Ollie gets ready for Christmas

Snow in St. Albans

We've had a recent cold snap and pretty much six inches of snow. This type of view is unusual in the UK. Very cold, snow has come and the sky is cloudless. It reminds me of winter in Westchester. He is the view looking out and away from our house. This was taken on 17th December. 

On the 18th we had another fall of snow. It was the last Saturday before Xmas day, so likely to be busy for shopping. George and I went into town to get some presents and watched the cars trying to get up the  hill. Mid-morning they were just managing it, by mid-afternoon, there was no way a non-4x4 was going to get up any of the hills around St. Albans. It was like a spectator sport.

I took a couple of pix in the market. Here is the stall that sells ornamental birds for ponds and back gardens.

Here is one of the bakery stalls. It was getting difficult to make out the different types of bread!

The next day, Sunday 19th December, the Allens, from across the road, and the Barnetts all went sledging (sledding) in Verulamium Park. We spent some time close to the Abbey first of all. 

Then walked down past the lake, past the (reputedly) oldest pub in England and over to the Roman wall where there is a decent slope and an excellent view of the cathedral. 

George has braces

George becomes even more of a teenager as he acquires a set of braces. For the first few days he is in some pain and can't eat properly then things begin to calm down a little. He is a little self-conscious ( I would be as well, and indeed was when I had something similar) but in a couple of weeks things settle.

England vs France at Wembley

17th November George, Ollie and I went to Wembley to see England vs France in a football friendly. I had just flown in from Germany, and met them in West Hampstead early evening. We set off to Wembley. All the pictures are taken with my (new) trusty blackberry.

We arrived very early and found our seats. The stadium is huge - really impressive. We were sitting up high. I had a brief bout of vertigo we were perched so high up!

Here is the stadium, and the lit arch from outside.

And here is the view from our seats, about 40 minutes before kick off.

The flags of the two nations were paraded around the pitch.

And the crowd at one end of the ground made the George Cross.

George and Ollie were having a great time.

Then the football started. What a let down. England lost 2-0 and it was very boring. Almost as boring as the hour (at least) wait to get on a tube to begin the journey home. 

In short, amazing stadium, terrible team. 

Ollie's goes to Felixstowe

Ollie did his post from his trip to Alick in Felixstowe. Here it is:

"I visited my great uncle (Alick) and aunt (Gillian) in Felixstowe in the October half term for two nights. The whole family came to have a cup of tea, and then abandoned me for three days to have fun and research for a presentation about transport for school. The first thing I did was had hot dogs for lunch. Then I and Alick went to the Ipswich Transport Museum to give me a thorough brief of old vehicles, which were mostly buses but there were a few fire trucks and one electric car. Alick gave a brilliant brief and facts for my presentation as a he is a volunteered tour guide for the museum. My first night was a well deserved rest and had I a fine night.

In the morning I woke up I had a gulfed down piece of toast. I worked on my presentation for a bit on Alick’s computer but soon after he told me that I had a choice to make. I can’t exactly remember what name the other attraction was but Alick told me that we could either go to Framlingham Castle or the other attraction I didn’t know the name of. I chose Framlingham Castle. The castle was excellent because of the beautiful surroundings and strange towers. I loved it.

The next day I sadly had to leave. But there was still one more museum to see, The Power Museum. The pipes there were massive! It was all about electricity and pumping water.

It was sad to leave but a fun trip altogether."

Thaxted and Audley End

After a short but super stop with the Whites, we drove back to St. Albans, then set off to Felixstowe to drop Ollie off with Uncle Alick for a couple of days. George did the same thing last year. I hope Ollie does a post on his couple of days. He tells me he will. Let's see if he does.

After we dropped Ollie off, we meandered back to St. Albans, stopping to say hello in Ipswich to Andy and Angela and then heading off into the Suffolk and Essex villages: places like Cavendish, Clare and Finchingfield. Lovely, pretty, archetypal English villages.

We stopped for the night in Thaxted in the excellent Swan Inn. Here are a few pictures of Thaxted: 

The following day we headed off to Audley End, one of Britain's finest historic stately homes. The official website is here, and here is the Wikipedia entry. And here are some pix:

With the Whites in Bath

 A great Sunday/Monday with the Whites in Bath over the start of the half-term; 24/25th October.

