Monday 31st August 2009 10:37

British weather is insane. How can it be glorious one day, be absolutely grim the next and then turn out nice again? Where's the logic? How or why does this happen? These are a few things I will be asking clouds when I'm next floating through them.
In actual fact, it was great that the weather was good because we'd planned to go to The Emsworth Show again. It's an annual event, held on August Bank Holiday on Horndean Road recreation ground and organised by Emsworth Horticultural Society, who happened to be celebrating their 90th anniversary.



The main arena timetable included Bourne Sports Football Club, G.M.G. Falconry and many other shows - we arrived just in time to watch a Mountain Bike Display by Jez Avery. The 40 year old cyclist from Sunderland currently holds the world record for the 'bunny hop' high jump, totaling a height of 43 inches. Born in Walton-on-Thames in 1969, he was born in the original era of two-wheeled stunt riding and became a world class pro BMX, trials and mountain bike rider.
If you're interested in booking him for an event, or just want to find out more, please click on the logo below.



Later on in the day, I particularly enjoyed a superb real ale brewed by Norfolk-based Wolf Brewery. At 4.7%, 'Wolf Whistle' is a lightly hopped ale where locally produced malts really enhance the flavour. Reddish in colour, the late addition of American Cluster hops makes this a superb session beer which has a delicate citrus flavour and nose.
The Wolf Brewery website can be accessed by clicking on the logo above.

Sunday 30th August 2009 13:30

It's always satisfying when you pick the right day to go out and enjoy the sun. Today was grey and grim, so it's just as well we enjoyed ourselves yesterday. It also meant that we could sit down and enjoy Portsmouth v Manchester City on Sky Sports 1.



I think I mentioned a week or so ago that I hadn't been aware of who'd signed who during the summer break. Since then, I had found out that the majority of Pompey's squad had been sold but I had absolutely no idea about Manchester City's signings! Bloody hell, I know they became the richest football team in the Premiership recently but I just couldn't believe the amount of new players on their squad!
Joleon Lescott from Everton for £22m
Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for £12m
Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal for around £22m
Carlos Tévez from Manchester United for £25m
Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers £17.5m
Silvio Sylvinho from Barcelona on a free transfer
Kolo Touré from Arsenal for £16m

Anyway, the match was lacking in entertainment apart from a well-taken header by new singing Adebayor that was thumped past Pompey goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, leaving him absolutely no chance of saving it. It was the only goal of the uninspiring match and left Pompey rooted firmly to the foot of the Premiership with Bolton directly above.
With Everton beating Fulham 2-1 later in the day, it meant that Portsmouth and Bolton were the only two sides to have no points whatsoever although Bolton have played three matches as opposed to Pompey's four.

Saturday 29th August 2009 11:58

The weather was glorious today so we knew we had to make the most of the day, yet we hadn't planned anything in particular. We were just going to plump for a leisurely walk around Emsworth, trouble is, we knew that wouldn't take too long. As we were driving there, I had the inspired idea of driving over to Arundel, about 45 minutes drive away... it had a unanimous vote from the both of us, so off we went.

Lo and behold, it just happened to be the Arundel Festival, which we'd somehow stumbled upon last year when my parents were down. The town was packed with locals and tourists, not surprising since it was such a beautiful day with plenty going on. I have to say, I love Arundel and everything about it, how compact it is and the fact that they thrive off local businesses rather than be tempted by franchise developments. Last year, the festival attracted The Levellers, this year Supergrass and The Lightning Seeds are headlining... not bad for such a small town.



Anyway, having been there on several occasions, at different times of year, we decided to part with the rather ridiculous fee of £15.00 per head to explore Arundel Castle and its grounds on their entirety. As we explored, it became immediately apparent that the Castle is only photogenic from afar, nevertheless, it is a stunning piece of architecture and with our Gold + passes, it did mean that we were able to see a large proportion of the interior, the library being the ultimate in design and decor for me... if only photography was allowed within!
To find out more about the Castle, please click on the logo above.



Not only is the interior of the Castle something else, the grounds are beautifully kept as well and The Collector Earl's Garden within are spectacular. The garden, opened by HRH The Prince of Wales on the 14th May last year aim to be stand alone, pleasing, timeless and memorable... and they certainly are.
Wiltshire based company, Vastern Timber, played a major part in the construction of all the wooden buildings and other artifacts that grace the garden, so much so, they were winners of a prestigious wood award in 2008.
For more information about the company, please click on the logo above.

Friday 28th August 2009 16:24

Phew! It's a very pleasant thought knowing that we have a Bank Holiday to enjoy, particularly as we've both experienced a hectic week back at work. I still have work to complete over the weekend, nevertheless, I'm sure there will be plenty of time to relax as well.



I soon mellowed out after having a bottle of real ale (what a surprise - Ed), this one being 'Shropshire Lass' (not to be confused with their incredibly popular Shropshire Lad), the newest beer from Wood's. Based in Wistanstow, South Shropshire, Wood Brewery were established in 1980 when the Wood family, brothers Anthony and Edward, along with their father, Basil, converted the stables next door to the village's Plough Inn and started brewing ales using the best traditional methods.
Shropshire Lass is a blonde ale, in fact the label says it's a delightful blonde... she'll tantalise your tastebuds with Pale Ale and Lager malts with Fuggles, Cascade and Mouth Hood hops. Beautifully golden in colour, it has a distinct fruity and pear drop nose which is carried through to its flavour. At 4.1%, this makes it a superbly refreshing ale, perfect as a summer session beer and, as the label says, All in all, a memorably tasty 'bitter stuff'!
To find out more about the brewery, please click on the logo above.

Thursday 27th August 2009 07:48

Late last night and early this morning, I finally managed to add some of the favourite images I took whilst we enjoyed our stay up north with my parents, two of which, I've included below. More can be found in the usual spot, 'recent additions'.



One of the shots, taken at Lincoln Cathedral, meant updating the UK regions Flash map, so that I could include a link to the East Midlands gallery (albeit one image of Lincoln Cathedral!) Flash, for me, is an incredible program, and although I try to embrace it as best I can, there are huge areas of it that I'm just not au fait with at all.
Having said that, I decided to hunt around for my first ever attempt at Flash animation... and I found it! Created on 1st November 2001, it's of my late ex-boss, Dave Adderley.

