Standing stones and a large white horse.

As we have an interest in ancient history, in September we took a long weekend break in the North of Wiltshire to see some of the famous historical sites there. That area of Southern Britain (near to Salisbury Plain) is well known for such places, so there were plenty to choose from to visit.

First on the list was a stop over in Cirencester (see picture to left), a town dating from Roman times and located on the edge of the picturesque Gloucestershire Cotswolds region. As we went down on a Saturday, we found it to be a bustling centre, with a small but busy farmer's market, a large medieval parish church, and lots of old grand buildings. We had a wander around, doing some of the advertised town walk which included the large park by the river Churn - very pleasant to wander through in the sunny weather. We also got a chance to visit the excellent Corinium Museum that has many Roman and other ancient artifacts.

After that, it was onto a brief walk around the very pretty town of Marlborough, and then onto our accommodation (a room above the pub) in the small village of Winterbourne Monkton, just North of Avebury. The evening was very pleasant, with clear blue skies, so we attempted to walk through the countryside to see the famous stones, but we turned back after seeing our path blocked by a huge herd of cows! The next day, we spent the majority of our time touring the stones (we even went on a guided tour) and some of the sites in the surrounding area, such as the West Kennet Long Barrow, and a walk past the amazing man-made Silbury Hill - what was it built for!?! These few hours were the highlight of the trip. Visiting the stones, and the other sites nearby was a brilliant and moving experience, something I've been waiting to do for many years. The site of the Avebury stone ring is extensive (it puts the more famous nearby Stonehenge to shame) and worth a visit anytime. I was particularly impressed with 'The Avenue', a line of parallel stones leading away to the S.E. of the circle. In the tourist information shop (sadly closing for the last time just a few days after our visit) we bought a nice artist impression of the stone ring. Amazing to think that nobody has any real idea about why the stones are here. Maybe it functioned as a pre-historic shopping centre!? (Incidentally, there is an excellent and very atmospheric children's TV series dating from the mid 1970's which was made in Avebury, called "Children of the Stones". Worth a watch!)

A view of the N.W. corner of the outer stone circle.

Me standing next to one of the amazing stones!

The entrance end of the West Kennet Long Barrow.

In the evening it was off to Devizes for a indian meal, a walk around the town (and a quick visit to the canal/docks in the wonderful twilight), and an impromptu tour of the old Palace cinema, which was a very nice surprise!

Devices town centre, near the church.

The Angel Cinema, a wonderful building both inside and out!

On the next day we drove home via the pretty Oxfordshire town of Farringdon (we were very impressed with the tower in the park!) and had a visit to the nearby (and I have to say spectacular) White Horse of Uffington, an ancient totum carved into the chalk escarpment next to the Iron Age camp. Stunning! The countryside in that area is lovely, a joy to behold, and the weather was beautiful that morning as well.

Me standing next to the famous White Horse!

Carla at the top of the hill above the White Horse.
The site of the huge Iron Age Fort- Uffington Castle- is to the right in the background.

We attempted to visit the Roman villa at Chedworth on the way back, but unfortunately it was closed. Oh well, another time! Still, we managed to fit in a quick visit to the Rollright Stones (the same place we went to last Hallowe'en) before heading home. A brilliant three days!

This was the first big drive in our new car, a 2007 Silver Ford Fiesta Ghia.

Summer films, house plants and Rainbow (twice!)

Since the last update, we've had the chance to see a some more of the Hollywood summer blockbusters, one a weekend over four weeks! The Showcase cinema in Coventry must have loved us. Through July and August we saw "Captain America", "Super 8", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", and then "Cowboys and Aliens". All were entertaining to varying degrees, with some great visual effects and sequences, but the stand out film for had to be "Apes" - an excellent and well made prequel to the original film, that had some great ideas of how the events in the 1967 production came to be. Fantastic animation/mo-cap work as well; deserves an Oscar nod for that. "Super 8" would have been better if some of the unnecessary action sequences at the end had been cut, or at least better edited. The performances from the teenagers was excellent, though.

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As the the weather has got a bit cooler, particularly just as August was ending, we decided to get some plants to bring a bit of green into are home.....so off to Dobbies (a local garden centre) we went. Some of our new plants are shown here at Carla's blog. Also, one early July evening we had an amazing double Rainbow visible after heavy rainfall....

....talking about 'Rainbow', I was sad to learn that Roy Skelton, puppeteer and voice of Zippy and George in the show (he also voiced the Daleks in 1970's "Doctor Who"), passed away in June. Here is a picture the two little characters as way of a tribute.

