tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299133327014075712024-03-13T23:37:39.016-07:00Travelling in a BoxSofa travel notes from Mike Wood - probably the most untravelled travel writer in the world.Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-43823867514783930532021-02-06T08:28:00.004-08:002021-02-06T08:28:55.567-08:00Flying in a Box<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEHzne10hJm79SYBrAp7U-u4fn7x3ZuFIbvofjT-oT4lyouiJ-P1cNZ7-0lCIxn7_icrtdxzPun44okgyL3oO3vT1ep1PcBFOTv3_B6g7RzcyVm4uR58KhEHEFWV_mOFvxwQ3LXewfHs/s2048/flying+kindle+small.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEHzne10hJm79SYBrAp7U-u4fn7x3ZuFIbvofjT-oT4lyouiJ-P1cNZ7-0lCIxn7_icrtdxzPun44okgyL3oO3vT1ep1PcBFOTv3_B6g7RzcyVm4uR58KhEHEFWV_mOFvxwQ3LXewfHs/s320/flying+kindle+small.jpeg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I started this blog I wanted to use it as a place to share all the exciting places we've been to in the caravan, unusual walks, cycle routes...</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Well, we took the 'van for a service in February 2020, then we washed it, and then... took it for another service in February 2021. It's been that kind of year. But I'm not complaining; I'm just grateful to still be here. And hey, we've discovered lots of walks, cycle routes and places we didn't know existed within a few miles of our home on the Wirral. It's given us a new perspective about where we live.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Still, I missed the caravan.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I haven't been totally inactive though. I published book three of the <b>Travelling in a Box</b> series. If you've read the other two books you'll have picked up hints that we were about to board a plane for the very first time, and... well the title gives it away, doesn't it. <b>Flying in a Box</b> isn't just about fear of flying or our frenetic road trip around California. It isn't just about the snake and bear attacks or the Oscar-like award ceremony where I received a writing award. No, after America we needed to unwind, and what better way to chill than embarking on a nerve-jangling, thousand-mile tow down to the French Mediterranean.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">There's even a flashback to a wild camping trip (wild in the lunatic sense) I tried, with a school friend, in our early teens. And yes, me and Sarah get to Italy. But was it Milan? That would be telling. If you want to know you'll have to read the book. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08VMV8TTP" target="_blank">This link will take you straight to it.</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Let's hope 2021 will be a better year for all of us.</p><p><br /></p>Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-11839174442672437522019-02-10T07:26:00.002-08:002019-02-10T07:26:25.100-08:00Two in a Box<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpGjomQWqamnQtmFdabffPVunbw-Q37EPwcbD2XniOD8JiTC9AgUsfx7FLPTmfk0dPLhyphenhyphenkPXk1UjyK-_lI9YGFve1asaTVwdJHnCgQkb5bO77DwA7kvZ2oavL_lEdtV96wHPNvJRm6CY/s1600/2IAB+kindle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpGjomQWqamnQtmFdabffPVunbw-Q37EPwcbD2XniOD8JiTC9AgUsfx7FLPTmfk0dPLhyphenhyphenkPXk1UjyK-_lI9YGFve1asaTVwdJHnCgQkb5bO77DwA7kvZ2oavL_lEdtV96wHPNvJRm6CY/s320/2IAB+kindle.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It has taken a while, but <b><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Box-Travelling-Book-ebook/dp/B07NF3TMS2">Two in a Box</a></b>, the second book in what has evolved into the Travelling in a Box series, is now available for pre-order on Kindle and will launch next Sunday 17th February, in paperback and most ebook formats.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This one picks up the story in France after we had, at last, achieved the family's goal of taking our thirty-year-old caravan all the way to the Swiss Alps. Without incident? Well, you'll have to wait and see, but come on, who wants to read about trips that don't involve some kind of adversity? And was one trip enough? One trip is <i>never </i>enough<i>.</i> We went back for more. Of course we did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you'd like to listen to a snippet, I was interviewed on Vintage Radio last week where I read a few pages. The show's being repeated tonight (Sunday 10 Feb) at 9pm <a href="http://www.vintageradio.org.uk/">here</a>.</span>Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-10264790548453262422017-06-10T13:18:00.002-07:002017-06-10T13:18:59.830-07:00Hay Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh look, I've stumbled on a place with internet connectivity. Time to do a catch-up post about our June tour, north to south through Wales. So far we've visited Hay-on-Wye, St David's in Pembrokeshire, and Swansea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIOAg2x_xOSBDZpfI788MCQkQNQKl0_k1WZoFpYotc5iwCaa6xWEosif-qDlNw5U_0_BSkjSHSKBvVmY8GVd41saQD5qAaCkwJ48cig-dSTbzvNDUizwA9AEa09fniNLCTpxVBPx_1Tw/s1600/20170603_175029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIOAg2x_xOSBDZpfI788MCQkQNQKl0_k1WZoFpYotc5iwCaa6xWEosif-qDlNw5U_0_BSkjSHSKBvVmY8GVd41saQD5qAaCkwJ48cig-dSTbzvNDUizwA9AEa09fniNLCTpxVBPx_1Tw/s320/20170603_175029.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYO5xVp5fgq6-CRb51umuGxvWo40fYW5mCdkwSoOFBAEUoOOSksocsZVJXJM0e-9n9MbPxkp7n4ESi7R53iRm3QbalJlEZ4AcyXt01eWxiZ1Ue_Sk45__BKAWUteLp4nhl8yCYMgbn54/s1600/20170529_212641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYO5xVp5fgq6-CRb51umuGxvWo40fYW5mCdkwSoOFBAEUoOOSksocsZVJXJM0e-9n9MbPxkp7n4ESi7R53iRm3QbalJlEZ4AcyXt01eWxiZ1Ue_Sk45__BKAWUteLp4nhl8yCYMgbn54/s200/20170529_212641.jpg" width="200" /></a>We started our journey with the <b>Hay Festival</b> at the end of May, and I'm sorry to report I have nothing amusing to share, because it was all good. In fact, this was our best Hay Festival visit ever. The weather was good. The camp site was perfect. The talks, all of them, were excellent. I can't tell you about floods or mud or flapping canvas, because there was none of that.<br />
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I remember the year when, after returning home, mid-week, to do the accountancy thing for my employers, I rushed back to the caravan for the second weekend and forgot to bring the keys for the caravan security lock. I remember the year we forgot to take sweaters and waterproofs and wellies – that was the year they had to get the local fire brigade to pump out the water from the festival site. I remember the year, <i>every</i> year, complaining about being unable to see the whole festival because I could <i>never</i> get time off from work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI00RUy8_I7e9b7lmJ4YAZhj7Gl9bCYf6kBnvJgCN7gU2-S0d4H8-YK10vYB0BRnGa0srpE3RQen_1KugCYf_C657ABQYuNv4vUlvuCm7fQyjS3J7_j2uN4ZUjXp_GZf58NGrks3ZX1YM/s1600/20170531_141613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI00RUy8_I7e9b7lmJ4YAZhj7Gl9bCYf6kBnvJgCN7gU2-S0d4H8-YK10vYB0BRnGa0srpE3RQen_1KugCYf_C657ABQYuNv4vUlvuCm7fQyjS3J7_j2uN4ZUjXp_GZf58NGrks3ZX1YM/s320/20170531_141613.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Well, none of that. I no longer have the time-off-work problem. We've found the perfect camp site. It didn't rain – not much, anyway. So I'll just share some photos and leave it at that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptZd5m7WAh1wyS2CeJrZdMf134tRFfOVTBr_1NXSiyTvci3E0WhLt2udWsued2qn7N4pI3Rx288t4fqB-2Oh491oXih5hdGR_XkL3Ff6Kq2MB77cclltLyPmqkqR1LM5G8aRpelOB4v0/s1600/20170603_185453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptZd5m7WAh1wyS2CeJrZdMf134tRFfOVTBr_1NXSiyTvci3E0WhLt2udWsued2qn7N4pI3Rx288t4fqB-2Oh491oXih5hdGR_XkL3Ff6Kq2MB77cclltLyPmqkqR1LM5G8aRpelOB4v0/s400/20170603_185453.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hay-on-Wye: Looks just like France, doesn't it?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozm2fl8eEX1oxS-ihhtcC653dR5ZVAFhqpmGHAlMDQiHQfEHLIZuAvXaLpJxvbCUfOJixfMOQFW1GuwQ1bcpvPWZg7M5p556xvQVeg7tK1KyfKNN_-l2wZfDB6O0hORsPmpZpRB3EbZs/s1600/20170531_141706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozm2fl8eEX1oxS-ihhtcC653dR5ZVAFhqpmGHAlMDQiHQfEHLIZuAvXaLpJxvbCUfOJixfMOQFW1GuwQ1bcpvPWZg7M5p556xvQVeg7tK1KyfKNN_-l2wZfDB6O0hORsPmpZpRB3EbZs/s320/20170531_141706.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oh, except to say, that the day we left Hay and headed south, the weather took a turn. Biblical rain. Then hurricanes and stuff. But you'll have to wait for that part.<br /><br />
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-90268460323521075372016-12-22T11:32:00.000-08:002016-12-22T11:32:52.013-08:00Hoovering the Garden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The world is insane. I am insane. If anyone had told me, a few years back, that I would spend a day driving around garden centres looking for a spare part so I could hoover my garden, then I’d have suggested locking them away in a room with all the sharp edges removed.</div>
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But yes, I am sad and shallow and I want to hoover my garden. There are leaves. Many leaves. And because I am idle I have a Flymo GardenVac, and the shredder thingy has snapped, (see photo) so I need to buy a new one. It is a standard consumable, just a bit of plastic wire, and they tend to snap and need to be replaced from time to time. I could buy one from Amazon but I could really do with it now and the mini-helicopter delivery system isn’t quite ready yet.</div>
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“We’ll have to go to a garden centre,” I said.</div>
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A reasonable thing to say. Garden centres have garden stuff, don’t they? Well, apparently not. Garden centres have <i>nothing</i> for gardens. They have Santa’s grottos and they have overpriced clothing and ornaments and wicker furniture and wooden plaques with motivational slogans. They have bad joke books and books with photos of the British coast from the air. They have kitchen equipment in jaunty bright colours that cost three times the price of the old kitchen equipment that used to come in perfectly acceptable stainless steel. They have bird boxes, and sacks of bird food that costs more than supermarket muesli (but probably tastes the same). Or I could buy a little basket with two jars of jam nestling in a bed of paper straw. Why? Why the hell do I need jam in a basket? What do I do with the basket afterwards? And what about the little red and white paper covers held over the vacuum-sealed lids with rubber bands: why do I need paper lids on the jam? <i>Why?</i> Do they make the jam taste better?</div>
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And before I’m done with my garden centre visit, as I’m striding with a purpose towards the exit, I could pause by the DVD rack and pick up a black and white WWII DVD or one about steam trains or Fred Dibnah, each carefully cropped to fit a square TV screen, to remind me about how good things used to be in the old days.</div>
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You remember the old days?</div>
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<i>The days when you went to a garden centre to buy garden stuff!</i></h4>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-33933909224873183642016-12-21T13:33:00.000-08:002016-12-21T13:33:02.087-08:00A Trip Around Cardiff Bay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
As a diversion from my usual caravan posts I'm admitting here and now that sometimes I go to the dark side and stay in hotels. I had the chance of free rail travel down to Cardiff and it is very hard to take a caravan on the train. So yes, I'm a traitor to the cause. But Cardiff is such a lovely city to visit that I'm sure we'll do it again, and maybe next time we will take the 'van. Mind you, in December it was very nice to have a warm room and someone to make the bed and bring clean towels each day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8FUmyY0ZlzfeLL_sk8yvS-GN0CBQIjWmL0sdiLWtGKqZa05V2NSpS08e26pq9EHLMm6hA20fvmyzurdRBzkVWGQ8gsEYzpv27SkqxnurhHMMs_Z2ipsPwQ9s98aYBIcTsUOdPuzWOGI/s1600/IMG_2102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8FUmyY0ZlzfeLL_sk8yvS-GN0CBQIjWmL0sdiLWtGKqZa05V2NSpS08e26pq9EHLMm6hA20fvmyzurdRBzkVWGQ8gsEYzpv27SkqxnurhHMMs_Z2ipsPwQ9s98aYBIcTsUOdPuzWOGI/s400/IMG_2102.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the way the low sun hits this water feature in Roald Dahl Plans.</td></tr>
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It has been a few years since we last visited Cardiff, and I hardly recognised the area around the station. New buildings have gone up all over the place. There are two huge indoor shopping centres, but the character hasn't changed at all. Linking the main streets there are still plenty of the narrow covered arcades full of fascinating and different shops.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking across to Mermaid Quay and all the eateries.</td></tr>
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The highlight of our visit, though, was Cardiff Bay. It's about a mile to walk, but the train from Queen Street Station takes you there in under ten minutes. Head for the copper clad Millennium Theatre and the fabulous water feature in Roald Dahl Plass. Then there's a path to the left that goes right out to the barrage and over to Penarth. The sun was shining on the day we visited and it really is a fabulous walk, even in December.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgvqsSGJivrd9fqPV8Jk4_yd8wIAkp5UG88faS8YNCvLz1YJwYANOEOIDezc50Jcez-m4ed9mhz1E59_yo_7mZP5902Vq2OKq2ToUOU1mD2amPsXNN1D1ZSlnj5owVj5c-rfmWEaQjVE/s1600/IMG_2106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgvqsSGJivrd9fqPV8Jk4_yd8wIAkp5UG88faS8YNCvLz1YJwYANOEOIDezc50Jcez-m4ed9mhz1E59_yo_7mZP5902Vq2OKq2ToUOU1mD2amPsXNN1D1ZSlnj5owVj5c-rfmWEaQjVE/s320/IMG_2106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home of the Welsh Assembly, The Senedd.</td></tr>