Wednesday 26th August 2009 21:53

Earlier this year, 11th February to be precise, I mentioned a fantastic new indie band from Nottingham, called In Isolation. From all accounts, it seems that they're heading for success and have now released their debut single, 'The Wrong Girl' as well as filming an accompanying video (which reminds me, I must get in touch with Ryan, their lead singer and guitarist to possibly do a photoshoot).



Anyway, whilst searching around to find out a little more about them, I noticed that they've also added themselves to a site called Jamendo. It's a community of free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licences or the Free Art Licence and therefore making it legal to share your music and download your favourite artists. By the way, the name is a portmanteau of the musical terms, 'jam' and 'crescendo'.
To download In Isolation's 'Wrong Girl' or to have a hunt around for your favourite music, please click on the logo above.

Tuesday 25th August 2009 17:47

The UEFA Cup, up until this year, had had five name changes, the last was in 1971/72, when it was won by Tottenham Hotspur FC. During the 1970s German, Dutch, Belgian and Swedish sides began to successfully compete with the English and between 1968 and 1984 only one team from the south, Juventus in 1977, managed to disrupt the dominance of the northern Europeans.
From 1999/00, domestic cup winners also qualified for the UEFA Cup after the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was disbanded. In addition, clubs eliminated from the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and the eight third-placed finishers at the end of the group stage of the same competition entered the competition. A group stage was introduced for the first time in 2004/05 involving 40 teams playing four games.



The forerunner to the UEFA Cup was the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, founded on 18 April 1955, two weeks after the founding of the European Champion Club's Cup, however on 26 September 2008, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that from 2009/10 the competition would become the UEFA Europa League. This reflected a change to the format previously agreed, with the group stage expanding to 48 clubs, who would play six matches on a home-and-away format similar to the UEFA Champions League.
Since it became UEFA Cup in the early 70s, only three English clubs have won it, Tottenham Hotspur twice, 1971/72, 1983/84, Ipswich Town once, 1980/81 and Liverpool three times, 1972/73, 1975/76 and 2000/01, sharing the record with Inter and Juventus.
For more information about the new league, please click on the logo above.

Monday 24th August 2009 15:28

I may have mentioned that we live in a hard water area, well in fact, most of Britain does. So what do I mean when I say "hard water?". Well, hard water contains calcium and magnesium compounds where rain water seeps through the soil or rocks it passes through, otherwise it's naturally soft. In areas like ours, the soil is incredibly chalky, which means it's soft soil and therefore picks up these minerals. In hard rock areas, such as granite or peaty soils, the rain water doesn't pick up these minerals and so remains soft. Occasionally, hard water areas can contain pockets of soft and vice versa.



So, why am I talking about this? Well, hard water causes pipes to fur up and scale to collect in kettles, electric irons and washing machines, in fact, it's a nuisance because as it collects on heating elements, it shortens their life and in doing so, makes the appliances less efficient. The easiest ways to combat this process is by buying a Brita water jug and renewing its cartridge every month. They cost approximately £4.50 and are simple to use, as well as being highly effective. They reduce the taste and aroma impairing substances such as chlorine, organic impurities and limescale for a great natural taste. Lead and copper, which may be present in old household piping is also absorbed for further well being.
To find out more, click on the logo above.

Sunday 23rd August 2009 11:10

Just when you start thinking that summer is over, up pops a day that surprises the hell out of you! The temperature had to easily be mid to high twenties today so we had no alternative but to head towards East Head, a sand dune spit situated at the eastern side of Chichester Harbour and is part of West Wittering beach.
Before we set off, I made up some ham and cheese sandwiches, as well as pack some other goodies, fruit and plenty of soft drinks into our picnic hamper... just as well I did, the car park fee was £7.00! To me, that's a despicable amount of money to charge for parking, sheer greed. Nevertheless, there aren't any alternative parking spots in the area, unless you fancy walking miles.
We ended up being rather foolish again and burning ourselves a little, not half as bad as Dubrovnik though! It was brilliant and we just couldn't believe the amount of people there and all we did was sunbathe, go in the sea, eat, drink, sunbathe, go in the sea, eat... you get the picture don't you?



In some respects, we both wished we'd taken our cameras, not because of the beach or sea views, more a case of seeing a good deal of warplanes flying overhead and it turns out that it was the Shoreham Airshow this weekend, celebrating its 20th Anniversary. A Hurricane Bomber flew over on several occasions where, at one point, it banked right above West Wittering, a superb sight, that's if you have a penchant for aircraft. We were also privileged to see four Spitfires fly over and, just as we were leaving, a Vulcan XH558 Bomber flew over, possibly the most majestic and graceful aircraft ever built (well, that and Concorde).
The Royal Air Forces Association obviously plays a major part in making the event possible. Please click on their logo to find out more about the show.

Saturday 22nd August 2009 16:55

After a very relaxing breakfast in Sainsbury's before we did our weekly shopping, we did little else for the rest of the day, except catch up with looking at our photographs from our short break up north.
Whilst visiting Brigg earlier on in the week, I'd decided to see if there was an off-licence in town, in the hope that they may sell some local real ales. I'd almost given up, particularly as we'd walk right up and down the main high street. As we had started to head in the direction of where the car was parked, we hit the jackpot... down what was as good as a side street.



The off-licence, Rhythm & Booze, is the only one in Brigg and is located on Springs Parade, relatively near to the town's Tesco. To me, it was one of those goldmine shops and when I ended up buying eight different real ales for £8.81... prices like that just don't exist these days! The majority I purchased were brewed by the Barnsley Beer Company, 'Bee by Gum', 'Ronnie's Owd Cock', 'Black Brite', 'Coil Oil', 'Owd Tyke' and 'Barnsley Better'. There's a good mix of Golden Ales, Premium Bitters and Porters in the ones I've listed, all of which I'd say were exceptional tasting ales, 'Coil Oil' being my least favourite and I'd be hard-pushed to choose my favourite.
Unfortunately, their website is still under construction so I'll direct you to the Rhythm & Booze website in the meantime - please click on the logo above to find out more.