A couple of spring trips, cinema visits other events.

We recently had a couple of short breaks to get away and see some countryside and interesting historical sites. In May, for my birthday, we went to North Devon and based ourselves in a small village near to Ilfracombe and the coastline (a very pretty area on the edge of the Exmoor National Park, and by the coastal AONB). Here we had the opportunity to do some country and coastal walking and visit some really pretty towns and villages. Our first day was spent in Ilfracombe, a large town in the area, which is also a famous holiday resort and has an attractive harbour. We walked along the SW Coast Path to the west of the town. This was a wery good walk; there were some amazing views to see, but on the return we had to dodge some cows who seemed to think we were going to feed them! One of the best walks we did was around the headland near to Mortehoe, to the west of Ilfracombe. The walk provides some wild and stunning scenery and lots of sheep that seem unfazed by walkers. Another fantastic walk was SE of Lynmouth, along the wooded river valleys around Watersmeet. It was also fun to ride the famous cliff railway between Lynmouth and Lynton. On the way to Devon, there and back, we stopped off and looked around the Somerset towns of Glastonbury and Cheddar - it was very windy at the top of the Glastonbury Tor!

In June we stayed up in North Yorkshire and visited Harrogate, Ripon (to see the cathedral), Knaresborough (fantastic views of the river!), and the famous sites at Fountains Abbey and Brimham Rocks. Driving around we saw some lovely countryside and lots of cows! Also, it was fun to visit the oldest sweet shop in England in Pateley Bridge to pick up some treats....and it only rained on one day! Oh, on the way up to Yorkshire we also visited Brodsworth Hall and Gardens, but more impressive was Newby Hall and Gardens just to the East of Ripon. The gardens there are absolutely beautiful; the most impressive element was the extensive rock garden which was a joy to explore. Thankfully the sun was shining for the few hours we were there! There were interesting wicker animals (created by a local artist) located all over the park.

We spotted some old cinemas in Ilfracombe, Lynton and up in Harrogate. The 1930's Odeon in Harrogate town centre was particularly impressive (see pic). Also, we manged to catch this year's Eurovision broadcasts at our rented cottage in Devon. Bizarre TV, but thoroughly enjoyable, particularly the Moldavian gnomes playing trumpets ...on unicycles!

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Since the last update, our friends Sarah and Mandy have visited us, and it was lovely to see them. When Mandy was here we went to Milton Keynes to attend the Collectormania show which was fun as always - I was very impressed with a friend's home made R2-D2! Also, last weekend I went to the London Film and Comic Con, which was very busy due, I think, to the presence of actress Karen Gillian (from the current "Doctor Who" series). Nice to see friends and 'celebrity spot' at both events, and chat with the cosplayers at LFFC. I got a couple of autographs at both events.

As for cinema films, I've been lucky enough to catch a few recent releases. I saw "Thor" with Sarah and "Kung Fu Panda 2" with Carla, and both films were very enjoyable. Contrary to many opinions on-line, Sarah and I both thought the 3D in "Thor" worked very well. The CGI in "Panda" was amazing; there were some really beautiful shots in the film, and Po's character is fab. :) My pal Gary came up for the weekend just gone and we saw "Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon" - more over the top (but fun) Michael Bay robot destruction -in glorious 'real 3D', followed by "Bad Teacher", a Cameron Diaz comedy. We also did some DVD watching by seeing all three "Star Wars: Robot Chicken" specials, and the first episodes of "The Time Tunnel" and "Land of the Giants". I introduced Gaz to the observational comedy of Chris Lilley in "Angry Boys" and "Summer Heights High". I have yet to buy his first series, "We Could Be Heroes". The shows work so well as the characters are so well realised, and they get themselves into some hilarious situations.

<--- Cameron Diaz in "Bad Teacher"

Blenheim Palace and some other things in late March and early April.

Back in March, we had a great time visiting our friend Toria, who we hadn't seen for a while. Despite the cool weather, we ended up having a walk with her in the local woods, then back to her house for dinner and a DVD, which turned out to be "Paranormal Activity". This was building into an effective horror flick, but lost me somewhere toward the end of the running time: I wasn't scared anymore, just a bit dissapointed really- I believe a relevant term would be 'it jumped the shark.' :) Still, it scared Carla for several nights running!