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The walk goes past the front of the Welsh Assembly building, The Senedd. We didn't go inside on this occasion, but we did on our last visit, and it's worth doing just that, if only to admire the fabulous ceiling of red cedar that mushrooms up from above the debating chamber and ripples in waves across the ceiling and outside to form the huge porch. There's a viewing gallery above the chamber, and the whole interior is a wide, light and airy space, where you can just sit and admire the whole thing. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgbUN8f4v4bd2fnfvtKf8rdEjSU-B1W-Ben0caSt7A_8Di-um33hEpAwzdcgEV_YTgB2iSTWilIcufsHekOehTumNOJwB3IxLgXyybApX2b4rhGSCyapWyVEXTB2IoHkgj-n7EzgBWl7c/s1600/IMG_2111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgbUN8f4v4bd2fnfvtKf8rdEjSU-B1W-Ben0caSt7A_8Di-um33hEpAwzdcgEV_YTgB2iSTWilIcufsHekOehTumNOJwB3IxLgXyybApX2b4rhGSCyapWyVEXTB2IoHkgj-n7EzgBWl7c/s400/IMG_2111.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how to do public seating. A tribute to Roald Dahl.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Back on the walk there are plenty of reminders that Cardiff is proud of its association with Roald Dahl. Not only is the square in front of the theatre named after him, but the Norwegian Church where he was christened still stands (and is a good place for a coffee) and now and again you might come across other memorials, such as the crocodile and bench, part way around the bay walk. <div>
We are also reminded that Captain Robert Falcon Scott set sail on his ill fated exhibition to the South Pole from Cardiff - another link with the Norwegian Church - and there is a memorial to Captain Scott and his Terra Nova crew, part way around the bay.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And of course there's Doctor Who. All I will say here is that the Doctor Who Experience is fabulous. If you want to know more you should take a look at my scifi blog, <a href="http://mjkewood.blogspot.co.uk/">here</a>.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsCG71GUk5vs0XQfSr5RI9x2oG2oXIYTEEWGKy3ui10fT7lCvDM5bAtxW09YF2vr4c90eDR-wHNu4FLV8DeLxHtoL5fXxjfXUCcWZ_MFnRY6J4WLjjw3qSNGLy-rp16zQ5uKdXOgEBw4/s1600/fullsizeoutput_110.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsCG71GUk5vs0XQfSr5RI9x2oG2oXIYTEEWGKy3ui10fT7lCvDM5bAtxW09YF2vr4c90eDR-wHNu4FLV8DeLxHtoL5fXxjfXUCcWZ_MFnRY6J4WLjjw3qSNGLy-rp16zQ5uKdXOgEBw4/s400/fullsizeoutput_110.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, okay. Daleks. (I'm a SciFi writer, so of course I'm going to mention Doctor Who) Terry Nation, who created the Daleks, came from Cardiff, and the Doctor Who Experience, right on the Cardiff Bay walk, is a must see exhibit.</td></tr>
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A brilliant visit, but the caravan is calling once more. Let's get Christmas out of the way so we can get back on the road.<br />
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0Cardiff, UK51.481581000000013 -3.179089999999973851.323433500000014 -3.5018134999999737 51.639728500000011 -2.8563664999999738tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-33001308056209550202016-11-29T04:49:00.000-08:002016-11-29T04:49:05.996-08:00Two in a Box<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEissQRURzRMRCTSbexXYmyQQYQeOit5UZ9DCL7iM9kdkSrd6a3fZ0tT9z2SGb2sN8LDz7YQtBUDozV7NkcAkJbzEFfOYCYPdmKsRedmYwy70uwno8s8O-yUEOxRJSeov86fC5vknRXoCjs/s1600/cameringo_20161031_143211.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEissQRURzRMRCTSbexXYmyQQYQeOit5UZ9DCL7iM9kdkSrd6a3fZ0tT9z2SGb2sN8LDz7YQtBUDozV7NkcAkJbzEFfOYCYPdmKsRedmYwy70uwno8s8O-yUEOxRJSeov86fC5vknRXoCjs/s320/cameringo_20161031_143211.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moreton-in-Marsh: Full of autumn colour</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I sometimes think the caravan can be more fun in the winter than in summer. Back in the days of failed heating, zero insulation and ice cold, hand numbing tap water I might have argued the other way, but winter caravanning, now, is good. It is warmer and more cosy in the caravan that at home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 10.4px;">We headed for the Cotswolds. I had a sci-fi convention to attend in Bristol and I need no further excuse.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 10.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But that was the end of </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;">October, early November. Today is 29</span><span style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 10.4px;"><sup>th</sup></span><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;"> November, so why only talk about it now? Well, I’ve had a project. I’ve been preoccupied with NaNoWriMo.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;">What is NaNoWriMo?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;">It’s short for National Novel Writing Month and it comes around every November, and it is a kind of challenge, to write a fifty thousand word novel in the thirty days of November. It’s supported by websites and a buddy network and graphs. (I can't resist graphs. Graphs plus writing: sign me up.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;">Well, I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo before. It’s been on the to-do list for years. Maybe this is the year to start. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 10.4px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m going to try NaNoWriMo,” I said. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We were in the caravan at Moreton-in-Marsh. Outside was dark, nearly freezing and only five o’clock.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“What’s NaNoWriMo?” said Sarah.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I explained.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“You’re going to write a full novel in November? The whole thing?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“No. Not a novel. Something else.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“So…?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“I can’t write the third <i><a href="http://www.mjkewood.com/deep-space-accountant">Sphere of Influence</a></i> novel because I need to edit the second book first. The story might change.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“What are you going to write then?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“<i>Two in a Box</i>.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And that’s how it started. I’d never intended <i><a href="http://www.travellinginabox.com/">Travelling in a Box</a></i> to be a series, but then the book did come to an end in 2001, and I suppose a lot of stuff has happened since then: problems with the old caravan after it started to bend, arrested in Chamonix, losing part of the car in Belgium… and the whole family growing up and moving out thing. Yes, there’s at least one other book there.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So I pulled out the laptop and started, on that dark cold night in Moreton-in-Marsh, two thousand words a day, my target.</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And here I am, at the end of November, the proud owner of a NaNoWriMo badge and fifty-thousand words of <i>Two in a Box</i> in the can. I’m not finished yet. I’m guessing another thirty thousand should nail it. But I imagine <i>Two in a Box</i> will be hitting Amazon early in the year. You heard about it here first. More news to follow in the blog.</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Okay, so what of Bristol and the Cotswolds?</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.6px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 10.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Loved it! Bristolcon was fabulous, as always. Nothing went wrong with our travel plans. Nothing fell off the car. Nothing broke in the caravan. Didn't need to hunt down any hospital A&Es... Lovely caravan sites, autumn colours were fabulous. Makes a rotten story when that happens, doesn't it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 10.4px;">So I’ll just tell it in pictures: </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFElIUejUPInsoyyHAcVVGayYN0moJ5XoncU-HvDH8tG-FZZJKUzZqP7XGrb2siRbl_Pau708B_wW2zWXPUbEqWkS2ZLbeg6qfIn0O6BRidJOOBJrniXf8Z4B57-pyo9hhqUbgmG2vaHI/s400/cameringo_20161102_151132.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The village of Broadway</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFElIUejUPInsoyyHAcVVGayYN0moJ5XoncU-HvDH8tG-FZZJKUzZqP7XGrb2siRbl_Pau708B_wW2zWXPUbEqWkS2ZLbeg6qfIn0O6BRidJOOBJrniXf8Z4B57-pyo9hhqUbgmG2vaHI/s1600/cameringo_20161102_151132.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qTsOKL9dSjsnYzW2cIHnb0ygIlQtugvXPnrTVGZUwpt7i2lmbOH2egvJAaWgat7JRiPrylD99cyF_Alxj00sWkemsIpM6M3p5DhkZws8K32M4K-T773o_AQaQ4X2gtF8fk7n2NAlZ84/s1600/cameringo_20161101_133703.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qTsOKL9dSjsnYzW2cIHnb0ygIlQtugvXPnrTVGZUwpt7i2lmbOH2egvJAaWgat7JRiPrylD99cyF_Alxj00sWkemsIpM6M3p5DhkZws8K32M4K-T773o_AQaQ4X2gtF8fk7n2NAlZ84/s400/cameringo_20161101_133703.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bourton in the Water</td></tr>
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</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTnBhEFTMd0YDFaUi4_aj8yrloRQXHLzNlQ1wyRCY0GUkbN5OYSMBwkSp-HYgOg8BqGlwCEGzpDP2xbLbAfRm_1prEMk4Lx-aJ3HH4lcZcPJr7iPpWFzv1ubO2eW6v70zBA43aR7HaW0/s1600/cameringo_20161102_115724.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTnBhEFTMd0YDFaUi4_aj8yrloRQXHLzNlQ1wyRCY0GUkbN5OYSMBwkSp-HYgOg8BqGlwCEGzpDP2xbLbAfRm_1prEMk4Lx-aJ3HH4lcZcPJr7iPpWFzv1ubO2eW6v70zBA43aR7HaW0/s400/cameringo_20161102_115724.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broadway Tower</td></tr>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-62732993331729553982016-09-17T08:21:00.002-07:002016-09-17T08:21:20.100-07:00Driving Lesson<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm having to go around in my wife's car at the moment, for reasons I won't go into here.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Last night I came away from our Writers' meeting and found myself nose in to a parking space, in total darkness. It took me a couple of minutes to find the headlamps, but then came problem no. 2. Where is reverse? I know there's a little diagram on the gear stick, but it was dark, and of all the times I've driven my wife's car I've never had to do it in the dark, and I've never had to go<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: transparent; display: inline;"> backwards. I stirred away with the gearstick, grinding and mashing the gears, trying all the usual places, but I swear, reverse was just not on there. I'm not a mechanical simpleton. I've removed gearboxes and changed clutches in the front street. But this... Well I hope nobody was looking. They'd have seen the door open a crack. They'd have seen a leg sticking out and the car creeping backwards. I reversed out like driving a kid's pedal car. Oh the humiliation!</span></div>
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Yeah, I found where reverse was, this morning. It wasn't there last night, though. I swear.</div>
</span></span>Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-45897551468743847342016-08-31T05:27:00.000-07:002016-08-31T05:27:47.343-07:00Feast of Lanterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgspn_nLk-bIEP1ZYNK0p06dBPNE0xFnnsbQ4YmYWXWxfiC6FkzYawEHp0ahJ3Ki84QlyC8jtdhsBKsoF4KqPqbMPzYo2gP1vQsIRD8nFTaD1oPkovf8iugEgdlI2Lc2Dz1smkHvjyGSJs/s1600/IMG_20160828_213956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgspn_nLk-bIEP1ZYNK0p06dBPNE0xFnnsbQ4YmYWXWxfiC6FkzYawEHp0ahJ3Ki84QlyC8jtdhsBKsoF4KqPqbMPzYo2gP1vQsIRD8nFTaD1oPkovf8iugEgdlI2Lc2Dz1smkHvjyGSJs/s320/IMG_20160828_213956.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Back home from the National Feast of Lanterns, the Camping and Caravanning Club's annual bash to celebrate the end of the camping season.</div>
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Had a brilliant weekend that finished with a rousing Last Night of the Proms Concert, delivered by the club band and the Malvern Male Voice Choir. A brilliant party atmosphere that was a fitting closer to to the weekend.</div>
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Before that, though, we had trade stands and live music and the part that is my own favourite, the Saturday night torchlight procession and the street scenes. This is were caravan form up in 'streets' and light up their units according to the theme of the weekend. This year the theme was The Movies, and as always there were some fantastic illuminated displays. Forget Blackpool lights, this is where the real action is. Remember this is all done with cardboard and fairy lights and loads of ingenuity. I've taken pictures of a couple of my favourites, but so many displays deserve mentions that it hardly seems fair to show just two.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivd9yNig9d5yGSsJ0uLTjQGDV5IixOFDQwD7UJ1xXJf8LUlBsx3U7L9NKo96X288MC2527Vmv2co71n3gdgR36p-wPpePdSfw93iL2HIXvQydq4McDZZQ0SwqpktkQfSlb3LjlXlK9gUM/s1600/IMG_20160827_211258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivd9yNig9d5yGSsJ0uLTjQGDV5IixOFDQwD7UJ1xXJf8LUlBsx3U7L9NKo96X288MC2527Vmv2co71n3gdgR36p-wPpePdSfw93iL2HIXvQydq4McDZZQ0SwqpktkQfSlb3LjlXlK9gUM/s320/IMG_20160827_211258.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is the King Kong scene. It's hard to see it here but the best bit is the expression of surprise on the monkey's face.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYMz4Qj3XpWZYe-Ki2vgvv2QDtMI6k3JgqxBP6B8UxYSeUh1pfjBksLr-6TNoVr2n00KJLxj6xoDTME2oIwzoc1Gxs82xxWlknX_UhFUQUfmi8yu0NAFPFIKef5BSCfvepMtjSiZQcCo/s1600/IMG_20160827_214019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYMz4Qj3XpWZYe-Ki2vgvv2QDtMI6k3JgqxBP6B8UxYSeUh1pfjBksLr-6TNoVr2n00KJLxj6xoDTME2oIwzoc1Gxs82xxWlknX_UhFUQUfmi8yu0NAFPFIKef5BSCfvepMtjSiZQcCo/s320/IMG_20160827_214019.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had to include this. First Encounters of the Third Kind. Atmospheric music, chasing lights, and the way the light cast a shadow of the aliens was just brilliant.</div>
