Fig Tree Cottage

The Skull Jellyfish

2012-02-03T16:01:00.003Z

After visiting Evil From The Needle for my clown tattoo back in October I spent a while speaking to Tash about how I would love a piece from Mark Ford.

Mark has a real unique and crazy style, and pretty much everything I've seen via his blog or on Facebook has had my jaw on floor exclaiming how freakin' cool it is!

My problem was a lot of my ink is planned, and I couldn't work out what to have him do or where it would go. But checking his blog a few days later had my mind buzzing - he was introducing "Freehand Friday", a time where he tattoos, on his day off, something he wants to do - freehand - and charges minimum price for.

We were back in Camden during November for Tash's birthday and I popped into the shop to have a chat with him to learn how he did things (re: Freehand Friday) and when we could arrange an appointment.

A date was set for early January, which got bumped a fortnight, and ended up being the 20th - two weeks ago. I had thrown a few ideas his way, but was really flexible as I just loved the idea of letting him run wild with what he wanted His artistic mind wanders down paths I never knew existed! I can see how such a lack of guidance or direction from a client would really frustrate an artist, and I hope it didn't piss him off too much - but a week or so before the appointment I saw him post about his desire to do a skull jellyfish. Now I like skulls. And I like creatures of the seas. So I threw him a message announcing my approval of that kinda idea.

Friday 20th rolled around and I was on a train as early as the family would allow and down to Camden in really good time. Mark and I had a quick chat about the ideas we had discussed, and we agreed to opt for the Skull Jellyfish to be placed down my left calf. Mark had even drawn up a stencil, which I really hadn't expected, and I could see straight away it was gonna be as mind blowing as all his other work.

Mark got his station set up and soon we were ready to get underway.

It was real nice for me to know that both of us had the day free, so there was no pressure coming from the clock, and I had the privilege of someone with his artistic talent running free on my leg with ideas that entered his head.

I've done a few long sessions in my time, but I think I must have been under the needle for about five hours - way longer than I had anticipated Mark to give me (in a good way) and the level of detail he put into it really blew my mind. And here's the finished piece. I absolutely love it and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last time Mark makes my skin more colourful!

I walked home in complete comfort, amazed at how good my leg felt after the abuse it had taken. And then had the next week of random shooting pains going down the back of my leg! You just gotta love the healing process!

Racecar Shack Build, Day Three

2012-01-24T21:41:00.000Z

After our previous successes with the Racecar Shack I hadn't expected to do much until the Fig Tree was moved, freeing up space for us to comfortably finish off the roof.

But things have dragged on with getting the Fig Tree moved, and then a few weeks ago we had a number of very windy days which took developments out of my hands. We had planned to move the enormous budlia, and in fact had hauled half of it down ourselves with a good piece of rope and a large amount of heave-ho!

It has now become apparent that our previous partial felling resulted in a slightly off-balance tree. An off-balance that when attacked by a few very windy days (as we suffered over 6th and 7th January) would result in the remainder of the tree coming down. On the plus side, this meant the tree was down! On the down side it meant I had to do some fence repair and tree removal as we were now sharing our budlia with the Social Club next door.

I was heading out to walk Harry and I noticed how light and spacious the back of the shack looked. And then I realised why!

And so I picked up the phone and rang Bill to see if he had plans for the weekend. Cos we had some chopping to do!

The weekend arrived and we got stuck in. When you jumped through into the Social it became appartent at just quite how large the budlia was!

Even as we got down to the larger branches there was still a huge amount laid the wrong side of the fence.

We got a little method worked and made pretty quick work of it. Before long the main trunk of the tree had been stood back up and felled back on itself and into our garden. This revealed the sorry state of the fence, and that the fence post had seen far better days.

I had an old fence post in the garden though, so although it meant more work it wasn't the end of the world. Due to lack of space, and the old fence post remains, we were left to drive in the new fence post with sheer brute force. The downwards end had a spike cut into it, and we then set about whacking the post into place. With just a lump hammer. Whilst stood on my wood chopping tree stump. Which was balanced on a picnic table in the garden of the social. But we got there though. And then we fashioned together what we could of the old fence panel.

We realised this left a handy man sized hole in the fence. Clearly we needed to patch this up to stop people coming through into the garden, but not before we made use of it to escape into the Social for a quick pint.

Our drinks were rudely interupted when my phone rang and my beloved wife informed me that our son had been creating mahem all afternoon and what the hell was I doing having a pint. In truth she needn't have rung, we could hear her as clearly as if the properties had been terraced!

And so we finished off the fence, patched together with a few shelves that were previously in that unit by the back door. There are no photos. It had got dark whilst we were in the Social!

Bill made a dash for home before we sat down for food as he had some of his own wind damage to repair, but as we neared the end of our meal it became very clear just how crazy had been during the afternoon. He had properly worn himself out!

Cycling Training Update

2012-01-17T00:20:00.000Z

I realise that since posting about the planned cycle trip to Gibraltar I have been very shy of updates.

I don't really know why that is as loads has been happening. My planned routine was to have a big ride on the weekend and smaller rides during the week. My big weekend ride would increase by 10 miles each month, starting with 20 miles in September, then 30 in October, 40 in November and so on.

Training in September and October went really well, but things slowed a little during November and December due to Esme's birth. Following Christmas I was back out on the bike with a 40 mile ride which seemed far more comfortable than I imagined it would.

I shifted my training plan slightly and now aim to ride 50 miles in January, 60 in February, 70 in March, 80 in April and then 90 in May which should see me being very comfortable for the days in the saddle during the cycle to Gib.

The New Year signalled just five months until the trip, and focused a lot of my thoughts onto what bike I would complete the ride on. I had been training on my mountain bike, but I've known for a long time that I would look to ride a road bike on the journey.

With sales everywhere, and Tash and I having a lot of time at the moment, I started looking at bikes. More research than anything, but of course the inevitable happened. I found something that was just what I wanted and at a fantastic price! I sat on the 2012 Trek 1.1 which would have cost £550, but really wanted to step up to the 1.2 which came with extra kit (most notable a 9 speed cassette) but would have cost £700. A bit of looking around and I found the 2011 model of the 1.2 for £500! Bang on budget, and £50 less than the bottom spec 2012 model I was looking at!

Many thanks go to my Dad for helping me fund such a purchase at such short notice, and two days later my new set of wheels were parked up in the barn!

Keen to keep training, and get out on the bike, I did a ride last week one evening in temperature about 4 degrees. I was actually warm enough, and still in shorts, although my feet certainly got cold!

The weekend arrived and I was planning my first 50 mile cycle. I sorted a lovely route and Friday night sorted all my gear for an early start on Saturday. I wanted to be on the bike by 7am, a time I found out when everything was going to be frozen and with the sun not yet up neither were the temperatures! As a result I planned a pair of thermals for under my shorts, 2 pairs of thermal socks for my feet and a pair of socks to go over my cycling shoes!

All that gear may sound stupid, and I bet I sure as hell looked it, but I hate the cold and I always get hit in toes. I left on time and after 5 miles or so I'd warmed up my fingers and my feet were doing OK. All that changed by the time I reached 15 though and my feet were really feeling it and I seemed unable to do anything to warm my toes. I was cycling through lots of freezing fog which resulted in moisture forming on my eyelashes and my eyelashes freezing together! I decided to turn around, happy with a 30 miles ride in such unfriendly conditions!

Maybe I sound like a wuss, but by the time I got home this was how my feet looked!

Yup, I had frost on the outside of my socks! You can imagine how my toes were doing!

And I did the the majority of the ride without being able to refuel as my energy drinks froze up too!

I can see why Cavendish flies out to Italy for his winter training now!

How Fire Is Made

2012-01-13T08:42:00.000Z

Its Friday, you all want the day to end. Well waste 6 minutes watching this then!

A Few More Squeezed Into The Ark!

2012-01-10T22:13:00.001Z

I write this update with somewhat mixed emotions.

We had been down to one chicken since the end of last summer when one of our last birds was diagnosed with having mites. Sadly, and obviously, she didn't make it and with the whole chicken run to herself our final bird went off the lay. That is not why I am a touch sad though, that part comes later.

And so for a number of weeks I spoke about us acquiring a few more birds, and with winter approaching I wanted them not only for eggs but also for warmth for our current lone girl. I was aware that a change in EU legislation regarding keeping battery hens was coming into force, but I didn't really know much about it. But then just a few weeks before Christmas I got an email from the Battery Hens Welfare Trust saying something like "you've had chooks from us before, and due to the change of legislation we have a load of birds becoming available - would you consider taking on a few more?" And of course I jumped at the chance, it was just what we were after!

And so we drove (the Benz scraped/ploughed) our way across the B roads of Britain to Bishops Stortford to grab our three new birds. They settled in pretty quick, and have been on the lay since day 1! With the coop now being cleaned out regularly with this anti-mite stuff I am hopeful they will be our longest surviving birds yet! They only thing is that with three new scrawny birds (though they are much healthier than the three we got a few years back) it makes our 'resident' bird look exceptionally fit and healthy ... and plump and tasty! ;o)

Here the all are!

They get quite regular free time around the garden now too as Harry proved my earlier suspicions that he would be fine with chickens, if maybe a little excitable at times. Though seeing a dog trying to sniff a chickens arse is a bizarre sight!

That period between Christmas and New Year can often be a bit 'nothing'. Not really festive, but nothing really to do. This year seemed really different though, and on December 28th we made a visit to the Koi centre which is just up the road from us. We go there fairly often, previously when Neo (my Leopard Gecko) was alive for his food, and now just to show Alfie all the cool fish and reptiles. There must be something about the inter Xmas/New Year period that leads me to have a desire to make rather impulsive reptilian purchases. I acquired Neo at that time back around 1999, and on this day we walked out with a Anerythristic Corn Snake. Alfie loved he, he actually chose it, and they are great pets for kids - and I really fancied a snake. We had the viv, heating, hides etc ready to go and so went home to get it set up before collecting him that evening.

I then did a load of research and learnt how to let them settle, and most importantly that they are proper escape artists! They can even flatter their heads which means they can get through gaps just a few mm big - and with ours being just 6 months old he's pretty small! The viv is an old fish tank and so I made the lid temporarily escape proof before making a new lid. I did this on Saturday (Jan 7th), but clearly there must have been a tiny gap somewhere as the bugger had packed his bags and gone to see the wider world by Monday morning! I'm pretty gutted about it, and I'm preying he makes an appearance soon. There are many tales of Corns disappearing for days/weeks/months on end so I am trying to keep positive that he'll reappear somewhere. In the meantime there are water dishes everywhere, his viv is on the floor, his hide is on the floor with the heat mat under it, and there are many bottle traps been set. The bottle traps have a furry in each one and as he is due to be fed today I hope he'll come out in the search for food soon!

And so if you happen to visit FTC please keep your eyes out for a snake who looks something like this chap.

Esme Simone Batsford - Born 24/11/11

2012-01-06T21:26:00.001Z

The frantic period of Alfie's Birthday, Esme's Birth and then Christmas has put me massively behind with my blogging, and so I'm hoping to find some time to catch up with things over forthcoming days.

As we expected Esme was late, but we had wonderful support from our Independant Midwives and Mel our fantastic friend and Doula. I won't go into all the details here, I'm sure Tash will do that on her Maybe Diaries blog, and so the short version is that after three days of labouring in our birth pool at home we referred into Bedford Hospital where Esme was born 24th November 2011 at 10am.

Tash spent the next week in hospital as the doctors ran test after test to initially work out why she was short of breathe, and then to try and deduce what heart problems had reared their heads. Its now January 6 and we still don't know exactly what happened, and are very much in the dark as to why it all happened. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that further tests are coming Tash's way!

Anyway, after a week of me playing mummy (which included collecting donor breast milk and feeding Esme myself as by now Esme had been discharged) finally Tash joined her back at FTC and it was lovely to be home together as a family.

In our final moments cuddled up together on the sofa before we transferred in to hospital I suggested to Tash that it might be nice to finish off our 'birth experience' back in the birth pool as we had planned all along. And so with us all back home we refilled the pool once again and had a lovely time with Alfie and Esme in the water. It took Esme a little while to get used to it, but Alfie thought Christmas had come early!

Welcome to the world my darling daughter, now the fun and games really begin!

Alfie's 2nd Birthday!

2011-12-11T20:56:00.001Z

The past month has simply flown by! One day we're at Colchester Zoo then all of a sudden its the middle of December and I'm sat on the sofa as a family of four! So yeah, lots has happened in the past month, obviously including the birth of our daughter Esme, which gives me loads to catch up on over the next few days and weeks!

But before I get to that I must first catch up with the wonderful day we had at Colchester Zoo on November 12th to celebrate Alfie's 2nd birthday. We were joined by my Dad, Tasha's Mum and Dad, all of his Aunties (Dawn, Ammie and Michi) as well as Bill, Linz, Tom and Team Ferg (Sal, Dave, Dan, Joe and Jess).

Colchester Zoo has changed loads since I was last there, and it was excellent to see all the new attractions. Bill and Dawn both told tales of an amazing ant colony which we never managed to find though :o(

Amongst the new attractions were some parrots - which incidentally squawk very loudly - and some cool black and orange monkeys whose enclosure you can walk through and get real close to.

Alfie was certainly a fan! In fact he gave it a firm 'thumbs up!'

We had a good mooch about the reptile enclosure, and Tash got to hold the MOTHER of all stick insects!

One of the reasons we had decided to visit Colchester Zoo was the fact you can feed the elephants. I've always loved that, and with Alfie having something of an elephant obsession I figured he'd love it ... as long as their immense size didn't scare him off!

Amazingly he didn't bat an eyelid and we must have gone around three or four times giving these big ole ele's their veg! Judging by Sal's reaction I think feeding the elephants might have made her year too! With me taking Alfie round I wasn't able to get any photos, but I'm guessing Fred will have some as in traditional fashion he was like this most of the day.

Lunch came around fast, and we pretty much took over the on-site Pizza place. With all the tables lined up we sat down to some of Colchester finest Italian offerings!

We had arrived early and dropped off the cake to the eatery to save me having to carry it around all morning. I was going to make Alfie something nice and dazzling ... but then remembered he was two and so decided to go for the 'chocolate overload + all the smarties' option.

The afternoon was largely spent around aquatics creatures - or at least that's the story my photos tell! The Sea Lions and there underwater viewing tunnel were a massive hit, and we managed to catch feeding time at the Penguins. The kids loved them;

By about 4pm we were all shattered. Largely from chasing Alfie around. Dan, Joe and Jess had done the wise thing and decided to grab a nap, but not Alfie who seemed to think he was an Energiser bunny. Still, it was his birthday after all.

Alfie Batsford - 24 Pictures for 24 Months!

2011-11-12T07:00:00.000Z

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

Racecar Shack Build, Day Two

2011-10-31T16:17:00.000Z

Weekend just gone (Oct 29/30) Bill paid FTC a visit to help me complete the first stage of the racecar shack build.

This is where we got up to last time if you don't remember.

In the few weeks since his first visit I'd sorted 8 metal roofing sheets, the 'special' nails for the sheets, as well as the hangers and wood for us to erect another joist.

Friday night was a little later than planned, and that plus an early Saturday morning F1 Quali session saw us a little slow to start. We quickly realised we were light on wood for the noggings so decided on a swift visit to wickes ... and calculated en-route (with the use of a dusty Benz dashboard) that if we could get 360cm lengths of wood we would be able to notch them - and the joists - and get everything to interlock nicely. This was a little too much use of the little grey cells for such an early hour, and so after loading the wood into the Benz we dived into the adjacent fast food retaurant for a flame grilled wopper!

Once we got back lunch time was fast approaching and so we got busy erecting the second joist;

and then notched our first nogging;

followed by notching of the joists;

and nogging No1 was in place by the time round two of burgers were ready (this time flame grilled on the Barbie!)

With one already done we were quickly into our rhythm;

and the remaining notching went super fast ... but it always helps when Tim from next door passes over a couple of pints!

With the woodwork complete it was time to throw the tin sheets up!

And 45 mintes later we had a full roofed front section of the shack!

Now's time to get the Fig Tree moved, and then the rest of the shelter can be erected up to the barn. More tin sheets will go down to extend the roofing and it'll be an awesome usable waterproof space! By the end of the day Bill and I were pretty proud of our achievements, its just a shame this photo only accomodates one - thanks though mate, I couldn't have done it without you!!

Ciao Marco!

2011-10-31T15:43:00.000Z

Every once in a while something happens in life that stops you in your tracks, and makes everything else in life seem totally insignificant.

Such an occasion happened last Sunday (23rd) when Marco Simoncelli was tragically killed at Sepang. I can't quite put my finger on why, but its something thats really hit me. I was a massive fan of his and watched him progress through the lower classes up to MotoGP. His tall build and crazy big hair set him a unique figure, and there was many an occasion when I referred to Alfie as 'Marco' or 'Simmo' due to his crazy hair tendancies.

When I watched him on a 250 you could tell he'd make it. He had that something about him that seperates the great riders from the good. And, much like his close friend Valentino Rossi, he had that Italian charm and broken English which always seems to go down well with the English crowd. Toby Moody commented in his blog about the way Sic used to say "Ciao Tobbee" and even though I never heard him utter those words you can just imagine him saying them!

I think its the events of this year that have really made his death so untimely, and a factor to why I've found myself spending the past week rewatching interviews, searching for pictures and yesterday (Thursday) watching the Italian stream of his funeral.

My friend Barry Kidney only started watching MotoGP this year, he said he was looking for the outsider to cheer on, someone who might be able to take on the big boys. I said Simoncelli was the man, the last race of the 2010 season had shown he wasn't to be pushed around by anyone, even if that meant upsetting the current champion Jorge Lorenzo.