Friday 21st August 2009 09:33

During the past few days, Tanya has taken quite some interest in what seems to be considered as a rather controversial website, Swoopo. Originally launched as Telebid in September 2005, the German-based company changed their name to Swoopo in 2008.



It's based quite heavily on the idea of eBay, yet credits to bid are purchased, rather than straightforward offers for no cost, as that of eBay.This has sparked some controversy with regards to many people making official complaints that the whole site is a scam, particularly as many pay to bid yet never win anything. It's also an open matter as to whether the company can be classified as an online auction or gambling.
Nevertheless, please click on the logo above if you'd like to find out more.

Thursday 20th August 2009 10:12

Whilst on our meal out with our friends on Monday, Ian mentioned that he'd discovered a new free music site, and that he'd switched from Last FM some time ago.



Developed in Sweden, the company, Spotify, was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in 2006 and is a proprietary peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows you to instantaneously listen to specific tracks or almost with virtually no buffering delay. The song listings can be browsed by artists, albums or playlists created by other members. At the moment, the latest free Beta release is only available in parts of western Europe, whereas the subscription version is available in most other countries. Good news for Mac users as well, they've not forgotten we exist.
To download your free version, please click on the logo above.

Wednesday 19th August 2009 09:39

Turkey eggs.
We had them as part of our breakfast this morning. Whilst on Piel Island yesterday, the daughter of a woman who served us our drinks came out with a tub of unusually-sized eggs. I knew they weren't hen or duck eggs, so I asked what they were. They were turkey eggs and she ended up giving us four of them to try! They taste pretty much the same as a standard egg (free range, I hasten to add), yet they need five minutes to boil, as opposed to the usual three.
Unfortunately, it was time for us to head back home. We never like leaving because we always have such a great time and always manage to see loads of new places. Rather than head straight back home, I suggested we take a somewhat lengthy detour, via Lincolnshire! For those of you familiar with the geography of England, you'll know that Lancashire and Lincolnshire are on opposite sides of the country.



Our first stop was Brigg, an historic market town in north Lincolnshire which featured on BBC2's 'A Place in the Country'. Even though only a snippet of the town was shown, it looked picturesque, so after a drive of about 100 miles, we were there.
It's a beautiful town which took its name from the bridge that was constructed as a crossing point on the River Ancholme, making east-west journeys far easier. The compact town can also be proud of avoiding the big high street names, concentrating on local people and their businesses. I have to say that it's wonderful seeing a street without fast food signs swamping it.
Speaking of food, we stopped at a lovely restaurant called 'The Loft' which is above 'Grandad's Shed', a specialist furniture store on one of the town's pedestrianised streets. Paul and Beryl Keane run the restaurant and source their supplies throughout Lincolnshire, aiming at people who are passionate about their products.
To find out more, including their mouth-watering menu, please click on the logo above.



Once we'd had our fill, of both food and the town, we headed southwards, calling in at Lincoln. I'd heard many people say how beautiful the city was, and since we were in the county, we thought we may as well visit its county town. We only managed to find a short stay car park, so we'd decided to make the most of our two hours by spending it in and around the cathedral.
Lincoln Cathedral is an absolutely stunning piece of architecture and is definitely one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture I've seen (Prague Castle would have to be top of that list). The imposing West Front of the cathedral built in 1072 incorporates surviving parts, dating back to when it was first built. The building's history is incredible... there's the famous Lincoln Imp, it's responsible for one of the extant copies of the Magna Carta and even has a school book, dated from 1410, with the first recorded rhyme about Robin Hood. It has also been used for many film adaptations and movies, the most famous of which would have to be 'The Da Vinci Code', where parts of the book by Dan Brown were filmed in August 2005.
Please click on the logo above to find out more.

From there, it was a three and a half hour journey back home.

Tuesday 18th August 2009 17:23

I've always liked exploring, for there's the likelihood that you'll see something new and fascinating. Today was no exception. If it hadn't been for a series called 'Islands of Britain', shown in May of this year, presented by Martin Clunes, I'd have never known that certain islands existed.

The fact that my parents suggested a drive up to the Furness Peninsula which is home to the third largest collection of islands in England sounded a great idea. We planned on visiting three of the seven islands that make up the Islands of Furness and it was about one and a half hour's drive away, so by the time we'd arrived at the first, Foulney Island, it was time for some lunch before we started our little adventure.
Foulney Island is an uninhabited low-lying grass and shingle area and has an area of about 40 acres. At no more than 10 feet high from sea level, the highest of tides makes much of the island inundated, yet it is a site of special scientific interest, attracting a large variety of birds, the Roseate Tern being one of the rarest visitors. Getting on to the island involves a mile-long walk along a shingle and rock causeway that was specifically built in the Victorian times as a tidal protection measure. Although there was very little there, I found it all the more appealing, almost as if you were the first person to discover it.
Foulney Island is part of the Wildlife Trust, please click on the logo below for more information.



From there, we then walked back and made a short car journey down to where the 'ferry' departs to Piel Island, the second of the islands we'd planned to visit. It wasn't long before the dinghy arrived although it did mean waiting on a precariously slippery and ever-narrowing pier that had no handrails and as the minutes passed by, the more jelly-kneed I became. I wouldn't mind, it wasn't all that high either, yet I still struggled with vertigo; Tanya on the other hand, who suffers badly with vertigo, ended up making sure I felt alright! Anyway, once on the boat, I felt far more sure-footed and although I'd say my sea legs aren't that much better, I enjoyed the short journey across.



Martin Clunes covered this particular island in his series, and sure enough, the dinghy driver had taken Martin over on the RNLI Lifeboat and 'suggested' that Mr Clunes was the worse for wear after spending some time in the Ship Inn, the island's only pub! The fact that the island is shaped almost like a teardrop and approximately 50 acres in size, it's quite something that it boasts a pub, a castle (owned by English Heritage) a marsh pond and the island has a population of ~10 people, one of which, Steve Chattaway, is the King of Piel (by the way, I've since learnt that the ~ symbol means approximately). The island lies half a mile away from the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula and has a history that dates back to the time when King Stephen reigned where he gave the island to Savignac monks in 1127 as part of a land grant for an abbey.
Whilst there, we explored Piel Castle ruins, walked the perimeter of the island, before stopping off for a drink in a makeshift bar whilst the pub is being renovated for the new King of Piel to move in. For such a small island, it has an amazing history and to find out more, please click on a photograph I took, above.



