Welcome to 2014!

Here's to a Great 2014!

Tree On . . .

Continuing the 'tree' theme - here's this year's Christmas Cake ...

Tree Up . . .

Time to put a tree up and get some Christmas bling on . . .

Tree Down . . .

Early December, and the high winds contributed further to the destruction of 2012.  More clearing up to do ...

Into Autumn

The first weekend in October saw the last gasp of summer sunshine, giving way to a spell of distinctly damp weather, with worse to come in early November.  All in all still relatively warmish mind you - no frost or snow, just wind and rain . . .

En Garde

It's been a while since I last donned my fencing gear, and crossed swords (foil or epee) with anyone.

The 10th anniversary of the annual Triangular competition between 'Town' and 'Gown' and 'Old Boys' didn't see me come out of retirement either, but it was great to see so many old friends.





The competitors had a great day of fencing, followed by a gala final in the Marine Hotel - with the 'Old Boys' carrying the day, and taking the 'Taylor Trophy' which commemorates the legend that was our fencing coach Munro Taylor.  It was particularly pleasing to be able to cheer on the lads from my own 'era' to victory in the Men's Foil and Epee.

With the swords packed away, it was time for dinner, dancing, drinking (naturally!) and a good deal of reminiscing - might have to break out my fencing kit in 2014 . . .

Explore Your Archive

Today saw the launch of the 'Explore Your Archive' campaign in Wales - a UK and Ireland effort to raise awareness of our archival heritage and what is on offer in the archive services that preserve and provide access to it.






So this is me - as an archivist - doing my bit (as it were) . . .

Go on, have a look (check out the videos on the Archives Wales YouTube channel), you might be surprised at what you are missing!

Christmas is Coming . . .

Work trip to London, but with a bit of spare time to wander round Covent Garden, where the forthcoming Christmas season was already well in evidence . . .

There was a busker just out of shot of this picture trying to attract an audience, and moaning loudly that people were more interested in a giant tree in a tub than they were in him!

Guttered . . .

The leaking roof is becoming something of a theme here . . .


This time it's the porch roof, where the water run off from the drain pipe had eroded away at the concrete tiles to the point where water was getting in where the roof meets the window pane.


We'd known for a while that we needed to look at the lounge roof (which also has concrete tiles) and where we'd been told the underlying roofing felt was rotting away.  So it looks like 2014 will see some major roofing works!



In the meantime, we've solved the immediate problem by fixing an extra piece of guttering between the drainpipe and the porch gutter.

Keeping the Wood Dry

We'd been aware for a while that the woodshed roof wasn't really doing its job any more - the old asbestos concrete corrugate had become quite porous and was flaking away in a number of areas - and we'd already had to empty out a couple of bays of wood to dry them off after major leakage.

So time for a new roof . . .

First job - get rid of the 'old' one!

The builders had to take off the old corrugate (carefully!), then dispose of it - which because of the asbestos content doesn't come cheap.  At least they removed the rather extensive moss deposits before taking it down to the tip - otherwise we'd have been paying asbestos rates on the weight of moss!

Then of course, there was a brief 'no roof' stage . . . .


Followed by the 'new' roof - green metal box sections, with similar 'barge-boards' sealing off the sides:





So now we're watertight again - and ready for the winter weather!




Update - 14 December - minor issue with the 'barge-boards' in some extremely windy winter weather - luckily we noticed that the wind had lifted off one side, before it got blown off entirely, and the wind got underneath the main roof.

Fair play, the builders were straight out to batten down the hatches, and within a couple of days it was all securely back in place (this time screwed firmly into the wall).

Shropshire in the Sun

A Friday in early October and after work we headed off for a sunny weekend in Ludlow:


On the Saturday, we walked in from our B&B just outside the town, and followed the 'Bread Walk' alongside the River Teme to Dinham Bridge below Ludlow Castle.


Spent the afternoon wandering round Ludlow (although didn't actually make it into the Castle), took in the market and shops, had a couple of drinks and dinner out, before heading back to the B&B .


Woke up on Sunday to another lovely sunny day, and headed home via the extremely picturesque Stokesay Castle - a fortified medieval manor house, with a timber-framed gatehouse, great hall, and a more castle-like tower.

Enjoyed the sunshine in the grassy courtyard and moat walk, before heading on our way home - losing the sunshine as we left Shropshire behind.

Neither Wet Nor Dry . . .

The late summer weather has been a bit of mixed bag of sunshine and showers - neither wet nor dry nor hot nor cold - could have been better but could also have been a lot worse!

Apple Time

Lots of apples on the trees this year, unfortunately they were mostly rather small and a fair few were quite manky . . .



The harvest looked fairly impressive mind you:


Chopped up the mealier specimens, and stuck them in a demijohn with a couple of bottles of brandy and vodka, and some cinnamon sticks.


Will add sugar syrup in due course - hoping that a couple of the months down the line we'll have a nice Christmassy Apple Liqueur!

Out East

A few days 'out east' visiting family - weather could have been better, but got out and about, including a trip to Ely (antiques, tea and cream scones, the market and cathedral).

Next day we headed off to Houghton Mill, a local National Trust property - particularly interesting to me because it used to operate as a youth hostel - brought back a few memories anyway:















Good to catch up with family and have a few days away . . .

Dolphins in the Bay

Walking the prom this evening, and there were dolphins in the bay - although the surfer must have got the better view:

Bean Harvest

The green beans seemed to take forever to get going this year, but the first harvest today was fairly substantial.