With Rossi struggling to sort this years Ducati it meant most MotoGP races were quite processional - I said to many people this year that MotoGP was only worth watching till Simoncelli binned it. He was the one to watch, the one pushing the boundaries, and the new boy taking it to the 'aliens'. He had factory support - Honda could see how great he was going to be - but he was still on an independent bike and it was clear he would be chasing wins this year. You could see this was going to be a learning year for Sic, a year where the exploration of the boundaries would result in a few trips to the kitty litter but you knew would also bring podiums. That isn't a slight on his ability, I remember Stoner and Lorenzo highsiding themselves into orbit whilst they learnt exactly where the 'line' lies.

And it was great to watch, his tall 6ft+ frame like a preying mantis on the Honda whilst all around him were 5ft nothing jockeys trying to hold on to 230+bhp monsters.

Only three races in and Lorenzo was taking shots, but Marco seemed to take it all in his stride.

But then came Le Mans. Simoncelli knew he was quick, we all felt his first podium was just around the corner. He made a hard move coming back against Pedrosa. Pedrosa went down and broke a collar bone. Im still not convinced Simmo was wrong, but either way it was exactly the kind of racing us fans want to be watching! If you haven't seen it, this is the best video i've found of the incident, but I can't seem to embed it into the blog easily.

Simoncelli got a ride through pentaly which I felt was riduculously harsh, and a large portion of the MotoGP paddock seemed to turn on him.

Three weeks later Sic had an unfortunate highside on the first lap, and his crash took out Lorenzo. A week later Dani Pedrosa refused to shake his hand at Mugello.

All this did was endear him me - and all his fans - even more though. This is clearly shown in this interview at the British GP (which fell between Catalunya and Assen) - his Italian charm there for all to see!

For a few weeks we lost our 'SuperSic', his confidence clearly had taken a knock and he just wanted to get some finishes under his belt. He looked a more mature rider than his 24 years suggested, and you sensed it was a step forward. Then since the summer break he'd nailed consecutive fourth places before a career best 2nd (and his first podium) just two weeks ago at Phillip Island.

He was back on the up, and as he went into the Malaysian Grand Prix he must have fancied himself for victory. Certainly none of us ever imagined what would play out last weekend.

I remember thinking mid season how happy I would be for him when he won his first race, however he was taken from us before he had the chance to pop that feather in his cap. Without doubt I think he will always be the greatest World Champion that there never was.

Ciao Marco, you were a breath of fresh air to MotoGP!

As Matt Roberts said in his excellent blog, "Motorcycle racing brought Marco Simoncelli to his death but it also brought him to life" and when aboard his Gresini Honda he came alive like no other!

Alfies First Baking Adventure

2011-10-19T08:02:00.000Z

OK, so on Monday I had a super productive day. I made the most awesome tomato, mini pumpkin and chili soup for dinner and it was all sat with fresh bread ready to eat before Tash got home ... and so I had the genius idea of prepping some ingredients to bake some cakes with Alfie.

The plan was to get everything ready so we could do it when Tash got home ... cos I was sure it was gonna take two to monitor Alfie with floury ingredients!

Everything was kept simple, ideal for a child with about a 13 second attention span - and what could be more perfect than vanilla cupcakes with a chocolate frosting/icing!!

The cake recipe was 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 100g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 eggs ... and Alfie was only too keen to help out with the measuring, literally diving in with two hands!

And he mastered the electric mixing quick-smart, and only tried to stick his fingers in the whisk attachments about four times! (which I considered a success!)

Tash measured out the batter into the cupcake cases and each one was baked at 160 for about 20 minutes. Whilst the cakes baked Alfie got on with cleaning the whisk attachments!

Once cooled I gave half of the cakes a chocolate frosting and half a chocolate icing (cos my awkward wife doesn't like frosting apparently). Far from baked works of art, they are however baked gems of tasty joy! Alfie confirms this with lots of pointing at the cake stand accompanied with 'mmmmmmmmm' noises.

Incidentally, if you would like to learn how to decorate cupcakes properly (not like my half arsed attempts) then you might like to know my gorgeous friend Holly Bell (who was in the final three of this year Great British Bake Off) is now running classes up in Leicestershire. She's got a real eye for this kinda thing, and I can guarantee she'll be the most welcoming host and helpful teacher. Click here to be taken to her website where you can book your place!

The Tomato Harvest

2011-10-18T09:40:00.002Z

Every year I plant a large number of tomato plants, and this year I focused on some bigger varieties with the aim of a bumper crop.

I been slow posting these pics, but you can see that by mid Sept they veg had well and truly taken over the garden! The tomatoes were growing like crazy, and some weird mini pumpkins had decided to grow all across the gravel paths!

Alfie started picking a few a number of weeks back;

And I picked a load to ripen up whilst we were away last weekend. And yes, that one at the front is ONE tomato!

But before then I collected about 1.5kg of ripe toms and made the most awesome sauce. Its kinda the reason I grew them, I wanted a big stock of sauce ready to go for pasta and pizza bases.

So here's what you do. In a big stock pot sweat an onion in a good glug (or five) of olive oil. Add a diced apache chili. Add your 1.5kg of toms (chopped). Once they start to reduce and give out a little liquid add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and just under a tablespoon of caster sugar. Leave over a low heat until it has reduced to the consistency you desire.

When needed, just add a generous handful of fresh basil and it is tomato perfection!

Racecar Shack Build, Day One

2011-10-12T19:10:00.003Z

For a long time now I've wanted to get a shelter built off the back of the barn. A place for the racecar to live, and somewhere for me to start its rebuild with a roof over my head.

Short of funds for a complete garage to be built I decided a carport would be a suitable solution to the problem. A recent call to Bill had him booked in to help out with the erection and a phone call to Less2Build had the materials with me by Thursday.

On Saturday morning it was time to clear some space!

And got the woodburner fired up to give us a helping hand.

We spent a while measuring everything out, working our which way the posts were going to line. With the barn and the adjacent fence not being at right angles we had to work out which way the 'square' of our four posts was going to line. With everything planned I ran out to grab some postcrete whilst Bill went about digging some holes!

I returned to find all holes dug, and so we set about mocking up the posts and setting them into place.

With the posts set in place we went about measuring the joist position whilst accommodating a 6 inch slope for the rainwater run off.

It was looking good, and Bill gave it the thumbs up! Proper job!

It was about this time I learnt a valuable lesson. When tapping coachbolts into place don't leave a lump hammer on the top of the step ladder ... cos if you lose your bearings and try and step off the wrong side of the step ladder not only will you fall on the floor, but the step ladder will also fall on top of you throwing said lump hammer right between your legs from about 5ft up!

Once I'd finished jumping about and my voice had dropped back down to a normal level we got everything finished off.

All properly finished off with recessed coachbolts and right angle brackets in the corners!

With everything done for the day we made the most of the last half hour of daylight to try and remove some off the abundance of tree and shrubbery near the fig tree. I'm pleased to say that most of the budlia is now gone! Its amazing what a few blokes can do with a piece of rope and a bit of heave-ho!

Next up is to move the fig tree, and then the whole carport will be extended to join the barn. In the meantime I'll probably add another joist, brace it with a few noggins, and then lay a nice tin roof over what we've already built. A perfect shack to build a racecar under!

Making The Most of The Indian Summer

2011-10-05T13:54:00.000Z

Last weekend the calendars clicked over to October. I suppose that really marks the start of Autumn, but due to the freak 30+degree heat it was more like summer than anytime during June, July or August!

I was loving it, happier than a shark at a surf festival, and with a perfect weekend already planned the weather would prove to be the icing on the cake.

Due to post-Gathering activities I hadn't even made it to a single Villa home Premier League game this season, but with my Dad out of the country I had been left the pair of season tickets and I had no intention of missing the game on Saturday. The only spanner in my plan was the fact Tash was away at the NCT AGM for the day. Due to the wonders of social media I learn my pal Nathan was 'home alone' for the weekend and so invited him to join me for the day ... and help me try and keep Alfie reigned in! Part of me was dreading it, but mostly I couldn't wait to take Alfie to Villa Park for the first time.

All in all we had a cracking day - whats better than football in the sunshine!? Alfie slept on the way up, we arrived just before kick-off giving just enough time to grab a photo, a programme and of course his first Aston Villa scarf!

The game flew by, and Alfie found himself easily amused; mostly by the people around him, bouncing beach balls in the crowd, or birds that he thought he could see. With Villa rounding out 2-0 winners there was plenty of opportunity to clap which also pleased him a lot!

Sunday rolled round, a date I had been massively excited about for a long time. It was time for me to collect some more ink!

I had spotted the picture of the clown in the art store based above Casemates in Gibraltar back in 2007 - oddly enough the same place and same time as Tash found the image of her 'birds' that she had tattoo'd. I loved the image right away, it just made me smile. It kinda said to me to keep a smile on your face, even when the world is pissing down upon you. And as time passed this image kinda grew with me, and always seem relevant and appropriate to my life. The clown / the entertainer / the stay at home Dad, and the ducks as the family. I think that comes back to something I heard Tash say years ago, something about "no-one cuts up her ducks". That's why there is only one duck - to represent Alfie - and others will be added as future children arrive.

My only problem was Tash finds clowns freaky, and so didn't have the same affection for the picture that I did. I dunno if I just wore her down or if she changed her mind but eventually I managed to make the comment "I'm gonna have my clown tattoo'd" and I didn't get the response "I'll divorce you if you do!". And with that a deposit was laid down (thanks Sal!) and come Sunday I was ready to go under the needle once more.

We jumped on the train;

and whilst Alfie slept we found a lovely little Sushi place down Camden Lock;

of course it wasn't long till he woke up and joined us for some food;

saw a lovely poo-brown Porsche 911;

before arriving at Evil From The Needle, the shop where Jeff Ortega works from (and owns).

It was lovely to just sit down and chill whilst being tattoo'd ... and whilst Alfie ran Tash ragged for a change! Does that say something, that I'd rather have a man stick needles in me than be in charge of my son?? lol. Jeff let me take some 'in progress' shots;

And here's the finished piece, I am absolutely over the moon with it! Jeff, if you read this, thanks man!!!

Parenthood

2011-09-30T23:09:00.001Z

Alfie has reached 'that age', an age where he is MAX everything. Exploring the boundaries of everything ... from the basic limits of 'klutz' right through to the edges of my patience.

Today is an ideal example of this, and Tash rightly pointed out I should make a note of such events for future reference.

The morning was crazy, trying to get stuff sorted around the house and some bits prepared for the weekend. We've had this freak 27+ degree weather recently and so it seemed the ideal opportunity to let Alfie play and run around whilst I was in the kitchen ... meaning he had full access to the kitchen as well as the garden.

With bottles filled and buckets brimmed he went about causing mayhem ... requiring me every few minutes to correct his behaviour. First he tried to 'superman' through his chair, then it was attempting to steal knives from the kitchen worktop, covering the garden path in a carpet of straw, trying to break into the barn ....

For 5 minutes I had my back turned to make some pastry. I turned back round to find the outside was inside. A perfect tripwire lined up behind me consisting of watering cans, buckets, playhouse stools, dog bowls ...

You know that film Parenthood? Remember that little kid? If not, let me jog your memory;

Well Tash and I have often said "thats gonna be Alfie!" .... And then this morning it finally happened ...

But lunch would come and afterwards he would nap and I could straighten out the house. Or so I thought. We had lunch and he was put to bed, that much is true. But nap he did not. After an hour of listening to what could easily be mistaken for seismic activity in his bedroom I figured a) he might as well play outside if he was awake and b) I'd better see what destruction he was up to. Amongst his usual destruction it appears he can now remove pictures from his walls via the cunning bed/storage box combo!

Once back downstairs he continued from where he left off. Largely using his little stool to gain as much height as he could manage. He climbed the chicken pen;

He tried to whack the washing with a fishing pole;

He climbed up to the kitchen light switches. And when he got caught he gave me that 'what? I wouldn't do anything wrong' look;

He climbed the raised beds;

And he even tried to mount an escape!

And so my day finishes and I am totally shattered. Absolutely cream crackered. But truth be told I wouldn't have it any other way!

De donde eres? Soy de Madrid!

2011-09-28T13:58:00.000Z

As soon as I learnt Tasha's Dad was working in Madrid I had been keen to arrange an opportunity for Alfie and I to visit. Stories of an apartment around the corner from the Santiago Bernabeu had me itching to board a flight to see a city I briefly glimpsed in 1998; then to visit Real's local rivals Athletico Madrid.

And so with The Gathering done and dusted we cashed in some Air Miles and last Monday (12th) Tash dropped Alfie and I off at Heathrow Airport to board a BA flight to Madrid. We were there by 7:30am, and after over 2 hours of Airport Athletics we were finally able to board our plane ... to share a seat for the next 2 hours. Thankfully BA seats are fairly spacious and we managed OK, largely aided by the check-in desk having left the seat next to me empty!

We arrived at Madrid Airport, somehow stumbled our way through the minefield of travellators and escalators, and eventually found ourselves at baggage reclaim. By now it was lunchtime, and I had been with Alfie - but without buggy - for over five hours! All I wanted to see was that Land Rover luggage appear so I could finally put him down! At which point I realised there weren't many people about. And there was virtually no sign of ANY luggage on our carousel at all. And then it appeared, the only piece of luggage going round ... no, not Alfie's buggy, but the extending handle of some poor sod's samsonite. I laughed. Alfie laughed. My recently gathered fellow passengers ... didn't laugh. They clearly haven't seen this Rhod Gilbert sketch ...

Fred met us at the airport, and we jumped on the metro to head across to the apartment where Fred and Lydia stay.

With our cases unloaded we set off for a wander. Just 5 minutes down the road is the Santiago Bernabeu, and as we took a stroll towards it I noticed what the Spanish call a petrol station. Basically a pump in a bus stop - I'd hate to be a biker around here, there must be diesel all over the roads!

We rounded the corner and there in front of me was the enormous concrete theatre - Santiago Bernabeu! Not the most attractive of venues, but certainly imposing.

It was then a case of finding a bar for a drink, followed by a venue for food. This was pretty much the same scenario every evening. Not just so we had an excuse for a drink, but due to the fact the Spaniards don't do dinner till gone 8pm.

I'm not your typical tourist, I don't visit somewhere and look to hit all the attractions, I just like to 'exist' in a place and watch it all happen around me. However Madrid was slightly different; obviously I wanted to see the Bernabeu and I was desperately keen to visit the Angel Nieto Museum. Unless you're into Motorbike Grand Prix racing you probably won't know him, but he's quite a legend. Anyway, Tuesday morning we negotiated the Metro to find ourself in the opposite end of Madrid and greeted by this;

Right place, wrong time. Royally the wrong time too, as the exact four days I was in Madrid happened to be the exact four days they were closed! I peeked through the windows at the displays of trophies but I wonder what other joys I missed. It sure looks like it needs a tidy up though, I can't imagine the Italians ever letting Rossi's future museum getting into this state! Btw, the 12+1 is recognition of his thirteen world championships ... but he was very superstitious!

So what did we do? Why we sat down to eat of course! And I had a cerveza in THE BEST Mahou chilled mug!

We then made our way back, Alfie fell asleep, and I managed to grab a 20 minute siesta (I had been up since 4am!) before our planned tour of the Bernabeu. It kicked off at 6pm, and was a brisk walk through the home of the most successful football club in Europe. If I was on my own I would have felt robbed - it was too fast, and covered too little. But I was carrying Alfie the whole way round so actually I was pretty glad it was so rapid!

By the time we had completed the stadium tour it was 7pm, and Fred had made it across from work to join us. Which meant it was "drinks followed by food" 'O' clock.

Wednesday arrived, and as Fred had taken the day off work we had planned to visit Madrid Zoo.

As I mentioned, I'm not a great fan of 'attractions' but I was quite looking forward to taking Alfie to the zoo. He's at that age where he has a massive interest in animals, and seems to love elephants. I couldn't wait to show him the real life versions that really go PAWOO! I was right to look forward to it too, for I was truly blown away by just how good the zoo was!

Just a few weeks prior I had been so impressed with Shepreth because of their lack of 'cages' and Madrid was very similar. It is possible to house man eating monsters without trapping them behind steel bars.

After Alfie did a lot of running, and we had checked out the sharks in the underwater enclosure, we stumbled across a display of birds of prey and various other feathered oddities.

What amazed me was that the birds we free to leave the arena, and it seemed to me as if they were free to land where they wanted. This massive eagle landed just behind us on a bin, and at one point was on top of the lamp post we were stood next to!

As we meandered around we happened to stumble upon the dolphin arena, just as they were getting ready for their next show.

We grabbed a seat, and I have to be honest the whole experience very nearly brought a tear to my eye. Alfie is quite familiar with animals, but it occurred to me he would have no idea that a dolphin might jump out of the water or put on a display for him.

He was truly gobsmacked, and concentrated so hard on the whole experience there was no energy left for an expression on his face!

After all that excitement Alfie fell asleep. It was about 1pm (so too early for lunch in Spain) and the mercury was up around 37 degrees! We opted to find some shelter and sink a drink whilst Alfie recharged his batteries. Once he awoke it was time for lunch, and then onto more zoo based adventures.

Amongst many others we saw Anteaters;

Giraffes;

The 12 month old Panda cubs;

And of course the ELEPHANTS!

Do you think he had fun?