By the time we'd caught the ferry back, it was early evening, so we just didn't have the time to visit the third island we'd earmarked, so we asked the driver where Roa Island was. We were only bloody well stood on it weren't we! Felt a total goon for asking!
With an area of about 30 acres, Roa Island lies just over half a mile south of the village of Rampside and has a population of approximately 100 people. John Abel Smith, a London banker, bought the island in 1840 and some seven years later, he built a causeway to the mainland; up until then, it was a true island, being accessible by boat or on foot at low tide. Again, despite its size, the island has a yacht club, a former hotel and a café.
So, our island-hopping was over and we'd all had a thoroughly enjoyable day.
All three islands are part of Barrow Borough Council and more information about the area can be found by clicking on their logo above.



It was rather late by the time we arrived home and Tanya and I had already decided that we treat my parents to an Raj Takeaway meal, since it was out last night there, plus they had fed us and driven us everywhere. We gathered some funds together and ordered three meals, for we knew there would be plenty to go around and could therefore try a bit of each one. Each dish, Chicken Alif Biryani, Chicken Dhansak and Chicken Passander were all absolutely delicious and we all felt we'd had our fill.
If you live within close proximity of Blackrod, please click on the logo above to view their menu.

Monday 17th August 2009 12:36

We didn't want to go too far afield today as we'd booked our bi-annual meal out with our friends... more about that later.



My parents suggested going to a Wild Boar Park, just a few miles away from a little Lancashire village called Chipping. In essence, the park is primarily geared towards entertaining children, particularly as kids can hand feed the animals, spend hours in the play area or even go on a tractor and barrel ride! Nevertheless though, it has just as much appeal for adults as well, there are several walks, some of which take you along the River Hodder, as well as there being plenty of animals to see such as the Wild Boar, Longhorn Cows, Red and Fallow Deer as well as Meerkats and Prairie Dogs. There's also an extensive range of Wild Boar meats available to buy, such as steaks and sausages.
I'd recommend anyone to take their child(ren) to the park, it's a great day out for the family, plus children can book parties there and there's also disabled access, if needed.
To find out more, please click on the logo above.



Once back from our day out, I sampled two bottles of real ale that I'd bought from Tommy Wright's, a family-run local off-licence and wine merchants based in Horwich. They were both from a Burnley-based brewery I'd never heard of, called Moorhouse's.
The brewery was established in 1865 by William Moorhouse, a Burnley man who took great pride in his town and his craft. The Brewery remained in the Moorhouse family for generations and even today the owners maintain the traditions and values established all those years ago.
One of the ales, 'Blond Witch' was my favourite of the two and the brewery's first ever blond ale. As they have so eloquently put, it's as light as beer can get to a lager colour, minus the bubbles. Love it. It's a 4.5% premium ale, made with malted barley, fuggle hops and yeast which has sweet malt and citrus flavours, refreshing to the end. A superb session beer.
To visit the brewery's website, please click on the poster above.



Later on that night, my Dad dropped us both off in Bolton and we made our way across town to 'La Salsa', a Spanish Tapas Bar, to meet up with our friends Ian, Janet, Joe and Vicky. The food was excellent, the beer and wine flowed, regardless of it being a working day and we all had a thoroughly entertaining night. The restaurant has twice received a 5 star rating by local newspaper, the Bolton News. As well as that, they offer outside catering and, from 3pm - 7pm and Fridays and Saturdays, you can eat as much as you like for £7.90...
To book a table, or to read the menus and make your mouth water, please click on the logo above.

Sunday 16th August 2009 09:37

I love our trips up north, for two good reasons - we see my parents (after all, it's March since we last did), and whilst we're there, we visit places that are either very familiar with me or they're completely new to me. Luckily, Lancashire is a big county and is full of stunning countryside and other tourist attractions with Cumbria's Lake District and Yorkshire's famous Dales right on its doorstep.



There's one place in Lancashire that I really don't like, Blackpool. I find it's full of unpleasant people who are very arrogant and rude, plus the tackiness of the town makes me want to vomit. Other than that, I'm sure it's a lovely place to visit.
Imagine my surprise (more like shock - Ed) when Tanya suggested we went there today. The thing is, as a southerner, I'm sure there's a large element of curiosity to visit it, particularly as it's possibly the furthest north that most southerners would dare to travel! I think it's around five years ago since I was there last, on a trip to see the Illuminations; my parents, on the other hand, hadn't been there for twenty years, needless to say, we were rather apprehensive and reluctant to go, nevertheless, we gave the idea the thumbs up.
If you're interested in visiting the iconic seaside resort, please click on the logo above.



From my parent's house, it takes approximately one hour to drive to Blackpool, so it meant we had considerable time to explore. We parked on the south shore and made our way up towards the Tower along the beach. We noticed several sculptures along the promenade but because we were on the beach, it was difficult to make out what they were exactly... we decided to investigate later.
It was incredibly windy there and it had been the first time in months that Tanya and I had to wear coats, nevertheless, there were still teenagers being 'tough', thinking it was still the height of summer. Anyway, we carried on walking, just soaking up the atmosphere and watching cyclists, kite flyers, children on the donkey rides and families playing football on the beach. My feelings towards the town were changing somewhat... I was experiencing some spirit here, something I'd always thought it had lacked.
Whilst walking around, I noticed Blackpool Council's logo... it's brilliant, so I thought I'd also include a link to their website.



After having had something to eat, we visited some of the tacky shops and bought some Blackpool Rock and the compulsory fridge magnet before heading off along the promenade and back to the car.
As I mentioned earlier, we noticed some sculptures along the south shore promenade, there are seven different ones, some of which are repeated and have all been commissioned to capture the essence of Blackpool. The whole project began in 1996 as a major coastal protection scheme by raising the level of the South Promenade by two metres, thus protecting local properties from flooding. The Great Promenade Show, as it's known, stretches for over one mile from Squires Gate to the Sandcastle.
For more information about these superb sculptures, please click on the logo above.

