equipment went crazy at the same time as our carbon monoxide alarm also went crazy! To cut to the chase he had to isolate the boiler as it was dangerous. 

Thankfully the rental agency were able to get an engineer from Worcester (the company that makes the boiler) out within a week. That engineer arrived and attached some sort of meter to the boiler which also went crazy as soon as he switched it on again, in fact he said afterwards that it gave off the highest reading he had ever seen! He asked what had made us call him  out so I said it just happened to be a gas safety inspection and he said in that case we were incredibly lucky it happened when it did.Which was pretty damn scary frankly. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer after all.  

I'm pleased to say everything is now fixed.

That same week Himself had announced that he was planning to go out to Avebury at the weekend because the podcast he and his friends have reviewing vintage tv shows, was planning to do an episode about the 1970’s children’s television programme The Children Of The Stones. 

I had heard of it (mostly because Charlotte is a big fan) but can’t recall if I watched it back in the day. Apparently, the show was filmed at Avebury so Himself was going to see if it would be suitable for him to record his part of the podcast live there, or at the very least record a few trailers for the show.

As it has been at least 20 years (and probably more like 30) since I last visited Avebury, I invited myself along.

 

We duly got up bright and early on Saturday and caught a train to Swindon. From there we caught a bus out to Avebury which took about 30 minutes. Thankfully it didn’t take long to go from the outskirts of Swindon, which look like the Armageddon has happened, to sweeping countryside and rolling hills.

We weren’t quite sure where to get off but another passenger told us she was heading there too and gave us the nod when it was the right stop. 

It was a gorgeous day, and still the school holidays, but I think we were both somewhat taken aback by the sheer volume of people everywhere

This was me trying to take a picture without too many people in it!

We did a leisurely circuit of the stones, waiting for quite considerable time at some points for it to be clear enough for Himself to get the shots he wanted and to be able to record a couple of bits. 

We had a look in a couple of the very expensive crystal/pagan/witchcraft shops and went into the little general store where we bought some local eggs and beer.  Finally I checked out the National Trust shop. 

We decamped to the ridiculously busy pub where I managed to snag a table outside whilst Himself queued for about 20 minutes waiting to be served. As our table was literally 2 feet away from the bus stop and facing the road, we saw the bus coming in the distance so were able to finish the last of our drinks and step across to the bus stop just as it arrived. Loads of people piled on, I’m guessing taking advantage of the £2 bus fare scheme that is currently still running. All in all a lovely day out.   

 

The following weekend was the August Bank Holiday which means only one thing, Stonor Park Craft Fair! As usual Mum and I went on the Friday and luckily for us we chose the one day with decent weather. Soo was meant to be coming with us but sadly had to cancel so Mum asked at her knitting/craft group and one of the ladies there, randomly also called Sue was able to come.

It seemed slightly bigger this year and back to it's best. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day and bought something.

I got some cards and a couple of presents for friends, I also bought Himself some artisan coffee. My best purchase was a new everyday handbag to replace my current one which is falling to bits. 

It's sustainable and made from recycled plastic bottles. It's a tad smalled than my previous bag but overall I am very pleased with it. When we had shopped and browsed our fill we headed to a pub near Mum's village that does amazing pizzas which made a delicious end to a fun day out.

On the Saturday we walked to the nearby village of Upton to try the newly reopened pub, now just called The George instead of The George and Dragon, I am intrigued why so many feel the need to drop the dragon bit, but I digress. The pub itself was still being refurbished but the bar in the garden was open so we had a coupe of pints. 

August ended as it started with a lovely walk out.

This time to Blewbury via Upton where we happened upon an ice cream van. The lady driving stayed in the drivers seat and her son came back to serve us what were the biggest ice creams I have ever seen in my life. So big in fact I could juggle both it and my camera! The moral of the tale don't let a bored child loose in an ice cream van. They were absolutely delicious.

We had a pub pitstop at the Red Lion and another on the way back at our favourite pub The Fleur, what could be better than the glorious countryside and a pint.

I do realise with these monthly round ups I have been slack on showing any purchases, you must think I have finally cured my shopping habits.....if only. 

The problem is I often can't remember what I purchased when but trust me there have most certainly been several brooch purchases and one or two dresses along the way!