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So next year the NFOL is off to Sussex and we plan to be there again. Can't wait.Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com1Great Malvern, Malvern WR14, UK52.1116462 -2.326069999999958852.0726407 -2.406750999999959 52.150651700000004 -2.2453889999999586tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-52563763189302998062016-08-09T13:00:00.001-07:002016-08-09T13:00:38.873-07:00The R(h)oss-on-Something Collection<div style="text-align: justify;">
We seem to have been doing a spot of Rhos bagging. Four in four months in fact. In May we visited <b>Rhos-on-Sea</b>, one of our favourite weekend getaways, with South Lancs DA. Then in June we spent a week at <b>Rhosson Ganol</b>, near St Davids for seaside holiday no.1.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ui7YkVN8fNUuy4sMXsyne8R42P48wm-JVbptJgElFXQIp7u52rXulCkCIv-hKpvtAHdQ0yHaHrDeISnE7CPSBzTg9AtEOVJMEX791yvODqtj7slbeZNvRqv27vFGVT9pZWOQC2tJHk0/s1600/IMG_20160722_175634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ui7YkVN8fNUuy4sMXsyne8R42P48wm-JVbptJgElFXQIp7u52rXulCkCIv-hKpvtAHdQ0yHaHrDeISnE7CPSBzTg9AtEOVJMEX791yvODqtj7slbeZNvRqv27vFGVT9pZWOQC2tJHk0/s320/IMG_20160722_175634.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peace and quiet beside the River Wye.</td></tr>
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In July we took seaside holiday No.2 in Weymouth, but broke the journey home with a stay at Ross-on-Wye, in the company of the friendly folk of East Worcestershire DA.</div>
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This was an insanely quiet spot. At night we lay in bed and listened to the sound of the fish jumping in the river.</div>
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Then, this last weekend we returned to <b>Rhos-on-Sea</b>, to Dinarth Hall Farm. This time our hosts were the East and West Yorkshire British Caravanners' Club.</div>
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So there we have it: Four Rhos-on-somethings in four months. Weird huh?</div>
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Rhos-on-Sea is just over an hour from home and we've taken to visiting the site every time a DA is on hand to run a holiday meet. It has become almost a second home these days.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv70PQkKdqMdU__NfNaW7GlsL-unQikEInwbdLFfq6rCARvi0ZaQCww89wxWhYwZ3GkLEqyZhNvQIs2dx-6003PLIMJzBuu1PFRwS5cuVB4S_Ss3B_6xzpz8TGhU3MNmBGBeF0-YLlst4/s1600/IMG_20160806_101011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv70PQkKdqMdU__NfNaW7GlsL-unQikEInwbdLFfq6rCARvi0ZaQCww89wxWhYwZ3GkLEqyZhNvQIs2dx-6003PLIMJzBuu1PFRwS5cuVB4S_Ss3B_6xzpz8TGhU3MNmBGBeF0-YLlst4/s400/IMG_20160806_101011.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinarth Hall Farm, Rhos-on-Sea. Lovely!</td></tr>
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We have a favourite walk from the site into Llandudno, right along the seafront and over the Little Orme. This time, though, we broke with tradition and tried something new. We headed inland and found a route over the hills between Rhos and Llandudno. It started poorly, with Sarah lacerating her leg on a sentient and evil bramble, and we then followed a path that led us through a cowpat-infested quagmire, hemmed in between an impassable wall and an electric fence. Later we found that the fence wasn't plugged in, and we could have easily taken a dry line up the field. We'll know next time.</div>
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But then we came out onto the hillside, called Nant-y-gamar and it was all worthwhile for the views across Llandudno over to the Great Orme.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLXjeSzEptiC7PALVDDyB9xUid-iopG-rXSI-aPLhyphenhyphenPV0Lm8Sh4MJD1e_6ZmGTmzwNl_4r-EDbF-PyxEprG6z0wX3tlTXtrVZ1bU8hDagKfC7TDgzfrZF8Lz8ORu3xMPI6gwrd9m2LCI/s1600/IMG_20160806_112633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLXjeSzEptiC7PALVDDyB9xUid-iopG-rXSI-aPLhyphenhyphenPV0Lm8Sh4MJD1e_6ZmGTmzwNl_4r-EDbF-PyxEprG6z0wX3tlTXtrVZ1bU8hDagKfC7TDgzfrZF8Lz8ORu3xMPI6gwrd9m2LCI/s400/IMG_20160806_112633.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The route up to Nant-y-gamar</td></tr>
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It was another lovely spot for a picnic and we didn't even have to share our sandwiches with the seagulls, who were all busily patrolling the beach.</div>
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While we were in Ross without an 'h' (on Wye) I saw that the DA were selling second-hand books to raise money for the air ambulance. I thought it would be nice to donate one of my own copies of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Travelling-Box-Mike-Wood-ebook/dp/B011M8UTOA/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7ZSEH4HX66MVCZAQ0VMB"><span style="color: purple;">Travelling in a Box</span></a>. It seemed a good way to get the book out to caravanners and help a good cause at the same. The books seemed to go down well with the stewards; they were most enthusiastic.</div>
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So then, here in Rhos with an 'h' I noticed the BCC were also selling books, and also for the <a href="http://www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/"><span style="color: purple;">air ambulance</span></a> (this time the Yorkshire version) and so again I gave them a couple of signed TIAB books. Again, the stewards were delighted, and said they would like to auction the books at their fund raiser in Ripon. Sounds brilliant. EWYBCC don't have a website so here's a plug for their five-day meet from 13th October at Ripon Racecourse (I hope I've remembered the date correctly). Lots of events. Lots of fun. Lots of money for a worthwhile charity. </div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-82731917732013643582016-07-21T12:56:00.001-07:002016-07-21T12:56:06.922-07:00A Real Summer in Weymouth<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-o0e8u6v5kJnxrJry7pxfD7-Rzi-TkCfXoD6LM7hoUF37orQanAeLrX07NcBeo8G08E6bKkKxtk7aiEyt99ieqL-5Wx5pODkKsroNOzmE6IyoRdMnJm4DzrdjDCc7j28sNMpGXkCMLM/s1600/IMG_20160717_111100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-o0e8u6v5kJnxrJry7pxfD7-Rzi-TkCfXoD6LM7hoUF37orQanAeLrX07NcBeo8G08E6bKkKxtk7aiEyt99ieqL-5Wx5pODkKsroNOzmE6IyoRdMnJm4DzrdjDCc7j28sNMpGXkCMLM/s200/IMG_20160717_111100.jpg" width="150" /></a>This week we’re staying on a holiday site at the rugby club in Weymouth, stewarded by Mike and Sue of Dorset DA. We’ve been here before and it is a terrific location within easy walking distance of the beach, the park and nature reserve, and a good supermarket that has a cafe with WiFi and very welcome air conditioning. <i>Because it is hot!</i> It is the sort of hot you’d pay lots of money for, and travel a thousand miles to find, and we have it all here in lovely Dorset. To think, a couple of days before we left home I was moaning about the British summer and debating switching on the central heating. A few hours and a couple of hundred miles and like caravanning on the Med. How jammy is that?</div>
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I mentioned “easy walk”. Well, I have a thing about about easy walks. On our first day we set off into Weymouth, paddled along the coast, through Weymouth town and beyond, because I wanted to see Sandsfoot Castle. I hadn’t seen Sandsfoot Castle before. We walked on and on, ignoring the most excellent live band that were playing on the harbour front. Ignoring the 80F sun that hammered down onto our heads.</div>
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“It’s just a bit further,” I said, again and again.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4abTMEC62Q7ioEmEwOBLcOPHPorJ_7WF_tVqxPsmU7yS6To-0Ag16jdyL_aY6uzI8S-nk3I0LgHArM82395A3JjVhelGb92JRbmNSi11L56HfuzLkql32TvgXdwZ4qikkNTgOkNYyD0/s1600/IMG_20160717_151702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4abTMEC62Q7ioEmEwOBLcOPHPorJ_7WF_tVqxPsmU7yS6To-0Ag16jdyL_aY6uzI8S-nk3I0LgHArM82395A3JjVhelGb92JRbmNSi11L56HfuzLkql32TvgXdwZ4qikkNTgOkNYyD0/s320/IMG_20160717_151702.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weymouth Harbour. Could just as easily be the Med.</td></tr>
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We found Sandsfoot Castle. We staggered into the nearest shade and slugged down drinks from the cafe. Did we go and <i>look</i> at the castle? Or the beautiful gardens? Not a chance. We’d staggered over six miles and we faced another six miles to get back. Too knackered to even photograph the castle, we set off on the return trek under the relentless sun. I think the castle looked good. It’s hard to tell when you’re delirious with heat stroke.</div>
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Hours later, back at the caravan, we made a pact. We decided it might be a good idea if we tried something new and unprecidented this week – if we tried doing what people <i>usually</i> do on holiday. Relaxing.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRLcD5R55s93TsuudUs0u20Qjss9y1Cljca3AgUdUQM7t262HHa_1h0Gdd8ChsRyQLdlfG_2PmPQviIthRRelyrUD6yZ9B6Qv6eGY1ymCY5FUlhruNcBV_mcef3CPBSR5IX-21gP7OuA/s1600/IMG_1237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRLcD5R55s93TsuudUs0u20Qjss9y1Cljca3AgUdUQM7t262HHa_1h0Gdd8ChsRyQLdlfG_2PmPQviIthRRelyrUD6yZ9B6Qv6eGY1ymCY5FUlhruNcBV_mcef3CPBSR5IX-21gP7OuA/s320/IMG_1237.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bennett's Water Gardens. Just like Giverny but without the crowds.</td></tr>
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So we’ve been to Bennett’s Water Gardens (in the car) and strolled around the cool, shady pools, rested on benches, watched the dragonflies and admired the water lilies. We had another day in Swanage, where we strolled along the prom, walked on the pier and had tea in tea shops. There, you see, we can be sensible. We’ve never been to Swanage before. It’s lovely. Sandy beach, warm sea. Interesting seaside shops.</div>
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We even managed to resist stopping off at Corfe Castle on the way through. Last time we clambered up to Corfe Castle the temperature was, like this day, up in the mid 80’s, so we thought, yeah, been there, done that. Don’t get me wrong, we loved Corfe Castle, but we’ll wait for cooler weather, I think. I don’t want to spend the rest of our week in A&E.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEmSH9ACXPbO1wFifMpx6wylM1DQixBUQhbCI9WoV-xgoo0Cj6hq6iQtcXpzGLfsZuFP1c_oX-_jzevwcShB8646hwvWFnrLI2Zr93zj1RNYkv7UoPRp7EsazUWk1SSIEgT4dZ-KKsnI/s1600/IMG_1308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEmSH9ACXPbO1wFifMpx6wylM1DQixBUQhbCI9WoV-xgoo0Cj6hq6iQtcXpzGLfsZuFP1c_oX-_jzevwcShB8646hwvWFnrLI2Zr93zj1RNYkv7UoPRp7EsazUWk1SSIEgT4dZ-KKsnI/s320/IMG_1308.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Leopard 1 tank in action at the Tank Museum, Bovington</td></tr>
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If you are visiting this part of the world a must-see attraction is the tank museum at Bovington. Check the web site first to make sure there are live action displays on the day you visit, because they are brilliant - lots of smoke and explosions and engine noises you can feel right inside your chest. But even away from the action, there is a huge amount to see, and we both found the Trench Experience exhibit to be eye opening, informative and very moving.</div>
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Only a few days left and lots more to see. This is our third visit to Weymouth and it won’t be our last.</div>
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<i>This holiday is going well. They don’t always. Travelling in a Box is now available not only as a paperback and on Kindle, but also on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/travelling-in-a-box/id1133837418?mt=11">iBooks</a> and <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/travelling-in-a-box">Kobo</a>.</i></div>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-88192647810680820132016-07-02T14:11:00.001-07:002016-07-10T14:04:20.656-07:00A Postcard from Wales<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuKFGrYN8uJoMR77Glu2gvoUY_hEMI2LCDt8M7ewgovFbJ3nBjBAqdxYfE_FSeVVfiCA5MHbu-013xf6LtnQK8mnx4dv5WPp39KDWmQyKo0OoZHnU3dCKLtL1mCg5xd8Tb2XBntKQBATs/s1600/St+Davids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuKFGrYN8uJoMR77Glu2gvoUY_hEMI2LCDt8M7ewgovFbJ3nBjBAqdxYfE_FSeVVfiCA5MHbu-013xf6LtnQK8mnx4dv5WPp39KDWmQyKo0OoZHnU3dCKLtL1mCg5xd8Tb2XBntKQBATs/s400/St+Davids.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhosson Ganol. Wish you were here?</td></tr>
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Does it mark me out as being a bit old
fashioned, that I send postcards when I’m on holiday? I could email or
Instagram or put pictures on Facebook. Hell, I could just <i>ring</i> people. It’s not
hard in this day and age.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It isn’t the same though.
A postcard carries history. It feels travelled. A postcard will often bear the
scars of a journey and adventure: the words might be smeared by rain; the
corners are often tatty and dog-eared; the postman might have left some of his
breakfast on the picture on the front. Often times the stamp will be postmarked
with a blurry ink-pad logo that has missed the stamp and obliterates half the
words. If you’re lucky it will have been lost and found and postmarked twice.
All of this is evidence that you are far far away. Somewhere remote… On
Holiday!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Postcards are hard to write. You sit in the
coffee shop, pen in hand, and decide who will write to whom. “I’ll do the kids,
you do the parents, yeah?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Okay.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“What are you going to write?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Dunno.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I wonder how many cards I’ve written over
the years that start ‘Having a great time’ while the rain softens and delaminates the card and
the ink blooms and spreads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But we always write them. It wouldn’t be a
holiday otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We’re in St Davids, in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales.
