You have to resist the urge to be all self-indulgent about Life, The Universe and Everything on January 1st as you can come across as a bit of a pillock. If you haven't gleaned yet, I am about to be self-indulgent and look back at last year and forward to next year just like Janus.
Last year was pretty amazing. My New Year's Resolution was to try to see people that I wouldn't otherwise see every month of the year. This worked out really well as I saw a whole host of friends over the year and got to visit people in cities as far apart as Exeter, Bathgate, Manchester, Newcastle, Watford, Stratford on Avon and Hatfield. There are still some friends from school, university and my previous career on the railway that I haven't seen in a really long time and I am going to make the effort to see them. One of my trips this year is definitely going to be to Glasgow to see a friend who I haven't seen in far too long.
As far as friendships go I also made a load of new and really important friends via Twitter. My family tease me about my iphone addiction but I truly find Twitter and the group I interact with to be amazingly funny, supportive, intelligent, hilarious and people whose friendship I genuinely treasure. There are plans afoot for a few tweet ups this year and I am looking forward to the moment that the avi comes alive. Who would have thought that so much can be expressed in 140 characters or fewer? Additionally, on a couple of occasions I have been contacted by my actual heroes: Andrew McCarthy, Nick Knowles and Evan Davis so far. I'm working on Duran Duran.
Then, this blog. I really enjoy the opportunity to see and remember all the great places I go with my son. My son is my life partner, my best mate, my conscience, my playmate and my guardian all rolled into one. I love going on adventures with him and we have had such a year. If I look back through the posts I can see all the great stuff we've done: hunting for crabs in Dorset; watching Take That in Sunderland; visiting loads of museums, galleries and historic buildings; attending the filming of TV programmes; watching different plays in lots of different theatres; being part of Dr Who at Salford; travelling to Venice and Rome. It's been brilliant. I'm very privileged to have such a life where I can do all this great stuff but it is going to these places with my son that makes it extra special.
In September I had scores of friends travel miles up a mountain to come to Eskdale for my 40th birthday party. All of them must have been strangers to me at one time but they are so dear to me now and I never have a moment of being tongue-tied or stupid with them. Then in October I went to a school reunion and talked to everyone and absolutely adored seeing old school friends, even though 20 years had passed as I was far less shy and self-conscious than I was at school. Maybe I might learn to be less tongue-tied.
Now I am looking forward to this year. I have some adventures planned already: London in March to see My Life Story; Manchester in April to see McFly; London in June to see Springsteen and then a trip to the Olympics to see the basketball and 800m and 1500m. I'm also investigating the cost of a trip to Greece to visit some of the great sites of antiquity: the Parthenon, Olympia, Delphi and Mycenae. At some point I am going to Glasgow and Cambridge. Additionally, I need to go to Canterbury and Hastings for both medieval history and friendship reasons.
I really believe that the way I see New Year in sets the tone for the following year. The most eventful Hogmanay ever was when I met the love of my life. This year I went to a truly lovely wedding, stylish and thoughtful and full of laughter and joy. Then one of my dearest friends came over with her 2 sons and my god-daughter and we had tapas, and played Trivial Pursuits, and drank and had fireworks at midnight. On New Year's Day we went to the Royal Armouries and then for an amazing lunch at Mumtaz. It was the best New Year in a long time and set the tone, I hope, for 2012: making my son really happy and me being with the friend that I love.
My New Year's resolutions are to see friends every month and to keep up with http://www.herlifestoryonepic.blogspot.com/ by posting one picture every day, all year.
Happy New Year and thank you for letting me be a self-indulgent pillock.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
For the Winchester
Leaving Dorset was very hard to do as driving 6 hours back towards work and responsibility hurt. So, we took a detour via Winchester. It's such a great city: so much to see but very compact.
Our first stop was the cathedral. Mainly because I wanted to see Song II by Antony Gormley again but sadly the crypt wasn't flooded. However, the cathedral itself is breathtakingly beautiful.
Song II by Antony Gormley. The crypt floods and at certain times of the year the statue seems to be floating in the water, in utter stillness. But not today.
Afterwards we raced up to see the Great Hall and the enjoyably fake Arthurian round table
Then paid our respects to Alfred the Great.
No cakes were burnt in the making of this blog.
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Our first stop was the cathedral. Mainly because I wanted to see Song II by Antony Gormley again but sadly the crypt wasn't flooded. However, the cathedral itself is breathtakingly beautiful.
Song II by Antony Gormley. The crypt floods and at certain times of the year the statue seems to be floating in the water, in utter stillness. But not today.
Afterwards we raced up to see the Great Hall and the enjoyably fake Arthurian round table
Then paid our respects to Alfred the Great.
No cakes were burnt in the making of this blog.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Playing at being Lady Mary and James May's girlfriend
It's the lull. A time where countrywide people finish the food in their fridge, the booze in the porch, play with the kids' toys and sometimes venture out to shopping centres, coming home shell shocked and bargain-less.