Saturday 15th August 2009 11:14

I was half-expecting to wake up with an almighty hangover this morning, yet I felt positively fine... that's what comes of drinking Carlsberg. We both showered and headed down for our breakfast. The hotel charged £7.95 for a Full English Breakfast which also meant that you could help yourself to as much of the Continental Breakfast, if you so wished. To say it was scrummy was an understatement.

We then packed and I went to collect our car from the Marriott Hotel. When I arrived there, I noticed that the machine took coins and notes only and I'd assumed that I'd be able to pay on my card, so it left me no alternative but to go into the hotel and settle up there. I explained my predicament only for the receptionist to 'stamp' my card without having to pay a single penny! Parking for free in London? Incredible!
I drove back to our hotel and after loading the car, we said our goodbyes to Damien and Jamie, who had planned their trip back to Havant today, whereas we'd arranged to meet some friends in London before heading off up north to see my parents.



I 'phoned Fen (who we'd met last May in London) to see if he was in, and then, using the power of sat nav, made our way to his house in Finchley. We found it with ease and he came out to invite us in for coffee. We finally met his girlfriend, Caroline, who's a literary agent and the family-run business has dealt with such names as Barbara Cartland in the past! We sat and chatted about all sorts of things, real ale and fonts coming to the forefront of most conversations that Fen and I had, due to our passion for both. Fen also showed us how he'd created an online gallery via a 3D program called 3DS Max, developed by Autodesk which seemed quite a challenge to understand.
To find out more, or download a free demo, please click on the logo above.

After we'd chatted some more, Caroline suggested that we went for a bite to eat in a local pub... splendid idea! The Finchley pub happened to be the 'Catcher In The Rye', a fairly strange name taken from the novel with the same title, written by New York born J. D. Salinger in 1951. As a matter of interest, the novel was chosen by Time among the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005, and by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Anyway, we were there for some food and I'd geared myself up to sample Warm Duck with Beetroot, only to find that the duck had sold out, so it was a case of Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas which was perfect since we had a long journey ahead of us. All this was accompanied with two pints of lemonade... I was driving.
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the immensely pleasant company and after our short walk back to their house, it was time to leave and head towards the north west.



After a trouble-free journey of three and half hours, we arrived safely at my parents and spent the rest of the evening chatting and having a drink or two. The local Spar actually sold a real ale I'd never sampled before, called 'Banker$ Draft' by Gloucestershire-based Wickwar Brewing Company, a light ale, quite fruity in flavour which was a perfect end to a perfect day.
For more information about the brewery, please click on the logo above.

Friday 14th August 2009 10:18

It's a beautiful day... yes, it had arrived, we were going to see U2 live at Wembley.
After we'd finished organising ourselves, we packed the car and went to pick Damien (Tanya's brother) and Jamie (his mate) up and after stopping for a quick refuel, we headed off to London along the A3. Despite the appallingly bad traffic at Hindhead, we arrived in the capital in good time. Luckily, we'd been able to borrow James' (Abbi's boyfriend) sat nav which meant we found our accommodation with ease. I detest city centre driving, it unnerves me, yet with sat nav it makes the whole experience almost enjoyable!



The four of us had booked into the Swiss Cottage Hotel, part of the Best Western chain so once we arrived there, I checked to see if they had any available parking spots, unfortunately, they'd all been taken which meant a short drive down to the Marriott hotel, to park there. The downside was a £25.00 charge for overnight parking which we decided to swallow.
For more information about the Best Western chain, please click on the logo above.



From there, we booked into our hotel rooms and met up in the lobby and then headed for somewhere to eat - Ye Old Swiss Cottage on Finchley Road deemed to be the most suitable, especially as it was within spitting distance of where we were staying. Tanya had Lasagne, whilst Damien opted for Macaroni Cheese and Jamie and I chose Chicken in Cider Sauce. The meals were undoubtedly pre-prepared but still went down well, all the same and were accompanied by a couple of pints of real ale, Samuel Smith's 'Sovereign Bitter' being the favoured choice.
Unfortunately, the pub doesn't have its own website so I shall provide a link to Samuel Smith's Brewery instead... click on the logo to find out more.

Once we'd had our fill, we walked back to the hotel, crashed out for about an hour, before heading off to the concert. Not only was the pub conveniently placed, the tube station was even better. We bought our tickets and caught the tube on the Jubilee line from Swiss Cottage to Wembley Park. I have to say that it was incredibly exciting seeing the 'new' Wembley for the first time - it's just one of those iconic places that every football fan wants to visit, and let's face it, the only chance that Bolton have of getting there is via a play-off situation if they're relegated!
After a fairly lengthy walk to the stadium, we had the arduous task of getting in; I say arduous because you had to slot your ticket in for the bar code to be read, so the turnstile would let you through, once in, you were then searched for any guns or weapons of mass destruction that you may have upon you, as well as have any bottles of water confiscated (well, the bottle was, the water was poured into a plastic pint pot). Just as you thought the ordeal was well and truly over, a tag was attached to your wrist, as if you were the chosen one for some sort of biological experiment involving an egg, three llamas and a scented candle. Other than trapping the hairs on my arm between the sticky bits of this said tag and fastening Damien's so tight, his hand was void of any blood, we were finally in! Just as you thought things couldn't possibly be any worse, beer was £4 a pint! Not only that, it was Carlsberg... possibly the most overrated beer in the world.



It wasn't long before the first of the two support bands came on, these being The Hours. They sounded pretty good apart from an persistently obtrusive echo through their set. We all commented on how bad this sounded, yet hoped that this would be rectified sooner, rather than later. It wasn't. The second support band, Elbow, sounded just as bad, especially when all of us were far more familiar with their songs and they ended up being ruined by the quality of sound, nevertheless though, it was mildly enjoyable.
A link to The Hours website can be found above.