(Actually I’m back home, reminiscing. No internet in St Davids! But hey, I’ll stay
in the present just to maintain the illusion).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I’m leery about divulging the name of
the site, because this is probably the best campsite in the world. It certainly has
the best view. But here goes, at the risk of scuppering things for years to
come when we can’t get on because it’s fully booked, our site is called Rhosson
Ganol, and it is just west of St Davids overlooking the St Justinians lifeboat
station. It is a small piece of heaven. There are no electrics, there is no
mobile signal, it isn’t flat, but it is lovely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-gBxQQIS8egBjyC4mkQcBuSsX66iq-qjlz5K6HJTEv2JwjEr34cvOnKEiw7ZGdkzCUV0Ss1NHBGy1siVMgIXRdMgtQOLkmxpld9rwNPhnGgnOYNzD8SKXGOTcNh-SiHpfMFNQPOpbAoQ/s1600/Post+Box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-gBxQQIS8egBjyC4mkQcBuSsX66iq-qjlz5K6HJTEv2JwjEr34cvOnKEiw7ZGdkzCUV0Ss1NHBGy1siVMgIXRdMgtQOLkmxpld9rwNPhnGgnOYNzD8SKXGOTcNh-SiHpfMFNQPOpbAoQ/s320/Post+Box.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">There is a postbox. (See picture) It’s a
good thing. St Davids is about four miles away, and to use the car feels like
cheating. But it’s good. This is all the civilisation we need on holiday: a
tap, an Elsan point and a postbox.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We finished our cards and strolled down the
lane so they’d catch the morning collection. Sarah climbed through the nettles
beside the wall and tried to post the cards. They wouldn’t go in. She tried
again. Some kind of obstruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Then the air went black.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">It seems our postbox has become a bees
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apiology or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We walked to St Davids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>More camping and caravanning tales can be found in the <b>Travelling in a Box</b> paperback/ebook. To buy </i><o:p></o:p></span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px;">a copy, take a look at the web site, <a href="http://travellinginabox.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">TravellinginaBox.com</a> </i></span></div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-75609220014247536502016-06-07T14:36:00.000-07:002016-07-02T14:17:53.982-07:00Insurance in the Age of Steam<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I was reminded by someone at work, today,
just how easy life has become with the internet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Oh, my car insurance just ran out,” she
said. “I’d better renew it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">She went online and five minutes later she
was done. Easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I recalled the time, a few years back, in
the eighties. Eek, that was thirty-odd years ago! Hard to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzJ0Og9wKsF4fMa3r4vSsi7xxAfpl_QXC7n3kU-dO_QQ_aVsErAIbWlXSf5-BTtZmZE5Mirhvw0nmvLOEcd0U5o2WMHDAxKMOaJIYnrxEoRE6f4z0XNGnXC3QkKsDYyNyT62E_ZP28j4/s1600/Mike+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzJ0Og9wKsF4fMa3r4vSsi7xxAfpl_QXC7n3kU-dO_QQ_aVsErAIbWlXSf5-BTtZmZE5Mirhvw0nmvLOEcd0U5o2WMHDAxKMOaJIYnrxEoRE6f4z0XNGnXC3QkKsDYyNyT62E_ZP28j4/s320/Mike+Tent.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We were camping. We had chosen a site miles
from anywhere, up in the mountains behind Harlech, in North Wales. It was
raining. Some things don’t change.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“The car tax runs out at the end of the
week,” I said, looking at the disc on car windscreen. There was little else to look at.
Beyond the windscreen there was mist. We were sitting in the car because we needed a
change from lying in the tent; letting the oxygen run down to our feet for a
change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Is it a problem?” said Sarah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Nah, we’ll be home in a few days. There’s
no need to—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">And I stopped. We always renewed our MOT
and car insurance a couple of weeks ahead of the car tax to be on the safe
side. You can’t get a tax disc unless you have MOT and insurance, and in those
days we didn’t have anywhere to park off-street. I’d been caught out once before,
incurring fines and points and humiliation even though I’d been honest and
never driven the car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I rummaged through the glove box and, sure
enough, our insurance expired a few days before we’d come away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We had to renew it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBssNuydGq_HreK6TDQ8cB0qVYa-T-318McQUOZdhg_J4QU95dqrwBc7FqsIcgmOexHQy-pvIYJjnXWkfXKuSUtjZHj6y5nJChQiTk9T-qj7PUer9GPm_UBA9sag3aAgab3gImfSwk8s/s1600/Sarah+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBssNuydGq_HreK6TDQ8cB0qVYa-T-318McQUOZdhg_J4QU95dqrwBc7FqsIcgmOexHQy-pvIYJjnXWkfXKuSUtjZHj6y5nJChQiTk9T-qj7PUer9GPm_UBA9sag3aAgab3gImfSwk8s/s320/Sarah+Tent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">These were the days before mobile phones,
never mind internet. We set out on foot to the nearest phone box, about four
miles away. At least we knew where it was; we’d used it on one of the many
occasions that we’d broken down in this valley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Did I mention, it was raining?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I suppose we could have waited until it
stopped, but we’d been there, soaking up rain, for the best part of a week and
it had shown no inclination to stop up to now. Also, it was Friday afternoon.
Insurance companies closed for the weekend in the good old days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">So yes, we walked, in our
not-very-waterproof waterproofs, and we got wet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">You can fit two people in a phone box. It’s
cosy, but on a wet Welsh afternoon, cosy is good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">This was a phone box with two buttons, A and
B, marked in big white letters. I didn’t understand the principle then. I’m
glad I don’t have to understand it now. Whichever order you chose to press the buttons the general idea was that you
pumped prodigious quantities of silver into the heavy black box and you got to talk for
about thirty seconds before the phone started beeping at you with insatiable
hunger for more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Hello, XYZ Insurance here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Oh, hi. My name’s—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Beep beep beep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Insert cash. Press button A. (or B?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Yeah, my name's Mike Wood and I need to—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Beep beep beep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is a painful process. We fed the beast
and watched our supply of change dwindle. We were put on hold. We were cut off.
We dialled again and had to wade through the formalities of name, reason for
calling, redirect, beep beep beep, several more times. The inside of the box got
hot and the glass steamed up. Hearing was difficult with the rain hammering on
the glass. The wind somehow managed to rock the whole structure, even though it was built from glass and girders and buried in concrete.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Insurance? Would that be household insurance?
Life insurance? Buildings ins—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Car insurance! I need to renew! I need to
pay you money!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We were down to our last ten pence. I was
on the edge. My sanity was about to burst out of the phone box and make a break for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">But I’d reached a sensible person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“What’s the number of your call box?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">I read it out. Not easy because some of it was
hidden under the graffiti. Who walks a gazillion miles with a can of spray
paint to vandalise a phone box in the middle of nowhere?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">“Okay, I’ll—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Beep beep beep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">But yes, she rang us back. Ten minutes
later and we were insured. Broke, but insured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">It would have been nice to drive back, but
the car was with the tent, so we walked. In the rain. And the wind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We live in an age of miracles and wonders.
Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>More camping and caravanning tales can be
found in <span style="color: purple;">Travelling in a Box</span>. And for a limited time only (until 14th June) you can
get the e-book for just 99p (or 99cents in the US). To buy </i><o:p></o:p></span><i>a copy, take a look
at the new web site, <a href="http://travellinginabox.com/">TravellinginaBox.com</a> </i></div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-37034931774841399452016-04-16T02:22:00.001-07:002016-04-17T02:34:55.011-07:00Art and Kites in the Chilterns<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtkZDcAv4d0BW6cz2hI7OgkZObrL7bi0bNB8Ywxj1Dn18P_nb9JZtyMVx2oCpnbhMsvij7G5b5q-QRK1Y3Ew0fNRlYzlbmlad8eMpwNERfnjyUOcYrE1Nk48jPqC1a15_kJT3h9WCtpQ/s1600/2016-04-13+07.32.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtkZDcAv4d0BW6cz2hI7OgkZObrL7bi0bNB8Ywxj1Dn18P_nb9JZtyMVx2oCpnbhMsvij7G5b5q-QRK1Y3Ew0fNRlYzlbmlad8eMpwNERfnjyUOcYrE1Nk48jPqC1a15_kJT3h9WCtpQ/s320/2016-04-13+07.32.18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not much of a slope but with special, super-lube mud<br />
it was too much of a challenge for our 4x4 Kuga.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US">Each year we help with the set-up for <a href="http://www.sarahwoodart.com/">Sarah</a>'s SBA Botanical Art exhibition, and we’re always on the hunt for a new base away
from the noise and rush of London, somewhere to relax and wind-down after all
the noise and rush of the capital. This time we stayed in the Chilterns, at the
lovely Cholsey Grange CL site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The drive down was easy. Glorious sunshine
all the way. As we neared the Chilterns the clouds began to gather.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">We arrived
in the rain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Ted, the site owner, warned us the field
might be muddy, and he was waiting to help us onto the pitch. A good thing,
too. My attempts at using the motor mover for the last bit of fine tuning to
our position, failed when all it achieved was to drive the jockey wheel deep
into the mud and to scoop out two neat holes for the ‘van's wheels, all ready
for more fun when the time came to pack away a few days later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhdK2sH80j9zkKcaIRVs9al_APXk1uNHCzhOtaNps6cPQfYHJWvlsY3hYzifMdkiBlRAkCcftk9oWbseNqaD0BFYa3wtwx9e1aSv8fpcCqNsFsQezziOBF2qztPDMJ-oNfPE5ExmYlLk/s1600/2016-04-11+05.18.06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhdK2sH80j9zkKcaIRVs9al_APXk1uNHCzhOtaNps6cPQfYHJWvlsY3hYzifMdkiBlRAkCcftk9oWbseNqaD0BFYa3wtwx9e1aSv8fpcCqNsFsQezziOBF2qztPDMJ-oNfPE5ExmYlLk/s200/2016-04-11+05.18.06.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Kite. Small image to conceal<br />
fuzzy focussing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US">An exciting start to our visit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The views from the site are lovely. </span><span lang="EN-US">There
are Red Kites flying overhead. </span>The only time they disappeared was when I took
my camera out. I’ve included one fuzzy picture just to prove that I at least
tried. The site offers free WiFi, which was much appreciated and something I've
never come across on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> a </span>CL before.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik48sZ6UmR3SFhVku6qKzs_ULFO7lZVEM_Syadu884zrWdg4UPN4q_HegtQvrTl-nVlxMM0UsBeVDTytLzTP9SLSpKwPl7GJqEDrY92_rLF6-bxTByLuZQWwzPwF0d-s1Fkr0-uqzJios/s1600/2016-04-11+05.24.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik48sZ6UmR3SFhVku6qKzs_ULFO7lZVEM_Syadu884zrWdg4UPN4q_HegtQvrTl-nVlxMM0UsBeVDTytLzTP9SLSpKwPl7GJqEDrY92_rLF6-bxTByLuZQWwzPwF0d-s1Fkr0-uqzJios/s320/2016-04-11+05.24.52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Lovely sunrise on Monday</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">There were plenty of walks around the site,
and we did have some time to explore on the first day, but not enough, because
we were here on a mission. Our trips into London involved early starts on both
days, but at least we were able to enjoy some impressive dawn colours while munching
our breakfasts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTo1DRWIKYMbkwFlRR9UKUSLH8OO2aZ0IhwZZnJxT-zoZI3S_7g1YzqLNzSUH3banZ9Nyi7EPoIqqna_vGeSVtO4Dn0C9qyjF4f-lFXnoA51d1gS1BJFFrS87ha4h49oj9-PiyYYWm_k/s1600/2016-04-12+05.30.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTo1DRWIKYMbkwFlRR9UKUSLH8OO2aZ0IhwZZnJxT-zoZI3S_7g1YzqLNzSUH3banZ9Nyi7EPoIqqna_vGeSVtO4Dn0C9qyjF4f-lFXnoA51d1gS1BJFFrS87ha4h49oj9-PiyYYWm_k/s320/2016-04-12+05.30.24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">A misty start to Tuesday morning</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We’re still trying to figure out a way of
getting into London itself without having to sell the house and indenture the
children into the chimney sweep profession to afford it. (The kids are in their thirties, now, so
they'd probably put up an argument, anyway.) This year we elected to drive to
Amersham, park at the station then use the Oysters to travel
in. Here’s what I learned: Peak hour ends at 9.30 am, and then runs 4.30 until
7.00 pm. Outside these times the costs are manageable. Travel during these
hours, as we did in error, and yes, you do need to sell the house and if you have young children they need to adopt a fake, Dick van Dyke cockney accent and learn the words to a few songs, like <i>Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, Chim-chim-cheree</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Another thing I learned this week: I
found out how much work is involved behind the scenes of a big art exhibition. I always thought it was just hanging pictures on a wall, but no, they have to be numbered to match the
catalogue. They have to be arranged so they look good on a wall. They have to be carried.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC8AG8s0bXnOYGekoCnyJjZNTi5i7KKINSY0OnS4zF8NRbtGn5cNs-PLXo1o4DenaYOYcOXCBERmyRZITepkHsBBBIc7dVh33FEueNfjGDm5SUoo4RLa-vUh5stvVgpxQ4gz6iLZO5OM/s1600/2016-04-11+11.25.06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZC8AG8s0bXnOYGekoCnyJjZNTi5i7KKINSY0OnS4zF8NRbtGn5cNs-PLXo1o4DenaYOYcOXCBERmyRZITepkHsBBBIc7dVh33FEueNfjGDm5SUoo4RLa-vUh5stvVgpxQ4gz6iLZO5OM/s320/2016-04-11+11.25.06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">This is how the exhibition room looked before we started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">By the time we left the walls were full of exquisite<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">paintings and soon the room will be packed with visitors.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">There are stickers with bits of information, and these have to be
stuck on the wall next to the correct painting, and they have to be straight.<i> </i>The glass on the paintings has to be polished to get rid of all our finger
prints. Polishing 600 plus paintings is no picnic, believe me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s also a shop to be created from
nothing, and the extra heap of work involved in doing that job is another thing I'd
never appreciated before. I’m only mentioning the things I know about. While we
were working a whole army of helpers were doing other things to make it all
come together. Next time you visit an art exhibition take a look at the number stickers
and ask yourself who stuck them all on, and don’t be too harsh if some of them
are a bit wonky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Even better, visit this one. <a href="http://www.soc-botanical-artists.org/exhibitions/shape-pattern-structure-2016/">The SBA exhibition, Shape Pattern, Structure</a>. It's on now
until 23rd April at Central Hall, Westminster. If you spot any misaligned info
stickers next to any of the paintings they're not mine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidE02uVFzyriBUPJBbXKXNXv-KLM8V3Q9Zl3bftjrS5N2fioYZZAdZqDY5i-i2s5CZjgE3RBehGe4OsqfpA6sMlXi1QIQPQ12Rsmy8CYj8MqFhXy1xRM_WdlSQ_lqeXQQsNckXJnFfr-8/s1600/2016-04-13+16.12.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidE02uVFzyriBUPJBbXKXNXv-KLM8V3Q9Zl3bftjrS5N2fioYZZAdZqDY5i-i2s5CZjgE3RBehGe4OsqfpA6sMlXi1QIQPQ12Rsmy8CYj8MqFhXy1xRM_WdlSQ_lqeXQQsNckXJnFfr-8/s320/2016-04-13+16.12.23.jpg" width="240" /></a>As hinted. The pack away was not good. It has been a long wet winter. Lots of rain equals lots of mud. Our
trusty 4x4 Kuga didn't have the grip to reverse up to the towing hitch. It is hard