The only thing I haven't really been adding too this year is the handbag collection but let me show you a couple of new editions.

Another Corde bag to add to my collection, and a gorgeous little 1920's mesh bag in almost perfect condition.

I know I definitely bought this dress

I also got a new pair of trainers, just don't look too closely at the back of right one where you can see the result of where it was rubbing my heel, bah, I need to wear them in a bit more. 

I will be back soon (I hope) with September, which includes Bournemouth, Kelmscott and so, so, so much rain.

 

July Part Two

 I should stop saying I'm on a roll getting posts up, life clearly takes that as a challenge!

Anyway here is part two of July - Finally...

On Friday the 19th, the hottest day of the year so far Himself and I headed into Oxford to meet with Soo and Gav to go and see a band called Wayward Sons at the O2 Academy on Cowley Road. Himself had some sort of offer through for £5 tickets so we thought we would give them a go. The band were formed in 2017 by former Little Angels front man Toby Jepson but this was the first either of us had heard of them. Iam so out of touch with music these days.

We went over on the train and walked from the station to the James Street Tavern on the Cowley Road where we had arranged to meet. I was already melting by the time we got there, and the O2 (or The Zodiac as it will always be to those of us of a certain age!) is notorious for being hot at the best of times. It's one of those venues where thw walls literally sweat and I wasn’t looking forward to entering the sweat box.

Soo and Gav were already at the pub and had found a shady table in the garden. I ended up drinking cider AGAIN because there was no decent beer AGAIN.

SIGH.

I cannot wait for this trend of IPA being the in beer to be over, I loathe the stuff. Give me a decent pint of ale/bitter please!

It was still well over 30 degrees at 8pm. Soo had a bottle of water with her which she was expecting to have to hand over to security when she went in, but the guy said whilst ordinarily he would have taken it, due to the extreme weather she could take it in with her. He also pointed out to us where they had opened the small, bar near the entrance downstairs for anyone who needed to get free water or was just feeling the effects of the heat and needed to sit somewhere with ventilation to cool off. I don’t know whether the age of the building restricts air con being added, but I’m glad they were actually trying to do something.

 

Himself loved the band as did Gav. They were very good at what they did and put on one hell of a show but it was not really my thing. Probably a good job as it was way too hot to want to be dancing about anyway.

Fair play to them for giving it their all given the temperature, as you can see from a picture at the start fo the gig

to one part way through they were getting pretty red faced,

I did think I saw someone I recognised in the crowd and sure enough when the lights came up and I could see properly I realised it was the drummer from my brother’s first band who I haven’t seen in years.

It was so lovely to have a quick catch up, sadly quick because Himself and I had to head off for the train, we did exchange details though and have been chatting on messenger since. 

Very randomly my brother had gone to see Nephew Number One’s band play a gig in Oxford earlier in the month and the first person he saw on walking into the pub where they were playing was one of the guitarists from his old band (my brother played bass.) They had already arranged to get together for a drink and reminisce, so he was thrilled to be reconnected with his old drummer too. Himself was joking they will be reforming the band at this rate!

 

The 25th was my Mum’s birthday and she had decided on the weekend after she wanted us to go up Watlington Hill where we scattered Dad’s ashes. The Sunday worked best for everyone so my brother picked Himself and I up late morning and we drove over for Sunday lunch in one of the pubs in Mum’s village. Rather than a traditional roast I went with the fish of the day which was a delicious piece of plaice.

Nephew Number One arrived shortly after we have finished lunch and we all squeezed into my brother's car to head to Watlington.

The weather was glorious, and the hill was alive with wild flowers which in their turn were full of bees and other insects. It was the first time we had been since scattering Dad's ashes and als the first time the nephew had been at all. He was really taken with what a wonderful place it is with it's panoramic views across Oxfordshire.

We all took our time seperating and joining together in different groups to remember Dad, until it got too hot and we decamped down the hill to the Spire and Spoke pub for a refeshing drink.

From there we went back to Mum's and sat out on the patio chatting until it was time to head home. Even Bobby deigned to grace us with his presence!   

So that was July. I will endeavour to get August and September together before the end of the year...