The time came for the main event of the night, U2...
All the lights had been turned off, except for the majestic swooping arch that stands tall above the stadium, lit up against the night sky. Their opening song had to be 'Beautiful Day', of course. Throughout the two-hour set, they performed such classics as 'Elevation', 'Mysterious Ways', 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday', 'With Or Without You' and 'Stuck In A Moment', where the crowd sang most of it, and where the sound sounded the best throughout the entire night!
It's nutshell time... to pay well over £50 a ticket, only to be bitterly disappointed with the gig in its entirety, as well as be completely robbed with the ludicrously extortionate beer prices, Wembley SERIOUSLY has to reconsider their pricing structures before going ahead with inviting any big names to perform there. I'm certainly going to be letting them know about how disappointed all four of us were.
From leaving the stadium, we then witnessed the sea of bobbing heads as the crowds, including us, made their way down Olympic Way to Wembley Park tube station. It was an amazing spectacle and made up for some of my disappointment, only thing was, I didn't have my camera with me...why?... because you're not allowed to take them into the stadium... aaaarrrrrggggghhhh!



Once off the tube, we headed for a KFC because we were all starving hungry and hadn't been able to afford food AND drink in the stadium. The food was desperately needed to soak up the large amount of alcohol we'd consumed! I had a Zinger meal and it's just what I needed.
For more information about KFC, please click on the logo above.

Thursday 13th August 2009 22:18

As you've probably noticed, I very rarely write about other photographers on my blog, although I have included several links to both amateur and professional alike, within the links section of my website.
For those of you familiar with photography, particularly in the best part of England, the North West, you'll no doubt have heard of photographer and writer, Aidan O'Rourke.
Many moons ago, I remember stumbling upon Aidan's website and being staggered by the amount of superb photographs that he's taken in and around his home town of Manchester. I'd go as far to say as I've never witnessed such a huge archive of shots from the North West of England, with a superb mix of record shots, journalistic shots, cityscapes, landscapes... in fact, you'd be hard-pushed to find a subject that he hasn't covered. Add the vital ingredients of a photographic eye along with an admirable passion for the subject and you have the recipe for an outstanding portfolio.
It's not just the North West of England either, he's been to North Wales as well!
Seriously though, his travelogue is beyond enviable... Dublin, London, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, New York City, Tokyo, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Dubai and many other destinations...

Needless to say, I felt honoured when he took the time to write a review about my website and work back in 2004 and, more importantly, that he agreed to judge this month's competition over on the PhotoPortal, a site where I can be loosely described as a moderator.



Educated at the Trinity College, Dublin, Aidan has been interested in photography since the early 80s and became serious in 1991 after seeing the exhibition 'Fashion Photography Since the Second World War' at the V&A. After 5 years teaching English in the Middle East he started to use photography professionally in 1996 to document the redevelopment of Manchester. Since then he's built up a large online collection of photographs and articles about Manchester as well as other cities and subjects.
During 2002-04, he wrote the Q&A pages for the first 27 issues of Digital Camera magazine, and in 2008 his Manchester Mega-Photo was displayed in the foyer at the Urbis museum in Manchester (Tanya and I saw it when we visited the museum earlier in the year).
This year, he started to teach photography on a one to one basis and tutors in German, French and English as a Foreign Language and makes use of photography in those subjects too.
Not having enough to fill up his time, he's also working on a manual of digital photography - to be released as a free e-book via his website (link to follow). This is a project from long ago which he's revived as he thinks it will help his students. It's called 'Digital Photography Principles and Tips - the Little Green Book of Photographic Wisdom'.
Please click on his rather colourful logo above to find out more.

Wednesday 12th August 2009 22:23

Throughout the week on BBC1, there have been trailers for a brand new comedy show, called 'Walk on the Wild Side'. The whole show, eight episodes in total, will feature natural history footage of various species from the animal kingdom, with a difference.

Jason Manford and friends have teamed up to make animals human and, according to the BBC website, 'provide a long overdue forum for the views and opinions of the animal kingdom'. As well as Jason, the show will feature the vocal talents of some of Britain's most promising comedians and performers, such as Isy Suttie, Steve Edge, Jon Richardson, Pal Aron, Rhod Gilbert, Sarah Millican, Harriet Carmichael and Harry Peacock, together with some remarkable footage from the Natural History Unit at the BBC.
Guest appearances from both Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Barbara Windsor, Stephen Fry, Richard E Grant, Rolf Harris and Sir Tom Jones will no doubt rocket this show to cosmic success.



The first show can be seen at 17:50, Saturday 15th on BBC One... don't miss it!
Please click on the image above to watch a marmot named Alan...

Tuesday 11th August 2009 16:09

As the excitement had began to really mount for Friday's trip to Wembley to watch U2 live in concert, it was all but dampened by a 'phone call from Tanya's brother, saying that he'd received an email informing him that the hotel room he'd booked had been cancelled. He asked Tanya if she'd received an email and confusion was awry, because we hadn't.

I am not going to name the particular internet agency who we booked with, because as far as I'm concerned, I am not prepared to boost their search rankings and they are the lowest of the fucking low. They have both UK and US numbers listed on their website, so I decided to give their London 'office' a call; there was a pre-recorded message stating that the internet wasn't connecting the call. I've since tried and now it's permanently engaged.
It left us with no alternative but to 'phone the actual hotel and speak to reservations. They told me that the booking had been cancelled... yet the bastard company had been quick enough to take £87.28 out of Tanya's account.
It then unfolded that the company are advertising hotel rooms at very attractive rates... not ridiculously low, just enough to entice someone who's wanting to cut their costs by a generous amount. The trouble is, the hotels listed are taking the bookings and then having to decline them because they aren't being paid the full amount. Rather than reimbursing the money paid, the fraudulent fuckers are keeping it.
Absolute fucking wankers. I despise people like this. They deserve to die... a slow death.



So, we were left almost £90 lighter and nowhere to fucking stay for the night. Great! Luckily, after around two hours of searching, Tanya and Damien did manage to book another hotel and we made sure that the same mistake wasn't made again!
Later that evening, I started to look into the said company and discovered some unbelievable horror stories like one gentleman who'd booked with the company, had his reservation cancelled and months later, he ended up having to put a block on his credit card because they kept charging him for other trips that he hadn't booked with them!!
To find out more about their other scams, please click on the Trip Advisor logo above.

Monday 10th August 2009 08:13

On the way to Petersfield today, I noticed a van with a 'Checkatrade' logo on it - this reminded me that I've been wanting to talk about them for quite some time now. The Checkatrade slogan recommends 'Always Checkatrade before you use them' and their website allows tradesmen, whether they be builders, photographers, electricians, animal groomers, plumbers or anything else for that matter, to register themselves on the Checkatrade website.