Saved some for tea, and chopped, blanched and froze the rest - although it looks like there'll be another harvest to follow in due course.

Conferencing Cardiff

This year's ARA conference actually came to Wales' capital city - although didn't get out of the hotel much - saw more of the Cardiff Hilton than Cardiff itself!



Did cross the road for the Welcome Reception which we hosted in one of the National Museum Cardiff galleries (not so much free drink, but some very fancy canapes, and beautiful surroundings).

Conference itself was very good - some really excellent speakers this year.  Good to catch up with old friends, and the gala night ceilidh was great fun.


It was a long journey home though - as we were away for three nights, we'd travelled by train (5 hours + as opposed to the 3 hour car journey) - and after three days of conference was more than glad to get back to Aber.

Marrow Mountain

The courgettes got a little out of hand again this year - we were well into marrow territory by the time this little lot got picked:

Over the course of three days made: marrow curd (better than it sounds, bit like lemon curd but with a slightly more 'grainy' texture); marrow and potato soup; ratatouille; marrow and pesto soup; and marrow pickle - still had some left mind you!

On My Bike . . .

Finally took the plunge and ordered myself an electric bike the other day - had been thinking about it for a while - the idea being that it would give me sufficient extra oomph to halfway keep up with Martin on the hills.

My new 'Batribike Diamond' turned up in a box (some assembly required - luckily Martin knows his bikes).  Took it on a test ride and it certainly helped me keep going up the hills (still have to keep pedalling).



Couple of minor issues - the rim tape on the inside of the wheels wasn't up to the job, and the first few times I went out kept getting spoke punctures on the back wheel (which is a real pain on an electric bike - not easy to remove the wheel to change the inner tube).


A reel of electricians tape later and the problem appears to have been solved - which means I'll have to get on my bike from now on . . .

Harvest by Night

This summer, instead of the usual cows, we've had some kind of crop growing in the field next door - and tonight was harvest time:

The local farmers have certainly been busy over the last few days, getting in the harvest while the weather is good, but it was particularly fascinating to watch the machines working away in the dark (although they did have some very good lights on board!).

Bird-Cam Highlights . . .

The last few months have captured some interesting fly-bys - how many can you identify?

On the Boardwalk

Sunny August afternoon and Martin took himself out to Ynys-hir (via the back roads) on his bike, while I followed in the car (with bike rack) a little later. Met him in the car park as planned (despite some dodgy tracks, and a close encounter with a farm dog), and we headed out for a walk round the 'boardwalk' trail.




Lovely walk, with some interesting sculptures dotted around the landscape, including the dragonfly above, and this larger than life snake in the grass . . .  much more to see, but time was getting on.  Want to come back soon to get out to the more remote hides.

Summer Sunshine

June started sunny, and the temperature finally began to pick up as well - the rest of the month was a little more mixed mind you:

July saw the sunshine return (although we missed some of the best of it, while away in Norway) - on the whole though a great improvement on 2012 at least!

Gloriosa

I think it's a Yucca gloriosa . . .

. . . it's certainly a glorious bloom while it lasts.

Jammy!

Got back from the cruise to find that the fruit cage had performed particularly well in our absence - had a freezer full of gooseberries, plus a load still on the bushes, and the strawberries were still generating a solid harvest.

Since we couldn't eat it all, my thoughts turned to jam, and I was soon chopping and boiling up the makings of 'strawberry and gooseberry' jam, and angsting over the 'set' (as usual).

The gooseberry curd was an even more fraught experience, pulping the gooseberries, straining out the skins and pips, then simmering the mix, trying to get it to just the 'right' temperature.  

Had to resort to the microwave in the end, which worked an absolute treat - will have to remember that for the future! - but got there in the end . . .

Carry on Cruising?

Back to Southampton on another blazing hot day - disembarked - back to the car, and soon on the road home (unfortunately without air conditioning).

So would we do it again?

We got to see some fantastic bits of Norway (which was the whole idea):

It was very relaxing, we were well fed (cake, cake and more cake) and looked after - there was entertainment if we wanted it (some of it was even pretty good) . . .

And the ship was fascinating in and of itself:

Got more exercise, walking round ports / the ship / going to Zumba classes / the gym, than you'd think - which was good considering the amount of cake on offer!

However, I think we'll add a few years before we consider another cruise  . . .

Gateway to the Fjords

Our final couple of days in Norway and the sun actually came out!


Geirangerfjord - UNESCO World Heritage site - couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day - sailing through the fjords, past the Seven Sisters waterfall, the scenery was just stunning.

Ashore at Geiranger we took a zig-zag route up to the Flydalsjuvet viewpoint, taking in some more lovely scenery along the way. From the top there was another fantastic view, with the cruise ship dominating the end of the fjord.



On the walk back down had time to take in more of the local sights, and have a look round the shops - the village was charming, but very tourist-oriented.


Next day was our final port of call, the so-called Gateway to the Fjords, Bergen - and the sun was still with us (despite it's reputation as the rainiest city in Norway).

We'd got an early start and were in the old market area of Bryggen before the rest of the tourists, so got to look round in peace and quiet.


By the time we made it to the Floibanen funicular the hordes were out and we had to queue to get our ride, but the views from the top of Floyen were worth the wait.

Had to be back at the ship by 1.30pm, but had time to take in a few more of the sights of Bergen - the market and shops - before boarding the shuttle coach back to the dock.



Then we were homeward bound, sailing under the Askoy Bridge, and back out to sea ...