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.

Remembering Dad

Dad died two years ago today. Here are all the posts about him since then. Amongst them you will see the photo below. But I like it, and it is one of the last photos, if not the last picture, taken of him so I am going to re-post it.

Christian's Birthday

This year it seemed that my birthday coincided with the first really chilly day of Autumn. I mention this as I spent most of the day outside.

After a gentle birthday jog around Clarence Park I took Charlie to his match for St. Albans City U8 vs Panshanger. It was only his second ever match, and the first I had seen. He looks rather good in the strip.

Charlie's team won easily and Charlie played really well. Well done Charlie.

After lunch the boys and I went to see the men's St. Albans team in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup vs Beckenham Town. There couldn't have been more than a few hundred people watching, and most of them were old boys who have probably going for decades. It was a nice atmosphere; more swearing from the pitch than the spectators, the ability to wonder all around the pitch, a sweet little family sized merchandise shop and 'Andy's Snack's serving a decent cup of tea and a plate of chips from Andy's van.

In the evening we went to see 'Laughs in the Park', a big outdoor, and very chilly, comedy event in Verulamium Park. Overall, it was a very good show. Dylan Moran kicked off. He was good, but the material was a little predictable - men vs women, getting older and not understanding the younger generation, etc. Second up was Reginald D. Hunter, who left few stones unturned as he took on race, racists, class, women, Jews, and Tiger Wood's detractors with equal gusto. It was good stuff. Top of the bill was Eddie Izzard. Though he only occasionally hit truly amazing, you could see how his mind works as he took us through a premise, Noah's Ark being a true story for example, before going on a series of brilliantly entertaining and increasingly surreal sidebar stories, as though he was distracting himself, and always turning back to the main thread, whilst keeping the audience following along. And when he was good, he was exceptional. The highlight was the exploration of The Ten Commandments, in particular the one about not coveting a neighbour's ox, which ended with him concluding it was a typo. Why would you want to covet your neighbour's ox? It must have been 'cover' instead of covet, he claimed. Which led to an brilliantly surreal image of all the townsfolk hiding their oxen under duvets. Izzard also questions the wisdom of the Hebrews, whilst Moses was receiving The Ten Commandments, to smelt a golden calf. Izzard's suggested they should have had better things to be preoccupied with, like getting out of the desert.  Wonderful stuff. 

Grandpa and Grandsons

Found this pic of Dad with boys on the steps of Douglas Rd, Chappaqua. It is a good pic.