You may know that Alfie has a stuffed toy Koala, which has taken the name Walla, and unsurprisingly the zoo had an enclosure with a pair of Koala's. Being nocturnal they were both asleep, and I was amazed at how close to the real thing Alfie's stuffed toy was! So was Alfie, as for a few minutes he seemed quite distressed at having to leave Walla behind a glass panel!

Madrid Zoo also has a 'Madagasca' themed area. We walked past and saw a sign saying you can go in the enclosure with a guide for 'x' Euro's. I wondered what they meant by that, cos surely you can't go in with those crazy monkeys, right? I was proved wrong, and those monkey are actually very friendly little folk. When Alfie spotted a few up against the edge of their enclosure he did what he does with all animals - and tried to feed them stones!

Metro home, and it was soon time to head out for food. We had spotted the local Harley dealership setting up an event outside the Bernabeu the previous night, and so took a stroll down their for BBQ and a beer.

An evening outside a football ground, surrounded by bikes, BBQ and beer ... does life get better? Oh yeah, traditional Spanish baked offerings too!!

On Thursday I got my day of 'mooching'. Taking it easy amongst Madrid, as life goes on around me. Tasha's Mum took us past the 'Kings Crib';

The Cathedral;

And then whilst Alfie grabbed some shut-eye we found a nice little place to eat. By the time he awoke it was lunch time and we dined well!

We meandered our way through the streets of Madrid, stopping off at a few shops along the way, until we found ourself right in the middle of Madrid!

Another evening was enjoyed, and before we knew it it was Friday morning. Just enough time to grab a map of Madrid (for planning the bike ride) and a Real Madrid lapel pin souvenir before we had to board the Metro once more, this time bound for the airport to board a plane home.

A perfect week away, and what could be a better welcome than have your wife meet you in the arrivals area of Heathrow!?! Except I kinda took the edge of that surprise by calling Tash as we went through customs to ask where she was ....

Poppy Seed Roll Loaf

2011-09-07T06:06:00.000Z

This one's for Urvashi!

After last weekend's joyful stollen my thoughts once again turned to a sweet loaf to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea. Lacking marzipan, but with an abundance of poppy seeds I turned my focus to a rolled poppy seed loaf.

The rest of this post is going to be fast and simple and to the point - Alfie has just woken up, so I need to get up to him before he manages to further his attempts at bookcase basejumping.

Ingredients;
350g bread flour
3g salt (don't scrimp on it here Urvashi!)
25g caster sugar
10g dry yeast/20g fresh yeast
120g milk
1 egg, beaten
50g butter, melted
115g icing sugar
lemon juice
water
almonds

Warm your milk. Add the yeast. In a bowl add the flour, salt & caster sugar. Once the yeast has done its thing, add the milk, egg and butter to the bowl. Mix together, turn out onto your worksurface and knead until nice and elastic. Clean the bowl, gather your dough into a ball, and place the dough in the bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to double.

Whilst the dough goes about its business make the filling. Get about 120g poppy seeds and pour boiling water over them. Once cooled, strain through a fine sieve. Melt about 50g butter in a pan, add the poppy seeds and cook for a minute or two. Remove from the heat and add 75g caster sugar, 50g ground almonds, 50g candied peel, 75g raisins and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Leave to cool.

Once the dough had doubled in bulk turn it out onto your worksurface, knock back and spread out into a shape roughly the size of a magazine page. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a little gap around the edge, and then roll up from one of the long edges. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with lightly oiled clingfilm. Leave to double.

Get your oven warmed to 190 degrees and once the dough is ready bake for 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

To finish mix the icing sugar with about a tablespoon of the lemon juice and add whatever water might be required to give a nice glaze that just runs off the back of a spoon. Drizzle said glaze over the loaf and add a few almonds to make it all look pretty.

This recipe is winner. Alfie says so. He even prefers it to pecan pie! Speaking of the 'child of max doom', I'd better go get him up now ...

Back On Two Wheels

2011-09-06T08:39:00.000Z

This is another one of those blog posts which is me attempting to catch up with events 'pre-Gathering'.

Having built the single speed I decided I wanted another mountain bike to hack about around the local trails and get some fitness back. Running around after a 'nearly two year old' can be tiring work, and Tash had warned me I would need todo something about my fitness!

And so I started pricing up frames, forks and cranksets on ebay and came to the conclusion I could get much better value for money by buying new. And so my research began. I must have spent about two months checking out the spec of bikes, working out which things I had to have and which areas I was happy to compomise on. I found Genesis Bikes, a British company who's bikes had fantastic reviews. The frame was highly regarded, and it came with a nice spec Rock Shox fork. Test ride done, my mind was made up.

I took delivery about a month ago, along with a new bash hat and a pair of gloves, and have been trying desperately hard to rack up the miles. Not just to get fit, but because there is a bigger agenda on the cards now. A while back Tash got a British Heart Foundation leaflet through the door, and amonst its pages were details on a cycle fundraising activity that they do - 'clock to rock'. This is a bicycle ride from Big Ben down to Gibraltar. As you can imagine, this pressed a button with me; not only cos it involved Gibraltar but also because it would be a real test of personal endurance.

There was no way I was going to sign up to the £6k commitment, but it got me thinking about doing it on my own. After speaking with Tasha's Dad recently he's bang up for it as well, and so it appears that next May we will attempt to cycle the length of Spain down to Gibraltar!

Tash is great at planning these kind of adventures, she has previous after our tour round Ireland on our motorbikes, and knowing what we were planning she set about finding hostels down the length of Spain that we could reach without having to cycle on major roads. I'll get a copy of the map uploaded soon, but its looking like about 850 miles over 10 days!

I really cannot wait for this, and I'm getting in all the training that I can. I'm cycling about 20 miles a ride, about twice a week, quite comfortably at the moment.

Obviously I won't be attempting such a long road ride on a mountain bike, and after Tash stuck a post on Freecycle I acquired a Raleigh Phoenix road bike that about 15 years old. It needs a good service and overhaul but thats something I'm really looking forward to doing. It even came with the original purchase documents! Once the weather really turns, and I can't ride the local trails, I'll turn to cycling the roads during the cold winter months on the Raleigh. That part I'm not looking forward to so much!

Feed Him To The Tigers!

2011-09-05T15:27:00.000Z

And so with it being Bank Holiday Monday, and our son in his usual Pterrordactyl mood, we decided to find our most local Tigers to feed our little son too!

I still live in a world lit by candlelight (she never lets me have the light on in the lounge ya see) and the simplest of technological advances blow me away. Wondering what to do with an additional day to our weekend I successfully discovered an unknown wildlife park, found its opening times, and even worked out how much it would cost us ..... from the breakfast table ..... ON MY PHONE!!

So we set off for Shepreth Wildlife Park, only about 30 mins from us but we never knew it was there! They have weird furry creatures, guaranteed to be a hit with kids!

And all of the exhibits are within enclosures that have fairly low walls so you can see in really easy, which makes you feel a lot closer to the animals. There was some really well thought out pens too. I neglected to include the animals in this shot, so god only who was inside, but it looks like a fun place to be don'tyathink?

It definitely wasn't the weird furry creatures though, they were elsewhere still eating lunch!

All these open pens did have me slightly concerned for when it came to the Tigers. Although I figured it would make it easier to feed Alfie to them!

I was relieved to find them safety contained behind some steel mesh though. The same steel mesh that the local chicken shop says won't keep out foxes! But I guess foxes won't attack Tigers anyway.

As it turned out feeding Alfie to the Tigers would have been much easier than I though, he seemed to be quite willing 'Tiger Bait'

Alfie had an awesome time squawking at all the animals though. Even if his face didn't always show it.

They have an open bat 'cave' where the bats fly all around you which is pretty cool! Even if only one bat came out to play.

And there is also a super cool reptile enclosure where kids can really get up close and actually see whats inside. Alfie was a big fan of the Bearded Dragons!

As every parent does, we had bought some fish food to feed the fishes that live in the big pond. I'm tempted to report them to Trades Description people though cos what they actually sell is 'try and feed the fish while the f*cking swans eat everything' food.

This gorgeous little bird joined in though - I have no idea what it is, answers on a postcard! Its a real sweet little thing, the kinda animal that you hope means 'money luck and love' just so you can find a reason for having it tattooed!

The history of Shepreth is originally a family home that became a rescue shelter. At first primarily for hedgehogs, and everything has grown from there. As more animals have come in, the place has got bigger ... and I like to think the park grew up around the tractor until they could no longer get it out. And so they fenced it in.

Shepreth also has a kids play area indoors by the canteen, an outdoor adventure zone, and a kids research/discovery 'treehouse'. It was fantastic, I recommend it to anyone who needs to amuse small people!

They also have signs which would do good as Tshirts for Alfie!

A Taste Of Winter In Summer

2011-08-31T22:13:00.000Z

After making the cake for Lyds birthday I was left with a remainder of marzipan kicking about that I wanted to do something with. I really had no ideas; I'm not the biggest cake baker and nor am I the biggest marzipan fan.

So I asked my friends on Facebook what I should do with 200g of marzipan and Ben Frazer (who was also in the Bake Off this year) came up with the genius suggestion of stollen. Not only is it something I had never tried (which therefore appealed) but its also a firm favourite of Tasha's!

After some searching of the Internet (and also of my cupboard) this was the recipe I stuck together. Its strongly based on something by Delia, but tweaked based upon others I read and what ingredients were available to me.

350g bread flour
150g milk
50g caster sugar
10g dried yeast
2g salt
110g butter
1 egg
90g raisins (you could split this with sultanas or currants)
40g chopped dried apricots
25g glace cherries (quartered)
25g mixed candied peel
25g ground almonds
25g whole almonds
200g marzipan
a good glug of Sailor Jerry

Here's what ya do....

1) get your raisins and apricots in a bowl and give them a good glug of rum to soak in. Let them soak for as long as you can. I've since found a jar marked "boozy fruits '08 which I'll be using next time!
2) warm the milk, add a little of the caster sugar and the yeast. Set aside and watch it form a foamy head
3) in a mixing bowl add 325g of the flour (notice that is not all of it), the milk from step 2, butter, remaining sugar, salt and egg (beaten).
4) mix it all together and then add the fruits and nuts. (don't add the surplus Sailor Jerry, this dough is wet enough as it is!)
5) knead it on your worktop for 5 mins, clean the mixing bowl, get the dough back in the bowl and cover with clingfilm. Set it aside to double. Don't rush these things, mine sat for 2 hours.
6) turn the dough back out onto your worktop and add the remaining 25g of flour. Knock it back and give it a good knead for a few minutes.
7) push the dough out till its roughly the size of a magazine. Roll out the marzipan until its roughly the width of your dough. Place the marzipan at the top of your dough and roll up the dough, tightly wrapping your marzipan within your doughy goodness.
8) set the oven to 190 degrees, dust your baking tray and place your unbaked stollen into the middle. Lightly oil some clingfilm (this stops it sticking to the dough) and cover the dough once more to double in size.
9) once doubled bake for 35 minutes.

This will give you a great stollen, equally perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea. As you can see I went with more of an afternoon tea focus with mine and mixed 110g icing sugar with a tablespoon (plus a squeeze) of lemon juice to make a sweet glaze.

Save this recipe, you'll want it when December arrives I promise you!

Birthdays at Hugh Fearnley-Whatshisnames Place

2011-08-31T09:13:00.000Z

A few weeks back (Sat 13th August) we were once again bundled into the Mighty Benz at a much too early hour to embark on a day trip to Devon. With the memories of my previous effort still at the forefront of my mind I was being a right grumpy old man about the trip.

We were celebrating Tasha's Mum's birthday (even though it was actually Michi's birthday) and were looking forward to surprising her with a visit to the River Cottage canteen/deli in Axminster. I have to be honest, there were a few occasions when I might have mentioned about the eateries we could have visited if we had saved the cash we would be spending on fuel and gone somewhere closer to home - my early morning grump really was in full swing!

Thankfully my grumbles were all proven to be wide of the mark, our early start meaning we beat the traffic and arrived in Axminster to meet up with the rest of the troop by mid-morning! What was even more surprising was that Lyd hadn't managed to work out where we were going and she seemed over the moon with our choice of venue!

You can't reserve tables at the deli, and so we killed some time around the local shops before the canteen section of the deli opened at Midday for lunch. After ogling the tasty treats in the deli we queued up eagerly waiting to be seated.

As we peeked inside through the open doors everything looked very 'River Cottage' ...

... and with Tim (yeah, him off the telly!) driving the ovens this was the most eagerly anticipated lunches I'd had in a very long time!

With the chalkboard menus and the wooden dining furniture it had a real rustic canteen feel to it, and one that I found very welcoming and comfortable. I felt quite happy to wander about and explore the place and take a load of photo's! I forget the menu's, apart from the fact mussels and chips were ordered, but the drinks menu is a little clearer in my mind ...

And what cracking mussels and chips they were too. Seriously, THE BEST chips I have EVER had!

Of course Alfie dived in too and stole as much of our lunch as he could before turning back to his own. He had a sausage/pasta dish, something I had forgotten until I saw this photo. It would appear he couldn't quite fit it all into his mouth in one hit (either that or he's pooing mid mouthful).

And I'm guessing I pointed this out to him at the time as I was greeted with the following unimpressed expression;

As we were celebrating birthdays Michi and I had made cake the night before (making cake for her own party, how much does that suck!) and we all enjoyed a coffee and walnut battenburg to end the meal. You'll be pleased to know it looked better than the one I threw together on the Bake Off ... but my squares still weren't equal. I just can't trim things down, I'm a 'more cake' kinda guy lol.

With our empty plates cleared I was despatched to get Tim to sign Lyd's recently gifted River Cottage book and then figured it would be fitting to grab a photo of the family at the table;

but instead I seem to have only succeeded in capturing the moment my son 'checked out' the passing waitress!

If you scroll back up to the photo of the drinks menu you will see it's hung on the side of a little balcony. In my adventures I had discovered this leads out to a gorgeous little roof terrace! I bet this is a brilliant place to be when the sun is shining and the cider is flowing!

Ammie had planned for us to head to Lyme Regis once we finished our lunch; after all we still had most of the day left and it would be crazy not to make the most of a daytrip to Devon. For some reason the years of visiting my Nan & Granded as a child had left me with the impression that Lyme Regis wasn't exactly the most glamorous place in the world. I warned the others as such, and therefore I like to think that me setting such low expectations in some ways contributed to how lovely the place was! Lyme Regis was perfect Devon with a sandy beach, fishing trips, people walking dogs, and even old men riding old motorbikes!

It was only a short trip down to Lyme Regis, but after a long day Alfie decided to take this opportunity to grab a moment of shut eye. It was a bit chilly, a typical British day in August, so we zipped him inside my top and went in search of the ice cream and the beach!

With the beach successfully found, and a wicked ice cream stall sourced, Alfie promptly awoke from his slumber not wanting to miss the tasty treats! Isn't it amazing how kids always manage to do that!

For the rest of the afternoon we played a little on the beach, and wandered around the cool selection of shops. We found a particularly fascinating antique shop which Tash and I could probably have spent hundreds in! But Alfie preferred the beach.

With a long return journey ahead of us our departure time came all too soon, and we left Lyme Regis looking to click off some miles before stopping for our dinner. We found a Little Chef to stop and enjoy our grub (pie's bought from River Cottage no less) and settled in the comfort of the boot of the Benz to enjoy our treats.

As I went for a wander with Harry to stretch his legs I thought to myself that this is a perfectly placed eatery. Fred, Lyd, Ammie, Tom and Michie were making the journey home in their Skoda and I wondered if they too might stop there. Oddly enough just seconds later I saw a very familiar silver Fabia pull into the car park!! And so once more we were all seated around the dinner table together!

I haven't been to a Little Chef for years, and I was quite looking forward to seeing what Heston had done to the place. I had to try one of the cherry pancakes that I remember enjoying so much as a child! I'm pleased to say the coffee they serve was lovely, sadly their pancakes weren't.

Feeling somewhat disappointed at my childhood memory being shattered there was only one thing that could save the day and cheer me up for the journey home. Did they still have the takeaway treat to enjoy in the car? YOUBETYA!

VSCC at Prescott Hillclimb

2011-08-25T21:40:00.000Z

This happened back on Sunday 7th August. There was two weeks to go 'till RRG11 and David and I made the trip through the Cotswold countryside to see Prescott in full swing. We wanted one final chance to chat with the staff, evaluate how our planned layout might work, and see how a well established event got the most out of such a prestigious and attractive venue.

We love the VSCC guys, they were 'in attendance' at our first event in 2007, and they filled the paddock with some awesome machinery. And educated me on how a fireguard should really be used!

I wasn't there to take snaps, but there were a huge number of cars that caught the eye. And some impressive machinery being pedalled up the hill!

The Cotswold countryside makes such a beautiful backdrop, I swear its impossible not to have a good time at Prescott.

And much like the Goodwood Revival, folk like to really get in the mood. Be that with a luxury picnic in the orchard ...

... or watching the track action from the comfort of your sofa (in the back of your truck!)

Just take 5 minutes ...

2011-08-16T10:06:00.000Z

August is crazy. It always is. My show, Retro Rides Gathering takes place on the 21st, and so my mind focuses on nothing else until it is over and done with. Tash frequently utters the words "next August we are moving out!"

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! We've had days out to River Cottage, planned a cycle to Gibraltar and got my face in a book ... but I can't concentrate on any of it until after the Gathering.

The Great British Bake Off gets its first airing tonight, and currently I'm not sure if I'm going to manage to sit down to see it! I promise to blog about all this, and of course the final part in my Bake-Off adventure, sometime over the next week or so.