to line up the approach when you're car is skating around like Torvill and Dean having an
off day. We did Ted a favour, though. We took some of his mud home with us - on
my jeans, on my wellies, <i>in</i> my wellies, all over the car, all over the front of the
caravan...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that we'd polished and
cleaned <i>just five days earlier!</i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">A good few days away but right now I need another
caravan holiday for some rest and recovery. But I have to get the hose pipe out first.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
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<h4>
<span lang="EN-US"><i style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011M8UTOA/ref=s9_simh_gw_g351_i1_r?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=desktop-4&pf_rd_r=0JTWH5YB6RQEFYJMZ739&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=867551687&pf_rd_i=desktop">Travelling in a Box</a>,</span> the book, available on Kindle and <a href="http://paperback./"><span style="color: purple;">paperback</span>.</a></i></span></h4>
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<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-9340589398710296992016-03-20T14:16:00.001-07:002016-03-20T14:16:50.449-07:00Caravan in Chirk<div style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2gg9UHY40wwskjgjfN2k5LV2SaRMIJAUO_pontOIaGVNP3p2mkD5dwd6RZnUdmyyayWJHBxPXabHHjNay-9UEWBVuza2GGvAAqdEwQHFaZpsqaydomE24MqWgpjbjssmpkrOYmYUJjk/s1600/2016-03-19+16.39.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2gg9UHY40wwskjgjfN2k5LV2SaRMIJAUO_pontOIaGVNP3p2mkD5dwd6RZnUdmyyayWJHBxPXabHHjNay-9UEWBVuza2GGvAAqdEwQHFaZpsqaydomE24MqWgpjbjssmpkrOYmYUJjk/s320/2016-03-19+16.39.25.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">At last our caravan season has begun, and we’re in Lady Margaret’s Park in Chirk, near Wrexham.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">We didn’t get off to a smooth start. We had the caravan serviced last month, and if I’d troubled to look inside, after the service, I’d have noticed how the radio and other electrical things had been left on. We knew we had a problem as soon as I fired up the motor mover to get the ‘van off the front garden, because the motor mover didn’t so much as fire up, as just flicker, with the power of a birthday candle, then die. So, job number one, after rushing home from work and as the Friday evening light faded to gloom, was to swap out the leisure battery for an old one we keep in the back of the garage, ‘just in case’, and hope the spare had enough charge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Success! On our way.</span></div>
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We arrived in the dark. I set about doing the 'man jobs' outside while Sarah did the girly work, getting the inside of the ‘van organised.</div>
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I use two Aquarolls, so that we can rotate them and avoid shower catastrophes, and after I’d filled the first and got the pump running to fill the hot tank, I went back to the tap to fill the second. By the time I returned, the pump was dancing about making funny noises. Had there been light I’d have noticed all the water around the caravan. But it was dark and I didn’t. So I spent ages checking for all the less obvious problems, like splits in the pipe and bad seals between the pipe and the outlet, and half an hour of fiddling passed by before I noticed that the Aquaroll was empty.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpRYGEhKlXM-cB7VEmcahBZUYxKwU_qoMmDWBPpFzM6YjSAyRQK4gJCTHEqrNi6NEJWwjZ2L5Qme3jiGA-ZSNxcyDMYYSMoRGHifyTl-wnynawEdiUEe7pIbYqrZz731l0tgBCf-s5zo/s1600/2016-03-20+09.46.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpRYGEhKlXM-cB7VEmcahBZUYxKwU_qoMmDWBPpFzM6YjSAyRQK4gJCTHEqrNi6NEJWwjZ2L5Qme3jiGA-ZSNxcyDMYYSMoRGHifyTl-wnynawEdiUEe7pIbYqrZz731l0tgBCf-s5zo/s320/2016-03-20+09.46.45.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is a bright yellow switch under the bunk that has to be opened to drain the hot water tank when leaving a site, and it has to be <i>closed</i> before switching on the pump, or your water goes straight from the Aquaroll to the floor. Ha! Back to the tap.</div>
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This isn’t the first time I’ve performed this little pumping-onto-the floor ritual. Or the second. One day I’ll learn.</div>
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Saturday, we walked to Chirk Castle. It’s only about forty minutes’ cross country from the caravan site. There’s a bit of a hill, because, well, it’s a castle and hills are were they tended to build them. I’d like to tell you all about the history of the castle and the Myddleton family who lived there, but here’s what stayed in my head: <b>Minted Pea and lettuce soup with thick crusty bread</b>. We had it for lunch. Gorgeous. Inside the castle there are paintings and tapestries and furniture and stuff, but I remember the soup. I know, call me shallow. I could have looked up some history and facts and sounded all learned, like I know what I’m talking about, but I haven’t got much internet out here so here’s a link instead.</div>
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<a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle">http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SpvDgRtGUFmTIeqJpowNjSgTwADT0MdTahw59HDZuqfchBJbl7KQ9YM2kMomOTl5umR5gf8HAAZUNnzvWFCWuNMmc72PnOePPbEHI6hmrYG4OyddQjY-y9cbFqJdltDYkKoXbSG_V68/s1600/2016-03-19+16.25.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SpvDgRtGUFmTIeqJpowNjSgTwADT0MdTahw59HDZuqfchBJbl7KQ9YM2kMomOTl5umR5gf8HAAZUNnzvWFCWuNMmc72PnOePPbEHI6hmrYG4OyddQjY-y9cbFqJdltDYkKoXbSG_V68/s320/2016-03-19+16.25.32.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">If you visit this caravan site you must make time to see the Chirk Aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford in 1801. The walk over the aqueduct has wonderful views down the Ceirog Valley, and through the arches of the railway viaduct that stands close by and high above on one side. There is also a walk you could try through the Chirk canal tunnel, but take a torch; the tunnel is unlit and is 420 metres in length.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghoLruqLQWSmiMF0b0RZTzBiSWzElqW_PHam1-v9BvcUDV9nNhdN7DzNnAm-uUbgbjcoOJGnfYwMxYf-CS6sTSMdndJgZseuBMLOeQmF_rJyRuR7ILXvmtVozs2CS0Ugo6SXnuoAU7JuM/s1600/2016-03-20+10.52.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghoLruqLQWSmiMF0b0RZTzBiSWzElqW_PHam1-v9BvcUDV9nNhdN7DzNnAm-uUbgbjcoOJGnfYwMxYf-CS6sTSMdndJgZseuBMLOeQmF_rJyRuR7ILXvmtVozs2CS0Ugo6SXnuoAU7JuM/s400/2016-03-20+10.52.52.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you’re new to the area and enjoyed the walk over the Chirk Aqueduct, then you should also visit the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a little further along the canal in the Llangollen direction. Pontcysyllte’s only for the brave, though. It is high and narrow and very exposed. Not one for a windy day, I promise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here’s an interesting thing. On one side of the aqueduct there is a sign, <i>Welcome to Wales</i>. Walking over the bridge there is another sign, <i>Welcome to England</i>. So who own's the aqueduct?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLv9t6obE4eg6TvVhQJlUZ_GPtLHlimuzXbhs5cQwE5jY6XrhnwRtgp7U1NGhe4d70-lVtDDEdlYDR27XpZb-wYgCwWCXGPihAWgFM_uy15OTqbIDFdpOvom9OSI90YrBrPKwJEN055c/s1600/2016-03-20+10.15.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLv9t6obE4eg6TvVhQJlUZ_GPtLHlimuzXbhs5cQwE5jY6XrhnwRtgp7U1NGhe4d70-lVtDDEdlYDR27XpZb-wYgCwWCXGPihAWgFM_uy15OTqbIDFdpOvom9OSI90YrBrPKwJEN055c/s200/2016-03-20+10.15.04.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to Wales</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MTjOQGICWXx_AmIlCmvt7NX_cwhcOmzUh1lTXc9roRJtpBMzMPWS-7AFIW48F3xVGaOI4pmdAwR7W53lof65Iw5Yj1d3t4Vth0bIKjVlARw93-94kA8j9Z05pXc-VE5gY22O5ePz-Iw/s1600/2016-03-20+10.21.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MTjOQGICWXx_AmIlCmvt7NX_cwhcOmzUh1lTXc9roRJtpBMzMPWS-7AFIW48F3xVGaOI4pmdAwR7W53lof65Iw5Yj1d3t4Vth0bIKjVlARw93-94kA8j9Z05pXc-VE5gY22O5ePz-Iw/s320/2016-03-20+10.21.07.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to England<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Imagine, now, that your parents are Scottish. A couple with a love for canal boats. Suppose they were on a canal tour of the Marches at the time you were born, on the boat, just as they were crossing the Chirk Aqueduct.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Cochin;">What are you? Welsh, English, Scottish? Do you get to choose? You might choose Scottish and grab a free university education. You might, instead, value Welsh citizenship and hold out for a few more years to claim your pensioner's bus pass that can you can use in Wales </span><i style="font-family: Cochin;">and</i><span style="font-family: Cochin;"> England. Or then again, you might choose to be English, so that… let me think about this for a moment. Yes, I know, you can wear that single star on your England football shirt that says how you won the World Cup Forty-seven years ago.</span></span></div>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0Chirk, Wrexham, Wrexham LL14, UK52.9322792 -3.056781799999953452.9131397 -3.0971222999999535 52.951418700000005 -3.0164412999999533tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-86611491340784136362016-03-13T14:37:00.005-07:002016-03-13T14:37:40.728-07:00New Caravan Season. Top 5 Tips<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5lUrQMpBgGIyqoi7rYVhqyxeHIVs79lRy5vH64On4mZFMiBBxZquhaeWfEleKaqMbTYGHmj9yFyPIt5v4WGVdu_hOVsbXuNKQxJhD3RHEmDA97IhN4351iOTkcWeAfj2xaoHiqhSrvE/s1600/2012-06-04+17.08.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5lUrQMpBgGIyqoi7rYVhqyxeHIVs79lRy5vH64On4mZFMiBBxZquhaeWfEleKaqMbTYGHmj9yFyPIt5v4WGVdu_hOVsbXuNKQxJhD3RHEmDA97IhN4351iOTkcWeAfj2xaoHiqhSrvE/s320/2012-06-04+17.08.52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This has nothing to do with the post, I just like the picture<br /> of this lovely spot we found by a steam in Hay-on-Wye.<br /> Two days after I took the photo, though, the water level had<br /> reached the top of the bank, there were whole trees heading<br /> down stream, and we were prepped for the fasted pack<br /> since records began.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;">
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;">
I can see from the daffodils and the crocuses that Spring is with us once more, and soon it will be time to set out on our first caravan outing of the 2016 season. It's an exciting time of year, and I've been looking through old photographs, like this, getting in the mood.</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;">I thought it might be useful to compile a <span style="color: #990000;">top ten list</span> of things for all you eager caravanners to peruse before we all hit the road.</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I could only think of six items, though.</b> </span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">No doubt I'll remember the other four items once we get pitched on site. Here's the list:</span></div>
<ol>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Get the caravan serviced. Done. We take our ‘van to Derby for her service. It’s eighty miles each way but hey, you get a run out, and it feels almost like a holiday except you get to come home and sleep in your own bed at night. Except this year we slept in a cold and dreary budget hotel bed, having put the wrong date for a scifi thing I was doing, in my diary. It’s a long, unhappy and complex story, one for another day, perhaps. Anyway, we’ve been properly servicing our ‘van since we upgraded three or four years ago , and the process is still a bit of a novelty. The old approach used to be: set out into the wilderness. Pitch. See what breaks. As methods go, it worked. Most stuff broke. Things you absolutely need to be working in spring (which is really winter but with photos of daffodils on the calendar) would always break first, like the electrics, the heater, the water heater, the cooker… Spring is a really good time to find all the water leaks too. In our older vans, leaks didn’t mean cold spots that show up on a damp meter, leaks meant waking up in the morning with rain slapping you in the face. Yeah, so now we get the ‘van serviced.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check the items you took out of the van last year, <i>and put them back</i>. Yeah, a good tip. We once arrived without the bedding. Try spending the night under your coats and jumpers and the old smelly rug from the boot of the car. That will cure you of any <i>laissez-faire</i> attitude to check lists, I promise.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gas! This is an old favourite. You run out of gas towards the end of the season and you say, yeah, we’ll get some after the winter. It's a choice: End your autumn break with a meal in the pub, or shell out twenty quid, instead, for gas that you're not going to use for another four months. A meal wins every time. Or does it? Can you remember how good it tasted, four months ago, when right now it's gone midnight, and you’re outside with your head in the bottle locker, and you’re in your jammies, your head-torch strapped to your forehead, and there’s frost glistening on the outside of the ‘van. You swap the bottle over and you shout ‘okay! Try that,’ and you know what answer you’re going to get because that spare gas bottle felt awfully light when you moved it.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Food. If you’re like us your caravan doubles as your winter larder. You’re out of pasta? No worries, there’s some in the ‘van. Need some cereal? A tin of peaches? Bin bags? People who aren't caravaners just don’t have this resource. They have to get in the car and drive to the supermarket. And so should you, my friend, because that first caravan outing can turn into a hungry affair.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It makes sense to keep the wellies in the shed over winter. You’ll be using them in the garden. But it would have been good if you’d put them back in the ‘van afterwards, because your white trainers or your carpet slippers just don’t hack it when you have to walk across a meadow that is so slick with mud the Aquaroll you’re towing doesn’t even get enough traction to turn, it just… drags. You find your way back to the tap a few hours later by following the mud slide.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Cochin; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">At home it can be useful to have some spare towels in the winter. Sometimes it’s hard keeping on top of the laundry, what with so many bad drying days (so my wife tells me). We caravaners are lucky to have a store of dry towels at the end of the garden. Not so lucky when we forget to replace them, and our daily trip to the shower block during the spring try-out becomes ever-more miserable, because your only towel has become nothing more than a wet rag that you use to rub the water around on your body. The walk back to the van in the sub-zero easterly can be quite bracing when you’re wearing your dry cloths on top of wet skin.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "cochin";">So there you have my top six. I hope you find this useful. If stumble upon the other four, please let me know.</span><span style="font-family: "cochin";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "cochin";">Here’s to the new season.</span></span><br />
<div>
<i><span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "cochin"; font-size: large;">Happy Caravanning folks!</span><span style="font-family: "cochin";"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></i><br />
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-18302903085181763522016-02-07T13:58:00.001-08:002016-02-07T14:01:00.202-08:001982: The Year the Car Caught Fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyupg4FeFPylK7w7Tnv90wXBzEQ3pdejNS1sB4wTh4OWWwzQOp1qDDHWlX29hXFxeI9NlH0ZGr-3XmsKQ6pqihGP3rn1YElNy0cUikA1kTB0RhpbAro5LITF2-cK_9yjhBlxY5HaZ_61E/s1600/Scan_20160207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyupg4FeFPylK7w7Tnv90wXBzEQ3pdejNS1sB4wTh4OWWwzQOp1qDDHWlX29hXFxeI9NlH0ZGr-3XmsKQ6pqihGP3rn1YElNy0cUikA1kTB0RhpbAro5LITF2-cK_9yjhBlxY5HaZ_61E/s320/Scan_20160207.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="text-align: center;">I was so proud of this car. My 1970 Ford
Escort cost me £150 and we had her for years. She started out blue, gradually
turned red, then ended her days as a smart Buckingham Green. I hunted through
the photo shoebox for these pictures of her, because this afternoon I passed by Low
Hill, in Liverpool, and a memory came back to me of the fateful day in 1982
that she caught fire.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">1982 was the year of the Falklands War, the
raising of the Mary Rose from the Solent, and the launch of Channel Four, when
we all gathered round the TV to watch Richard Whitely and Carol Vorderman
present Countdown, and to be amazed at now having <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">four</i> TV channels to watch. But for me, 1982 stands out as the year
the car caught fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My alarm didn’t ring. I’d missed my train.
