Saturday 23 February 2013

Going around in circles

Today my son & I went on a photo hunt inspired by a brilliant idea on Twitter. One of the people I follow gets his children to set a photo hunt theme and everyone who wants to get involved looks for something on that theme and tweets it in. This weekend's theme was 'Circles'.
The best thing about the photo hunt is that it's set by kids and loads of kids get involved too. You can see the completed competition here. I thoroughly recommend looking: it's beautiful.


These are the shots that my son took on the theme of 'Circles' -




















And these were my Circle photos:




























If you want to get involved, follow @ianstreet67 on Twitter.
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Thursday 21 February 2013

Things to do in Christchurch when it's not raining

There is far too little half term left and I didn't want to let a day pass without enjoying it. The problem was it is blooming cold today and I didn't want to make my family trek miles to shiver and huddle away from the weather. So we went up the coast to Christchurch where, admittedly, there was some huddling and shivering. Despite being just the other side of Bournemouth & therefore only about 20 miles away none of us had ever been there properly. Thankfully it wasn't raining though...




We went across on the Sandbanks to Poole ferry as a treat for my son. When I was a kid that journey seemed miles on the chain ferry but, in reality, it's only a few hundred yards. It was really windy on the ferry though.


Christchurch itself is an interesting place where the rivers Stour and Avon meet the sea. I have to admit I didn't really get to grips with the topography of the area but we did have a lovely, if chilly, walk along one of the rivers.







And saw this mill which was mentioned in the Domesday book.






Afterwards we walked through the lovely little town which has lots of cutesy independent stores and this amazing cake shop and a sweet store where Nana bought my son lollipops.








For the final half hour we split up and my son & I speed visited the motte & bailey castle remains







Then the priory













Then finally a 10 minute rampage around the gorgeous Red House Museum which displays social history & archaeology. There were some beautiful dresses and children's toys exhibits.















It was a lovely afternoon trip and reminded me that there are probably loads of great places to visit within an hour of my home, if only I thought to go. Maybe it's made you think about how you might use those precious free hours you have too.

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Tuesday 19 February 2013

Cheddar is gorgeous (sorry)

When I was a really little kid my nan took me on a coach trip one summer holiday on Sheasby's coaches to Wells Cathedral and Cheddar Gorge. I remember practically nothing about the journey except trying to convince the coach driver that I wasn't a grockel (West Country slang for a tourist - it means 'cabbage' in Cornish) as I had Dorset blood and that my nan bought me a necklace with a Coke bottle pendant on it, of which I was inordinately proud and which inevitably turned my skin green. My mum went once in her pram and my dad went as a small kid too. Apart from these early trips none of us have been to the gorge. This is unsurprising, as it's only about 50 miles from our family haunts in Dorset but takes over two hours on the dreadful roads of the South West.

However, it's well worth the visit, if you can actually get to the gorge. Due to recent flooding the majority of the road is closed to traffic and there is simply a 'Road Closed' sign with no diversionary signs. Our sat nav was most perturbed.

The first place we visited was Gough's cave which was where the most complete Mesolithic human skeleton ever to be found in Britain was dug up in 1903. It also has great limestone cave features: loads of stalactites and stalagmites.











It also has some real cheddar cheese stored there to mature.




Alongside those limestone features that always make me think of dragons' innards







Afterwards we went to another cave: Cox's cave. This one also has lots of karst features alongside a faintly hilarious recreation of Lord of the Rings. The wraiths made me giggle but a falling portcullis made me almost jump out of my skin.







I also bought my right to a cream tea by climbing Jacob's Ladder to the top of the gorge: there were about 300 steps and I really felt the final 100. At the top was a lookout tower and I am so proud that I have conquered my fear of heights sufficiently to climb it and view the gorge and Somerset levels from on high.




View of Glastonbury Tor




The gorge itself






Afterwards we went to - where else - a cheddar cheese making dairy and tried the wares.











And the afternoon ended as all afternoons in the West Country should:




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Sunday 10 February 2013

Legacy and legends

Today we did something that we wouldn't have done if we hadn't been lucky enough to go to the Olympics and Paralympics last summer. We went to the British Athletics Indoor Trials in Sheffield. However, I've only just discovered that I never finished writing about our Olympic experience so I need to write about that first to give some context.

I can't believe I never wrote about the Olympics because it was one of the best experiences of my life. Truly I believe that London 2012 was our country at its very best. The experience of being at the Olympic park was a privilege: the crowds were so good natured and joyful.




Walking into the park I ended up tearful from the emotion of really being there. Although, to be fair, in common with most of the country I spent a lot of August 2012 with something in my eye.




We were in Park Live when Andy Murray won gold at Wimbledon before watching basketball.




The next morning we were in the Olympic stadium to see David Rudisha in the 800m heats and Lisa Dobriskie in the 1500m heats








The experience was so fabulous that I spent a lot of time refreshing the wifi in France in order to get Paralympics tickets




Where we saw Team GB gold as Aled Davies won the javelin.

So, was a sleety Sheffield day 6 months later a true legacy event? We were at the European indoor trials and it was brilliant to be so close to the action.
We watched pole vault, including Steve Lewis who was placed fifth in the Olympics.








We also saw Christine Ohorogu run in the 200m and Olympic bronze medallist, Robbie Grabarz, go in the high jump.








However, all these Olympians didn't quite provoke the excitement that realising a 100m Gold medallist was sat 5 rows in front of us...








Linford Christie. Legend.
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