Having said all that, I just clicked on something posted by my friend Paul Cullen and was so mesmerised I spent a complete 5 minutes thinking of nothing apart from "wow, that is totally insane, I wish I could do that". So go grab yourself a cup of Assam Tea, get yourself comfy, and forget about everything else in life!

Houston, We Have Touchdown.

2011-07-21T21:16:00.000Z

It was a sad day for me today as, at about 11 o clock this morning, the last NASA space shuttle touched down at Kennedy Space Centre.

Space shuttles have just always been around, they kicked off the project in the early 80's (when I would have been a baby) and therefore I grew up with the space shuttles missions going on. When you're young you don't think about what would have come before, it's all about the now, and space is pretty much the best thing in the world (probably even better than dinosaurs!) - one thing is for sure is that you don't ever imagine it ending!

Above the normal boys fascination with spaceflight, I felt especially engrossed with the whole adventure. We were living in America when the Challenger disaster happened, and I remember very clearly seeing the TV around the breakfast table breaking the news to the nation that morning. I will also never forget going to school that day, the way it effected everyone, and how a dark cloud just seemed to descend over everything.

Whilst in the States we also visited Kennedy Space Centre, and I remember having a large toy of the space shuttle. However, at seven years old it was more fun to believe that the booster rockets were for a destructive purpose than just to provide propulsion. I also got a load of photos from the visitor centre which I happened to think about, and collect from my Dad's, a few years back. They are tucked away in a drawer upstairs now.

And so, with the news that NASA was winding down its space shuttle programme (which had been coming since the Columbia disaster) I wanted to catch as much of the action as I could. I watched the launch of Endeavor a few weeks back and was blown away by the way the thing accelerates (and for how long it keeps accelerating!) If you've the sort of person who only really sees a few seconds of a launch on the news in the evening then watch this!

A few moments after the launch there was an awesome photo that went around the went like a bushfire in the Australian outback! It was a photo of the shuttle coming through the clouds, taken from a passenger on a commercial flight. Its a great photo. But then today I found this video! This is fantastic!

I missed the launch of Atlantis, the very last flight, but was determined to watch it re-enter our atmosphere and arrive back on terra-firma. It was due to land at about 11am (GMT) and I had the live stream going from about 8am! It was great to see what goes on in mission control, and the screens they see. The shuttle orbits the earth SO fast!

Who knows what will replace this, and what Alfie will have to amaze him when he is six years old. And for that reason I wanted to try and show him what was going on. Sadly the landing was at night, and so most of the images were through infa-red and night vision cameras - none of which are particularly good at grabbing the attention of a 19 month old boy. Especially as by now he had got hold of my phone case, and whacking the keys on the laptop were far more entertaining!

Once stationary there was a fantastic image on the laptop screen, it even captured Alfie's attention! I noticed later on in the day someone else had photoed their laptop screen and the BBC were circulating it as the "first picture of Atlantis"

And just like that it was over. 30 years, 135 missions, millions of miles.

I think what saddens me most is that the World seems to be becoming a place where instead of pushing the boundaries of what is possible we are consolidating on what we have with a fear of world destruction or financial meltdown. Where are the next generation of scientists and engineers going to come from when these type of projects continually disappear? What are kids going to have to aspire to, and dream of becoming? You can have as many battery powered or solar charged ideas as you like, but it'll NEVER have the appeal of space flight. I thought we were always being told that be 2030 we would all be able to holiday in Space - clearly not.

In space, we had the shuttles. In the sky, we had Concorde. On land, I can't see anything after Bloodhound SSC. That's it, adventure over.

I grew up in an era where every eight year old dreamt of being a spaceman ... but by the time Alfie reaches eight spacemen might not even exist.

On The First Day, He Baked!

2011-07-20T14:31:00.000Z

I don't write too many recipes on the blog. That isn't cos I want to keep them under my hat only to be passed down to family members when I'm on my death bed, its cos I'm bloody aweful at writing them down! I often get an idea in my head, research similar recipes, write down my concocted recipe on some scrap of paper and then head to the kitchen to bake. What happens next is I bake something tasty, and leave behind me a trail of destruction which includes said recipe. If Tash then clears up, its anyones guess as to what'll happen to my scrap of paper. I just never seem to have the inclination to write it down in my recipe book, instead believing that I will be able to go through an identical research process to reconstruct the recipe the next time I want it. It will be interesting this winter when I need to try and do my Christmas pudding again, last years was awesome and i NEED to recreate it!

Anyway, something must have been in the water on Monday cos things were a little odd. I fancied a day of baking and Alfie fancied a day of sleeping. Very unusual, but a perfect match! Its been wet recently which means you can pretty much listen to the courgettes growing! They go absolutely batshit when the rain falls. This is our plant, and it may not look like much, but after a nights rain it will have fruit the size of baseball bats on it!

And so I wanted to reduce our courgette numbers, and what better way than to bake a cake. We had loads of lemons still kicking about, and so a Lemon Courgette cake was planned. The house was also needing bread, and I fancied throwing the rest of my appropriate ingredients into some cookies.

With the bread dough made and set aside, courgettes were harvested, I stole an egg from the chooks and I set to work.

Dead easy this. Whack the oven to 160 and line your trusty loaf tin. Get two bowls. Into bowl one goes 200g grated courgettes, 150g caster sugar, uno egg, 125g veg oil. Mix. Into bowl two goes 200g plain flour, half tsp salt, half tsp bicarb, quarter tsp baking powder and a tsp cinnamon. Mix. Sift your dry ingredients from bowl two into your wet ingredients in bowl one. Mix. Stir in the zest from one grande lemon and throw it in the oven for 45 minutes. Its done when a cake tester comes out clean. Let it sit for a few minutes in the tin, and then turn it out into a wire rack.

With the cake baked I set to work on some cookies. Kinda like a cross between choc chip and spicey raisin/oatmeal cookies, with a few other things thrown in lol. Baked in several batches, I soon had a loaded wire rack!

Which was later joined by our weekly loaf.

And finally taken over by a small batch of baguettes.

This week has mostly been spent eating!

New Homes All Round!

2011-07-20T09:08:00.000Z

I've been a little slow in updating the blog recently, perhaps due to my reluctance to sit down for long periods.

Perhaps that seems an odd statement to make, but a couple of weeks back (Friday 8th July) Alfie and I made the trip down to Devon to deliver Red to his new (old) home. Red had become increasingly anxious around Alfie, and it was clear his quality of life was deteriorating as he shifted around the house to stay away from the little thing that likes to yank doggy's ears. Tash spoke to Angela, the lady we had got Red from, who jumped at the chance to have him back - her daughter still has his name scrawled on her schoolbooks! And so, four years and four months after we collected him, I embarked on a dog related journey to deepest darkest Devon to return him to from where he came.

We entered Alfie's room before 6am, and were greeted with an unbelieving "Oooooh Nooooo!" as he was awoken from his slumber . With the car loaded with drinks, roadsnacks and CD's, we were sticking £70 worth of finest 95RON in the Benz and leaving Tash in Rickmansworth by 7am. Come 10:30am we were at our destination having only had to pitstop once! I truely couldn't believe how well the journey had gone! Considering I was travelling around 500 miles in a day, accompanied by an 19 month old child and a car sick dog, is it any surprise I had been preparing myself for a journey as stressful as the one endured when we tried to day trip to France in December?!

We had some time to kill and so wandered down to a local pub to relax and enjoy a coffee. Well, what actually happened was I had a coffee, Alfie ran about and climbed over the sofa and Red did a poo in the car.

Still, we managed to get the formalities done by 12:30pm which meant I was still doing good for time. As sad as it is to rehome a dog, he certainly seemed to remember the house and the people, and his tail was high the whole time I was there - it gave me peace of mind that he was happy to be there, and also that he we had done well by him to see him so confident so far from 'home'. As a nice reminder, here's one of my favourite photos of him.

Leaving at 12:30pm, and based on a return journey like our outbound, we should hit Rickmansworth for 4pm ... exactly the time Tash finishes work! You can see where this is going, can't you? Cruising at 70(ish) the Benz was munching the miles, and the boy was being surprisingly chipper ... until we hit the M5 outside of Bristol where everything came to a standstill. But the boy was asleep, so it was OK. However, two hours later and we were still in previously mentioned traffic jam ... and now Alfie was awake. And unhappy. And hungry. And thristy. And his arse was numb (i'm guessing that bit, but mine was so his must have been!). We got through it though, but it was already clear we were going to be late to meet Tash from work. But progress was swift and for a time we were making good progress ... until the M4 decided to stop outside of Swindon. Another hour was spend crawling along yet another horrific British motorway, which passengers in the Mighty Benz passed by waving at similarly frustrated passengers, trying to catch the magic uppy downy window, and generally playing with ones feet. I have no idea what time we made it through, but after eventually navigating the rest of the M4 and then the M25 we made it to Rickmansworth. It was gone 7pm, over 3 hours since Tash finished work! We had only managed one stop on the way back, and so we decided to reward Alfie with a meal at the Chinese before completing the last hour of the journey home. On the whole he had been fantastic, and crispy chili beef was just what we needed to raise our spirits! We got home after 9pm, 15 hours after we had left in the morning - and poor Alfie woke up the next morning sporting a bruise on his backside from all the hours in his car seat!

So that's Red in a new home, but he wasn't the only one. After Alfie showed a consistant joy at playing in playhouses, and tactically choosing to get attached to one at Mothercare, we decided to get him a little home of his own. Tash detailed it fully in her blog but he is loving having a door of his own to swing on! How long do you reckon till I find him sat on the roof?

And so with the Alfie and the Red sorted that just leaves Tash and I. We're writing this down on an I.O.U as we're sure our time will come to call this one in!

Sour Cherry Meringue Pie

2011-07-04T12:57:00.000Z

I love it when June comes around, it means it will only be a matter of days until I can collect cherries and that means Sour Cherry Pie! Best of all it means I get to climb trees!

However this years sour cherry pie was going to be different! Tash came up with the idea when we were putting together Bake Off recipes, and although there was zero chance I would ever have actually made this (due to the fact it would have been 6-8 weeks too early) I thought it was such an awesome idea we had to give it a go this year once this years cherries filled the trees. The plan was to take my traditional cherry pie to the next level with a 'meringue twist' - my first ever meringue pie.

So click back a couple of weeks and I'd just got back from the fishing trip. I took the dogs out for a walk, and took a route that takes me over the railway line to check out the cherries. As I approached the row of trees I could see an endless collection of cherry stones on the floor - the birds had beaten me to it!

As I walked on feeling pretty annoyed I happened to look up, and was greeted with a sight of unrivaled beauty! (?) I didn't even know that tree was there!

And so that evening I wandered back over to the tree, and armed with a Waitrose plastic bag I set about collecting as many of the little bubbles of cherry filled joy as I could gather!

The next few evenings saw me revisit the tree and in totally I took over 2.5kg of cherries AFTER they were stoned. Ah yes, the stoning. Much time was spent amidst the following layout. Cherries, stoner, bowl for stoned cherries. Every evening I ended up with backache and stained fingers, but no pain no gain, right? Thankfully the accompanying glass of Rioja helped ease the pain and monotony of stoning 4275 cherries (well it seemed that many to me anyway!)

Knowing I was going to make a meringue I decided to give my baking a kick up the backside and bring it into the 21st century - I bought an electric handmixer! These kinda gizmos go totally against my way of baking, but I knew the meringue was gonna be hard work without one, plus there was a certain something that sold it to me!

A rough recipe was drawn up, pastry was made, a boat load of sugar was added to the cherries and I set about making the meringue pie. Putting my 'turbo' button to good use I made the meringue, and got the pie swiftly in the oven.

A quick peek in the oven confirmed one of my worries - there was way too much juice from the cherries! Still, that's easily amended for next time and overall I was pretty pleased with the way it came out.

I'd probably go for a touch more meringue next time, but it tasted bloody amazing - quite possibly nicer than
my sour cherry pie! Alfie certainly seemed to think so!

Stanceworks MK Meet, June 2011

2011-06-30T09:24:00.000Z

On Sunday we cruised over to the MK Stadium for the Stanceworks meet. There were some really well turned out cars there; here's a few shots I took and a little video I put together.

Mercury Rising

2011-06-27T22:28:00.000Z

Today was summer. Our one day of 30 degree heat that arrives between June and August. WOOHOO - Time to bunk off work, dust off the Bermuda shorts, pour oneself a Pimms and - being British - moan that its TOO DAMN HOT!

Or, if you're a professional Dad in Arlesey, you enjoy the fact you need dress your son in little else than a nappy and make a beeline for Hitchin's outdoor pool!

It was actually Tash's suggestion, and a genius one at that, as we hadn't had Alfie in a pool since last July at Chateau de Chanteloup and he's always adored playing in a pool. Now at 19 months I was sure he would have a ball! Sadly Hitchin Pool is one of those places that sides with the f*cking ridiculous though, and I'm disappointed to say they don't allow photography. This may not be a problem for most, but a) I want photos of the fun I have with Alfie and b) I don't like blogging without photos and I knew I'd want to blog about today!

Everything went to plan ... until we arrived. The queue was out the door! You would have though the reception was selling tickets to the Olympics not entrance to a sodding swimming baths! I realise Alfie is pretty light, at least as far as 19 month old kids go anyway, but to have to hold him for 20 minutes in the burning midday sun on the hottest day of the year was not my ideal start to our fun and games.

Our £4.30 paid, we changed and made our way outside and to the kiddies pool. The outdoor area was pretty busy, but that was great for Alfie and his sociable nature. Alfie wandered down the few steps into the pool and clearly loved the fact I'd taken him somewhere to escape the heat of the day. Once dunked (cos its important to get your head under!) we had a ball messing about together, and he thought it was hilarious watching all the other kids playing and laughing and shouting. He floated about on his back, cruised up and down and up and down, spent a long time climbing out and jumping in, and did lots and lots of splashing! And the whole thing was carried out to the shrieking/laughing/giggling soundtrack that only a little one can provide! Seeing him stood up in a swimming pool really rang home just how much he's grown up in the past year.

And the icing on the cake was spotting someone with a blackberry. She very kindly agreed to take a photo of Alfie and I, therefore providing visual documentation of the most perfect morning!

Fathers Day & The Festival Of Chili!

2011-06-24T21:37:00.001Z

Fresh back from the fishing trip it was time for another 'me' day - Fathers Day!

As often happens on the weekend, once Alfie awoke he was collected and brought into our room to share a few lazy moments on the bed. This period of the day never last long, usually as Alfie decides he'd rather jump off the bed to go climb something/see Colin/walk down the stairs. Today I was greeted with a few little gifts which he lovingly helped me unwrap.

Now if any of you are Gavin & Stacey fans you might remember the 'oven gloves' sketch. If you haven't seen it, check this out - you'll want to click forward to 10 minutes though.

Basically I've had 'that moment' so many times, and have long been a user of tea towels swearing at blisters and burnt palms.

Well I will risk baking trays no more as my wonderful son got me a pair of these - and they rock! Le Creuset come up trumps again!

With the dogs walked we popped my new Paolo Nutini CD into the Skoda's CD player and chuckled at Alfie as he danced away during the short journey to Old Warden.

Shuttleworth had a Chili Fiesta going on, and with it being Fathers Day Dad's got in free!

In true Homer stylee I was expecting to end the day seeing space coyote's, but there wasn't a cooked chili to be seen! It was all about the fruit, how to grow it and how to use it.

It was quite a small show, which was handy as we only wanted a morning out - Tash wanted to spend an afternoon cleaning and sorting the cara-van. Alfie had fun though, and we all enjoyed a chili influenced lunch before he let us know when he was getting tired and grumpy.

Once back home Alfie was carried up to bed from the car - still snoring - and Tash got to work on the cara-van.

I had purchased some gorgeous chili/garlic black Spanish olives at the festival, and with me having been away for the past week there was no bread in the house.

So these...

... were added to a spelt/white dough mix along with some oregano from the garden to produce this awesome loaf.

To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of spelt flour, but with our friend Linz being gluten free I had taken some down to Essex to make her bread. The way I bake means I use what I have around me, which means the spelt went into the mixing bowl. Its made me start to think about spelt a little more, and I'm determined to come up a spelt loaf that I would prefer to eat over a white loaf. And that's a hard task, especially when you consider I'm working on my perfect white loaf right now!

The 4th Annual Boys Fishing Week

2011-06-22T12:14:00.001Z

Whilst I have blogged about my fishing adventures before, I'm fairly confident that I've never written down the exploits of the annual fishing week before.

Bill and I have fished for years - since we were about 16 - and have many a happy memory from the '96-'98 period when we went chasing Carp around lakes in Essex and Kent. We were bloody good too, and fishing every given moment (weekends, evenings, revision weeks, between exams etc) meant we gained a huge amount of knowledge in a very short time. But then came University, and 'life' got in the way. Our fishing expeditions became less regular, until eventually we realised we hadn't fished together in years.

Fast forward to 2008, and one day we were chatting and both made comment that we were interested in getting into sea fishing. A plan was hatched to bring back the good old days and add further chapters to the fishing chronicles. 2008 saw us spend a week in Wales, and in 2009 and 2010 we fished from Maldon.

The 2011 Boys Fishing Week took place last week (11-17 June), and since Bill bought Reel Grumpy last summer we decided to be based from Brightlingsea and make the most of the fact we had a boat at our disposal.

So on Friday I frantically tried to pack for Alfie and I in a bid to beat the M25 Friday rush hour traffic.We cruised down to Bills, were joined by Tash before 6pm, and then enjoyed the traditional 'Friday night Chinese round Bills'. The remainder of the evening was spent putting rigs together, loading line onto reels, and formulating a plan of action ... and of course cursing the typically unpredictable British weather. We were in bed before midnight though, there was an early alarm call around the corner and with a good forecast there were fish to catch!

