Our Dorset break, and two collectors shows.

In the early summer, we went on a couple of breaks to the some very pretty parts of the coast. First was Dorset on the south coast of England, for my 40th birthday. On the way down, we stopped off in a rather rainy Winchester to have a look at the cathedral and a mooch about the very nice town centre, and grab a spot of lunch. The cathedral was wonderful - I was impressed with the old library there, lots of weighty tomes delicately made by monks of the past...and of course, the stunning medieval architecture. We were amazed to find out the massive building is actually built on marshland! Poor Carla got scared in a dark corner - she picked up a 'bad vibe' from what looked like a 'dark figure'.....spooky! Oh, we found an interesting cinema just past the town centre as well, in what looked like an old school hall.

The impressive interior of Winchester Cathedral. 

We got down to the coast ok, and found our lovely cottage easy enough, which was located right in the middle of the stunning village of West Lulworth, just up the road from Lulworth Cove - a tiny hamlet located on the famous sheltered bay. The evening sun was blazing by this point, although it was a little windy, we went out for a walk by the coast. It was so beautiful there, seeing the sea and bay in late afternoon sun. The views over the bay and coast were simply amazing.

Lulworth Cove, Dorset.

Looking west from Durdle Door, along the 'Jurassic Coast'.

Carla at Lulworth Cove, after the epic descent down the long stairs!

The next day we went walking all around the the cove and up and down the famous and dramatic 'Jurassic' chalk coast nearby, both in East and West directions, in a rough 'figure of eight' route around our cottage. We initially headed west through the countryside towards the famous coastal formation of Durdle Door, which provided us with some fantastic views, then back to Lulworth Cove along the coast, for some reason against most of the walking traffic! After lunch, we went the other direction and climbed the hill that separates the village from the coast. There were very steep steps down to the far side of the bay, but once down safely, it was great to investigate the area which was a little more wooded. We got back early and spent a lovely two hours in the garden in the sun. Bliss!

The ruins of Corfe Castle.

The next day was very sunny and warm, so we went for a visit to Corfe Castle (and the pretty village of the same name next to it) - which is a very impressive ruin of a fortress that must have been amazing in its glory days, due to the stunning location and design. We enjoyed walking around the castle, especially as we were re-creating scenes from the 1970's comedy, "Nuts in May" which was filmed there. After finding some very tasty eccles cakes in a baker's shop, we parked up near the village of Worth Matravers and did a long walk around the lovely coastal headland of St. Aldhelm’s Head. This was a wonderful walk, as it took in impressive (if a little bleak in places) countryside, fantastic sea views, and Winspit Quarry that happened to have been a "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7" alien planet location in the late 1970's! Here, we had a funny encounter with seagull that loves houmous sandwiches. Later, it was good to discover a tiny chapel right out on the headland, which was very atmospheric to visit as it was 800 years old. Then, a bit further around the headland, was what could be best described as 'the stairs of Cirith Ungol' (Tolkien geeks will get the reference.) Wow, going up and down those was a great work-out! To finish the day, it was off to Swanage, a pleasant seaside holiday resort town that has all the usual stuff: beach, little port and pier, gift shops, arcade, cinema etc. We even spotted the Isle of Wight from the beach.

Me at St. Aldhelm's Head.

The next day was a bit cloudier, but still fine. We drove over to the North West of Dorset to visit the infamous Cerne Abbas Giant chalk figure, or the 'huge nob giant' as I call it! We had a little walk up to the edge of the figure (unfortunately you can't go onto it now) and then back down and explored the village. Then it was onto Dorchester, the county town of Dorset, to have a look around. Really good museum there, and the town centre has a nice vibe with lots of good shops and an old cinema -we liked it a lot. Just outside the town is Maiden Castle, an ancient Celtic / Anglo-Saxon settlement on top of a huge man-made hill.
 mpressive defences! ....and a great place to walk your dog.

Saying 'hel-looo' to the Cerne Abbas Giant!

Carla at a cold and misty Portland Bill - everything was closed!

 Our last full day was spent visiting the headland of Portland Bill (disappointing to be honest, and a bit odd down there, very bleak and rocky on the headland....hence the picture!), then Weymouth, a lovely and bustling port and resort town - lots of boats in the harbour and pretty nice seafront. I bought a cheap book about "King Kong". Fun to see the crows on the seafront dropping seashells on the promenade to break them open. We discovered something called 'Dorset Apple Cake' in a baker's shop in Weymouth, and it was astoundingly good! After a late lunch at Subway, we headed up the coast to find some Roman remains before the rain hit. On our final day, we drove back home via the towns of Wareham (nice little town and nice views of the marsh and river), Blandford Forum (some interesting architecture but rather dull), and stopped off in Salisbury (a wonderful and bustling city, and the cathedral and grounds are *amazing*) for lunch. Also, we planned our trip so we could drive past Stonehenge. All in all, a nice little trip (more on our other trip in the next post.)

* * * * *

A week or three after that, it was time for me to attend a couple more film/TV collectors shows. First up was MCM Expo at the ExCel centre in London's Docklands. It was a very hot day, which must have impressed the large amount of cosplayers as some were in very heavy costumes! An interesting show, although a bit of madhouse actually. Good to see my friends Bill, Mark and Clare, catch Jamie (briefly) and watch Jane spend all of her money on Totoro stuff! I didn't get around to getting Elvira's autograph, but I already had one anyway. However, it was nice to see her in costume, she still looks amazing. :) Next show was Collectormania in Milton Keynes, held at the football ground over the bank holiday weekend. Our pals Mandy and Bill came to stay with us for that weekend, so off we drove down the M1 to the show. That went fine, but it took ages to park as half of the stupid car park was shut! Still, once in, the show was good to mooch around, and as always nice to see other pals such as Jane, Ben, Darren, Graham, and Mark and Claire.

Prometheus.

Afterwards, some of us went into the town to meet Mark (another one!) to see "Prometheus" in 3D at the Cineworld. The film was good, although it took me a while to get to grips with the odd things the characters did in places. Great SPFX and design though: Ridley certainly knows how to get 'the look'. Michael Fassbender as (David the android) steals the show. I ended up seeing it again a couple of days later, in 2D this time, with the Mrs and her pal, and enjoyed it a lot more. Anyway, after the film the group went for a cheap but pleasant pub dinner. :)

Halloween weekend and other Autumn stuff.

Back in late October (over the Hallowe'en weekend) we did a couple of fun things. On the Friday before we had a day off work and went over to Hereford, a very historical city in the west country, about 2 1/2 hours from here. Not a bad drive, as there is some lovely countryside to see in Herefordshire. The main reason for our visit was to go to the medieval cathedral and see the 'Mappa Mundi' there. This is a world famous map, created around the end of the 1200's showing the then-known world. It was a fantastic experience for me to see this (being a cartographer by trade.) It was also interesting to see the displays which explained its significance, and the famous chain library...books on chains! We also had a good look around the city centre, an interesting and bustling place with lots of varied shops and street entertainers. Good to do a charity shop trawl as well. We spotted the scene of the recent fire that had threatened to destroy a very old timber building right in the centre. Hopefully that can be saved. We also made a a brief visit to the River Wye. Shame the weather was a bit chilly and windy...brrrr!

On the Sunday - Halloween - we went down to the Rollright Stones, an ancient stone circle site on the Warwickshire/Oxfordshire border. This was to see the Cotswold Order of Druids perform a Samhain ceremony, and to visit somewhere that would be very atmospheric on Halloween. I was worried as we left in the rain, but it soon cleared as we headed South, and was clear but quite cold, and misty later - certainly atmospheric! On the way, we stopped off at the small town of Shipston-on-Stour, which had a very 'country' feel to it, and seemed a bit well-to-do. On our wander around the town centre, we went into an antique shop that was full of teddy bears, and then onto a deli to pick up some nice biscuits to munch!

The Rollright Stones site was easy to find, and certainly fascinating to see. The site is actually three separate locations: the main circle of stones - 'the Kingsmen', the 'Whispering Knights', and the 'King Stone' on the other side of the road. Basically, a smaller version of Stonehenge. As the ceremony wasn't going to start for some time, we had a slow wander around the stones and chatted to some other visitors, many of which had come dressed up in pagan/druid style. Carla got her medieval style cape on later, and we also brought a drum for 'raising energy', as well as two lamps. It was amazing to watch the sun start to set over trees the ceremony started. Soon the ceremony started, and the druids welcomed us and guided us to enter the main stone circle from the East, where two druids (dressed in white robes) held aloft staffs for us to pass under. It looked really good as the sun set and it got dark and misty: the ring of people within the stone circle, surrounding the fire, which had lit jack-o-lanterns around it. The ceremony went on for about an hour or so. To start, the druids invoked the elemental powers by greeting the four cardinal directions of the compass, starting in the east where we entered. Next was an Anglo Saxon tale of heroism and dragons performed by a troop of alternative style morris dancers. Very entertaining! Then we had more ceremony, which included the group taking honey mead and a bit of flapjack, placing sticks into the fire, etc. These were symbolic of making a connection with ancestors and saying farewell to recently deceased family and friends. Things got a bit disorganised on their part I felt; the ceremony dragged on a bit with lots of silence, which surprised me. Oh well. The druids closed the ceremony by giving thanks to the four cardinal powers, and then as a group we all held hands and shouted in a final bout of energy releasing. A fascinating and generally enjoyable visit.

As usual I had to decorate for Halloween. Seemed to take ages to carve those pumpkins, but at least I had a few classic horror films on DVD to watch!

I got to see some fireworks on the Sunday after Bonfire Night, as usual from my kitchen window. The days before had been wet, so Sunday was actually the best day for fireworks here. The people across the green outside of our flat had their annual party.

I went to both the Memorabilia (Birmingham NEC) and Collectormania London (Olympia) shows in November. Very good events to attend. I managed to get some more autographs and chat to the usual friends. I also managed to start selling some of my old collection of film and TV memorabilia; items I no longer want, such as my old British comics got sold to a dealer. Thankfully Ebay has helped in the process as well!

November collector shows and films

In November, I went to two Film/TV collectors shows over two weekends, namely "Memorabilia" (at the NEC Birmingham) and "Collectormania" (at Olympia, London). Both shows were fun to attend, but I think Collectormania had a better 'buzz', and certainly featured a better selection of celebrities signing autographs. I was lucky enough to see old friends at both events and chit-chat about 'movies and stuff'. :) At the Collectormania show I got a few autographs, including one from actor Billy Dee Williams who played Lando Calrissian in "The Empire Strikes Back". I got him to sign my old ESB storybook, which already had a few signatures of cast and crew - that's from years of going to these shows and conventions!


As for film watching, we've seen a few recently but only one at the cinema - "2012", which we saw last Wednesday afternoon as we were both off work. We caught this at the Showcase cinema in Coventry and used the Orange Wednesday 1/2 price tickets offer. We both generally enjoyed the film, although it was a bit too long (by about 15 mins) and the drama goes a little off-kilter in places, and of course logic goes out of the window in a Roland Emmerich disaster flick. Still, John Cusack is always watchable, but I felt that Danny Glover was miscast as the US president. The film does feature great special effects. The sequence that shows the destruction of LA is incredible, and with some other exciting action sequences, make it a big screen definite. Next up, "Avatar" and then "Sherlock Holmes".


With my movie geek hat firmly on, I have to say that I'm so 'psyched' over some of next year's film blockbusters, with "Tron: Legacy" being on the top of that list. That gives me an excuse to put the teaser poster up!

Driving, Collectormania show, and Iron Man

I've just had my first week of driving experience. Not bad so far, although my parking skills remain rather suspect, but the actual driving is getting a bit better each day. I'm getting used to the gear shifting, lane discipline, motorways etc. I'm actually starting to enjoy it for the most part!

I'll have to photo our little KA soon, but it will need a wash first! It's starting to look a bit grubby, thanks to all that motorway travel I've done this week.

We went to the Collectormania show in Milton Keynes last Saturday and it was great fun, especially to drive there instead of relying on trains that don't run! It was really nice to meet (and get the autograph of) actress Nancy Allen, who I have adored since seeing her in films such as "Strange Invaders", "Dressed to Kill", and the "RoboCop" series. Lovely lady, really nice to chat to. I got some other bits and pieces at the show, and even got Carla some stylised elephant earrings! We met up with Mark, Paul and some others at the show, and after we had enough of going around the stalls we went to see 'Iron Man' at the flicks. A brilliant film with a great cast (I love Robert Downey Jnr. and wow, Gwyneth Paltrow looked ace!) and featured some great spfx: the sequence where 'Iron Man' tries to avoid the US jets was very exciting! We got to see the 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' trailer as well. Good stuff, can't wait to see Indy back on the big screen.