April in Brighton

This time last year Irene and I were into the second leg of our New Zealand journey. It began to feel cold as the days shortened and the evening temperatures dropped below 20 degrees. Now we are in a country and in a season where the days are getting longer, but still  the thermometer refuses to climb.

So, it was not surprising that our first April visit was to buy more loft insulation. At the same time we picked up compost in the hope that spring would soon arrive.

Near to B and Q is a place called Locko Park. The plan was to have a picnic in the car followed by a chilly walk. However, the park gates said that they would be locked at 1.00 pm. The new plan was a quick walk in and out and then home.

This meant that we would be back in time to lay the insulation and for Irene and I to give more time to the railway.

The next day the Summer house arrived and building began. We actually got as far as putting on the roof and most windows.

 The following day was the arrival of my new 300 mm lens. It is a great piece of kit with vibration reduction. It even has a setting for taking pictures from a moving vehicle. It can tell if the movement is accidental or deliberate.

On Saturday we went down to Nan's. The long awaited aquarium now had a few fish in it.

The next Wednesday of the month came round. Irene and I had plans to drive to the canal at Sandiacre, walk along the canal to Long Eaton, have snack lunch and walk home.

However, we had the pleasure of our friend Lawrence coming over to do a plumbing repair. He wanted to know our plans and offered to take us to the canal and walk with us, if we had a woolly hat. The time was to be spent so that he could check for leaks when we returned.

Off we set along the canal. Half way along Lawrence's phone rang. His wife, Jan wanted to know where he was. The plan was further modified and she would meet us for lunch.

However, we got to Long Eaton too late for morning coffee and too early for lunch. So, off we set beyond the chimneys of Long Eaton to the pub at Trent Lock.

Lawrence and Jan

The 'meal deal' was for two courses. Now, Jan and Lawrence prefer a starter and we prefer a sweet. Therefore, we sat through their starter course and enjoyed the main course together. Then, time was running out for Jan's parking in Long Eaton and they set off back to the Asda car park. We sat and sat before realising that our sweet was not forthcoming.

The sweet came, was consumed and off we set. The phone rang. The call was to turn back and wait to be collected. Back we went to Sandiacre, transferred from one car to the other and back home.

The repair was leaking. We now have a more sophisticated piece of plumbing which will make future repairs easier. Thank you Lawrence AND Jan.

Now to Brighton. The reason was to see Joe on his birthday. We set off on a sunny Saturday morning but drove into rain at the Pease Pottage service area north of Brighton. We found our accommodation, unpacked and set off on foot, in the rain to the Royal Pavillion to meet Joe and Julia.

We discovered that the Pavillion was open every day, but the museum and gallery would be closed on Monday. So, here we are in the museum and Joe and Julia are interacting via a football game. Don't ask why.

After this adventure we went off to find food. Would you believe that the restaurant was a meatless one called 'Wai Kika Moo Kau'. Please follow the link to see the connection to New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikikamukau. 

Then came another drenching and a bus back to Preston Park. Back at the flat I sampled Joe's fine whiskey, played a game called 'Ticket to Ride' (Please note that just about everyone in the Norwood circle are hooked on the game in its various forms.)

The following day we had plans to meet with Joe and Julia for a birthday dinner in the town centre, a visit to a museum, birthday cake in the local park before going our separate ways.

It was decided the four of us would meet for Sunday lunch in town. Irene and I had a pleasant walk down to the sea front. It happened to be the morning of the Brighton marathon and so we, somewhat unwillingly, joined the crowds cheering on the 10,000 runners. This event could well explain the lack of accommodation and the high price of rooms at this time of year.

Walking against the runners and the crowds we eventually found a tunnel through to the beach and we could enjoy the sight and sound of the sea in the gravel. Last June the harsh, cold winds forced us back into town.

Lunch time meant a crossing in the other direction which the marshals made possible through the remaining stragglers.

We met Joe and Julia at St Georges pub which, being Brighton was, once more meatless.

From there we made our way to the 'Booth Museum' http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/museums/boothmuseum/pages/home.aspx which was near our accommodation. We had passed this a number of times and it looked like a Salvation Army hall and I had expected it to have some connection with it. However the vast building had been bought to house the growing natural history collection of an Edward Booth who lived a smaller house next door.

From the museum we crossed the road to buy beverages and went to sit in the park and cut Joe's birthday cake with a wooden stirring stick.Improvisation can be fun. Then, once more, our plans were changed. Instead separating at this spot we all walked back to our car and drove back to J and J's flat. We had another game of 'Ticket to Ride', a delightful supper and then, having said our goodbyes, we drove back to our room and bed.