We were up early and on our way before any other traffic had turned a key in the ignition. We rolled into Brightlingsea by 6am, and soon had the tender in the water.

Only the ring-ding-ding of the two stroke outboard motor broke the complete silence of a wonderful summer morning ... and withing a matter of minutes we were left to enjoy said summers morning, as once again we ran out of fuel and called upon Oar Power to get out to the mooring.

With the tender tied up, the cover off Reel Grumpy, and the anchor raised we were soon on our way. This was to be an all action fishing day - checking bait every 10-15 minutes, and raising anchor as frequently as was needed. This was something of a new approach for us, as during our Friday night pre-fishing discussions we came to the conclusion that maybe we were taking too much of a 'carp approach' with our sea fishing. By that I mean we were leaving baits in the water too long whilst often anchored up in spots where there was no action to be seen. As we chugged out to our first stop we got the mackerel feathers out in an attempt to catch some bait for Tuesdays Tope session.

All in all we had a fantastic day. We did as we wanted to, we really proactive, and as a result caught a fair few fish. The only problem was that everything we caught seemed to be of the Eel, Whiting or Dogfish variety, and were barely larger than the bait we used to catch them!

The highlight of the days catches was this gorgeous looking starfish!

Feeling happy with our approach, and a little unlucky with our results, we headed back to the mooring by mid afternoon. Our next session on the boat would be in three days time, our much anticipated Tope session, and we felt confident we had the right approach.

Sunday rolled around, and in a typical British Summer type of way we had a pretty miserable forecast. We opted to make a trip out to Southend to fish from the pier for a few hours, and then spend the afternoon/evening watching the Grand Prix. The wind had really blown up overnight, and Southend was a totally miserable place where no-one seemed to be catching a thing.

Alfie seemed to enjoy wandering around though, although in the cold wind and drizzle I have no idea what he found so amusing. He clearly wants to be joining in with future boys fishing weeks though!

We only fished for a few hours, and were back at Bill's with a mug of coffee before the intro music to the Grand Prix began. And then, whilst it lashed it down in Canada and Jenson Button won an amazing race, the heavens opened in Maldon and cast a great shadow over the fishing that might be possible during the week.

I had plans for Monday afternoon, and needed to drag everyone to Ilford for the afternoon. With the wind still blowing, we decided to try and get a few hours fishing squeezed in at Tollesbury, a local place to Bill that we often fish when casting from the shore. It has a handy sea wall which gives us something to duck behind, and out of the gusting winds it actually seemed remarkably pleasant.

Sadly though, another few hours were spend drowning worms and another blank session was chalked up. After such a promising start on Saturday, our fortunes had gone downhill in a dramatic fashion.

Still, it was now Tuesday, all 'other duties' were out the way, and for the next four days all that was left for us to do was to fish. We made our way out to Brighlingsea once more, the forecast being fantastic and this looking like the best opportunity for us to get out into deep water. The deep water where the Tope live.

Tuesday also happened to be Bills birthday, and with a two and a half hour chug ahead of us we unwrapped the cake that his parents had left for him at the house. Coffee and cake whilst out on the ocean, the perfect breakfast!

As we made our way out the windfarm become increasingly close. This place is massive, and you reach a point where you feel like no matter how far you have travelled you are still the same distance away from it.

We found a spot we liked and dropped anchor. I had one rod on squid, whilst concentrating with the mackerel feathers with my old carp rod. Bill was also fishing squid on one rod, but on his other was a whole mackerel flapper. The rig used a wire trace and a hook the size of your fist, it was aimed at catching a Tope which would give him a fight to last all day!

It wasn't long before his squid rod was doubled over, and Bill struck into his first fish of the day.

As the fish was brought in closer to the boat we were both thinking/hoping that this might be the first shark to grace the deck of Reel Grumpy!

And sure enough it was!

There's no mistaking the Tope's sharky family membership, and when we zoomed in on this photo you can even see its razor sharp teeth!

That kicked off an absolutely amazing days fishing. We soon both added Dogfish to our species catch list.

I caught my first ever Starry Smoothhound, which gave an awesome fight for a 2lb'er!

And Bill got in on the Smoothhound action, his first one and pushing the scales round to nearly 3lb.

Other smaller fish were caught along the way, and in hindsight I wished we photographed everything during the week so we had them all 'on record'. It doesn't matter though, the highlight of the day was still to come. The Tope seemed to have little interest in Bill's mackerel baited rod, and once again his squid rod screamed off. The biggest and best catch of the day came in at just under 4lb. Whilst a good size fish, its fairly small for one of these - I can't imagine what fighting and landing a 20lb+ Tope will be like!

All this action took our focus away from what was going on around us. As the waves had picked up we'd simply gone with the rocking of the boat and hadn't really noticed. Until Bill turned around, saw white peaks atop these larger waves and wisely said it would be a good idea to head for home.

So we had to raise the anchor. The process works as follows. 1) I climb up on the front of the boat 2) I point Bill to which way the rope goes to the anchor 3) Bill manoeuvres the boat over the anchor 4) I lift up the anchor. This is quite an easy and well rehearsed gig, however doing it in rocky seas was something new to us. Every time Bill got the boat over the anchor the waves were knocking us off, and every time I went to haul the anchor we'd drop over the top of another wave I'd be forced to let go to save myself falling overboard. After what seemed like 10 or 15 minutes I realised there was no way I was going to be able to stand and drag the anchor up, the power of the sea was simply too great. I sat down, already exhausted, and took a moment to work out what to do. At the very front of the boat is a channel to run the anchor chain over, and i decided to line the rope over this channel. I sat down, braced myself against the rail at the front, and as the boat dropped I hauled and as the boat rose I hung on for dear life. After taking and losing line from and to the sea it became apparent I was never going to haul up over 60 feet of rope - the saying 'one step forward and two steps back' comes to mind. Sliding back a bit further I exposed the tie down points on the top of the boat, moved the mooring rope out of the way, and started again. Every 10/15 feet tying the rope off before hauling once more for all I was worth. With us not able to get the boat over the anchor it made my job even harder, but eventually the rope became chain and shortly after the anchor was raised. I have to say this absoluely killed me, and really drilled home just how powerful the sea can be. For 3 or 4 minutes I was unable to move from the front of the boat, totally drained from the efforts involved.

With the anchor hauled, and a strong current behind us we motored home hitting 8 knots - nearly double what Reel Grumpy usually cruises at! It was all worthwhile though, we had an amazing days fishing which was capped off by a gorgeous evening.

We were in Brightlingsea for the night, and got out at a good hour again on Wednesday. This time staying closer to the mooring in search of Bass. Bill had a new travel spinning rod and little shimano reel that he wanted to try out, and it wasn't too long before it was doubled over!

Bill had an awesome fight with light tackle, and soon muscled an excellent 'dinner fish' on board.

As we enjoyed a few beers on the boat, the fish seemed to be very cautious with their feeding. Often giving numerous taps before actually taking the bait - most unlike a Bass!

Patience paid off, and a take that hauled that top of the rod down indicated Bill could be into another good Bass! Sure enough, this beauty was soon being bashed on the head with BBQ thoughts going through our minds.

We were only out for the morning and both caught a few Eels before we set for home. I had no luck with the Bass, but it was definitely a good mornings work for Bill!

We dropped the Bass in the fridge back at the house, enjoyed sausage and chips on the hard, grabbed some more bait, and set off for our afternoon session.

We tried a few spots and had a great afternoon with a few more Bass amongst our catches. Sadly all were too small for the dinner table, this one saved by being just 10mm too small!

With the afternoon session over we planned to enjoy BBQ'd Bass before heading out again for a nighttime fish for Sole. Its fair to say we enjoyed our dinner, and devoured our catch like something out of a Hanna Barbera cartoon.

I took the dogs out for their walk at about 10pm, and it was clear the chances of us fishing the night were disappearing fast. The wind was blowing up, and the water getting rougher. We went down to the hard to inspect the water and deal with the tender - sadly we agreed that it would be best to postpone our Sole session until another time. To be fair we were both shattered after four days of early mornings and long days anyway.

Thursday arrived, and with it a miserable forecast. We were leaving Brightlingsea to head back to Maldon, and so went for a quick fish in the morning to use up the remainder of our bait. As we pulled in a few Eels we could see grey clouds approaching, shortly followed by an amazing lightning display that we watched work its way around the coastline in front of us.

We didn't escape it all though, and eventually a massive rainshower was directly overhead!

With our bait exhausted we moored up and put Reel Grumpy to bed, before packing up our things and heading pack to Maldon.

We got back to Maldon where Bill was greeted by the most amazing birthday cake!

After a good nights sleep we once again woke to overcast skies and a forecast of rain. This was Friday, and I had to head home at the end of the day so we wanted just a few hours fun fishing. We visited the local tackle shop, and spoke to the owner about a few local places. Bill enquired about somewhere local to him, which it turns out you aren't allowed to fish. The chap knew what was in it years ago, and seeing as there are no 'no fishing' signs he encouraged us to head over there, get hidden away, and see what we could catch. Armed with a box of worms we made our way to the location and scouted the area. Eventually we found a hugely overgrown section, which once we'd fought our way through the bushes and brambles there was no doubt that we were well hidden!

After two hours of rain soaked fishing we hadn't had a nibble! If these fish haven't seen a rod and line in years we should be hauling them out, 'what the hell are we doing wrong?' we asked ourselves. And then modern technology came to our rescue, Bill jumped on Google and brought up the map of where we were.

We had joined at the top left of the lake and wandered down the left hand side. Clearly we didn't realise that the large lake had ended, and we were now fishing a pissy little pool at the bottom! Soaked through we opted to knock this on the head, head to the pub, and then wander back along the canal dangling a rod as we wandered.

We enjoyed a pint and dried off, before heading out into the elements once more.

All I can say about the afternoon is that it was so wet I didn't dare take the camera out of the bag! Once we decided where to fish I got my bait out and hid back under a tree lining the canal as Bill changed his set up. A freak downpour then opened above us, and he was soaked through within seconds. There was no hiding though, and we both got drenched - I was grateful to have left my hood attached to my Barbour though, something I reckon Bill wish he had done too!

So Friday turned into another blank, but that's OK. We had such a fantastic week not even the comprehensive soaking - nor my four hour drive home - could put a dampener on things!

Yes, We do "Loik Dawgs".

2011-06-09T06:36:00.000Z

A number of weeks ago Tash and I were discussing about what we were going to do regarding accommodation at this years show. The odds of the bus being completed were becoming ever slim, and she made it clear she didn't want to do another weekend in Chateau Benz - and neither of us wanted to camp! ... and so I found myself browsing ebay. That's always how these nightmare stories start, right!?

Typically enough there was this really cute little two berth caravan up for auction. Starting price was £300, with no bids and a few day to go. Desperately trying not to fall into the "ebay trap" I merely added it to my watch list to see how events unfolded. I felt quite pleased with myself for having not bid on it there and then! I followed the auction, and with a few seconds remaining someone stuck in a bid for £300 and won the van. Tash was a little disappointed we missed out, and I think she had kinda fallen in love with the little two berth Cadett. Having looked around the net, £300 looked a fair price and so instead of being disappointed I sent the guy a message saying "if the winning bidder messes you around I will be interested, please contact me".

I left it at that, and thought nothing of it. And then about ten day later my phone rings and a deep northern accent tells me it's mine if I want it, the winner bidder hasn't made contact for days and doesn't seem to be able/willing to come up with the cash. Naturally, I agreed to buy it straight away - and then realised I had a caravan to collect, the caravan being in Wakefield and me not having a car with a tow bar!

A plan was constructed which went something like a) buy a new battery to get the Benz going again, b) make a trip to Bill's to chop and weld the exhaust so the Benz blows no more c) get Troy (a mate who runs a mobile tow bar fitting business) to fit a tow bar. Simple, right? The new battery cured the Benz's starting problems, and although it took us a whole day Bill and I did get the exhaust sorted and she runs quieter than ever! Just the easy part to go now, get the tow bar fitted. Except this proved nigh on impossible, as either posted tow bars didn't appear, or companies openly admitted that a tow bar for a 1990 W124 estate was like rocking horse poo. And so, some two weeks later it became clear we would need to have one made, which takes a week ... except I go away in 3 days, and I want the caravan collected before I go away.

And so I bit the bullet, called the local van company and arranged to rent a van to make the trip. And so yesterday Alfie and I spent the day on the road, cruising up the A1 to retrieve our very own pikey-wagon.

Remembering that nightmare journey to the port in December I knew I wanted to be prepared. And so the Tuesday night I set about making road snacks - Nutella on bread, smoked cheddar and basil with spiced onion chutney sandwiches, and a tray of all day breakfast bars!

And so after an early rise and a quick run out with the dogs Alfie and I collected our rent-a-racer.

Leaving Letchworth it was looking like a lovely day, but I had no idea if it would hold or not.

With Alfie enjoying his reflection in the wing mirror I wanted to get as many miles under our belt as possible. Google maps had told me it was about 160 miles each way. Alfie was a star though, and by the time we stopped for a break we had made good progress. I had reset the trip counter when we left, and looking down I saw we had nearly clocked off 100 miles already!

All it took was a quick stretch of our legs and Alfie was keen to hit the road again!

But as we got closer to the outskirts of Sheffield the weather started to turn, and it did become 'grim ooop narth'.

Thankfully it was just a shower, and we reached our destination by around midday. We spent about an hour with Neil (the chap selling me the caravan) who showed me around all his old barns and workshops and the collections of old cars, caravan, bikes and mopeds. I could have spent hours there! Amongst all the toys were some real gems including the Morris Minor which has only 11,000 miles, a really early Sierra with 30,000 miles and the original tax disc in the window, and a freshly restored MGB. And there were LOTS of caravans! This gives you a little feel for his place.

It was nice to get on the road home though, and even nicer to see us leaving the dark skies and thunderstorms behind!

I was expecting to stop a few times on the way home for Alfie, and although I was in no rush I did want to get back in time to return the van so I didn't have to worry about it the next morning. Once more Alfie was an angel - each time he seemed to get restless, and I promised him we'd stop at the next services he'd fall asleep! I made the most of it and kept trucking! These guys passed us down the A1, clearly on their way to Dover and across to Le Mans. As I thought back to our happy trips to the home of the 24 heures, and listened to that distinctive TVR rumble, the miles just clicked by.

Eventually Alfie woke up, just a few miles from home and so we stopped. At Baldock services! We had done 115 miles back in about 3 hours without a stop! I took a moment to view the caravan - how hilariously small!

We shared a milkshake in the back of the caravan and then made the short trip up the A507 to home.

With the caravan unloaded, and the rental racer returned, by the time we got back Tash was already home peeking in through the windows to try and see what we'd bought!

I opened her up and showed Tash inside. This is how it looks. Through the door ...

The view to the rear of the van.

The table folds down, the cushion slide down, and it makes a nice little double bed.

Its a right little piece of Retro Cool ... right down to the In Car Entertainment!

We will certainly be doing the Retro Rides Gathering in comfort this year ... and Tash can't wait to get cracking with the sewing machine!

Visiting Nettlebed - June Edition

2011-06-08T20:01:00.000Z

It's when we go to see Catherine and Chloe that I really realise how quick these little ones are growing up.

The hair gets longer, the running faster, and the interaction ever more emphatic!

We made the trip to Nettlebed yesterday, had a lovely walk in the morning, let Millie (the dog) tire out Alfie and Chloe, and then drank tea whilst kids slept! Oh, and whilst Catherine repaired/beat up my Alfie abused neck and back.

It was a lovely day, and as always Alfie and Chloe had fun together

Their playing does now seem to involve more bullying/biting/scratching/throwing than it used to .... and more karate, as this photo shows!

Tell ya what though, those people who claim that kids don't play together until they are three are SO wide of the mark!

I didn't Realise I Had So Much To Write About

2011-05-25T06:56:00.000Z

Its been a little while since I updated the blog, and when I flick back through recent photos I see I realised I haven't really been up to much. Don't get me wrong, a lot has happened, but not much that's either completed nor photographed.

A lot of time has most definitely been spent working, and one thing that's for sure is that the years Gathering is going to be the best ever ... by some way! And amidst this, the Benz battery failing and agreeing to buy a caravan I seem to have done a fair bit in the kitchen.

Last week I had the urge to make crab ravioli on ginger veg soup - my first experience into the world of homemade pasta!

It turned out great though, and I was amazed at how easy the pasta roller was to use! I had made the soup and crab filling before Tash got home, and once she arrived we had a long sheet of pasta rolled out within a couple of minutes!

Thankfully it all turned out really well, and its something I'll be giving a go again in the future. And Alfie adored it too!

This was followed up by making my first brew of Nettle Beer. Its a slightly different recipe this time round, notably using less nettle tips. One week to go till its gets bottled, and three weeks till the tasting!

And finally I put some of our old bread to good use by making Vanilla Bread Ice Cream! I had a quick taste while I was churning and its lovely, but the real tasting will come tonight with some rhubarb crumble! I cannot wait!

Whilst warbling on about food it reminds me - we had an offer from Able & Cole recently. As most of you know we have our fruit and veg (and often much more) delivered by Abel & Cole. Its an organic box scheme, and they are a fantastic company who make you feel like you're dealing with your local greengrocer each week - and everything is traceable! A small fruit and veg box is about £15, and if any of you have been tempted to give one of these organic box schemes a go NOW is the time to do it. Why now? Cos if you call them now, and ask for a box (just a one off is fine) and say Tash recommended you we'll get a free box and you'll get a free gift too!