Brilliantly, my Dad suggested we could go to the National Motor museum at Beaulieu, so off we toddled. As soon as we arrived my son shot into the World of Top Gear exhibition. Whatever your feelings about Clarkson the ideas on that show for how to thoroughly mess up a car are hilarious.
We met Geoff.
Then we went in the museum where we saw some truly beautiful vehicles. Highlights for me were the Model T Ford, the Rolls Royce Phantom and the one directly below which I must own: do you think they'll do a direct swap for a Peugeot 206?
The Bluebird - the car Donald Campbell achieved the landspeed record in.
And the quirkier vehicles
However, it's not just for petrol heads. The house is wonderful. We were welcomed in by a butler who gave us mulled fruit juice and then sang carols in the hall. This gave me the opportunity to pretend to be Lady Mary from Downton Abbey. Again.
And got to look at the remains of the Cistercian house from where Beaulieu gets its French name
It is an utterly fabulous day out. Best of all we had it virtually to ourselves as presumably everyone else was at sales or eating.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Brilliantly, my Dad suggested we could go to the National Motor museum at Beaulieu, so off we toddled. As soon as we arrived my son shot into the World of Top Gear exhibition. Whatever your feelings about Clarkson the ideas on that show for how to thoroughly mess up a car are hilarious.
We met Geoff.
Then we went in the museum where we saw some truly beautiful vehicles. Highlights for me were the Model T Ford, the Rolls Royce Phantom and the one directly below which I must own: do you think they'll do a direct swap for a Peugeot 206?
The Bluebird - the car Donald Campbell achieved the landspeed record in.
And the quirkier vehicles
However, it's not just for petrol heads. The house is wonderful. We were welcomed in by a butler who gave us mulled fruit juice and then sang carols in the hall. This gave me the opportunity to pretend to be Lady Mary from Downton Abbey. Again.
And got to look at the remains of the Cistercian house from where Beaulieu gets its French name
It is an utterly fabulous day out. Best of all we had it virtually to ourselves as presumably everyone else was at sales or eating.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, 26 December 2011
And the running of the deer
Secretly I think I prefer Boxing Day to its more gaudy and glitzy predecessor. It's a day which promises little and often delivers much as opposed to Christmas Day where I always feel the loss of that magic felt in childhood.
Today we went to Corfe Village square to watch a Mummer play. It's the first time I've seen one and I loved the mixture of tradition and bawdiness. A very light smattering of research later and I've found that, whilst it's a medieval tradition, the Mummer play we see today dates from the mid 17c and involves stock characters of King George, the Turkish night, Jolly Jack and a quack doctor who brings the dead to life. Getting to watch a performance lets you, for a moment, feel as if you are in Hardy's Wessex.
We looked at the history of Hardy's Mummer plays in Dorchester county museum where we met the Ooser. This creature, half man and half cow, was a popular sight at midwinter gatherings in 19c Dorset. The last one was lost sometime in the early twentieth century. I'm definitely going to try to find an excuse to dress up as an Ooser some day, maybe on some Hardy orientated dinner party.
Later on we went for a walk at the Arne nature reserve, famous for many Springwatch series. It has a huge population of sika deer and amazing views over Poole Harbour, the second largest natural harbour on earth after Sydney. The very small brown blobs in the photo below are sika - the iphone doesn't lend itself to wildlife photography. I've taken my son there on many Boxing days and have always felt refreshed mentally and physically after the excesses of the previous 24 hours.
I do hope that wherever you spent Boxing Day you had an equally lovely day.
Today we went to Corfe Village square to watch a Mummer play. It's the first time I've seen one and I loved the mixture of tradition and bawdiness. A very light smattering of research later and I've found that, whilst it's a medieval tradition, the Mummer play we see today dates from the mid 17c and involves stock characters of King George, the Turkish night, Jolly Jack and a quack doctor who brings the dead to life. Getting to watch a performance lets you, for a moment, feel as if you are in Hardy's Wessex.
We looked at the history of Hardy's Mummer plays in Dorchester county museum where we met the Ooser. This creature, half man and half cow, was a popular sight at midwinter gatherings in 19c Dorset. The last one was lost sometime in the early twentieth century. I'm definitely going to try to find an excuse to dress up as an Ooser some day, maybe on some Hardy orientated dinner party.
Later on we went for a walk at the Arne nature reserve, famous for many Springwatch series. It has a huge population of sika deer and amazing views over Poole Harbour, the second largest natural harbour on earth after Sydney. The very small brown blobs in the photo below are sika - the iphone doesn't lend itself to wildlife photography. I've taken my son there on many Boxing days and have always felt refreshed mentally and physically after the excesses of the previous 24 hours.
I do hope that wherever you spent Boxing Day you had an equally lovely day.