In the morning we walked back down to the Pavilion. The interior is just as magnificent as the outside. In fact it was very much over the top in regards to opulence. Unfortunately photography was not allowed, but it was well worth the visit. 

After lunch we took a decision to use our bus passes and see where they led us. With little information we boarded a bus towards Eastbourne. A local man sat opposite us and he suggested that we head for the Seven Sisters. We were to keep on the bus until it crossed a one-way bridge and then get off.

The bus stop was at the Seven Sisters Park and visitors centre. We wanted to get on to the headland which would look back on to the cliffs themselves. Taking the advice of the  centre employee we set off back along the road with instruction to keep left and not go up the river path. He did warn us of mud, and, mud we found. So, like others heading back we did.

Having taken photographs of the mud and the cliffs in the distance we returned to the road and went back across the river to take the beach walk.

This was more do-able and we were able, once again, to enjoy the sound of the sea, but also to be able to get close to the white cliffs.

This is a picture of the vantage
 point at the other side of the river

The adventure ended and we returned to Brighton, walked past the Brighton Eye and found our way to fish and chips on the sea front.

After a last photograph of the sun setting on the arches we made the trudge back up Dyke Road and so to bed.

The following morning we left with the intention of stopping at a garden, but the weather was not pleasant and so we stopped off in Milton Keynes to see Nan and Tim before heading home.

Once home the work on the summer house continued. I decided to finish it off with a bit of decking. The first step was to raise it on to four inch high bearers, which I helped my friend Alan to do. Then came the cutting and mounting the decking on to a frame.

As a final touch the sign of ownership was added to the front. The floor is now carpeted and the room has been used on most days since.

On Sunday our church friends, Brian and Teresa celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Irene had the idea of giving them a painting which is seen in this photograph.

Pastor Dave Mansfield
with the happy couple

In the afternoon we popped over to Joni and Fiona's new house with the last of their plants.

It is a good house with a well established garden. Having moved in on Saturday they spent most of the rest of the week  getting it organised and adding new furniture.

Irene and I are pleased that they have been able to make this big step and wish them well.

March Winds (Strike ‘Winds’ Replace with ‘Snow’)

March did get off to the promise of a bright Spring. Our first journey was to Nan and there we met with Damaris, little Iris and their dog. It was a real pleasure to meet them.

On the way home the sky was blue and the condensation from the cooling towers rose almost vertically in intertwined spirals.

But then it happened. On the 11^th the ground received it’s covering of snow and the spring flowers tried, bravely, to keep their blossoms in the air.

The snow was fairly short lived and by the time we went to visit our friends, Jim and Janette it had pretty much gone. Jim is a great keyboard aficionado and Janette enjoys her gadget. So, while Janette and I played with her iPad Jim gave Irene further keyboard instruction.

Actually the snow was still in small piles. Janette and Jim were having slabs laid and as we reversed out we were aware of being lifted up and feeling a lot of crunching which turned out to be the effect of going over a pile of frozen snow.

Mostly, our visits were going to be indoors. On Sunday after church Irene and I set off to yet another model railway exhibition. This was the Nottingham one. Normally it is held at the Harvey Haddon Leisure Centre. However, during refurbishment it was held at the neighbouring Oak Hill school campus. This is quite a new building and the exhibition was held in three separate parts. Having had our sandwiches in the car we paid our entry fee, we were fitted with red wrist-bands and sent through the icy rain to the first building. I am always amazed at the infinite care and patience shown by true railway modellers.

There was only one model that I had seen before. The new venture in modelling seems to be Czechoslovakian railways. Apparently the engines and rolling stock are readily available as they were all made identically in Russia and simply had different liveries painted on. One model particularly caught our eye. It was a vast ‘n’ gauge. I asked the three men standing behind if they were part of a club. Two of them pointed to one man and told me that ‘it was his’. I asked him how long he had been working on it. He explained that he had been forced to take early retirement and had decided to take up railway modelling all of two years ago. What an achievement. You simply could not count the number of people or even the road vehicles adorning his baseboard.