There's a few other things I've spotted recently which I'm going to add to the blog too. You remember Eddie Kidd? He was a stunt rider back in the 80's, and with me being a child of the 80's its a name I definitely knew. I certainly didn't know his full life story though, and this story left me at a loss for words! A real hero!

Whilst I'm working I always have Twitter open as its a good medium to keep in touch with people who are involved with the show. It also mean I get loads of cool stuff coming my way, like this video. I can't seem to embed from vimeo here so just click this link instead.

And last, but most definitely not least, is the news that yesterday we had another midwife appointment. I'm sure Tash will go into more detail in her blog but crucially we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Gavin & Stacey fans might remember when Smithy & Nessa went for the scan, and they had that 'whoa, there's a baby in there' moment of realisation - well I think hearing the heartbeat gave me/us ours yesterday!

Project Single Speed

2011-05-10T07:59:00.001Z

About a month ago I decided I wanted a new bike - I do miss riding about, and my fitness and stamina are atrocious these days. After learning of the savings that can be made through the cycle to work scheme Tash and I visited our local bike shop to check out Kona's as I had set sights on a Kona Steely. The chap spoke highly of the bike, and it was decided that when Tash's scheme kicks back in that will be the bike I'll have. I also spotted an old bike he had hanging up on the wall which he had converted to single speed. Clearly I don't have enough irons in the fire, and this gave me the idea to convert my old mountain bike into a stripped out single speed cruiser - after all, it won't be needed as a mountain bike anymore!

The brief was simple - as minimal as possible, with the aim of being ridden around show fields and towing Alfie around.

I've had the bike since I was about 16, and it was last used about 3 years ago. Since then its lived outside and been half swallowed by the undergrowth on a fair few occasions - all in all it was looking quite sorry for itself, and all moving parts had rusted solid.

First off I stripped it down. You can see all the redundant parts in the dog bowl! All the shifter assembly, derailer mechanicals, bar ends and rear sprockets were no longer needed!

I paid another visit to my local bike shop and came away with new cables and sheaths for the brakes, new front V-brake callipers, and ordered the rear 16 tooth single sprocket conversion kit.

The new front brake was to replace the old one which had somehow destroyed itself in the past. It always feels good to fit new parts!

With cranksets looking expensive I hopped on ebay and ordered a single 33 tooth crankset. This arrived soon after and I was looking forward to hitting the road!

But then came Easter, and shortly afterwards the Royal Wedding. This apparently delayed the arrival of my single sprocket kit and I was left twiddling my thumbs for a fortnight. Thankfully the kit arrived on Friday, and Tash collected it on her way home, along with a new chain. Sunday presented me with an opportunity to finish things off and so after a brief visit to Halfords I had everything I needed.

Single sprocket correctly spaced, chain tensioned, new hub bearings fitted and I was ready to set up the brakes around the slightly buckled wheels.

It didn't take long though, and soon after I was ready to embark on my first shakedown ride.

With the test ride showing no suspicious knocks or noises, yesterday I saddled up Alfie's cart to see if it would haul him along OK.

Whilst cruising up West Drive I hung my phone behind me to grab an 'action' shot of him ... and to see how petrified he looked!

Its fair to say he loved it, and even though we were only out for about half an hour I think it will be the first trip of many. And with fuel prices being so high I might be tempted to use it even more ... if my legs can take it!

And altogether its cost me something like £60 (of which half of that came from my Grand National winnings!), which is an absolute bargain considering the amount of use its now going to see.

The Perfect Day!?

2011-05-10T05:38:00.000Z

As Saturday approached I realised it might just be the most perfect day for me. It wasn't intentional, but as things panned out I ended up with a daily itinerary of morning - steam fair, afternoon - football, and evening - cinema to see TT3D!

We were up early to get to Stotfold Mill for the 10:30am opening. The watermills annual event is always a 'must do' for us, largely so I can go see the Wall of Death! This year we were joined by my Dad, Team Ferg and Claire and Sean with Jamie. Everything steam powered is there for your enjoyment, from big fairground rides to small novelty engines.

We were one of the first through the gates and immediately hit the stand selling various seedlings. I managed to walk away with 12 marigolds (not washing up gloves!), a courgette plant and an apache chilli plant for just over a fiver! Bargain! And straight after stumbled across the chap selling model cars. I failed to find the corgi model of Bluebird, but Alfie came away happy!

After showing Alfie the birds of prey display we made our way towards the mill itself to show my Dad around. The mill was restored a few years ago after being demolished by fire in the 90's, and some of the work that has gone on is simply amazing!

My annual trip to the coconut shy followed soon after. 12 balls for a pound! Dan kicked things off by hurling balls at crockery, and then Dave and I got stuck into the totally tropical fruit!

And I came away with a lovely pair of coconuts!

With time ticking we parked up the buggies and all stepped inside the wooden cylinder that is the Wall of Death.

For anyone not familiar with the Wall of Death ... they ride around it! Up and down, sidesaddle, no hands ... its the best entertainment you can get for £2 - fun for all the family!

We then made a line for the marquee to enjoy a bite to eat and a well deserved ale. Time passed too quick and before we knew it was 1pm and time for Dad and I to head off to Villa. Sounds like they all had fun in the afternoon though, and the little ones all enjoyed rides on fire engines ...

swinging chairs ...

and even mini-motos!

We arrived up at Villa Park in good time, it was just a shame we had to watch a dreary 1-1 draw against Wigan.

After a slow exit out of the car park we made it home just in time for a bite to eat, a quick dog walk, and then Tash and I ran straight out to head to Milton Keynes - leaving my Dad looking after Alfie, who at 8pm was still playing in his room some 2 hours after being put to bed!

The reason reason for our jaunt to MK was for our first 'date' since Alfie was born, and our first experience of 3D cinema! The film in question? The documentary about the Isle of Man TT, filmed last year when Ian Hutchison won all 5 races, and largely focusing on Guy Martin a rider who I have long been a fan of.

Tash and I spent our £30 (HOW MUCH?) and in return got a pair of tickets, pair of 3D goggles, small drink, packet of Randoms ... and of course some popcorn.

Before long it was time for us to enter the world of 21st century fashion - 3D time!

Although we look like we should have gone to Specsavers I have to say 3D cinema is bloody amazing! Cars 2 is coming out this summer, and the trailer was the first item up and looked totally breathtaking!

Thankfully we were just as lucky with TT3D, and we thoroughly enjoyed our night out.

But please tell me why, when the cinema is damn near empty and there is no-one else sat in our row, does some chap decide that the seat next to me is the perfect one for him to sit in??

Gravel Trap at Turn Eight!

2011-05-09T08:42:00.000Z

With my trip to Ilford out of the way, and a sense of normality returning to my life I was determined to get the garden finished off. Nettles were starting to take hold, and with Alfie and I spending more and more time outside I want the place to be safe (well, as safe as anything ever gets for me) and pleasant.

I got home late on Monday 2nd, and Tuesday was Tasha's day off. This gave me the perfect chance to get things moving. A trip to a few DIY centres saw me armed with a membrane to go down over the paths and a few bags of gravel to throw down on top. The plan was to get the membrane down to keep the weeds at bay, and the gravel on top to sort out the main path and give me an idea of how much gravel I would actually need to do the whole garden.

As you can see, it all went down smoothly but it quickly became apparent the small bags of gravel would not be the way to go about things.

The massive bags you can buy are about 1 tonne in weight. Its £175 from Focus, £60 from Wickes, but just £41 from a place I found online via ebay. Instead of waiting till next month - which was my original plan - I jumped right in and placed an order!

I spent the next few days getting the rest of the membrane down, waiting for my Friday delivery.

Friday arrived, and by 8am so had my gravel!

I dragged the wheelbarrow into operation, and Alfie and I spent a while getting some of the gravel down on the paths. Its fantastic having him wanting to get involved and help with everything I do.

Its hard work moving a tonne of gravel though, and he soon got tired. We stopped for some food and he then went down for a well deserved nap. While he recharged his batteries I got to work finishing everything off.

We are a touch short on gravel though, and so we'll need another bag next month to get it all completed.

But I'm sure you'll agree that the garden now looks like a very welcoming place!

And Yet Another Picnic!

2011-05-09T08:25:00.000Z

The first weekend of May saw Rach and Ryan in England (visiting from Down Under) and we managed to catch up with them for a picnic in Hyde Park with Team Ferg.

Once again the sun had his hat on, and we all enjoyed a lovely time together... especially as Ryan brought beer that he wanted drinking! After enjoying paninis, salad and mini sausages the girls disappeared to the cafe for a catchup (read; the girls disappeared to the bar to talk sh!t, drink wine, and moan about us men).

Dave, Ryan and I were left with Dan, Joe and Alfie. Before long Dave and I went for a walk to take the kids over to the big wheel and other rides situated in Hyde Park. This left Ryan chilling out on a picnic blanket enjoying the sun.

What we came back to was an entirely different scenario though! Ryan had decided to take a seat on a park bench and keep an eye on our belongings from afar. Maybe this is acceptable in Australia, but what Dave and I returned to see was an Antipodean laid back on a park bench, can of Fosters in hand, shouting at anyone that went within 20 yards of our kit. I do feel sorry for those who had to endure him for the 24 hours of their flight home!

In fairness, it wasn't quite that bad, but Dave and I sure saw the funny side of it! It was a perfect day out, and we cannot wait till Christmas when they fly back to visit once more!

A Royal Wedding

2011-05-09T07:47:00.001Z

So William and Kate got hitched, the country went wild(?), and so we decided to visit next door for a swift half in the afternoon.

Highlight of the day? Not Kates dress, not Wills cruising in the old mans Aston, and not even Pippa Middletons rear end ... it was Alfie on a big boy swing for the first time!

Big Bird ....

2011-05-09T07:12:00.000Z

....small eggs!

When I visited the chicken coop the other week I was welcomed with three eggs! This is the first time since we got our new magpie chook. Considering she's bloody massive I must be honest in that I was expecting a little more from her. You can guess which one was from her can't you!

She'd better up her game or she'll start to look like mighty fine pie filling!

Easter 2011

2011-05-09T06:23:00.000Z

I love the four days of Eater and this year the forecast was H.O.T. This was good news as we had plans! Good Friday = Wheels Day, Saturday = James & Michelle's wedding, Sunday = chop off the bus roof, and Monday = a family trip out to Santa Pod.

We were up and out early on Friday to head down to Aldershot for Wheels Day. We've been heading down to this show for years, and it was lovely to have gorgeous sunshine ... just as I remember it when I first cruised down to the event with Larry when it was held at Brooklands. Not only is it a fantastic day out, it's also the perfect opportunity to start spreading word about the Gathering. We took a picnic, had brilliant day, and I even came away with a new (to me) land speed record book. Suncream at the ready, the temps were up close to 30 degrees and it was a welcome relief to bump into our friends Steve and Kim and chill with them in the shade their camper provided. They have a young daughter, Lily, which also gave Alfie the perfect chance to practice his kiss-chase technique.

We went straight from Aldershot down to Ammie and Tom's in Theale, near Reading. We had a lovely evening there, and were treated to one of the nicest curry's I've ever had - all cooked in house to a secret recipe by them both.

We got our heads down early as we had alarms set for about 5am. A quick shower and we were out the door on our way to Bath by 6. When I found out James & Michelle wanted to get married at 8:30am I must be honest in that I muttered a few choice words in their direction ... but with temperatures once more pushing top twenties it now seemed like a godsend! I was a first class idiot and left my camera in the car, and as such have no photos of their memorable day. They got married within the Roman Baths - well, not actually IN the Roman Baths - and it was a beautiful background to a wonderful morning. Its lovely seeing two friends doing something so special, and Alfie was extremely happy at being able to wander around a giant puddle for a few hours pointing at pigeons. After the service came the reception - which was breakfast! - and by the time we vacated for photographs the sun was high in the sky. We hit the road by early afternoon, and managed to be home before dinner.

With a little time before his evening routine kicked in we tried to make up for the fact he wasn't allowed to jump in the Roman Baths. A bucket, a hose, and a rubber duck ... what more could a 18 month old want, right!?!

And, as always, he couldn't leave Harry alone.

He does seem to think that a hose can suck up water. And then miraculously deposit water where he wants it to. The mind control powers of this one must be strong!

But if he's still wearing his pants like this in 16 years time then I'm really gonna have to have words with him!

Monday soon rolled round, and Bill rocked up nice and early for us to chop the roof off the bus. The full day is documented in my Retro Rides Build Thread but we had a very productive day and by 6pm (when Bill had to leave) we had the roof swinging in the breeze!

Feeling content with life I proposed a family day out to Santa Pod for Monday. For me this was a win-win situation. A family day out = bonus points with SheWhoMustBeObeyed and it also means we all get a day out watching fast cars. Easter at Santa Pod is always the Easter Thunderball event. More often than not its engulfed in damp weather, but for this year the weather held and we were greeted with another gorgeous day.

Having left Alfie's new pair of shades at Ammie's on Friday we treated Alfie to his first baseball cap to shade his poor little eyes from the burning sun.

First up we headed straight for the pits to catch up with our good friends Rob and Polly. You can guarantee they're gonna be there as if one of them isn't racing you can be sure Rob will be sat around waiting for the first excuse to stick his head inside a stricken competitors engine bay.

On our way round we passed the awesome Evil Knievil roadshow.

It was great to natter with Rob and Polly, but after a while Alfie got restless and there's only so much mischief and meandering you can let a youngster get away with in a pit area ... and so we made our way round to the opposite side of the track to sit on the bank and see some of the action.

We took in a few races pit side as we took a slow wander round.

With the weather being so fantastic the bank was packed!

Amongst the highlights was this crazy electric powered Beetle. It uses two forklift truck motors ... and runs 9's!

But as we all know, motorsport can be somewhat hypnotic and after a lovely picnic it wasn't long until Alfie was fighting the desire to fall asleep to the backdrop of rumbling V8's.

Whilst he slept we sat back and enjoyed the racing ... but thankfully he was back with us for the grand finale! The Top Fuel Shootout final - 8000bhp dragster vs 8000bhp funny car. If has hadn't been awake already, the noise of these two monsters would soon have had him back with us ... and so it was time to cover your ears!

Wanting to see the race, photograph the race, and not burst an eardrum I focused the camera on a set point. With my left index finger in my right ear, my left ear squashed against my shoulder I got ready to fire off the camera and hopefully get a few decent shots during the 5 seconds it would take for these monsters to roar down the quarter mile. Thankfully, I got lucky ... with flames roaring from all exhaust pipes!

The perfect way to finish off an amazing four days !!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

2011-05-06T14:06:00.000Z

It nearly happened last year, and it has happened this year.

Out on the boat the other week I finally lost my patience. The combination of sweltering in the heat and simultaneously chewing hair in just a light offshore breeze meant action needed to be taken.

So from this.

To this.

I now have cold ears.

Stranded At Sea

2011-05-06T06:48:00.000Z

A few weeks ago (w/e of 16th April) we made the trip down to Essex. The plan was for me to get some work done on Eb, and for Bill and I to get out fishing.

After a few beers on Friday night we devised a friendly wager, based on first fish caught and biggest fish caught.

We finally laid our head down for about 4 hours kip. Surprisingly such little sleep was no problem, and we were fresh out of bed ready to head to Brightlingsea at 4am.

Since Bill bought Reel Grumpy last year we've long wanted to do proper session fishing with a real early start and it felt good to be out and about so early. Its the sort of thing we did virtually every weekend when we were 18, and I guess that to us that's part of what fishing is all about.

Having reached Brightlingsea, we were out in the tender before 6am. We weren't the only ones looking for good days fishing!

The tide was pretty much at its lowest point, and negotiating our way out of the mooring gave us a few heart in mouth moments ... as you can see, the depthfinder was telling us there wasn't much water below us!

We found ourselves a suitable location to drop the lobster pot, and then made our way out to where we were hoping to get lucky. Getting ready to cast out was a joy ... this was my first time to use my new reel! It was my birthday present from Bill - thanks dude!

After getting everything set up, we got the kettle on. You know when coffee granules get damp .... well that's all we had! Its fair to say we enjoyed the most disgusting coffee known to man. Bait was squid and/or herring. With everything ready to go we got our baits out in the water.

The tide, the weather and slowly the fish all started to come to us. I had a dogfish, and Bill started with a small Whiting followed by a few Dogfish.

As the fishing tailed off we raised anchor in search of a lucky spot. By now the sun was out, and it was a gorgeous day! We though there was no better place to be. All changed within moments though. With time ticking, and the tide disappearing, we decided to head back. We'd had fun and it would still give us an evening with the womenfolk. As we made our way to shore the buoy marking the lobster pot came into view - there was always a chance of lobster for tea! But then Reel Grumpy stuttered ... and seconds later died.

This wasn't the end of the world, Bill had joked on many a time that he had never refilled it, and we knew there was more diesel on board. We checked the tank which was low, and so topped her up. Turns out that the spare diesel was ancient and we had no idea if it would be good or not. Bill hit the ignition button, the engine turned over ... but didn't even attempt to fire. Within moments we had the engine cover up.

We then spent HOURS trying to prime the fuel system to get it going. We even read the bloody manual! We thought we knew what we were doing ... but were armed with just a 10mm socket and some needle nose pliers! The photo above shows bill drawing a bottle of water up through a bucket to create the suction to pull the diesel through. This is a tried and tested technique ... didn't work on Reel Grumpy though.

Eventually we had to admit defeat,and rang Bill's did to register our need for our "one free rescue". We sat back, had a smoke, and figured we might as well through a bait in the sea! After an hour or so Bill's Dad arrived, and with tools too! Whilst I tried to get the fuel system primed Bill went to collect the lobster pot that had been taunting us of its location for the past hour or so. This is how close we were.