Whenever they complete a job, they can ask the consumer to log a detailed report about them, giving marks out of ten for their estimations, tidiness, timekeeping, courtesy, workmanship and value for money; an average score is then worked out, leaving visitors to the Checkatrade website of who to trust and who to avoid, thus eliminating the rogue traders (or cowboys as they're commonly known).
Please click on the logo above to find out about any tradesman who you might want to use for a specific job (why don't you register? -Ed)



Anyway, whilst I'm on the subject, I want to highly recommend a particular company on there called 'Shield Carpentry & Construction' based on Hayling Island who have a 100% record from 19 customers, 14 of which have been logged within the last six months. They built my desktop/work station where my computer and other essentials sit and it's an absolutely superb workspace.
Please click on their logo below to access their profile on the Checkatrade website.

Sunday 9th August 2009 17:11

I'd had every intention of working yesterday, yet Peter and Karl's unexpected visit meant I had to change my plans. So, today was my day of work instead, which worked to our favour because it turned out to be a mixed day of sun, with rain later in the day. Time to knuckle down...



My first job to complete was possibly the most unusual piece of artwork I've ever been commissioned to do. I had to create vector graphics for a double-sided polymer target board, which will be used in Firearms Training by the army, police, MoD and suchlike.
The best way of tackling this was to ask Tanya to take some shots of me, one holding a toy gun, the other, taking a photograph. Whoever it was on the target range would have a split second to decide whether 'the person' was a threat or not (these boards are screen printed on reinforced polymer with grooves in them and are used on a pivot mechanism where they are 'lifted' from a horizontal position to a vertical one in thousandths of a second and can also be rotated in much the same time).
As a matter of interest, my American-based mate, Lee, commented, "So let me get this straight. You are going to be the fake terrorist that cops and soldiers shoot at when they are pretending to kill someone? That's either bloody awesome or amazingly morbid. It's also one of the best bits of party trivia I can think of."
The completed artwork is shown above.



I was then very eager to complete another 3D artwork for Tanya's boss, Dave, this one being a Load Block Plus (I don't believe you - Ed). This project is near completion with one, possibly two, drawings remaining. Once all are completed, they're being used in some new price list literature and on a website that Tanya is in the middle of designing.

Saturday 8th August 2009 08:16

Two members of the PhotoPortal (the photographic forum that Tanya co-owns) said that they were heading down south from just outside of Bristol and wondered whether we fancied meeting up. We'd met Peter on numerous occasions, yet neither of us had met Karl and were looking forward to it. Sure enough, once they'd arrived, Karl 'phoned me on my mobile and we drove to Emsworth to meet them.
Luckily for us, Peter is a big bloke, standing at 6' 4", so it wasn't long before we spotted him and Karl. Tanya and I have been fortunate enough to meet many of the members from the forum and Karl was another one to add to our long list, it being a pleasure meeting him for the first time. We concentrated on showing them around the Mill Pond whilst they stopped, soaked up the atmosphere and took a good few photographs. We then suggested hitting the Greenhouse Café for breakfast, with all of us thoroughly enjoying a full English.



We then continued to enjoy the day, soaking up the sun and the atmosphere, taking more photographs (yes, Tanya had driven home to pick up our cameras), chatting about all kinds of things and finishing off by stopping at the Blue Bell Inn for a pint of Old Speckled Hen.
Before we knew it, it had gone 3 o'clock and Peter and Karl decided to head off to Southampton to look at some camera gear before going home. A thoroughly enjoyable day, even though I did catch a little too much sun on my head!
It's a link free blog today, but I have included my favourite shot of the day... I'm simply titling this one, 'Bags'. It's a tongue-in-cheek title and is not intended to cause any offence to the dear women. You don't believe me, do you?!

Friday 7th August 2009 16:02

Since I touched on the subject of great logo design yesterday, I thought I'd share another great design that I stumbled upon last month, whilst on the hunt for the Fox's Biscuits logo. There's a company called Northern Foods who basically own many of the well-known brands you see in supermarkets every day, ranging from Goodfella's pizzas right through to Holland's Pies.



The company began life in 1937 as a family-run dairy business and in 1942 the business was registered as Northern Dairies, becoming a public company in 1956. It then changed its name to Northern Foods in 1972 to reflect the range of food it sold. Now, as one of the leading food producers in the UK and Ireland, their skilled workforce of over 10,000 people supply such produce as snacks, meals and puddings to both retail customers and consumers, particularly their top five customers – Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco - representing around three-quarters of their total revenue.
Click on their logo to find out more.

Thursday 6th August 2009 20:53

Received an email tonight from my mate Lee, wanting to share a great logo with me because he knows how much I love graphic design. He describes this logo as 'awesome' and I have to agree, it is. Clever, funny and versatile were other descriptions he used and I wholeheartedly agree with him. I have to admit, it took some looking at before it became absolutely obvious to me, particularly the positioning of the copyright symbol, yet it's perfectly placed to create the eye of the mouse, the dissected 'o' being the creature's ear.



Brand Guardians and johnson banks (who are the firm responsible for the playful identity), decided that “Mouse” was a far better, catchier and more memorable name for these awards, as opposed to 'Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Creative Awards', which just rolled off your tongue. Oh, the font? Yes, it's Avenir Next, designed by Adrian Frutiger, and is available from Linotype.
He finally went on to say that it works better, the smaller it is, and having viewed it at many different sizes, I totally see what he means. The only other logo that I've ever known to have the same qualities is the Newfoil one, in fact, it was near-perfection at anything less than 1mm high (who or what the fuck is Newfoil?!?! - Ed)
Anyway, enough of the in-house jokes... to find out more, double-click the mouse (clever eh?)

Wednesday 5th August 2009 21:08

There are many sites out there that invite anyone interested in art to showcase their creative skills on the internet, none more so than deviantART, commonly known as dA. Founded by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens and Angelo Sotira, amongst others, it was first launched on August 7th 2000, and celebrates its ninth birthday this Friday.