The next day we went for a visit to the famous Blenheim Palace, which is located just North of Oxford. This large stately home is named after an area in Southern Germany were the British, together with their European allies of the time, defeated the French in The Battle of Blenheim in 1704. It has been the seat of the Duke of Marlborough since it was built a short time later. It was also the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Anyway, we had a very enjoyable few hours wandering around the palace (which included seeing the amazing library!) and then the gardens (designed by "Capability" Brown) which are very extensive and impressive. Highlights were 'the cascade' - a fantastic waterfall at the end of the lake, the Grand Bridge, and the walk along the lakeside in the trees which was beautiful, and having our packed lunch in a part of the gardens that gave us fantastic views of the palace on other side of the lake. It was nice weather that day as well - very mild. A shame we didn't have time to look around the neighbouring town of Woodstock, as it seemed to have some grand buildings and interesting shops. Oh well, next time.

As usual, I went to the Memorabilia Show at NEC: the usual mix of merchandise for sale and celebrities selling their autographs. I got two in the end, both of actresses from 'Allo 'Allo : Vickie Michelle and Kim Hartman. I got to see several pals as well.

Our friend Trudi came to stay with us the other weekend, so apart from the usual TV/DVD watching at home (enjoyed seeing "X-men Origins: Wolverine" for instance), we visited nearby Stratford-upon-Avon to have a look around the picturesque town centre, the river front, and go into the Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum. On the way home we stopped off at Kenilworth to visit the ruins of Kenilworth Castle, notable for its stunning setting and Elizabethan formal garden. On the Sunday, we went to the cinema to see "The Eagle", a tale set in Roman Britain about an adventure into the wild lands North of Hadrian's Wall. An enjoyable film, despite having a couple of dodgy historical aspects, and a little drawn out in the end section, but it was very well shot and the performances were solid. Less violent that I thought it would be as well.

"Battle: Los Angeles" and comic book DVD watching

We went to the cinema to see "Battle: Los Angeles" on Friday afternoon, while we were on a few days annual leave from work (back to work tomorrow!) The story is about a vast alien force invading the major cities of the world, so they can ultimately gain control of the Earth's water supply. This film concentrates on the fight between the aliens and US marines in downtown Santa Monica and L.A, and stars Aaeron Eckhart. I really liked the frenetic action scenes (the film is basically 1 1/2 hours of urban based battle carnage) which were thrilling, and the design of the aliens and their ships was interesting, as was the way they fought their side of the conflict. The visual effects were very well done and integrated nicely into the live action - great use of CGI. The shaky/naturalistic photography does take some getting used to though; definitely no steadicam on this set. After the first five minutes or so I warmed to this, and thought it actually suited the overall 'front line news report' style of the film. The cast of soldiers are quite stereotypical and the script won't win an Oscar in a million years, and there was one 'noble speech' scene that would have benefited from some editing, but generally I found the film exciting to watch on the big screen. I'll definitely pick this up to go on the shelf next to "District 9", 2009's breakthrough 'alien' film.

Funnily enough, I think this was the first time for a long while I've seen a newly released film on its first day *and* its first screening that day!

<--Here is a picture of the entrance to our local Odeon cinema, taken when we went to see "Battle: LA". As you can see, Odeon have become big fans of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic visual effects company (ILM)!

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In preparation for some big 'comic book' film releases this summer in the form of "Captain America" and "Thor", we've been watching some related films on DVD recently - "Hulk" last week, and "X-Men" and "X-2" over the weekend just gone. We have "The Incredible Hulk" on the way, and I want to pick up "X-Men: The Last Stand", "Spider-Man 3", "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2" to plug those gaps in the collection. Most go shopping for some more bargains soon....

January and February trips

At the end of January we went over to Gorleston-on-Sea to do a few bits and pieces at the old house before the sale - bye bye childhood home! I oversaw the sale of my old Atari "Star Wars" arcade machine, for instance. We were also lucky enough to see some pals in the evening after going for an Indian meal. On the way over there we had a look around Bury St. Edmund's, and King's Lynn on the way back. Got some great charity shop bargains in both towns! After all these years it was nice visit King's Lynn and see the riverfront and shopping area, and finally go to the Majestic cinema!