I lived in Wallasey in those days, and I worked at the bus depot near Penny
Lane, the same Penny Lane as in the Beatles’ song. (In fact I used to be a
regular at Tony Slavin’s barber shop, the one that features in the song. He certainly
knows my head, but as far as I’m aware he doesn’t have a photo of it.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Anyway, I got up late and decided I’d have
to go to work in the car. Rail and bus travel were free on my staff pass, so the
cost of tolls for the Mersey Tunnel, and petrol at a scandalous 37pence per
litre, was most upsetting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I got through the tunnel without mishap
(now shuddering to think what would have happened had my later mishap occurred
in the tunnel) and straight up to the top of Low Hill. I stopped at the
traffic lights outside the Coach and Horses, an iconic white pub, right on the
junction. The first thing I noticed was the smell. Kind like a chemical works
going up. I thought, hmm, something’s burning nicely round here. Then I noticed
how the paint on the car bonnet had started to bubble. Then came the smoke. The
engine was on fire. I jumped out of the car. What do you do when your car
engine catches fire? Open the bonnet, I thought, because I don’t want the fire
to damage the paintwork any more than it already has.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now, I need to explain something. When you
buy a car for £150 you can’t expect all the gadgets to work properly. This car
had her share of small faults and idiosyncrasies (for example the wheels
weren’t all the same size and the brakes sometimes caused the direction
indicators to come on) and one of those small faults was that the cable for the
bonnet catch had long ago snapped, so access to the engine bay was via a
special, long, Phillips screwdriver that I kept in the boot. There was also a
technique for getting in the boot, so there I was, blocking up one of
Liverpool’s busier junctions in the thick of the rush hour, with smoke coming
out of the bonnet, lying in the road trying to open the boot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I attracted an audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I popped the boot, grabbed my special
screwdriver, ran to the front of my car and dropped to my knees so I could poke
through the special hole in the grill with my special screwdriver. I had become
pretty slick at doing this, but billowing smoke and fire added to the pressure,
and it took a while. At last though, a satisfying pop and the bonnet sprung
open. Then there’s a catch that you had to find without burning your fingers. I
used the screwdriver again and swung open the bonnet. Flames and black acrid
smoke billowed out. I rocked back on my heels. It didn’t look as though much of
the paintwork could be saved. I had nothing to use on the fire, but I could see
what had happened. The plastic air filter box (that had no bolts, lost long
ago) had fallen onto the exhaust manifold, and it was this that was burning. If
I could just get it out of the engine bay… Think!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There was on old rug in the boot. I kept it
there to lie on when I was crawling under the car on wet days. It had seen good
service and was covered in oil, and I thought I could use it to smother the
flames. Back round to the boot, grab the rug, round to the engine again; I
threw the rug over the flames and success, the fire was gone. A cheer from the
audience, still gathering outside the Coach and Horses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But then the rug burst into flames. Gasps
from the crowd. In hindsight an oil-soaked rug is not the best flame retardant item
in your apprentice fire-fighter’s tool kit. Now the flames were properly taking
hold. All seemed lost until the driver of the bus that was stuck in the queue
of traffic behind me, pushed past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“Mind out, mate!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He had the fire extinguisher from the bus.
Woosh! The show was over. He and some of the audience helped me push the car
onto the cobbles in front of the pub, and rush hour got under way once more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“I guess you want me to tow her straight to
a scrapyard?” This was the RAC man. (or AA, can’t remember which one I was using
that year. I switched between them often so that I wouldn’t become too infamous
and get myself blacklisted.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“Scrapyard?” My voice came out as a
squeak. “No. A garage, please. She’ll fix up fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The RAC (or AA) man raised an eyebrow, then
gave an incredulous shrug. “A garage it is then.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I didn’t like his attitude, but then I got
my own back. He attached a towrope, pulled forward, giving a little tug, and I
responded by sliding down the rain-slicked cobbled slope straight into the back
of his van. My foot had been hard on the brake but she just slid, wheels
locked, as though on ice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Mr RAC/AA got out, looked at the back of
his van. No damage (my car never damaged anything, it just tended to crumble
upon impact, leaving little piles of rust).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“Try using your brakes,” he said. I thought
that was unfair.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I was right and he was wrong, though. The
garage fitted a second-hand wiring loom for just twenty quid. I took the car
home the next day and painted over the bare patches with red oxide primer. The
photos were taken a few weeks after the fire. If you look closely above where
the rear bumper should be, you’ll see where I painted <i>‘Red Oxide Owner’s Club’</i>
as an attempt at humour. She stayed like that for several months until Sarah
got me to paint over it in green.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">You can read about the adventure of how she
became a green car in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travelling-Box-Mike-Wood-ebook/dp/B011M8UTOA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454881577&sr=8-2&keywords=travelling+in+a+Box">Travelling in a Box</a>. And also about the incident that finally
ended her years of faithful service, once and for all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-69521902561533639812016-01-30T12:26:00.000-08:002016-01-30T12:29:07.394-08:00When Procrastination Fails<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AqOTIcDFW9xE2wRIjN69RPMTjrkwFcP9TbUzAfmY0dTuDMCze0Pa4CtxqKuPuJUb-ILdwme1o0KFU-QKm5k8BGiZ-WmPqQyXaWODgCPTFwNRasloDoHTpX0YqvKlEgFoWuwvBCIqyOM/s1600/Tree+Lopping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AqOTIcDFW9xE2wRIjN69RPMTjrkwFcP9TbUzAfmY0dTuDMCze0Pa4CtxqKuPuJUb-ILdwme1o0KFU-QKm5k8BGiZ-WmPqQyXaWODgCPTFwNRasloDoHTpX0YqvKlEgFoWuwvBCIqyOM/s400/Tree+Lopping.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There is green stuff all over the caravan and she needs a clean before we take her for a service. It's the first rain-free Saturday since November so out of bed and straight into wellies and we're off. First, though is to remove one or two overhanging branches, because it's probably the dripping sap that's causing the verdant fecundity on the roof. One or two branches! It started out that way. One branch, then two, then another, and then another... The plan called for half an hour of gentle pruning then an hour to wash the 'van then a relaxing afternoon's walk in the country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But after a solid four hours of serious lumberjacking our plan was derailed. Sarah asked the obvious question, "What are we going to do with all the wood?" I had that worked out in advance. "The wheely bin's empty," I said. But unless the wheely bin had Tardis ambitions, I could see a flaw in the plan: we had more lumber than the Forestry Commission. "It will look better after a sandwich and a cuppa'," I said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It didn't.<br />
We started to load it into the car ready for a trip to the tip. The council tip is my least favourite of weekend destinations for far too many reasons that I want to go into here. The forty-five minute queue is only one of them. We had no choice, though. We queued, we tipped, we went home for more. We returned and queued and tipped, and repeated, again and again, and each time my patience frayed a little more. My car is not yet a year old, and now looks like the inside of a timber mill, with sap on everything, despite the tarp I'd put down. Sap's like that - it finds the only bit you haven't covered then it oozes. Our tree has these purple floret thingys on all the branches, and when you touch them they disintegrate into a million tiny puff-balls and attach to the carpet, and no amount of hoovering will shift the buggers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Three o'clock, though, and all finished. Except there's still a caravan to wash. By now, you have to understand, I have no grip left in my fingers and my legs are barely keeping me upright. But there is snow forecast by six, and tomorrow it will rain until June, so the caravan <i>has</i> to be washed or she'll be turning up for her service covered in green pasture. So as the light fades and the puddles begin to freeze I realise that I have to do this thing.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo30UyJL1eiREha0DAuJZz-Mqbku44upAZ9W8uN1D6ptBIdTm_zAhOxqm4ji1vKnWHd8IGDJttoZhWy9jXCz5X5Gn-mY4JwKZeqd7TpRrXK-y8NkPB6H56rqrKFqecBhNS_jy04Bx27Gc/s1600/caravan+wash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo30UyJL1eiREha0DAuJZz-Mqbku44upAZ9W8uN1D6ptBIdTm_zAhOxqm4ji1vKnWHd8IGDJttoZhWy9jXCz5X5Gn-mY4JwKZeqd7TpRrXK-y8NkPB6H56rqrKFqecBhNS_jy04Bx27Gc/s320/caravan+wash.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Do not be fooled by the blue sky. That is a late January blue sky. It signifies weather cold enough to chill your fingers off and freeze your feet to the inside of your wellies so that what you have on the end of your legs are these homogenous rubbery icy lumps. Then throw in the sopping wet jeans and you will appreciate that I'm feeling fairly sorry for myself. Sarah's not so happy, either, because she's down at ground level washing the walls and getting all the surplus ice water that's cascading down off the roof from my hose. My job's the hardest, though; the roof. You could graze cattle up there in all the green. Roofs are especially bad. I really hate cleaning them, at the best of times, because you can't reach anything. My brush-on-a-pole is great, but you can't apply any pressure, especially in the middle, and what I need more than a brush, today, is a Flymo.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But we worked on, and the caravan began to shine. It didn't take us an hour, it took us three. The light was all but gone by the time we finished, as had the feeling in our hands and our feet.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The job is done, though. She's booked in for a service in a couple of weeks and then we're ready for a new season. I want to start now. I'm building a list in my head of all the places I want to go. 2016, bring it on!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Afterword: Sarah took me for a meal in the pub as a reward for all our work. We even allowed ourselves a pudding, because according to my Fitbit we've each burned about 3000 calories, so what's a mere Chocolate Indulgence Sunday going to do? It was hard lifting the spoon though. Tomorrow we will ache. Tomorrow we will be the living dead. I know it. I've been there before.</div>
<br />
<br />Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-37982856401962434662015-09-03T12:51:00.000-07:002015-09-03T12:51:20.320-07:00King of the Mountains<div class="MsoNormal">
From Penrith there is an ‘A’ road that
connects the Lake District with the North East. The A686 twists and turns and
loops up to Hartside Top, a dizzy 1,915 feet then descends to the
town of Alston. Next week it will be the scene of fierce cycling activity as
the Tour of Britain passes through. There is much local anticipation, with
flags and yellow-painted cycles decorating the route. It is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> a good place to take a
caravan!<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
I’ve told myself this before: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plan</i>
your route. In advance. Do not rely on satnav to do this for you. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And I did. Honest.</i> I had the whole thing figured out, but then I became
seduced by the dulcet tones of the girl in the box. She seemed to have a better idea than me, with a plan that shaved off a whole six minutes from the five-and-a-half hour journey to Northumberland.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As if towing over Hartside Top isn’t bad enough on a
quiet day, the upcoming Tour of Britain had brought out cyclists in their
hundreds, keen to try it for themselves. So now there were dozens of pelotons to overtake along the way. Passing bikes is
hard in a caravan. You have to make plenty of allowance for getting clear
without swiping any of them into a ditch. On a twisty gradient, and with 50 mph
lycra bullets coming at you the other way, downhill, it is the stuff of nightmares. People
watched our progress, pointing and gasping in wonder. <i>Who is that nutter, dragging a
caravan up here? What is he trying to prove?</i> The back of my neck still glows
from the embarrassment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The tale ends well, though. We
didn’t kill any cyclists. We didn’t plunge down any ravines on the descent. We reached
Beadnell Bay, in Northumberland, without incident, where we stayed for a few days
with the CCC’s Motor Caravan Section at their Temporary Holiday site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPY85uRAqW3e-xrsp874cUj4SpYZWonHJVqZS1al8dsd_NHt72AQT2yYeE3Hy2jtJffYeYN_vVyVHaK-ExeJWtKOfToBq2pMUyidK8IyABkQCqmRWDGsMcXGwLAEw5Ca4B66BLzGb5GY/s640/blogger-image-1680211446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPY85uRAqW3e-xrsp874cUj4SpYZWonHJVqZS1al8dsd_NHt72AQT2yYeE3Hy2jtJffYeYN_vVyVHaK-ExeJWtKOfToBq2pMUyidK8IyABkQCqmRWDGsMcXGwLAEw5Ca4B66BLzGb5GY/s640/blogger-image-1680211446.jpg" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US">I adore Northumberland. It is a beautiful part of the country. The untamed coast alternates between long, golden sandy beaches and rocky coves, all interspersed with castles straight out of fantasy fiction. We last stayed here seven or eight years ago and we vowed to return, and not just
for the fish and chips, although fish and chips was high on our to-do list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On our first full day we walked and paddled
along the beach, then over the headland into Seahouses, where the best fish and
chips in the world are served. They do say one should eat local, so we did.
Twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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Now, a bit of advertising (sorry), or at least some sharing of good news. I’m
chuffed to see that <i><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Travelling in a Box</b></span></i> has been picking up some four and
five star reviews of late, on both Amazon and Goodreads. Woohoo! Available on
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travelling-Box-Mike-Wood-ebook/dp/B011M8UTOA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441309644&sr=8-2&keywords=travelling+in+a+box">Kindle</a> and in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travelling-Box-Mike-Wood/dp/1515096165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441309644&sr=8-1&keywords=travelling+in+a+box">paperback</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-30534444072363895602015-07-23T05:18:00.000-07:002015-07-23T05:18:06.275-07:00Grand Book Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha64hSrqHHNWzCLKuBo3HniedShwF3N-GW80pSJ-ktTxXzwauiQqTV_qNDigOgHKBotLznJU-9rCn1FhtQyaogBM7dNoaqB3C-x95yLpmHRNOQ2Yf210LB2KGZIsEkvpEpeuETW42PvLE/s1600/traveling+in+a+box+bis13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha64hSrqHHNWzCLKuBo3HniedShwF3N-GW80pSJ-ktTxXzwauiQqTV_qNDigOgHKBotLznJU-9rCn1FhtQyaogBM7dNoaqB3C-x95yLpmHRNOQ2Yf210LB2KGZIsEkvpEpeuETW42PvLE/s320/traveling+in+a+box+bis13.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From England to the Alps in a thirty-year-old
caravan. What could possibly go wrong? Well now you can find out, because <i>Travelling
in a Box</i>, the book that gave its name to the blog, is available on Amazon, in
paperback, and for Kindle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And in the true spirit of Indy publishing I
have embarked on a grand book tour. I have a copy of my book and I’m in a field
in Ruthin, then I’ll be in a field near Rhos-on-Sea. Actually, thinking about
it, I forgot to bring the book, so I guess I’m just on a grand tour. Maybe not
so grand, either; in a field? Let’s just call it an ordinary tour, though
technically speaking, a tour should probably visit more than two places. Okay, so I’m
just away, in the caravan. How cool is that, though? Could you get more Indy?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, I’ll set out my virtual sales counter,
I’ll put on my big, floppy author’s hat, and I’ll give you a link to Amazon. Two
links, in fact, because </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Travelling in a Box</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> is available in the USA as well as
the UK. Also Europe, Japan, Brazil... but come on, I can't link to everywhere; I'm sitting in a field.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=travelling+in+a+box">Amazon US</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Travelling+in+a+Box">Amazon UK</a></div>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-23814381090398273722015-06-25T13:30:00.002-07:002015-06-25T13:39:09.653-07:00Suds in SkegnessIt was all going so well until the soap bubbles started coming out of the wardrobe.<br />
"There are bubbles coming out of the wardrobe!"<br />
"No way."<br />
"Yes way."<br />
But more on that later.<br />
<br />
We're staying (in our caravan) with the East Midlands Motor Caravan Section of the Camping and Caravanning Club, at their Temporary Holiday Site in Skegness. We fancied something new and realised we had never been to Lincolnshire before. Draw a line exactly east from our home on the Wirral, and you reach Skegness. It's strange that we've never done this before. I had my doubts, though. Skeggy does not sound like the most classy of places to visit. And maybe not, but the countryside round and about is full of interest. Driving over the rolling Lincolnshire Wolds I could feel rest and relaxation seeping into every muscle.<br />
The site itself is excellent. There is even an electric hookup - very rare on a THS - so my fears of having to ration the battery life on my laptop are unfounded.<br />
Linda and Bill, our friendly stewards, hosted a coffee morning on the first day, and this gave us the chance to meet all our fellow campers, most of whom hail from the Leicester area. As this is a Motor Caravan rally, we are one of only two towed 'vans, the rest are motor homes, so we had a chance to quizz the owners of the big units and see just what makes them tick. I've always had my doubts about the motor home option, but I soon discovered where the passion comes from, with tales of perpetual touring, fast set-ups and wild camping across Spain. I almost fancy giving it a go myself. Almost, but not quite. I love my caravan. I love having a fixed base that we can use to explore a region, and Lincolnshire appears to have a lot to offer. Places like Gunby Hall and Gardens, only five miles up the road.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCcc-GsB0DGrQjPl2vtNoX4VKRfbW7DEObMvfGxQZKlygEyrMpX84rOXxOf2V2FgIq4hAM7JX4Uk34GWJcitz5YB5t071protYCQ6ea-yiRwfvMTzkoDQt1I1-P3nYNWoBzJxI9o1JW8/s1600/blogger-image--1348670328.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCcc-GsB0DGrQjPl2vtNoX4VKRfbW7DEObMvfGxQZKlygEyrMpX84rOXxOf2V2FgIq4hAM7JX4Uk34GWJcitz5YB5t071protYCQ6ea-yiRwfvMTzkoDQt1I1-P3nYNWoBzJxI9o1JW8/s320/blogger-image--1348670328.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A new National Trust visit is always high on our list, partly because we don't have to pay to get in, but also because they are invariably a delight to visit. This one is no exception. There's an artistic and musical heritage in Gunby Hall, and we had a special treat in the music room, where a pianist was adding layers of atmosphere by playing Mozart sonatas. She was very good, and it was hard to drag ourselves away to see the rest of the house.<br />
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The gardens at Gunby are lovely and Sarah was off with her camera. I was abandoned on a bench amongst the roses, to mind the bags. I could have explored, I suppose, but no way was I walking around on my own clutching a pink handbag! Anyway, she soon had her paint box out, so I got my chance to have a look around, then.<br />
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So, when we returned to the caravan we were suitably mellow. The holiday was working its magic. Sarah lost the toss and made our tea. I did the dishes, and soon after this, those words were first used: bubbles.<br />
Yes, suds were coming out from under the wardrobe door. I looked inside and realised these bubbles were only the upper ten percent of the iceberg. There were bubbles appearing behind the toilet pipes, too. A knock at the caravan door. "Do you know you've got bubbles coming out from under your caravan?"<br />
OMG!<br />
"Yeah, okay, thanks. I'm onto it. Cheers."<br />
My search pattern narrowed down to the cupboard under the kitchen sink. We stash a lot of stuff under there. I started pulling it all out. All of it was wet, and soapy. Sarah got the torch.<br />
"There you go," she said. She aimed the beam on the waste pipe, that was no longer attached to the bottom of the sink. yeah, maybe we'd stashed too much stuff under there. It answered another question, too. The sink, normally a slow emptier, leaving a residue of seetcorn kernals and bits of pasta behind to be mopped up with kitchen roll, had been emptying efficiently and fast ever since we arrived, sucking everything down, leaving the sink clean and sweetcorn free. Yeah, it had been emptying straight and unimpeded onto the caravan floor. We'd have noticed sooner but for all the stored items, items that soaked up water, or at least up until that super-saturated moment when it would soak no more.<br />
So we started mopping out. We filled the bin with damp things. We carried out the suds in gentle handfulls. Remember that peace and tranquility that I talked about? Yeah, gone.<br />
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0Skegness, Lincolnshire, UK53.146403 0.3378810000000385153.0702185 0.17651950000003852 53.222587499999996 0.4992425000000385tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-90401885261041210412015-06-21T14:34:00.000-07:002015-06-22T02:21:44.075-07:00Taking a break from Sci-Fi<div class="s2">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkeolrO-sIFPsbIWOJ2t5qazxDXyiMTSv5-lCKKVWqCU3vG7PgVIPamxZjjlwRWpbh70SH0aI8nNcHjxCVpzDuEpAQbXuSduHhsoFeHOnHcr9pGpENpYvgm4Ek9r5-xpawOj3kNmK8wY/s1600/blogger-image--1646142310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkeolrO-sIFPsbIWOJ2t5qazxDXyiMTSv5-lCKKVWqCU3vG7PgVIPamxZjjlwRWpbh70SH0aI8nNcHjxCVpzDuEpAQbXuSduHhsoFeHOnHcr9pGpENpYvgm4Ek9r5-xpawOj3kNmK8wY/s320/blogger-image--1646142310.jpg" width="320"></a><span class="s2"></span></div>
<span class="s2">This month’s Camping and Caravanning Magazine has an interview with me on its Club People page. I’m really pleased with it. I met Sheila </span><span class="s2">Kiggins</span><span class="s2"> at the CCC offices, in Coventry, a couple of months ago. We chatted about caravanning and science fiction and just about everything else in between (there’s quite a lot in between</span><span class="s2">) and she has written a really nice article. I’m so pleased about it. I’m not much of a talker, but as I mentioned in a earlier post, get me onto </span><span class="s2">one of my passions, </span><span class="s2">caravanning </span><span class="s2">or science fiction, and I open up a bit. Talk to me about both at the same time, </span><span class="s2">and </span><span class="s2">well, be prepared to tie me up and gag me.</span><br>
<span class="s2"><br></span></div>
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<span class="s2">So, in the interview, the cat is out of the bag. I talk about </span><span class="s2">something </span><span class="s2">I’m about to do </span><span class="s2">that would give a</span><span class="s2">ny</span><span class="s2"> traditional publisher a hissy fit. I’m a Science Fiction and Fantasy writer; I have stories published in some pretty cool magazines, and I have awards and stuff. Now I’m about to release my first book.</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2">But</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2">here’s the thing: <i>I</i></span><span class="s2"><i>t’s a Travel Book</i>. It’s memoir. I don’t </span><span class="s2">even </span><span class="s2">get to travel</span><span class="s2"> anywhere all that </span><span class="s2">exotic</span><span class="s2">, at least not in the eyes of your modern, jet-setting, bucket-listing, far-flung travel guru of the twenty-first century. It certainly isn't Science Fiction. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s2"><br></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s2">'Travelling in a Box' will not make me a millionaire. I'll be lucky to even earn back some of the editing and cover-design costs.</span><span class="s2"> And you know what?</span><span class="s2"> I really don’t care. I </span><span class="s2">just </span><span class="s2">wanted to write it. I </span><span class="s2">loved </span><span class="s2">writing it.</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2">This</span><span class="s2"> is the joy of indie publishing.</span><span class="s2"> I can do this mad thing. There’s nobody to </span><span class="s2">go all red-faced </span><span class="s2">and finger-pointy </span><span class="s2">and </span><span class="s2">say, ‘you can’t do that</span><span class="s2">!</span><span class="s2">’</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1029913332701407571" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s2"><br></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s2">Don’t get me wrong, a traditional publishing deal would be nice.</span><span class="s2"> You get money and stuff.</span><span class="s2"> You get to sit on panels at conventions without feeling like </span><span class="s2">some kind of</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2">gatecrasher</span><span class="s2">.</span><span class="s2"> To be an indie, though, is </span><span class="s2">kind of freeing. I am the one who calls</span><span class="s2"> the shots.</span><span class="s2"> I shortlisted and picked</span><span class="s2"> the cover design (and it's gorgeous).</span><span class="s2"> I got to pick my own editor (who has been brilliant). Later, when I’m ready, I get to switch genres back to Science Fiction, or Fantasy, or horror, or </span><span class="s2">even </span><span class="s2">Urban Bakelite Punk</span><span class="s2"> with </span><span class="s2">pink </span><span class="s2">unicorns</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s2">if I want to.</span></span><span class="s2"> I</span><span class="s2">’ve always</span><span class="s2"> writ</span><span class="s2">ten</span><span class="s2"> because I enjoy </span><span class="s2">doing </span><span class="s2">it</span><span class="s2">, and if someone else gets to enjoy reading my stuff then that is a big plus</span><span class="s2">. It’s good</span><span class="s2">, now,</span><span class="s2"> to be able to bring th</span><span class="s2">at</span><span class="s2"> same </span><span class="s2">sense of freedom to the publishing process, and so far I’m enjoying the ride.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s2">Travelling in a Box will be launched in mid July as an e-book and a paperback. There will be a book launch party, and staying true to the indie spirit I will do the catering myself. </span><span class="s2">Most of it.</span><span class="s2"> Well, some of it. Maybe I’ll get my wife (aka sounding board, beta-reader and co-protagonist) to make the cheese sandwiches. I’ll buy the bottle of pop.</span></span></div>
<br>Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-57959772769414059572015-05-04T07:33:00.000-07:002015-05-05T13:09:44.760-07:00Darley Dale<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">This weekend we are kicking off our Camping
and Caravanning Club DA season with the BCC (British Caravan Club) at their
meet in Darley Dale, in Derbyshire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">We’ve stayed with other DA’s here before
and it is a good base for the southern end of the Peak District. The field is
big and flat and the Peak Rail steam railway chugs right across the end of it,
and this is a fine thing to watch from the caravan window.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">The only iffy thing here, perhaps, is the water pressure. The Aquaroll fill is
very slow. You need the patience of a trappist monk not to flip out while
waiting, but at least it gives everyone a chance to meet up and linger at the tap.
Whenever I’ve found myself alone at the tap I’ve taken to packing my Kindle,
for the chance to catch up on a novel or two. It makes a person very aware of
the amount of water we use, though. As one person said to me while we were
waiting: we take fresh water for granted. Imagine living somewhere where this
is as good as it gets. Where mostly the water is muddy and diseased, dragged up from a well, and you have to make a ten-mile round trip with an urn balanced on
your head to get it. Puts my moaning into perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">It started raining when we arrived. What
else would you expect? Bank Holiday weekend. We splashed around in Bakewell for
a while, then bought Bakewell pudding and brought it back to the van. Still
raining. I can live with the rain. Plenty time for writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">On Sunday, Matlock Bath seemed a good
destination, but it was all Fish and Chips and amusements. A bit like Blackpool
without the pier. I didn’t expect this. Matlock Bath is a Victorian Spa town.
It should be sedate and elegant. Who decided it would look better with sad,
half-blown strings of lights and binging whooping sirens from the one-arm
bandits. Everywhere there is the smell of stale beer and salt-and-vinegar.
Maybe it’s just me, though, because it was packed. But then we wandered into
the park, which tracks along beside the river. The fish-and-chip smells faded,
the arcade sounds receded and the short riverside walk was lovely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> We crossed a bridge and came upon the Derwent
Gardens, and they are a delight. There are flowers and moss-covered fountains
and grottos and we spent a happy hour or so enjoying it. Only the time expiry
of our car park ticket lured us away.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Looking for somewhere to eat on Monday took us to the Forest Garden Centre, also in Darley Dale. Garden Centres are often a good bet for food, these days. This one looked small from the road and we didn't expect much. The Tree Tops Restaurant was tucked away in a corner of the Garden Centre, a conservatory with good cushioned seating and excellent service. The clues were there - more than half the tables were reserved. The Tree Tops turned out to be one of the best eateries we've tried in a long time. I had Bree and Onion quiche, very tasty, but we finished with the home made scones. There is a notice in the cafe that warns about the scones. You can only have them in the restaurant, not take away, because of high demand. I had a cherry and almond scone, Sarah had lemon and ginger. We had half each and could not decide which was the nicer. Wonderful. This is a place we will come to again, and we will divert off our route to get here. It will certainly bring us back to Darley Dale, with the caravan, for another DA meet.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm writing this before venturing out into the Bank Holiday traffic. The sun is shining. We're weighing up all the options for avoiding traffic. There are few. It could be a long journey home but whatever, it will have been worth it.</span></span></div>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-60847393533476880042015-04-19T13:29:00.004-07:002015-04-19T13:29:41.566-07:00London<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPf7VDs17axQ6BmZrOcL4CKSiX39cfAPXkx61vG0G70oiHiQX_oX6eZeUUd8BceXdkqdAirnQ1W4MiNKEtvnbBYq5Vt1etanPiXg49AsKJf_voxD546squJEPaOLRE6u3hmH2qhXc8vfc/s1600/Mike+and+Sheila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPf7VDs17axQ6BmZrOcL4CKSiX39cfAPXkx61vG0G70oiHiQX_oX6eZeUUd8BceXdkqdAirnQ1W4MiNKEtvnbBYq5Vt1etanPiXg49AsKJf_voxD546squJEPaOLRE6u3hmH2qhXc8vfc/s1600/Mike+and+Sheila.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Sheila Kiggins outside Camping and Caravan Club Offices</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Back from an exciting week in London. If there is a
down side to any caravan holiday it is most often the journey home. This time
was different, though. We called into Camping and Caravanning Club HQ in
Coventry for a chat with the lovely Sheila Kiggins. Now, if there are two things I can
talk about forever it’s Caravanning and Science Fiction, and you can read all
about our talk on Sheila's Club People page of Camping and Caravanning Magazine, scheduled
for the July edition.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Before the journey home, though we had a wonderful five-day
stay at the CCC site in Chertsey, which we used as a base for coordinating two key things: For
Sarah it was the set-up for this year’s SBA exhibition in Central Hall
Westminster. (I helped. I carried stuff, and I suggested things like, put the big
painting here and the little one there, and the artists smiled and patted me on
the back and then did it the other way, the right way, without hurting my
feelings.) Then, a couple of days later we were back for the exhibition
opening, where the excellent Matthew Biggs of Gardener’s Question time was the
celebrity guest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, the big event
was my first visit to the London Book Fair at Olympia. I hadn’t appreciated just
how big this event was. I had my smart phone step counter switched on and
realized later that I’d done nearly seven miles walking around the exhibition
space. Seven miles! I kid you not, I got blisters. I went to some of the free
seminars and also had a long and fruitful talk with the KDP people, amongst
others, and have something interesting simmering away for release in the not
too distant future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSpbFbwdqlUZkEA88dAW5P9_CTlYSswRiWOj9Ou6Ajiz7OyfRhuOxkkRhKI0Av4oY810W2WFe5GzmUavPKLMpiXOfsEn4Kl9tjBVk6rMA3EWA7DipFvfQSPRJO6dg2iEs8RIgiubtTvs/s1600/20150415_114653-PANO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSpbFbwdqlUZkEA88dAW5P9_CTlYSswRiWOj9Ou6Ajiz7OyfRhuOxkkRhKI0Av4oY810W2WFe5GzmUavPKLMpiXOfsEn4Kl9tjBVk6rMA3EWA7DipFvfQSPRJO6dg2iEs8RIgiubtTvs/s1600/20150415_114653-PANO.jpg" height="176" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The site at Chertsey is lovely. We've stayed there
several times in the past, and this time we had a pitch that was only two or
three feet from the banks of the Thames. Very restful. Getting into London,
though. Sheesh! I hope nobody read my last Travelling in a Box post, because if
you did, then I apologize. I led you astray. I claimed the train from
Walton-on-Thames to Waterloo was cheap, using an Oyster card. It appears that
the train from Walton-on-Thames is neither cheap nor within the Oyster zone. On
weekdays there are staff on hand to do the wrist slapping. I won’t go into
transport-geek details, but we think the best way to keep the price down is to
buy return tickets to Surbiton, online in advance, and use a rail card to get
some discount. If anyone has a cheaper plan that doesn't involve a day of
cycling, walking or canoeing down the Thames, I'd love to hear from you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A stay in Chertsey is not complete for us without a
meal in the Kingfisher, just over Chertsey Bridge. We went there on our final
evening. We love the place. Good food, rustic charm and not too expensive. A
successful week, and one that had us on the go, every day. Now we just need to
book a site where we can go for a rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-42532366931223358632015-03-05T13:05:00.001-08:002015-03-05T13:05:08.168-08:00Season Opener - OxfordWe collected our caravan from her pre-season service, in Derby, then took her on a short tour of all the more interesting roadworks. We were heading for Oxford, and what we imagined would be a short hop turned out to be a bit of an epic. A50/M1. M1/M6/A14. Two lots on the A443. Then the show-stopper, an almost two-hour delay on the M1 waiting to join the A34/M1 junction. Lovely.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjcPcuG3AXZbqQcAmMXLgishdXt4SkDpS4y7vedqOVIcqjAhA3tWQytXFJhN-MAJ1hv9bauM2sCkYPA10af7e_nkquvOy3PhAyUC45FvZsx6aEiADhKUvUN9hwKXo9pzo9W6dL_JeZjo/s1600/20150221_134742-EFFECTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjcPcuG3AXZbqQcAmMXLgishdXt4SkDpS4y7vedqOVIcqjAhA3tWQytXFJhN-MAJ1hv9bauM2sCkYPA10af7e_nkquvOy3PhAyUC45FvZsx6aEiADhKUvUN9hwKXo9pzo9W6dL_JeZjo/s1600/20150221_134742-EFFECTS.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A so-so photo of Radcliffe Square enhanced beyond all recognition and without prompting by Google. Thanks guys.</td></tr>
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So we arrived at the Camping and Caravanning Club site, in Oxford, a little later than expected and a little more irritable than expected, but after a rushed pitch we headed out for the city. The walk from the site along the banks of the Thames, right into the middle of Oxford, is lovely. Didn't want to have to wait a whole day for it, so we set off in gathering twilight and walked back in the dark. Long enough in the city for a coffee and to get our bearings.<br />
<br />
Saturday was a full day in Oxford. This was, for me, a day of academic study and learning. By study and learning I mean sitting in coffee shops amongst students and acquiring intelligence by osmosis. It was very much a mooching-around day with no agenda, but for February the weather was kind and Oxford is a fabulous city, and boasts some of the country's last remaining real bookshops. What more can you ask? Well, you could ask for an old ham, and even here Oxford delivers. The world's oldest ham, in fact, hanging in a butcher's in the market, with a certificate to prove it.<br />
<br />
On Sunday London was top on the itinerary. We were unsure whether we should use the excellent Oxford Tube bus service or just drive to an outlying station. Our decision was made for us by our cargo, namely five framed paintings and twenty prints, to be delivered to Central Hall Westminster for one of @Flowagirl's upcoming exhibitions. Not so easy on the bus, so we drove, instead, to Walton-on-Thames station where parking is free on a Sunday (and the trains cost buttons on Sundays with Oyster cards, too). We weren't in a rush. Couldn't drop the pictures off until four-thirty and didn't want to be hanging around London in the rain with half-a-ton of art, so I promised @Flowagirl a relaxing lunch in a posh eatery in this very posh part of Surrey, and took her to the cafe in Morrison's supermarket for two chicken Tikka's for not much more than a tenner. But come on, it was a posh Morrison's.<br />
<br />
We came home on Monday, but only after a little reminder that February is still winter, when all the taps froze up on the site, and guess who forgot to fill the aquaroll between coming back from London and going to bed? There was enough water for Sarah to have a shower, but I had to pong until we got home. I could have used the site showers, but why waste the chance to feel just like a kid on holiday again?<br />
<br />
So, a successful start to the year. I would highly recommend Oxford as an off-season site, and it's open all year round.<br />
<br />
Where next? I love this. A whole year beckons.<br />
<br />
<br />Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0Oxford, Oxford, UK51.7520209 -1.257726300000058551.594735899999996 -1.5804498000000584 51.9093059 -0.93500280000005853tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1029913332701407571.post-82052149005009288222015-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:002015-02-14T13:59:50.833-08:002015 Caravan Season – The Prologue<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So this doesn’t really count. The caravan
season hasn’t started, not properly. Then again, we did hitch up the ‘van and
tow her for nearly a hundred miles today, but we’re not staying with her. No, it’s
that time of the year when she has to go in for her annual service. It’s hard
doing all the packing and hitching and towing, and then not getting that first
cup of tea in a grassy field by way of a reward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">To ease the blow, we decided to make a day
of it, so after leaving our Sally Swift with the gentle folk of Derby Caravans,
we did a spot of early season National Trust bagging with a visit to Kedleston
Hall. This was a new NT for us, and we had to ask ourselves, why haven’t we
been before. Because it's wonderful, and it’s not that far, really.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkkcc4kMif-TwbMgZ-YmLleoXjrqimx2nAoW-AGpbbrJaa_k33cuHHx9dIOiZWl3O5suNOPv6FN3_Tl6Ng3KefeSXX16ZtVxqNyIZcwFSIuWaDGfNzy-5NHTQG-jcNwVPKfhwmoCyR09k/s1600/kedleston.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkkcc4kMif-TwbMgZ-YmLleoXjrqimx2nAoW-AGpbbrJaa_k33cuHHx9dIOiZWl3O5suNOPv6FN3_Tl6Ng3KefeSXX16ZtVxqNyIZcwFSIuWaDGfNzy-5NHTQG-jcNwVPKfhwmoCyR09k/s1600/kedleston.jpeg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At this time of the year they are doing the
conservation stuff, a little like the thing we are doing with Sally Swift,
waking the hall up from a long winter slumber, rubbing her aching joints,
prepping her in readiness for the 100k visitors who will trample across her 250
year old carpets for the next nine months or so. In many ways it is more
interesting to see the nature and scale of this task than it is to see these old
homes fully open and performing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFEuYUFITFsXSMi-OTo6cy2qO2UxTQuItiDwUHvyPkbKBEmN_N5jVU4__ELCGBAiqVwF4NH9NS5nM-5k9E4XthYS6MEhyzTq0VxKrawW4t4a-R9WciJITxU3HtM2K3Ii-arBmanSWoNk/s1600/kedleston+detail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFEuYUFITFsXSMi-OTo6cy2qO2UxTQuItiDwUHvyPkbKBEmN_N5jVU4__ELCGBAiqVwF4NH9NS5nM-5k9E4XthYS6MEhyzTq0VxKrawW4t4a-R9WciJITxU3HtM2K3Ii-arBmanSWoNk/s1600/kedleston+detail.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I have to admit, I struggle with the
history. This might seem to be a bit of an odd admission from someone who’s
been a member of the National Trust for fifteen plus years, but I will be
honest, I find it hard to be moved by time and history and stuff, and I think
it is because I just can’t get the time scales into my head. It’s too much. Too
many years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Then I start to wonder about how the hall might
have looked back in 1765 when it was new. The marble floors were perfect and unmarked.
There would have been a smell of paint and fresh plaster everywhere, a little
like going into a Wimpy show-home but factored up a bit. The park would be, I
don’t know, bare? Grassy with a few sapling oak trees scattered around, maybe
with little cages around them to stop the wildlife nibbling. There are probably
piles of building materials scattered around the yard, wooden scaffolding
waiting to be collected by the local builders merchant. Everything is clean and
new. This kind of imagining helps me some. I usually look at a National Trust
home as being an old house where rich people once lived. But today I tried to
see it differently, because for some of those rich people, Kedleston was once a
modern home; empty bright rooms waiting for the first items of furniture, the
first curtains to be hung, and the first ever logs to burn in the grate. Wow.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The domed ceiling above the saloon with its glass oculus </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had to include this, because if ever I need to describe a very scary alien...</td></tr>
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Mjke Woodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364056147914070231noreply@blogger.com0Kedleston, Derby, Derbyshire DE22, UK52.967782 -1.551850999999942427.4457475 -42.860444999999942 78.4898165 39.756743000000057