Since then, the worldwide online artist community boasts over 10 million members and had received over 80 million submissions of art, now averaging around 105,000 of those a day! deviantART continues to provide a place where artists can both exhibit and discuss work, with categories ranging from photography, digital art, traditional art, literature, Flash and filmmaking as well as many other fields, along with downloadable resources such as tutorials and stock photography.
If you want to join or have a good nose at some outstanding work, please click on the logo above - oh, and say hello to 'Fella', the tiny feline-looking, robotic mascot...

Tuesday 4th August 2009 19:13

Had a lengthy chat with Damien, Tanya's brother, all about the imminent start to the new football season and our plans for another beer-football-beer day when Bolton return to Fratton Park on September 12th. He commented about the fact that Pompey were losing all their key players and predicted that there may not even be a squad left at the end of it!



For me though, it's weird, because on the one hand, I cannot watch enough football during a season; even matches that bear no relevance to who I support or even the league I'm interested in, yet between seasons, I switch off completely, so it's somewhat of a shock when there are players 'missing' at the start of each season! Damien started rhyming off a rather large list of Pompey players and I really do have my doubts about them for the forthcoming season.
To see who's gone where, and for how much, click on the link above.

Monday 3rd August 2009 12:32

I'm all for websites that are informative, helpful and include loads of free shit on them... Bravenet is no exception. They have everything you need to host, design and spice up your website with specific sections of the site dedicated to such things as free web tools, both free and professional web hosting as well as many other services available.



It all started way back in 1997 when Dave, the founder of Bravenet, was in the middle of building a website and had a requirement for a guestbook. Some hours, or possibly days later, having combed the web extensively, he soon realised that such services were few and far between. Dave then set out to create the world's most comprehensive, interactive and fully customisable, remotely hosted tools for webmasters of all levels, which would change the face of the internet forever.
His success now means that he has dedicated and talented staff who are constantly developing new services so that they continue to grow at the same rapid rate that the internet is.
Please click on the logo above to find out much more.

Sunday 2nd August 2009 20:00

Having felt as if we'd been forced to stay indoors yesterday, we decided to get out and about this morning and, as luck would have it, Emsworth was holding a Sunday Market on South Street Car Park. There are four festival markets held throughout the year and these replace the once fantastic Emsworth Food Festival but on a much smaller scale. You may recall that the Food Festival was moved to Stansted Park last year and thankfully, the whole event was a complete flop. How can transfer the atmosphere of a beautiful idyllic town several miles away and then have the audacity to charge a £6.00 entry fee for something that was once free. Ludicrous!



Anyway, later on we watched the very last episode in the latest series of Top Gear. It's an immensely entertaining programme, tonight's being no exception. Hamster tested Vauxhall's VXR8 Bathurst, Clarkson and Captain Slow eventually went head to head with filming their own adverts for Volkwagen, US talk show host, Jay Leno tried a fast lap in the reasonably priced car and the show finished with an incredibly poignant piece of film illustrating and testing the new Vantage V12 from Aston Martin... possibly one of the sexiest and most desirable cars ever to come on the market... having said that, Clarkson feels as if this could be a farewell to all supercars.
To see the amazing piece of engineering, click on the logo above.

Saturday 1st August 2009 10:43

Having missed the opportunity to attend last night's preview of Havant's 39th Open Exhibition, we decided to go and view it this morning instead. Havant Camera Club was proud to join the BPE for the first time in its history which meant that the competition attracted a much wider photographic scope. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm beginning to find it utterly bizarre as to what is classed as photography these days. I'd go as far to say that I could create a vector image, import it into Photoshop, do a few tweaks and apply some watercolour filters and I'd be almost certain that it would be accepted. There were 'images' in there that were clearly art, with absolutely no signs of the 'image' ever being at a photographic stage.
Anyway, there's still a chance to go and see the exhibition for yourself. It's being held at Park Community School in the centre of Leigh Park, just outside of Havant.
Please click on the logo below to find out more about the school and how to get there.



From there, we'd decided to do our weekly shop at Sainsbury's which suited me down to the ground... my real ale stock was looking decidedly thin! More about that later...



Weather-wise, it had been an immensely miserable day, the rain just carried on and on. Abbi, Tanya's daughter was around so it gave us the opportunity to sit down and watch 'My Bloody Valentine' via FilmFlex. I'd heard it was good and Abbi had missed the chance of seeing the 3D version at the cinema because of its popularity at the time.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this film, probably because it was far from being pretentious, the special effects being good enough to be convincing, yet you knew you were watching a tongue-in-cheek horror - I particularly liked the bit towards the end where the old guy receives an upper cut with the pickaxe which penetrates his the bottom of his chin and comes up through his mouth. Brilliant!
Enough of the gore, what's it about? Well, there's a small mining community called Harmony and they're wanting to put an horrific past behind them. After a tragic mining accident ten years ago, that left Harry Warden in a coma, he awoke on Valentine's Day to then brutally murder 22 people with a pickaxe before he was shot dead by the police. Years later, just as the town had recovered, there's a killer on the loose, who looks identical to Harry Warden... had he returned from the dead?
To be spooked further, please click on the movie poster above.



So, I touched on the fact that I'd bought some more beers... luckily for me, Sainsbury's are quite good for changing their stock from time to time, and if ever I see a 'new' ale, I'll buy it. My eyes were diverted immediately to a colourful, quite striking beer label, this particular one was called 'Yellow Hammer'... must be one of the only ales named after a bird. I also noticed that the particular brewery was based in Devon and I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a beer from that part of the country.
Originally, 'Yellow Hammer' brewed by O'Hanlon's Brewing Company Ltd was called 'Summer Gold' however, they chose to change the finishing touches by dry hopping with First Gold hops, thus changing the taste and becoming too good for its name... no-one at the brewery quite knows who came up with the new name and although they have concerns about Yellow Hammers having a problem with it, they're sure they don't mind.
So, what's it like? Well, it's beautifully golden in colour and although I'm usually not a big fan of ales with sediment, this just wouldn't be the same without it. On the nose, it has a very hoppy and malty aroma with underlying hints of caramel and fruit, particularly the sweeter ones like pineapple. The fruitiness is very apparent on the palate as well which makes this 4.2% ABV golden ale from Devon just a thirst-quenchingly brilliant summer's evening beer.
To find out more about O'Hanlon's and their range of beers, please click on the Yellow Hammer beer label above. Thanks to Liz O'Hanlon for sending me the artwork.