In late January we visited Gloucester and Tewkesbury, which are very close to each other in the West of England. It was an easy drive there and back on the M5/M42/M6, so that was ok. Gloucester was good to visit, but not that nice really - we didn't like the atmosphere, although the area around the cathedral was quite pleasant, and the cathedral itself is a very impressive and imposing building. Shame it was a very cold day, but there was a lovely clear blue sky. The docks have been done up very well. We went onto Tewkesbury, which is a lovely town with a charming atmosphere, and the town centre and abbey and gardens are picturesque. As for shopping, I bought another little cuddly monkey (or 'Mung-keh'!) from a charity shop. :)

In early February we had a fun weekend away in West Yorkshire. On the way up there we stopped and had a look around the city of Derby. Although some of the centre looks a bit downbeat, we were pleasantly surprised by the large amount of shops in the centre, and the grand Victorian covered market was great to explore. The cathedral was interesting to visit as well, and there were some little shops in that area to nose around. The Pickwood's House Museum of Georgian life was impressive, and free to get in! After that, we drove North up the M1 and then onto the small town of Marsden. It was a bit of a hairy drive once we left the motorway as it was very windy up in those hills, and my little car felt every gust! We managed to find the cottage in the end, and it was very nice and cosy, with a lovely view of the canal, river and wooded valley with the hills in the background.

The next day we got the train to Leeds, which was easy to get to by train. Shame it rained hard first thing. We had fun walking around the massive shopping district (lost count of amount of Greggs the bakers outlets!) and then onto the interesting (and now largely re-developed) waterfront of the River Aire, where the ex-industrial buildings are now mainly swish apartments. On the way back we broke our journey and had a look around Huddersfield, which is another town that developed in the industrial revolution and still has some grand buildings amongst the shops.

The highlight of the visit was on the Saturday night - the Marsden Embolch fire festival. A *fantastic* event to attend, even in the very rainy weather. It was a 2-hour mix of drumming, fire acrobatics and fireworks, to tell the tale of Jack Frost (representing winter/darkness) lose in a battle to the Green Man (representing spring/light/rebirth etc.) I hope we can go again.

On Sunday morning, we drove up to Bradford to visit the National Media Museum. Not bad, but to be honest I was disappointed with what was on show, although the venue is impressive. The IMAX film was amazing to see - we saw Space Station. As for the museum itself, the highlights were the extensive Kodak exhibit, the history of TV technology (very informative - great to see the old video recorders and laser-disc players on show!) and the history of video games in the lobby...oh, and I got to see the original puppets of George and Zippy from Rainbow! We went home after that; it was good to relax in the lovely cottage afterwards. We watched some films and I started to read the novel of "Dracula".

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As for recent film watching, we've seen "The King's Speech" and "True Grit" at the cinema, both excellent.

Christmas hols, snow and "Tron: Legacy".

Firstly, a belated happy 2011 to all! We had a nice Christmas and New Year's holiday. It was great to be off work for a while and relax a bit, watch some TV/DVD's and eat lots of choc! For an xmas pressie from Carla, I was lucky enough to receive the book "The Making of the Empire Strikes Back". I'm just over halfway through it at the moment, and its proving to be an excellent read, covering the 'making of' process in great detail. Wonderful photos as well! My friend's mini review is on her blog here.

A highlight of late December (for me at least) was seeing "Tron: Legacy" at our local Odeon cinema (in digital 3D.) I thought it was a very entertaining and exciting film, which looked *amazing* on the big screen - a worthy (if rather delayed...by 28 years!) sequel to the original. I'm hoping to catch it again before it ends its run, but maybe in 2D this time. A review I liked is here from Harry at good old 'ainitcool'.

Latest DVDs we've got include "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (2008), "Bad Day at Black Rock", "The NeverEnding Story", and "Black Books" (the complete series), and "Edge of Darkness". We also enjoyed watching a couple of westerns on DVD, "The Searchers" and "Tombstone". Even though we have it on disc, we ended up watching "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on BBC1 on New Year's Day (the British network premiere) - love it!

We seemed to miss the worst of the very cold weather/snow that hit N.W. Europe from late November, and which lasted about a month. There were lots of cold clear days and nights, which required the car to be scaped free of ice a few times! The Midlands did have some snow, but its effect varied from area to area. Thankfully it didn't affect my day-to-day drive too much, although on the 22nd December it did take me about 1 1/4 hours to drive what would have usually taken about 10 mins! It was a bit weird to see the huge snowflakes come down as the traffic crawled along. Still, at least I didn't have to dig the car out of any major snowdrifts after all that. It was bizarre seeing a bus stopped and parked *across* a road I passed, blocking the traffic down that road. I guess it had skidded into that position - scary! All the snow went a while ago now, and its back to usually winter cloud and rain.



<-- The Moon and planet Venus, as seen looking S.E. from the car park behind our flat in the dawn sky, early December 2010 - taken during the cold snap.