This was the contents of the lobster pot. Missing lobsters, but it did contain a cool little hermit crab!

Although still missing the 8mm we so desperately needed we played around for another hour or so but with no joy. As well as the questionable diesel, we now guessed the batteries were getting too low to fire her up too.

And so we tied the two boats together, and took a tow back to port. Lesson learnt - NEVER run out of gas!

As we came into harbour the tide was once more DEAD LOW! Having stopped for a natter with the locals it was determined we had no chance of getting back onto our mooring. But after the mornings efforts Bill and I felt confident. We went for it and thankfully got back OK. Gary moored up, and were supposed to collect him.

With Reel Grumpy safely back on her spot, we jumped in the tender and fired up the two stroke outboard to go and collect Gary. It just wasn't our day though, and halfway back the outboard coughed and stuttered into silence. At least the tender has oars on board, and so our day ended like so.

The Gate Escape!

2011-05-05T07:40:00.000Z

Those of you who have visited over recent months (years?) will surely have noticed the the entrance to our property has become somewhat worn and not entirely fit for use.

With the new pagoda going up, the plan was always to move the gate in line with the end of the barn, and at the same time sort out a new gating solution.

And so when Tash's first compressed day of April came round, and she and Alfie went to the play group, I spent a few hours in the barn building a new gate whilst listening to Will Carling bumble on about rugby on TalkSPORT.

I had to build a new wider gate, and also sort out some of the slightly worn parts. The hinges had definitely seen better days!

This is the last picture I took. As you can see, I used a baton to screw everything in place and then hung the hinges to take out all the slack. Since then I have acquired a new set of hinges from the scrap yard which are quite simply gorgeous! The new gate has cost me completely £0, being a combo of wood left in the barn loft and the old gate.

Old McWimpole Has A Farm ....

2011-05-04T20:37:00.000Z

The first weekend of April we were joined by Team Ferg' on a visit to Wimpole Farm. It was the time when lambs are being born, and the womenfolk offered the excuse of "the kids will want to see the lambs" whilst actually meaning "hopefully the kids will run off and I'll see a cutesy baby lamb be born".

Apologies for Dave for not being included in the photo. You can see Sal struggling under the weight of two, and when Dave attempted to jump on her back she went down faster than Blackpool Town!

Alfie met goats. I have to admit I quite like goats, and when I one day have enough land to home a pig I think I shall also look for a goat. I'll be sure not to build any bridges, I wouldn't want to risk trolls!

Oh, and on the note of pigs. Everyone thinks of them as cute little squeaky pink squishy things ...

BUT .... don't get them hungry! Seriously, lock up your toddlers, they become rearing lumps of howling madness!

The boys found a massive hay den to play in! Dan and Joe loved to climb up as high as they could, whilst Alfie mostly tried to stay low to ensure he came out looking like Worsel Gummage!

And being a farm there was tractors - something Joe was very pleased about!

And Tash - i mean Alfie - even got to see a wee little lamb!

A Man Needs Muscles!

2011-05-04T18:40:00.000Z

Looking back on the dates on these photo's I see it all happened on April 1st. Where did April go!?!?

Anyways ... Tash and I go on about baby led weaning at every opportunity. It's not intentional, but I'm sure it bores some people ... but this is the exact reason we love it SO much!

Here's Alfie, not even 18 months, properly getting involved with food just like we did!

He even dunked his bread in the sauce!

Visiting Nettlebed - March Edition

2011-04-20T07:25:00.000Z

Still playing catch-up with the blog! The following events took place the day after we arrived back from Gibraltar.

Not worrying about unpacking, we set the alarm clocks for an early start to make the trip down with Tash to her work and then onwards to Nettlebed to see Catherine and Chloe. They have a new arrival - Millie! A gorgeous Beagle, full of puppy love.

If you have read my previous posts you wont be surprised to hear Chloe adores her, and I think at times Millie is a little overwhelmed by just how much love Chloe tried to show her.

Alfie thought she was great too, and we had a wonderful day full of playing outside and even a meal together at a restuarant (if you can call Pizza Express a resaurant) with children who for once opted to decorate their colouring books instead of the surrounding walls and tables!

And of course Alfie and Chloe had a cuddle.

And Alfie sucked some stones.

And finally a little video of Alfie and Millie. I'm guessing Chloe must have been asleep cos I can't think why she isn't in her usual star role!

The Black Chook of The Brood

2011-04-19T19:56:00.000Z

Playing catch-up here. Been back from Gib a number of weeks, and there's so many pictures i've not yet posted!

So lets start at the beginning ... we got back from Gib on the Monday morning and by the Monday afternoon we were down at Thornes Nursery. We wanted our chooks to have a third member to the brood, and went on the look for a suitable candidate. Wanting to only introduce one, instead of the recommended two chickens, we were advised of picking a big old girl to stand a chance of fighting for herself and having a chance of being accepted. After a few days of letting chickens run mayham in the garden, and the new bird being firms told she is bottom of the pecking order, I am pleased to say she has been accepted and we haven't had to resort to introducing a forth bird to 'even up the teams'!

Gibraltar!

2011-04-08T20:08:00.000Z

I'm a little behind with my blogging at the moment. We spent the week of 21st-28th March in Gib and it's taken me a while to catch up with everything. And now the suns out, which pushes blogging further down the priority list. So, to begin, Gib!

Did you see that programme a few months ago? The 10 most dangerous airports I think it was called? Gib was in that list. A very short runway, coupled with the crazy airflows that come off the rock mean you NEVER get a nice landing! Forecasts spoke of 30mph winds, and so as the pilot attempted his decent and the gusts had the plane going up and down like crazy I think we were all thinking 'his going to abort this and we'll land in Malaga' .... however this pilot had balls of steel, stuck with it, and somehow got the bird on the ground. Big relief! Not cause we landed safely, but so we could finally get Alfie off of the plane and to somewhere where he could cause terror! We had woken him at 4am - he wanted revenge!

We've heard many a tale of the cheeky monkeys - sorry, apes - making there way down to Main Street and our first wander down to Uncle's revealed one enjoying the climbing frame the local builders had erected.

With the weather being very overcast and fairly glum, on Wednesday we made a trip across the border to La Linea.

Within minutes we were at Cafe Modello enjoying coffee and a treat. I did ask to try Alfie's, but he didn't seem keen.

This was the view back to Gib. You can clearly see how the Levante cloud forms over the rock!

Lunch was Chinese. I only wish the one next door to us was owned by such welcoming people, and served food which tasted so tasty!

And followed by a wander around Carrefour.

And whilst the Ladies went off and looked at clothes I was in full Homer mode down the ham isle ...

whilst Alfie was admiring the aceituna bar!

On Thursday we tried to take Alfie round to Catalan Bay. Its a gorgeous beach, and we were so excited to see him paddle in the sea in his new jelly shoes. We were blessed with the weather, but sadly this was the sight we were greeted with.

Bob The Builder and friends do not make for a child friendly environment, no matter how much CBeebies try and tell you otherwise. To be fair, the sea didn't look great for fishing either.

Michi And Tash tried to explain to Alfie why the beach would have to wait until another day, and then we jumped back on the bus to head home.

We always stay at Tasha's Grandma's when we visit. She lives in an apartment that has been in the family for years. I love the layout of these, the way each property faces inwards. It generates a proper little community. Of course this comes with some expected drawbacks - beware where you hang your washing!

Alfie was taken on one of many walks around the block, waddling around the balcony like his Mother would have done all those years ago! Of course, he couldn't resist the camera!

A few days later we made another trip into Spain, and after showing Alfie fish we got the chance to introduce him to sand between your toes! In true small boy fashion he brought half the beach back with him and emptied most of it in Uncle's car!

As you can imagine, it hard work doing all that digging. It even managed to tire Alfie out!

Saturday was a very relaxed day. The weather was gorgeous and so we spent most of the afternoon indoors baking cupcakes! Go figure! Most notable photograph has to be this one - a Grandma's solution to her Grandsons ever dropping pyjama bottoms!

On the Sunday Michi and I found 10 minutes to take Alfie the park. This is set within the Alameda Gardens, which is where Tash and I got married, and is right behind where Tasha's Grandma lives.

In the evening I managed to go fishing. I only had a couple of leads, but Michi and I wandered down to Rosia Bay to see if the Mackerel were biting. You can fish off the back of one of the breaks here, but it leaves you fishing off the rocks. I didn't take the camera with me, which is probably a good thing. With one lead already gone, the second one soon got snagged up. I tightened everything up and leaned into it in a hope to free the lead. What actually happened was the knot pulled, I went flying backwards and for some reason launched my rod into the drink. Cue Michi scrambling across the rocks to check I was OK and me scrambling across the rocks to try and rescue my rod before it disappeared to Davey Jones' locker! Thankfully the rod was saved, but with no more leads it meant the fishing trip was over. Still, at least we'd had a fish so weren't going home totally empty handed. A fine end to a lovely week.

Apologies if details of some days seem light on content or photo's. If ever you think "I wonder what else they did?", then the answer is "EAT!"

The Kiss Chase

2011-03-18T14:14:00.000Z

As I've blogged before, once or twice a month Alfie and I get up at the sparrows fart to join Tash in her journey to work. Not so we can load up electricals out of Comets back door, but so we can steal the Skoda and continue our journey down to gorgeous leafy Nettlebed (nr Henley) to see our friends Catherine and Chloe.

This is Chloe - I am including this photo just on the fact that it proves the girl does (occasionally) sit still!

Tuesday was one of those days, and although it means a 5am start for me its well worth it to see these two playing together. They certainly looked pleased to see each other!

Chloe and Alfie have always got on especially well, and it didn't take long for Alfie to feel at home. Here he is testing out his latest Jedi learning's ..."this isn't the remote you're looking for!"

Playtime was soon underway and before you knew it this gorgeous detached Berkshire property had become their own little fun house. We were just waiting for Pat Sharp to knock at the door! Chloe was adamant that my camera was her prize, and she wanted photographic evidence of just how many toys can be moved in a 10 minute frenzy. She pushed so hard on the clicker I'm surprised its not still reeling off photos now!

But it was a gorgeous day, and so we soon headed outside to see if a little fresh air couldn't persuade the two rug rats to rest their weary eyes.

Alfie likes stones.

Chloe likes pots.

As always, they were very sweet together though.

I think its fair to say that Chloe has always done the chasing, and its not an uncommon sight to see my son trying to scramble away as a Chloe drags him around the floor by his trousers. OK, so its not quite like that, but she certainly usually ends up in fits of laughter and sat atop Alfie as I imagine Tom Hanks must sit on his desert island in that film 'Cast Away' when he first gets washed ashore. Don't get me wrong - he seems to love it though (most of the time).

Things were very different on Tuesday though - they were both full of running and ..... kissing. And Alfie seemed quite happy to chase as much as he was chased. And so I present to you a must hilarious video clip, starring two youngsters who may not quite have full control over their bodies but clearly do over their emotions.

You Can Only Reap What You Sow...

2011-03-18T09:44:00.000Z

...And so after my morning Bake-Off'ing last Saturday we decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather, hit the local garden centre, and spend the afternoon planting some seeds.

So firstly, to buy some seeds! Alfie loved toddling about the place!

And he thought the garden toys were fantabulous!

Back home we sorted through out selection of seeds.

Tomatoes, Aubergines, Pepper and the like were all sowed into little pots - with Alfie's pointy finger coming in especially handy (under close guidance from Tash) to get the seeds into place.

And did Alfie have fun!? So much fun he could barely contain water in his little chubby cheeks!

My Great British Bake Off - Part Two

2011-03-15T21:14:00.000Z

So as I blogged before, I attended the first rounds of audition for The Great British Bake Off last Tuesday ... and on Thursday I had a phone call inviting me back on Saturday to participate in the next stage!

I was told I would be needed 9am-1:30am, had to bake scones and a loaf and bring them with me, and would then need to bake a cake in a 'bake off' scenario on the day.

By the end of the Thursday I had received the recipes for scones and the loaf, and Thursday night I attempted to bake scones ... for the first time in my life! They were fairly horrendous, but in the one batch I made I felt I learnt what I was doing wrong and which tools I was missing! I then started my loaf, making the sponge to be ready for the following days kneading activities.

After querying the bread recipe, purchasing a better pastry cutter, and a second test batch of scones I set about finishing off my loaf and baking my scones. I only did three batches, but I failed to master the art of getting them to rise correctly and evenly. This was to be my offering for the Bake Off judges;

We were up early on Saturday, and with this stage of the auditions taking place in North London at the Waitrose Cookery School it meant that a)it was possible to drive to and b)Tash and Alfie could come along too. So at about 7:30am Alfie was squeezed into his coat for us to hit the A1!

We arrived shortly before 9am, and after a lap of Waitrose found the entrance for the Cookery School.

Once inside my goodies were plated up, and after most of the production girls had coo'd over the little grubby one, Alfie took Tash off demanding to be shown the wonders of what North London had to offer on a sunny Saturday in March. I don't know quite what they got up to but I know it involved Ikea, a park, Leon and that he came back with a bump on his head!

Whilst they enjoyed their time, I too was having a ball! The atmosphere has always been fantastic at these auditions, and I very quickly learnt that getting this far meant I had made it to the last 48! Considering there were thousands that applied, I am VERY proud of myself for getting this far.

There were 12 of us in the morning group, and we sat around a table laughing and joking until our name was called and we were summoned before Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood once more - not before receiving a good luck 'high five' from the production crew though.

My turn came, and I couldn't wait. I've really enjoyed being up infront of Paul and Mary, and a big part of why I've done this is to get some quality feedback. In short, my loaf was very good (Paul Hollywood - he who bakes £15 loafs for Harrods - actually said I was a natural baker) and my scones were lovely .. just lacking in the appearance stakes. Thats pretty much the best I had hoped for, so I was well chuffed!

By about 11am we had all been seen and went through to the kitchens to start the bake off challenge. We were given a Mary Berry recipe for a coffee and walnut cake, a host of ingredients, the necessary health and safety briefing ... and then the stopwatch started ticking!

I was amazed at how much time we had, and how much of a breeze it all was. Two 7 Inch tins, bake two cakes, make the filling/topping as described, and then put the cake together. Easy. We had 30 mins prep time. I was done in 15, killing time by working out how the oven worked and checking through the next steps of the recipe. And then, with 5 minutes left I realised the recipe said for a 7" tin cake. But I had two 7" tins. Was I supposed to double the quantities? But no-one else had. But I had already thought that the cake mix wasn't much, especially as I needed to bake for 35 minutes. Sod it. I hurriedly threw another batch of ingredients into a bowl, the cameras immediately coming over to me and loving every minute of me having a last minute rush, and somehow got the mix into the tins and the tins into the oven pretty much bang on time. Whilst everything baked we all chatted, no-one really knowing how the recipe was supposed to be interpreted, but me confident I could leave my tins in the oven for the full 35 minutes. Of course everyone else was now stressing that I might be right, and they would therefore need to remove their cakes early.

I dunno what others did, but my cakes came out well, and of course once it was assembled it was massive - and in true Keith Stylee it was far from a work of art. There are some truly amazing decorators in that competition though, some of the cakes looked absolutely amazing!!

With everything finished off we chatted amongst ourselves before our cakes were passed to the judges and we all headed for home. This time the judging was done out of eyesight and earshot so I have no idea what they thought. Still not knowing if my final 5 minute flurry had been right or wrong I was pretty certain I was going out, and with that had in mind had a lovely chat with Paul and Mary before leaving, as well as a final photo with the pair of them. As you can see, Mary took a right shine to Alfie!

We were allowed to take everything away with us, and Tash

I don't think I'm good enough to go through to the final 12, but there is also a large part of me that doesn't want to - it would mean pretty much every weekend for up to two months (depending on how far you go) and that's A LOT of time! But after sitting down and tasting my cake I think Tash summed it up perfectly - if they are looking for someone who doesn't look like they should bake but does, and produces ugly but very tasty food then you never know .....

Just Fooling Around

2011-03-14T22:26:00.001Z

Alfie has reached that stage that I have LONG been waiting for. I know some dread it, but I honestly couldn't wait till he became a stumbling bumbling mischievous toddler.

And I know he's been walking for a while now, and lets be honest all children are mischievou at that age, but I swear these tendancies have ramped up recently. And after inviting me to play with his shape sorter last week we've spent more and more time just messing about together. Largely 'cos he wants to, but also because I don't want to miss a thing ... this is a child who finds hilarity at spinning on the spot, struggling to keep control as the turns become wider and wider, and finally bumping into something at the edge of the room and collapsing on the deck. These are moment I just MUST see!

Anyway, the back end of last week we had a blast together. Its not often I just sit down and chill out. Theres usually something else I would rather be doing, or some other job Tash has given me that has to be done, but by the time Thursday arrived I was shattered and sat on the sofa and just couldn't be bother to move.

Clearly Alfie saw me as a vulnerable toy, pole vaulted himself up onto the sofa and jumped all over me. Quickly he realised I was wearing glasses. This he considered to mean that Favourite Game #37 could begin - stealing glasses from Daddy's head (which usually involves him trying to fit them over his head, ending with them inserted simutaneously into an ear and his mouth, and eventually resulting in me needing to bend them back into shape).

So I took them off and moved them. He didn't care, for he has spotted my mobile. So I moved it. And then back to the glasses. And so on . So there I was, laid on the sofa with one arm bent behind my head (concealing my glasses) and the other outstretched holding my phone. He was in a great playful mood and I found it hilarious. So I did something I must do more often - I clicked the phone into camera mode, pointed it roughly at us, and hoped to get a few decent shots.

