All the Fun of the Fair

After this morning's spooky encounter with the sheep from hell on my walk into work, I felt a little light relief was in order - so after work I headed of fair-wards.

This is something of an annual tradition for us - walking round the stalls of the roadside market that visits traffic chaos on Aber for the last three Mondays of November, and then moving on to the fun fair which inhabits one of the car parks for much the same period.

For once we didn't actually make it all the way round - there was nevertheless the usual sense of deja-vu (it doesn't change - stalls offering cheap goods / clothes - we rarely buy anything), and the increasing sense of time passing (how many years have we done this now?).

Quite sorry to have missed the fun fair - got some photos from the outside looking in - but that brief wander through the rides, candyfloss and hoop-la is very evocative, if only from the perspective of nostalgia for fairs past (and on the other side of the country, although all fairs feel the same somehow!).

The Fun of the Fair (age 6) was really quite something . . .

Be Afraid; Be Very Afraid

'nuff said:

Oven Ready

It's been a really warm autumn so we hadn't felt the need for the Rayburn until the last week or so. Decided we should get it looked at professionally before it went on though, as we didn't have it serviced last year. The man came yesterday and hoovered it all out, replaced the wicks, chipped off carbon deposits etc., and now we have a lovely warm kitchen (seems to be burning better than last year).


In fact yesterday was a day of ovens - the motor on our nearly ten year old microwave had given up a couple of weeks ago. We'd gotten a bit fed up of having to rearrange the jacket potatoes manually so finally ordered ourselves a new one, which was delivered yesterday.

Dinner last night was (microwave) jacket spuds and sausage casserole (out of the Rayburn)!

Late Summer / Autumn Weather

It's been a while since my last weather update, so here's the run-down on August, September and October. A bit of a mixed-bag on the whole - some nice weeks, some wet ones, and we never really got that 'barbecue summer' the Met Office were promising. August was definitely an improvement on last year's month of grey though - and the end of October was also a little drier.



P.S. Given up on the weather station data for now - moved to Linux and now the software won't work at all!

Shutting Down a Greenhouse

Autumn is well and truly with us now - the large greenhouse was still full of tomatoes up to this weekend (although they were definitely past their best), and with the promise of frost it was time to move them out, and move in other things that needed the protection of the greenhouse over Winter.

It took a while to strip out the old tomato plants - picking the fruit which was still in good condition - trying not to breathe in too much mould from some of the plants / fruit that were starting to rot - deconstructing the framework of canes which had supported everything. Eventually I ended up with one nice clear greenhouse, into which the two tubs of potatoes being grown for Christmas were duly moved.



And in the house, I now have a large box of green and semi-ripe tomatoes - beefsteak, plum, and cherry - which kept in their box in the dark, should ripen over the coming weeks.



The small greenhouse is still busy ripening chillis at present - the intention being to try and preserve the best of the plants over the winter (apparently they should last for a few years if the frost doesn't get them). A couple of peppers remain, but they weren't really that successful, while the cucumbers continue to rampage in one corner (although we're well and truly fed up with cucumbers now!). Will clear out the peppers and cucumbers in the coming weeks, but we live in hope that the remaining two or three peppers may yet ripen - if not they'll join the tomatoes in the box!

This Week I am Mostly Reading . . . 2008

Don't know if anybody is following this (see side bar) but I'm beginning to run out of room - so time to 'archive' 2008 at least:

Finished:

Neil Gaiman American Gods (Nov 08 - excellent stuff) and Anansi Boys (Dec 08) stalled a third of the way in to the latter - that was me though, not the book - finished it within a couple of days, thoroughly recommended!

For a while there I just wasn't reading - too tired or something - doing cryptic crosswords in bed instead. Must admit I still haven't finished Julian Baggini'sWhat's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life. So I'm yet to discover the meaning of life . . . apparently it isn't down to God, helping others, the greater good, or the pursuit of happiness . . . This was basically following up on Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion (Summer 08).

Why are we here? Answers on a postcard to ...

Posts that Didn't Happen 4: Castles and Gardens

Back to early August again, and some of the sights of Wales, courtesy of a parental visit (why do we so rarely do this kind of thing just for ourselves?)

One day trip to the National Trust property Dinefwr, down South, which just happens to have a 12th Century Welsh castle in the grounds. Great place to visit - they've done some good things with the house - and we actually saw some of the deer in the Deer Park. The castle is a short walk uphill, but has the most fantastic views, and lots of walkways and towers to explore.

Another day trip, another National Trust property, this time Bodnant Gardens in North Wales - famous for its Laburnum Arch (although we'll have to go in May to see it in full bloom). It was a lovely day and the gardens were looking beautiful.

Was particularly taken with a giant magnolia - and with the photo I got into the centre of one of its flowers: