Pembrokeshire Holiday and Beowulf.

    In early June, our pal Trudi came to stay for the weekend. On the Friday evening, we were joined by another friend, Toria, and we all drove over to Pailton village hall to see a live rendition of "Beowulf", the famous Anglo-Saxon tale. The actor reading the story, Hugh Lupton (together with his musical support Rick Wilson) did this wonderfully. It was very atmospheric and remarkably funny in places, as well as very dramatic. Great voice that man has! We also got a light snack from the organisers afterwards, so not bad for £9 each entry fee! Good little venue they have there as well. We may go there again for some classic film shows they are planning over the coming year.

    The next morning we made the short drive up to Tamworth Castle and had a look around. It is a magnificent (if smallish) medieval castle. Lovely place to walk around, as there are some very pleasant surrounding gardens, and the weather wasn't bad. We had a quick walk around the town afterwards, and had lunch at Subway. Afterwards, Trudi and I went to see "Prometheus" at our local Odeon in the afternoon, a screening we both thoroughly enjoyed. After three goes at it, I finally 'got' the film, can't wait to see the extended version on dvd/blu-ray. In the evening we watched "The Incredible Hulk" on disc as Trudi hadn't seen it and is a bit of a Marvel fan following on from the recent cinema hits they've had.
 

* * *

    For our second little holiday break this year, we went down to Pembrokeshire (a county located at the extreme tip of S.W. Wales) as we enjoyed it there so much two years ago - it really is a beautiful part of the world. On the way over, we stopped off for a leg stretch and snack in Chepstow, a town on the river Wye, just into Wales. The castle there is very impressive and we felt worth a visit, especially as the weather was very sunny and warm that day. The views over the river from the castle were astounding, and as usual it was great to explore the rooms, corridors and interesting 'nooks' of the castle buildings. The town was interesting to wander around as well, and I found the first of three old cinemas on this holiday there.

Exploring Chepstow Castle.

    After a long but uneventful drive across South Wales, and after a quick stop off at Haverford West for fuel, we arrived at our place in  Pembrokeshire. We based ourselves in a very nice converted old post office in the middle of Marloes, a small village not far from the south side of St. Brides Bay. Once we got in and got settled a bit, we had a quick walk down to the coast which was only a few minutes away, and were treated to some breathtaking views of the wide bay - St.Brides - in the glorious sunshine.

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path, looking North, and the beautiful St. Brides Bay.

A stick for walking!

   On the second day, we did a seven mile walk around the nearby St. Anns's Head, starting and ending where we parked at the small village of Dale. Once again, we were able to take in lovely views of the dramatic coast and see some beautiful countryside, and on this walk, not get worried by cows for once! It was interesting to find the sheltered Mill Bay, where Henry Tudor and his troops landed in August 1485 (to take the kingdom by defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in Leicestershire only three weeks later.) Also evident along the trail were the remains of some World War II defences located at this important part of the coastline.

 

On the trail, near the start of the walk.

Looking over Mill Bay.

Building a cairn...I wonder if other walkers will add to it?

    On the third day, we did a long walk in the gorgeous sunshine, starting from our accommodation all the way round the peninsula and back, first walking west along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, past the lovely little bay of Martin's Haven and onto the end of the peninsular, Wooltack Point, where we could see Skomer and Stockholm Islands, famous for their large populations of seabirds such as puffins. From that exposed point, we noticed the small ferry taking day-trippers out to the island. Carrying on, we walked S.E. along the path, seeing more more tall cliffs and soaring seagulls against the washed out blue sky. We passed Gateholm Island and arrived at Marloes Sands, a very long and wide sandy beach, which served as our attractive lunch spot.....although sitting on that rock was a bad decision!

Looking West along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, with the blue of St. Brides Bay beyond.

 

On the coast path around the peninsula. The vast curve of Marloes Sands is in the distance.

    After getting back to the accommodation for little rest, we went off to Milford Haven to get some provisions and have a look around to finish the day. Milford is one of the few large towns in the area, and is located on the North side of the vast expanse of the haven. It serves as a busy port for small private vessels and large oil tankers. The various oil terminals in the area spoil the view in some ways (although the lights on the towers looks amazing against the night sky), but I suppose they brought wide employment to the region. It was unfortunate that it started to rain while we were there, but it was good to see the clifftop gardens that look over look the river.

The attractive Hamilton Gardens overlooking the wide estuary at Milford Haven.

    On our last full day, we drove over to Tenby, a popular seaside holiday town and fishing port. The town is made up of interesting little sloping streets high above the beach. The roads feature some classic architecture, and are packed with little curio shops set amongst the usual chain stores, selling a wide variety of what my Mrs. calls 'tourist tat'. There is also the remains of a castle on small island just off the beach, although we couldn't work out if it was open to the public. One thing I thought was really attractive were the gardens and viewpoints up and down the cliffs on the castle side of the town. That was a great place to sit, eat a sandwich, throw some crumbs to the blackbirds, and look over the bay.
    A little way off the coast from Tenby, we spotted Caldey Island, a small island inhabited by some Benedictine monks. In the town, the Abbey has a small shop that sells various merchandise. I had to buy some of the monk's dark chocolate, which was rather nice!

Overlooking the small port at Tenby.

    Just as we were leaving, the rain came on hard, but on our way back we still took a slight detour and drove by the Manobier Castle. Shame it was too wet to get out and have a look...oh well, another time!

    Whilst at our accommodation, we plowed through series 3 of "The Big Bang Theory" over the nights we were  Brilliant to watch these in large chunks - the show is so funny!

* * *

I enjoyed the Euro 2012 football competition (this time it was held in Poland and Ukraine), even though England's performance in the matches were average, and against Italy in the quarter final match there was a lack of possession of our part and of course, the dreaded penalties thing happened again. The semi-finals and final were very good to watch, I think the standout game was Germany v Italy, and Spain were deserved winners. Still, I'm looking forward to World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

* * *

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. :)

Early spring town and cinema visits.

We had a nice break before Easter, in a week of wonderful sunny weather here in England - much different to recently as it has been cold, wet and breezy out (current the wettest 'drought' ever!) We did a couple of day trips, to the towns of Malvern and Rugby, to have a look around both places and a snoop around some of the small independent shops and the odd charity shop. In Malvern, we also spent some time walking in the picturesque wooded hills that border the town to the west - lovely views of the countryside from up there, even though the horizon was a little hazy.

A path on the Malvern Hills

Overlooking Malven

I've been lucky enough to go to the cinema a lot recently, as Hollyweird seems to be releasing their big 'event' films early this year (probably to avoid the London Olympics and European football championship.) For the weekend of our 8th wedding anniversary in early April, we saw "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Battleship", both great fun. Cabin was a bizarre film: enjoyable horror hokum that turns the teen 'stalk and slash' film on its head with a new twist. Action packed, gory, and featuring the usual Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon playful script with loads of film references littered in there for good measure. As for Battleship (yes, based on the MB boardgame - spot the subtle references!) we both loved it! A great popcorn film that didn't take itself to seriously and had some cracking action set pieces. At last, no lizard aliens for a change. Thankfully we remembered to stay for the end scene post credits - those Scottish sheep will fend of any future alien attack!

Last Saturday, I went with my pal Sarah to my local Odeon to see "Marvel Avengers Assemble" - the 3D version. A very entertaining entry to Marvel's superhero film series from Joss Whedon (yes, him again.) All the superheroes had their moment of glory in front of the camera, and the complex 'New York battle against the aliens' finale was very well done with some top SPFX. I guess the only criticism with ensemble films such as this, is that the plot can't concentrate as there are too many main characters, so there is a danger of losing focus as the story moves from one A-lister to the next. Thankfully, Robert Downey Jnr. as 'Iron Man', together with the excellent Chris Evans as 'Captain America' seem to keep it all together. Good to see Mark Ruffalo as 'The Hulk/David Banner', who brought a lighter, slightly more comedic touch to the character. One reservation I had was that it was a little light on plot.

One of the many on-line reviews can be found here.


We've watched a few enjoyable films and tv shows recently; the highlight being a gem shown on the Horror Channel late the other week - a 1959 feature called "Horrors of the Black Museum", starring the brilliant Michael "Batman" Gough. A very good British horror film from a period where crime/horror cross-overs were in vogue, so similar in tone to the infamous "Peeping Tom" (1960). It will probably be a Halloween favourite of mine from now on! I'm also happy to see "Game of Thrones" back in its second series, the characters as scheming as ever!

As for interesting documentaries, a mention to "Bloody Tales from the Tower" - a three-part series about the death and tragedy at the Tower of London. Presented by the lovely Suzannah Lipscombe.

Mr. Binks returns...in 3D!

A couple of weekends ago, I went to see the cinema re-release of "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace" - now converted to 3D - with three fellow "Star Wars" fans and friends, who I've known for about twenty odd years.

It was an easy going day, as we planned to see a matinee locally (well, sort of locally!) around lunchtime. Mandy popped down to stay with us for the weekend, so after she arrived early on the Saturday morning, we had a quick cuppa, and then jumped in the car and drove to Toria's, where we passed some time at her lovely house and chatted about her cats, while drinking yet more tea/coffee and eating some rather nice chocolate biscuits. Then, it was on up the motorway to the North side of Birmingham to pick up Gerald. His house was easy to find - I has happy to report I remembered the route in my head from the map I had studied the night before, so no wrong turns! For some reason in his area, the locals like to store sofas in their front gardens. Must be a brummie thing. Anyway, when we got to Gerald's it was yet more catch-up chat, drinks, and more cat talk - are we seeing a trend here?!

The cinema at the Star City entertainment complex (just off the M6) is only a short distance from there, so after driving underneath one of the stands of Aston Villa Football Club Stadium (impressive building) we arrived and had a look around before the film started. The venue certainly has a lot to offer: restaurants, bars, cafes, sports, kids entertainment, and the huge and impressive VUE multiplex cinema, although the place seems a little soul-less, and perhaps it's showing its age a bit now. We went into the cinema and took our seats, and found the auditorium pretty empty, only a few families here and there. The film had been out a couple of weeks so the core fan audience had already seen it I guess, and the kids had all been over the school half-term holidays. Anyway, after some really lame trailer for a flick called "Street Dance 2 - 3D" - the only vague highlight was seeing Sofia Boutella bend over and present her bum to us in 3D, which made us all snigger - "Episode 1" started with a really nice 3D Lucasfilm logo. Woohoo!

The film is the same version as presented on the 2011 blu-ray release: it has the addition of a couple of tiny scenes, as well as the full digital Yoda replacing the *really bad* puppet featured in the original cut. Other than that, the film is the same that premiered in May '99. I don't mind it actually, in fact, I rather enjoyed seeing it again after a few years away from the feature. I will admit that it is a bit clunky in the middle section - pacing issues and some poor acting, and some of the logic doesn't work, what with that treaty being signed stuff, but the production design and visuals are generally excellent. I made a point of carefully watching the CGI effects on Jar Jar and Watto, and they stand up very well after years of CGI effects development. Maybe the characters are annoying (I don't agree though, in fact, both make me chuckle in places) but the CGI effects to put them up on the screen should have won ILM a visual effects Oscar.

Anyway, as for the film presentation, we all were generally impressed with the conversion, although it is subtle in places - there isn't much obvious 3D 'coming out at ya!' stuff here (although the pod race sequence does feature some into the camera action), but you do get a greater sense of depth to many of the scenes, which we liked. I would guess it is hard to create a 3D effect with film scenes filmed for two dimensions, so what Lucasfilm have done was very good. Other 2D->3D conversions have been less successful, such as the rushed "Clash of the Titans" remake conversion from early 2010.

For a positive review see my friend Mary Jo's blog here, and a for a negative review see the film critic who makes a profession of hating *everything* "Star Wars"/George Lucas, Mark Kermode, here. I was glad I got to see it on the big screen again, and hopefully we can all get together next February for "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones". Oh, and just a few positive words about the cinema - we were very impressed with the gradient of the seating, the leg-rom, the screen size and projection/sound. 10/10!

After the film finished, we spent quite a while chatting and drinking in the cafe, then I took everyone home. After we had some wonderful tarka dal, aubergine curry, rice and wholemeal pittas for dinner which Carla had made, the three of us settled down to watch the dvd of Aliens as Carla hadn't seen it years. Good film (Mandy's favourite of all time!) but Carla and I prefer the original, Alien.

'The Woman In Black' and 'Ironclad'

On Sunday afternoon we went to our local Odeon cinema to see "The Woman in Black", a new film adaptation of the book by Susan Hill. This is the story of a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who is sent to retrieve some legal papers from the house of an old woman who has died. Once he arrives at the large crumbling property, located in the middle of sinister marshland, strange things start to happen....

It was nice to see a modern horror film that was relatively quiet and slow-paced, and that did not depend on lots of over-the-top CGI effects or bombastic mood music. I haven't read the book, but me and Mrs. did watch the 1989 ITV version a few nights before, which we both thought was superior to this new cinema version. Daniel's performance was decent, and he seems to have mastered the tears-standing-in-eyes close up. In all, I think he gave a fairly nuanced performance, especially as hasn't that much to say - this is not a talky film. The picture would have been better without the needless addition of the dead wife story line - in the 1980's version she is very much alive. I also thought the vaguely upbeat ending was a little hokey. But all in all, the film was enjoyable. No big scares, but mild tension throughout. The jump scenes were full-on manipulation with loud bangs in the music, unlike the ITV version which was genuinely creepy, quiet, and had a downbeat tone. Definitely worth seeing though. Also, it was great for us to go with my sister and her husband for an afternoon out at the flicks.
*Thanks to Carla for helping me with this review.

We also watched Ironclad on DVD this week: an extreme action film (British produced) based on the real event of the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215 AD. Here, we have the wonderful Paul Giamatti as the mad King John, attempting to take back his kingdom from the barons of England that forced him to sign the Magna Carta. It also starts James Purefoy as the Templar knight leading the defence of the castle against him - essentially the hero of the piece - and boy, does he have a big sword, as the King's army of Danish ruffians find our to their disadvantage. I have to say I loved this film. True, the story is rather weak (er,..."Defend the castle".) and the production looks as if the film makers could have done with a bit more cash, but what is there is very entertaining, if only for spotting the overt gore and battle violence, and the odd wish-crack from the solid cast. Good to see Derek Jacobi as well, and the CGI landscapes of the castle and its surroundings looked pretty good on the whole. This might make a good double-bill with Black Death, another medieval set film from the recent past, which stars the always watchable Sean Bean.

Rochester is still a castle we haven't visited, so I'm even more excited about going there now! Must re-watch the episode of Castle where Marc Morris discusses the real history of the event. Excellent series.

Marsden Fire Festival

Last Friday, we drove up to Marsden in West Yorkshire, to stay for the weekend and attend the annual (and now famous) 'fire festival' which takes place on the Saturday evening. We went there last year and because it was so much fun, we decided to go back. The weekend was marked with very cold weather and the threat of snow, which it did for most of Saturday afternoon and evening. We got there late afternoon on Friday, and having found our town centre accommodation ok, we had time to have a quick walk (wrapped up well!) around the town and take some photos, and buy a few bits from the local health food / greengrocer shop. The home-
made wholemeal multi-grain bread was fantastic! Our place was a converted ground floor studio apartment that over looked the canal - very handy for the town centre, only five minutes walk away down the canal.


After an easy morning, we spent some of Saturday afternoon on a walk around the town with the local walking group. Unfortunately this was cut short due to the very cold and snowy weather, so we didn't make it up to the top of the hills which would have liked to have done. Still, it was nice to walk along the canal in the other direction to what we had been used to, and then to loop around along the bottom of the hills back to the town centre. The hills looked impressive in the snow. Thank goodness for walking boots! Also fun was avoiding the very inquisitive dog that happened to be with our group.