I had planned that we met up with other friends called Paul and Mary to go on a photo-shoot. As the weather continued bitterly cold we decided to just spend time at their home. After one of their very tasty and generous lunches Paul and I did some quick flash photography. My aim was to show Paul the benefit of using ‘RAW’ files. We both used flash of the same subject at the same ISO setting. My next problem was to download the files from the cards to ‘Adobe Elements’. There has to be a way of telling these machines to use ‘Adobe’ rather than ‘iPhoto’.

With the files loaded it was possible to do the manual processing of the RAW images to jpegs. Here was the surprise. The images from the Nikon were generally brighter than the ones from the Canon. Plus, there was practically no difference between the Nikon’s camera processed jpegs and the manually processed ones. Whereas the different quality of the Canon’s images was significant. I am glad I went for Nikon.

Keeping to the subject of products, I felt obliged to post a picture of the packaging that came with a single cartridge of Canon ink from Amazon. The picture that I used did not do justice as the ink cartridge only occupied less than a quarter of the space in the box. I have received similar cartridges in packages that could be put through the letter box.

On Friday 22^nd Irene and I put on a ‘Tea and Talk’ for the residents of Leicester House. We began with egg decorating which they all thoroughly enjoyed. As part of the talk Irene was going to invite the residents and the guests to roll an egg. However one of the dear folk did not wait to hear the word, ‘gently’ and with gusto … No harm was done.

Tim was with us from Friday for a few days. He made it just before the snow of the afternoon. The following morning he decided to go down to the leisure centre for a sauna. I drove him down and took what I think are some of the best images of the season.

By Sunday more snow had fallen and was thick on ground. It looked as if it might take about half an hour to clear the car and the drive so Irene and I abandoned our attempt to go to church and instead walked with Tim to the leisure centre. People were enjoying the opportunity to sledge down the gentle slopes and I was impressed by the traffic light bravely trying shine through snow filled eyes with long icicles hanging below pointing in the direction of the traffic flow.

The much looked forward too replacement of the garage started on Wednesday when members of the New Stapleford Community Association gathered to empty the Association's garage of its contents.  After they departed I was left in the bitter cold to direct traffic into suitable safe spaces. Then came the demolition guys who made short work of the old building.

So far so good. I had expected the new building to arrive between 7.00 and 7.30 am. It arrived at the latter time. Having asked the men to make sure that garage was sufficiently far from the hall to be able to open the side door I was told that the new door could not be opened. I said, ‘Take the garage away then.’ I was then told that they could come back later to cut an opening in the overhanging facia. I said, ‘Take it away then.’ (I had a feeling that later could mean …) The boss said he could cut it roughly and tidy up later. Acceptable-just. Then came the killer blow. The delivered garage would not fit the base.

At this point my two friends/fellow committee members appeared. After tea and discussions the builders disappeared. Our estimate for work on the base stands at £850. We are not best pleased.

To back track. While waiting for the builders I took shots of the slowly disappearing snow and the blackbird which is busily removing our loft installation, making a mess and trying to build a nest.

We decided to use what was left of the day to go in search of camellias in the camellia house at Wollaton Park. This meant a stop-over at Wollaton for the ‘Cheese Cake Shop’ and hot chocolate.

At the park younger and older deer were roaming separately and then together. 

The camellia house was sparsely populated.

At the lake the reeds made a golden splash in the sun and in the reeds the moor hens made a splash as they vied for mating territory.

The following day (Good Friday) meant that the churches were supposed to be taking part in the annual ‘March of Witness’. But, due to legal reasons was reduced to a freezing cold service around the ‘Cross’ in the town square and an informal saunter to the ‘Baptist Church’ for hot cross buns and a drink.

David Mansfield
Leader of the Haven Church

On Saturday we made our trip to Milton Keynes. Nan was in good form and we enjoyed a game of ‘Scrabble’. We left earlier than usual to visit Tim, but Nan hardly noticed as she sped out of her room to feed a pair of dogs that were sitting in the lounge.

We had lunch with Tim who was on his own and then we set off back through heavy, but broken blizzards.

Joni and Fiona joined us for dinner. We played a game of Utopia, watched some television, ate some chocolate, drank some wine and went to bed.

Sunday followed our traditional plan. Irene went down stairs and out into the freezing morning air to pull some flowers out of the snow. Having set the table we had our morning tea before going back down to start on the chocolate from her Irene’s beautifully prepared table.

Irene and I went off to church and returned for or boiled eggs. Joni and Fiona once more joined us for the evening which went as the previous night except that we played ‘Ticket to Ride’ and the young people left us at the end of the evening.

It is now 1^st April and there are still a few pieces of frozen snow to be seen.