And after Thursday came Friday. We had been invited to Space2Play, an indoor play centre in Hitchin. As a rule I DESPISE these places ... however it turned out that this was one large enough for adults to join in, and we were positively welcome to do so! Seriously, by 'soft play' standards this place is massive! It was great fun to scramble around an activity zone, with Alfie following me and laughing hysterically. He especially seemed to love the spiral slide. However judging by fact I left most of the skin from my arms down it, I would argue that perhaps that slide isn't quite man enough for adults.

Here's a couple of video's from the day, I was seriously impressed by what he could do and how much he wanted to do. I'd argue he's been influenced a bit too much from his Godfather - what have you been teaching him Bill!?!

My Great British Bake Off

2011-03-09T09:19:00.000Z

As I mentioned before, Tash entered me into the Great British Bake Off the other week. I got an email through asking my to fill out a load of details in order to submit my entry. With Alfie running around, and priorities elsewhere, I never got round to it until last Tuesday when I received a phone call from the producers asking if I would like to enter, and to see if I could go through the entry form with them over the phone. I said 'yes' and spent about half an hour on the phone, finishing up with being told I would get a call back within a few days.

Last Thursday I got a call back saying I had been successful, and was invited to the next stage which was to be Tuesday (yesterday) in London. I was told I needed to take two samples of my baking with me, one sweet and one savoury.

After pulling my hair out over the weekend whilst trying to work out what to bake (many thanks to all those that sent me recipes, especially Ghis who sent me so many I think I could now open a French Patisserie!) I decided to keep it simple and do what I know best. A loaf of bread and a chocolate orange loaf cake. Two things I know will come out correct every time! And after all, to me it wasn't about going out to impress, I just wanted to be me and see what the response was.

So Monday afternoon/evening I baked. The bread didn't get as long as I would have liked to proof (flippin' unreliable freecyclers!) but I was pretty happy with the way everything turned out.

It was the loaf on the right that got selected to join me on my journey, and after an early rise the next morning I had everything packed in an Abel & Cole box and a ticket to get me to London Town - destination, Holborn!

I had chosen a 'slot' of midday, which meant I could miss rush hour and hopefully have a nice relaxed day. The sun shone, and Arlesey train station almost looked pleasant. You can't get away from the token wierdo who thinks he has to try and flag down every passing choo-choo. And they wonder why people don't use public transport!

I got myself into town in good time, made the short tube trip to Holborn, and found my way to the venue.

The note on the door gave me confidence I had found the correct place.

I went in and was seated in a little waiting area with a few other applicants. Firstly I had to plate up my food. Whilst waiting to be seen by the judges we got chatting and it became apparent I was not taking things as seriously as others! Some people had spent hours on their baking, producing some gorgeous looking cakes and pies ... and one guy had even flown over from Belfast!!

The format was that the judges would meet you, taste your food, and you would then get a yes or no. If you got a 'yes' then you hung around to do a piece on camera, and if it was a 'no' you could get into the pub a bit sooner!

It became apparent that you would actually be seen from the judges from the show, however having never watched the programme this didn't really matter to me. It would appear Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (Mary especially) are quite famous ... however I have just looked on Wiki to get their names, that's how much I know of them! lol. Someone also dropped in that Paul was a bread person ... this gave me some hope as I know I can bake a loaf.

My time came, and I had a great time. Its only brief, but Paul liked my bread. He asked how I got into bread, and I told him my story ... which concludes with Alfie's allergies etc. Paul jumped in with 'but is he allergic to wheat' and I went off on a mini rant about the shite they put in bread these days and how Alfie is fine with my bread. He clearly liked what I had to say, and was extremely complimentary about my loaf and also our approach to allergies. And to top it all Mary really liked the cake, saying that is was beautiful and moist and didn't need anything else. I have modified the recipe a tiny amount, but its pretty much a Nigella recipe so maybe I should pass the praise on to her!

I came out of that room and was immediately told 'Paul really liked you', and shortly after was asked if I could hang around to do my piece to camera. I had made it past the second stage :o).

The piece on camera was basically a short chat about me. I guess its just to see if you are comfortable on camera. Not really a problem for me, and when I found out the lady I'd be speaking to was 6 months pregnant I was full of confidence. A stay at home Dad talking to a pregnant lady - I was never going to be short of stuff to say! After waiting an age my time finally came, and everything went as I planned. We had a LONG conversation about baby related stuff, and a short chat about baking.

With that done it was now gone 3pm. I thought the day would take me an hour, but it had taken nearly 4! I made my way home, expecting to be met at the station by an enthusiastic and proud family. Instead I was alone as they were caught in traffic. Even in the sunshine Hitchin station struggles to look except boring!

After a few minutes my ride home arrived, the occupants overjoyed to see me!

Overall I had a fantastic day. It was really nice to receive compliments on my baking from two people who are very highly regarded, and I met some great people during the day. Now I just wait on a phone call to see if I have progressed. Part of me thinks I'm in with a really strong shout, but part of me really doesn't want to - at £30 a trip it's gonna start getting expensive. Oh, and I am nowhere near good enough to win!

The First Signs Of Spring?

2011-03-04T13:37:00.000Z

Possibly ...

The sun has certainly been spotted today, and Harry took his first opportunity of the year to catch some rays. It also have me perfect opportunity to grab a photo and update the header on the blog. The snow pictures have had their time, don't ya think?

In other news, our accumulation of fruit continues to reach ridiculous levels. Yesterday I was close to calling French government officials to ask how they manage their butter mountains and wine lakes ... but instead opted to squeeze some 20+ oranges, 3 blood oranges ad 2 grapefruit to product the perfect breakfast drink!

Now I just need to deal with the 20+ bananas! (yes, we have a banana 'situation' again!)

Oh, and before I go I really should mention that on Tuesday I am off to London Town to meet the judges of The Great British Bake Off. Tash stuck my name in the hat, and after a telephone conversation on Wednesday I got a call back yesterday to confirm they would like to meet me. I need to take two samples of my baking, so I'd better find something nice to dazzle their tastebuds with!

I imagine that this weekend Fig Tree Cottage shall become FTCafe!

A hard Days Playing!

2011-03-01T15:58:00.000Z

He played in the am, he played in the pm ..... and then it went quiet.

Fillin' In The Gaps

2011-03-01T15:54:00.000Z

I haven't updated for a few weeks, largely because I left the camera at a friends house and I hate bloggin' without some (at least semi-decent) photo's. So here's a brief (photo heavy) summary of the past fortnight.

The friends we were visiting when I left the camera behind were Catherine and her darling daughter Chloe.

This is Chloe;

We had a lovely day catching up, visiting the park, and played with fridge magnets!

For Christmas 2009 Dawn got us a voucher for a free photoshoot, and free photo, with a professional photographer. We finally got it all sorted and booked, and last Tuesday the time came to pull our best "cheeeeese" faces.

After the photo's were taken we were shown the price list. And their was his first error, he really should have done that AFTER showing us the results of his hours work. I'm grateful we get a free one, cos £300/£400/£500 for a photo is bloody ridiculous!

And onto Thursday, when Tash told me of some kiddies gardening group that had been set up. On the promise of free cake we turned up and put in a hard shift building a storage box and planting some seeds.

A Plucking Good Birthday!

2011-03-01T14:33:00.000Z

Yesterday was my birthday, and I would like to thank everyone who made a phone call, sent me a message or wrote something on my Facebook wall! It all made me smile. My actual day was quite pedestrian, with just Alfie and I being home, but I had a great time on Saturday enjoying pints of ale whilst the typically British weather went about its thing outside.

Our three became two on Sunday when one of our chickens passed on to the giant coop in the sky. She has looked ill on Saturday, so it came as no surprise when she was found laid out in the chicken run. I had long thought about chickens, death, and pots and this seemed to me like an opportunity to put theory to the test - the perfect way to celebrate the chickens life. And it was my birthday, an ideal excuse to cook up a feast!

I found this blog which has a good detailed step by step guide to plucking and preparing a bird. So I got everything laid out, my laptop with instruction at the ready, and my vat of water on the boil.

Having dunked the chook in 150 degree water her feathers were removed swiftly, and I have to admit to totally enjoying the process. It also revealed a large green swelling under the skin around her belly. Its clear she was not well (considering she died that is quite possibly an understatement) and under all that pillow filling she was as skinny as my son! And so sadly she ended up in the wheelie-bin as opposed to my pot.

Feeling a little down at this outcome Alfie soon cheered me right up! Initially he was just shouting at me, and upon investigation it materialised that he had trapped his finger in his shape sorter. Nothing serious, and he was soon free and playing again. And it was then he totally made my birthday. He sat on my lap and continued to play with the shape sorter, initially just showing me what he could do (put the circle through the circular hole)

And then he did the sweetest thing, and asked me to show him where the other shapes go! First he picked up the triangle, grabbed hold of my left hand with his free hand, and turned it over to place the triangle in my palm. To which he nodded and went "ysssss" like he does. And of course I showed him where it went - and we played like that with triangles, squares and rectangles for about an hour until Tash came home.

The only small issue being that he can also squeeze the triangle through the circular hole.

My Birthday Wish

2011-02-24T12:58:00.000Z

My Birthday is Monday. That gives you three days to bake, decorate and create the above. Come on friends and relatives, make my birthday dream come true!

Pagoda Building - Day One

2011-02-17T13:50:00.000Z

The next stage of raising the beds in the garden was to do the area outside the barn. There is going to be a step from the 'garden' up to the path outside the barn. That plan was to have some kind of arch over this step. When I spoke to Tash about how she wanted it done (with a flat topped or pointy topped arch) we decided to turn the arch into a small pagoda which will give us something to run the vine up and over the entire length of the barn. With us needing a new gate, and me planning space to keep gardening tools as well as addition wood storage this proved to be a solution that should meet all needs.

So last weekend I set aside as a 'bus weekend' and decided to spend the Saturday working in the garden. I am clearing the loft of the barn out at the moment and there is LOADS of 2"x2" wood I need to get rid of. Now its slightly smaller wood than I'd ideally use, but as its free it fits in with our 'make use of what we have' approach to life.

Here's how it all looked at the start of the day.

I needed to run out and grab some postcrete and screws and so painted the ends of some of the wood to give them a little protection once they are in the ground.

My first job was to square up and remove the post that I had previously put in place outside the barn. This didn't follow the lines that the start of the pagoda would take.

And very quickly I was shouting and swearing at cheap tools!

First upright went in place, and was secured against the barn wall. The scaffold plank was then resecured against this.

Then the next upright went in.

And then postcreted the other upright in place, and managed to get a horizonal fixed to see how it all looked. Thankfully it all looks pretty good, cos the wood is SUPER wonky. It makes it kinda cool, and gives it character, but its a right P.I.T.A to take measurements from!

And then the second section went up.

And then the third.

And thats where things were left. I've got two sections left to erect, then join them together, make the new gate and sort the tool/log storage.

The forecast for this weekend looks somewhat suspect, but I'm preying its good enough for me to pretty much finish off the pagoda section.

And then Sunday came, and I did get a day spent on the Bus. You can read about that here if you want.

Pay Peanuts, Get Monkeys

2011-02-11T09:25:00.000Z

And clearly we must be monkeys, as this is our fruit bowl!

Now Alfie loves bananas, and as a result we order them from Abel & Cole each week in addition to our weekly fruit and veg box. Of course sometimes bananas are included in the box too. But thats OK, we can get through a lot of bananas in this house!

There only comes a problem when Fred and Lyd visit and bring with them a hundred weight of bananas too!

Really its not a problem as once they become a little over ripe they are perfect to freeze and then make into smoothies (Nigella has a recipe thats a perfect hangover cure!)

However with no space in our fruit bowl I needed to do something to reduce our numbers. I make a chocolate orange cake pretty much every week, but with so many bananas I decided to hunt out a banana loaf cake recipe.

The full recipe is here, but heres a summary of the ingrendients. Hmmm vanilla, always a winner!

225g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
100g chilled butter, cut into pieces
100g light muscovado sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g ripe bananas (weighed with skins)
1-2 tbsp milk

I was missing light muscovado sugar and so had to make do with light brown sugar, and next time I would check it at 45min instead of 55 mins. This is how it turned out though.

Its very nice. Though I have to be honest, I do prefer chocolate orange cake.

Not to worry though, cos Tash then pointed out her Mum and Dad brought oranges too! And of course we already had some in the bowl, AND Abel & Cole delivered some this week!

Guess what I'm making today!

Blustery Bradwell

2011-02-10T12:25:00.000Z

Last weekend I disappeared for a day down to Essex. Bill and I had scheduled in a day to get started with my bug some weeks before, and now it was time to get cracking! We knew it wouldn't take long and so I set off early so we could be done asap ... hoping to have time for a fish!

We were all done by lunchtime - my other blog is updated with those developments, just click here to read how we got on with the car.

Bill and I had been speaking during the week, and it became clear we had no chance of getting out on the boat. We were forecast some fairly windy conditions, and it was clear the sea would be awful. On the plus side it looked like the wind was in the right direction for a productive session at Bradwell, and he has a fishing shelter so we figured it would all be good.

High tide was dude at something like 2am, so we planned to get our jobs done in the morning then spend an afternoon getting ready, and hit the beach late in the day so the tide came towards us. What actually happened was that we were so efficient we had my bug done, Tasha's Skoda service done, and a new super sticky tyre fitted on Bills Seat Leon by early afternoon. We even enjoyed lunch and a pint in the local pub.

A few hours were spent in the afternoon getting tackle and bait together, followed by an early evening meal. Linz clearly wanted us out the way [;o)] as we were packed off with a flask of coffee and a foil parcel of bacon butties by 6:30pm. Arriving at Bradwell we realised it was windy. Very windy. Time was on our side though, and with high tide still 5 hours away we were in no rush to cast out. And so we set up the fishing shelter, which thankfully has little flaps sewn in the bottom which you can load up to hold it down.

For those that don't know, Bradwell is a shingle beach. This proved something of a problem, as it proved awfully hard to bury the legs of the shelter, and then weigh down the flaps. With the use of some handy rocks we felt like everything was going to stay in one place and settled down to enjoy a cup of coffee and a cigarette whilst waiting for the tide to come to us.

By 8 o clock we were desperate to get fishing, and so ventured out of the security of the fishing shelter to get set up. I had a little play with the camera, but this was the best shot I managed to grab.

Having cast out, with line bowing across the beach, we retired to the shelter convinced the wind was picking up. Another coffee was poured, cigarette smoked, ... and we realised the shelter seemed somewhat smaller. Basically the wind was so strong it was pushing the side panels into the shelter. This in turn was pushing the shelter into itself, making it smaller. As we looked up it was clear to see the entrance being concertina'd shut.

We checked and changed bait a few times, but by 9pm it was becoming clear we had to do something about the shelter. We were literally sitting on top of each other by now. And so we tried digging trenches, sinking the flaps, and getting everything weighed down again.

In hindsight I think we would say that our efforts were not especially successful. Within 15 minutes or so we had decided that the shelter, which by now was showing signs of being more like a kite than shelter, should be manned at all times. As we were sat there, saying how we wouldn't rather be anywhere else, with no warning at all the shelter tried to disappear down the Bradwell shingle. Bill went flying backwards, I dived forwards, and somehow the shelter stayed within the Essex county boundary.

This signalled the end of our fishing session, and as I held the shelter down Bill packed the rods away. Kinda reminded me of the time I fell in the lake when we first went fishing together all those years ago! Except I wasn't freezing my butt off in a tent held up with spare fishing rods this time!

Bizarrely, it was fun. But I think I would advise against fishing in 40?/50?/60? MPH winds!

Oh, and we didn't catch.

The Tale of Colds, Black Eyes, and Nutella!

2011-02-03T09:50:00.000Z

Before I begin this little tale there a few things you need to bear in mind when reading. a) Alfie has had a cold recently and b) as most of you know, I very much have a "if all limbs are still attached then he must be fine" approach to parenthood.

The aforementioned cold has made Alfie slightly grumpy recently, and also seems to have removed a large % of his co-ordination. So when I heard CRASH, BANG, GRIZZLE yesterday morning I peeped my head round from the kitchen (where I was making breakfast) to see Alfie on all 4's next to his walker. All limbs attached? Yup. So I left him to it, and within a few moments he seemed fine.

Mr Tumble kept him amused while he enjoyed his peanut butter on toast (I SWEAR he's no child of mine sometimes!), and when he made it clear he was done and wanted to play some more I went to free him from his harness. I was greeted by a little boy who I swear could be mistaken for being allergic to nuts, highchairs and cheerful special clowns! His left eye was fast doing a disappearing act, and his right one seemed to be coming out in sympathy! "Perhaps he did more than just fall over" I thought to myself as I did my best to smile at the disease ridden rugrat as I picked him up.

Still, in typical Alfie fashion he didnt care one bit, and come lunch time he was over his cold and eating his weight in roasted carrot and beetroot soup (once more with the "I swear he's not my child sometimes" thoughts!).

Having eaten well, and feeling slightly guilty that my son kinda resembled this weekends Superbowl pig skin, I offered him nutella on toast for 'dessert'.

Here's Alfie and his eye (thankfully looking SO much better by 3pm!). Clearly enjoying nutella on toast!

And pointed out he had one spare, and wondered if I'd like to have it?

But found something amusing?

And the cheeky little blighter nabbed it away before I had chance to grab it!

So i decided to exlain the benefits of sharing. To which he decided to make his second slice of toast completely unshareable!

Followed by a face of "what, I didn't do anything, I'm too cute"