Liquorice Smoker

I was flicking through some old photos (Denmark 2009) and saw this one. I liked it and though I would post it. When I was a kid we used to have liquorice pipes in sweet/candy stores but not any more in the UK as far as I can tell. Even pretending to smoke a liquorice pipe nowadays is probably politically incorrect. I remember, when I first show the pipes on sale, I bought a batch as much out of nostalgia as anything else. Good on the Danes for not succumbing.

Molly's 80th Birthday Trip to Claridge's

Molly's actual 80th birthday was in the summer, posted here. Anna had a smart idea that our present should be to take Molly to Claridge's for tea. It was super. The tea was great, and was served like wine, in so far as the waiters liked to pour it and you got the evil eye if you poured it yourself. The food was also excellent. We had three courses. Firstly, sandwiches with a good glass of champagne (and champagne at tea time has much to recommended it), secondly, and best of all, scones with cream and jam. There were apple scones and raisin scones. Both were fantastic. And thirdly, cakes. But by then we realized we were just too full and not all the cakes got eaten. Here are some pix:

For a little added interest, we parked right by this plaque:

And on the journey home, Rupert and Anna's car started whirring rather badly. We decided that Rupert drive gingerly home whilst the rest of the party got back via public transport. All in all it was quite a tiring, though excellent, afternoon.

DJ ZOZY B Presents The Barnetts Bonkers Boogy

Part of my birthday present from Ollie was a disco. Check out the disco strobe. It was from Poundworld. What a bargain. What a night. ps turn the sound up when playing the film

Gauguin Day

After morning football (Charlie) and badminton (Ollie) in the afternoon we headed off to London to go to the Gauguin exhibition that is on at the Tate Modern. It was a good little trip, which took in a fair few sights.

We got out of the tube at Monument. The stop is named after the column, above, which commemorates The Great Fire of London of 1666 and burned for three days. 

To get to the South Bank (of the Thames) we walked across London Bridge. There is a good view up and down the river. The shot below is looking east towards Tower Bridge.  The ship on the right is the HMS Belfast, one of the navy's largest cruisers in WWII.

We turned right (west), down one of those little nooks and crannies that you have to have prior knowledge of otherwise you miss, and headed along old cobbled streets, past The Clink , a prison that dates back to the 12th century and is now a tourist experience, and onto the Golden Hind. 

It is very small. I realise that people nowadays circumnavigate the globe in much smaller boats, and single handed, but they have some idea of what is in store for them, and where they are heading. I am less sure that Drake did. Compared to the great tea clippers that raced to and from India, and other ocean going boats under sail, this is a tiddler. 

This area of London is called Bankside. Only a couple of decades ago, it was unpleasant. In the last 20 years it has been rejuvenated almost beyond recognition. What used to be dark and somewhat intimidating backstreets, passageways and tunnels have become an area for tourists and locals to meander and enjoy the variety of cuisines, the historical sites and the Tate Modern. 

The Globe is around the corner from the Golden Hind. It is a reconstruction very close to the site of the original globe, in which Shakespeare had shares and put on his plays. 

Then comes the mighty Tate Modern. 

It's the old Bankside Power Station and it is brilliant. Whoever thought of the conversion should be given a knighthood or some such similar thing. Here is a shot of the insides. It is a great space. 

The Gauguin exhibition (or 'Gog in' as Ollie referred to him) was good. Not amazing but good to remind oneself of how important he was to the evolution of art. Some of the best pictures are quite magical and seem to be an almost childlike evocation of a different world. 

The final shot, below, is of St. Pauls in the background, and the Millineum Bridge in the foreground. It is taken from the 4th floor cafe at the Tate Modern.

And here a little map that outlines our walk. It is a good one. Lots of interesting things within a short space. And we didn't even get to Borough Market. A recommended long half day, or with the market and some additional meandering and art, a whole day. 

Prefect George

George has been made a prefect. This is very good, as from each form, only five boys get selected to be a prefect. The letter of congratulations we received told us that it was a "real achievement", that "he has demonstrated the qualities and potential which....will enable him to be an excellent role-model as well as acting as an ambassador for Verulam School on more formal occasions". Being a prefect "should be seen as a real achievement which will open the door to many character-building responsibilities and opportunities." This means George be helping to organise and manage various activities, like the ECCO club (sorry, I don't know what that is).

In return George gets certain privileges: he can sit on the balcony for assemblies and wear a prefect tie (ok, both good for status) but he also gets to enter the canteen without having to queue, which if George's school is anything like mine was, is a HUGE advantage, saving at least 10 mins, on average, per day.

To celebrate, here is George in his (new) school uniform a couple of years when he started at Verulam.