After dinner, it was out again for the Fire Festival. The locals organise this to celebrate the pagan ritual of 'Imbolch' (which marks the unofficial start of spring, or rather the return of the sun and the start of plant growth.) Its an absolutely wonderful event; the atmosphere produced by the large crowd, the pagan drumming, the long fire-lit procession, the fire twirling demonstrations, and then the 'show' part, where Jack Frost and his evil minions fight The Green Man for 'supremacy of the Earth' before the fire works go off. Jack, of course, represents winter and darkness, where as the Green Man represents Spring, the Earth, light etc. The people dressed up in those two extravagant costumes do have a bit of a fisty-cuffs at one point as well.
Memorable moment...the very noisy little girl who was an enthusiastic Jack Frost fan, who shouted in her Yorkshire accent her support throughout the show. For instance, "Jack Frost! We know yu-lose, but we-want yu-to win!" The amazing occurrence was that during the show, after the Green Man won his little boxing match and chased Jack off, it actually stopped snowing!
Some pictures of the event can be found here.

Thankfully it didn't snow at all overnight, so it was easy to clear the car on Sunday morning. Also, the ice on the roads wasn't that bad and the sun was shining so our drive home was pleasant. We stopped off in Huddersfield on the way back to do a supermarket run, and to meet up with a friend who I hadn't seen for some years. A great weekend!

g'bye 2011, and hello to 2012.

Just thought I would post a few lines to bring this blog into 2012.

As for films, I enjoyed my cinema trips and DVD watching in '11 - my favourite blockbusters being either "Thor" or "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" .....can't decide! I think my most unusual cinema visit last year was to see the excellent "We Need to Talk About Kevin", which Carla and I went to see on a Sunday morning back in the autumn, at one of our local cinemas - the Coventry Showcase. The screen we were in is also used as a live venue, often for evening comedy shows, so only the back of the screen had the typical cinema seasting. The rest of the auditorium had tables and chairs, and there was a bar to the right. Apart from the odd layout, we were in there ON OUR OWN, so it was basically a private screening of what proved to be a very gripping picture. Tilda Swinton gives an amazing performance as a mother 'on the edge'!

We had a nice simple Hallowe'en weekend, but I always enjoy that time of year. We put up a few decorations and carved a couple of pumpkins as usual. Our pal Teresa came round and we watched "Trick R Treat" and "Halloween H20". I have to say, "Trick R Treat" is a gem of a horror film, very exciting and funny in places -a solid anthology flick.

Our Christmas break was ok as well - we had a nice time off work relaxing. I got Carla the "Battlestar Galactica" DVD box set - the 're-imagined' version of the series that was broadcast between 2003-2009. This afternoon we completed watching series 2 (we were both off work today for Carla's birthday) which is arguably the best series of the show. It has been wonderful to watch these episodes again; the characters are well realised, and for the most part the plots/scripts are very good, and for television the visual effects are excellent. My favourite cast member is James Callis who plays Dr. Giaus Baltar, and his pairing with the tall blonde Cylon woman, Caprica 6 (played by Tricia Helfer) makes for some great scenes. Carla got me "The Benny Hill Show: 1980-1989" DVD boxset, which I've watched a lot of so far and have thoroughly enjoyed! I don't care if the comedy is dated, Benny and his team of regulars, including his main Hill's Angels girls, Louise English and Sue Upton, make me laugh my head off. The best sketch so far has been 'A Tribute to the Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade'! Great retro tv. :)

Some new TV highlights for us recently have been the first part of series 2 of "The Walking Dead" (what a cracking end to the first half of the season!) and the rather oddball "American Horror Story", which has improved by leaps and bounds over its run. What I like in that show is spotting the horror film/TV cliches in every episode - you can almost tick them off a list! Another TV highlight of recent weeks has been "The World's Strongest Man", this time won by an American, Brian Shaw, on his home turf. Well done to Brian for pipping Savikas to the title in the last event, the Atlas Stones.

Oh, also well done to my pal Trudi for appearing in a National Geographic TV special, called "Roman Murder Mystery" - a very interesting show.

It was sad to hear about the recent passing of Bob Holness, most famous for presenting "Blockbusters". That was in my thoughts recently, as Challenge TV have started to screen episodes from the early 90's, which have been enjoyable to watch.

Anyway, as the weather improves and as we head into spring, hopefully we can start doing some day-trips to castles, historical sites, and do some more country walking again. Looking forward to it! Not to bothered about the Olympics this year, but the Euro 2012 finals should be good.

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"