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Beginning to look a lot like..,
I've been on this planet for 40 years and the one thing I'm very firm about is that Christmas just doesn't feel right in my own home. For me, Dorset is where I ought to be at this time of year despite the fact that I've not lived here since I was 3. Since my son was born we have developed a few Dorset traditions and I really look forward to them.
The first is going to the panto in Poole. This year's was actually hilarious.
Then, on Christmas eve, we catch the last Santa Special train from Swanage to Corfe Castle. Despite the fact that my son set out a very persuasive set of evidence as to the non-existence of Santa back in October he still likes seeing the old scarlet reprobate.
The trip is always notable for some of the most potent sherry this side of the NASA space programme. You could certainly get back to the moon with this in your rocket blaster.
My parents live in Corfe Castle village. I know I'm biased but I don't think a Christmas Eve walk is as beautiful anywhere else on this planet.
And, of course, today looks very much like I expect your day does.
Merry Christmas. And thank you so much for spending this year with me and my beautiful son.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The first is going to the panto in Poole. This year's was actually hilarious.
Then, on Christmas eve, we catch the last Santa Special train from Swanage to Corfe Castle. Despite the fact that my son set out a very persuasive set of evidence as to the non-existence of Santa back in October he still likes seeing the old scarlet reprobate.
The trip is always notable for some of the most potent sherry this side of the NASA space programme. You could certainly get back to the moon with this in your rocket blaster.
My parents live in Corfe Castle village. I know I'm biased but I don't think a Christmas Eve walk is as beautiful anywhere else on this planet.
And, of course, today looks very much like I expect your day does.
Merry Christmas. And thank you so much for spending this year with me and my beautiful son.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, 22 December 2011
With the rising of the sun
I have to admit that as soon as the holidays start my alarm goes off and I don't get out of bed until there are double figures on my digital clock. However, this morning I was up in the dark to witness the rising of the sun on the winter solstice.
Before 7am my son and I were up and out, walking through Corfe Castle village and being amazed by how the dawn chorus was in full voice in the middle of winter. The castle was originally a motte and bailey so is a brilliant vantage point to watch the sun rise over the Purbeck hills and towards the coast. Rapt, we watched the transition from darkened village; through pinkening sky; to the first sliver of blazing orange and the sun easing over the horizon. One of the National Trust staff said she'd been doing it for 8 years and this was the first time that the sunrise was visible. We were certainly blessed by sol invictus, or maybe Samhein.
Afterwards, there was a gorgeous festive atmosphere as we drank mulled orange juice below the castle before having a hot drink and breakfast bap at the cafe.
Happy solstice everyone. Next stop summer.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Before 7am my son and I were up and out, walking through Corfe Castle village and being amazed by how the dawn chorus was in full voice in the middle of winter. The castle was originally a motte and bailey so is a brilliant vantage point to watch the sun rise over the Purbeck hills and towards the coast. Rapt, we watched the transition from darkened village; through pinkening sky; to the first sliver of blazing orange and the sun easing over the horizon. One of the National Trust staff said she'd been doing it for 8 years and this was the first time that the sunrise was visible. We were certainly blessed by sol invictus, or maybe Samhein.
Afterwards, there was a gorgeous festive atmosphere as we drank mulled orange juice below the castle before having a hot drink and breakfast bap at the cafe.
Happy solstice everyone. Next stop summer.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Corfe Castle, Dorset
Friday, 16 December 2011
Bang goes the current account
Today was one of those wonderful days in a teacher's life. Term ended for over 2 weeks of blissful rest. Being me I deferred the rest and instead went on an adventure with my son. I sprung him from his school half an hour early and then we zoomed over the M62 to Manchester. And by 'zoomed' I mean 'crawled slowly whilst moaning loudly about roadworks'.
Our location was Media City on Salford where we went to a 'Bang Goes The Theory' event. The Prodigious Progeny loves this programme and was madly over excited when we arrived and I revealed the surprise.
He was interviewed for a vox pops. In all likelihood it won't be used, but how cool if it was!
He was just incredible talking into camera as if born to do it.
I don't have many pictures from the event itself but it was basically a mixture of explosions and football. A 9 year old boy's dream. Afterwards we got to visit a very familiar friend in the foyer of the BBC
And had dinner overlooking the phenomenal beauty that is Salford at night. I know. That sentence shocked me too.
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Our location was Media City on Salford where we went to a 'Bang Goes The Theory' event. The Prodigious Progeny loves this programme and was madly over excited when we arrived and I revealed the surprise.
He was interviewed for a vox pops. In all likelihood it won't be used, but how cool if it was!
He was just incredible talking into camera as if born to do it.
I don't have many pictures from the event itself but it was basically a mixture of explosions and football. A 9 year old boy's dream. Afterwards we got to visit a very familiar friend in the foyer of the BBC
And had dinner overlooking the phenomenal beauty that is Salford at night. I know. That sentence shocked me too.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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