Pirate Golf

A 30th birthday outing to our local pirate golf course with a couple of very good friends. Actually quite a fun evening out, would make a good second or third date place. It's eighteen holes with a well accessoried course, parrots, statues of pirates to pose next to, two little rafts to get to a couple of the holes. 

Abbyhill Priate Golf Course

Couples rate on Saturday after 6pm only £9.99, normal pirate rate is £7.50.

30

I am 30 this year. A new decade, or the flirty thirties. I heard myself talking in cliches more and more and saying phrases like 'In my day....' or 'This isn't music, it's just noise.' Despite living like the nana inside all of us, I have a lot to look forward to, I start university again in September on a postgraduate teaching course, a whole new profession to join and living in Brighton once again.

Looking back at my 20's, I got my degree, lived in Alaska and Japan, travelled to a whole number of countries, made some wonderful friends, learnt to (among other things) run, snowboard, eat with chopsticks in my left hand and drink wine. Not bad.

Fire Garden

The last few years has seen Milton Keynes host an International Festival, with events on over ten days across MK. One of these events was set in Campbell Park by La Compagnie Carabosse called Fire Garden. Structures of all sizes filled with paraffin spread out over Campbell Park lit at dusk. An excellent evening out in little ol' MK.

DofE

Liking outdoorsy type things, I volunteered at the school to help supervise this year's Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award with the year nines. I wasn't aware of it when I was at school, I don't think Stantonbury even offered it, don't even know if it would have been something I would have wanted to do back then. It's only open to people up to 25, so I'm a bit past it now. There was a equipment and first aid training day I helped out with right at the start of the year. 

Out on the practice expedition

Then it was planning for the practice expedition, which was learning all round from the group of girls I was assigned and myself. We has a route planed, starting and finishing from the school. The majority of the first day I was walking with the girls and another trainee teacher who had done her Gold award. Painfully slow at times, but guess that's what the practice weekend was for, by the time we felt confident to leave them to navigate to the campsite, everyone's confidence was much better. Two of the six girls didn't make it to the campsite as literally twenty minutes after us leaving them they rang the emergency number and got picked up.

Assessed expedition

For the assessed weekend, everyone, including me was much more aware of what was expected. I actually had proper time scheduled for my group to meet and plan thier route. The girls knew what it would be like walking with thier big bags, drop notes and navigating around the fields. I was part of another practice day where the the two girls who dropped out had to attend to be able to do the assessed weekend. The assessed weekend went without major issue only a minor issue with the bus that dropped all the girls off at Harrold-Odell Country Park, it rained in the evening rather than while everyone was walking which is the best time it could have rained. Everyone completed the course and passed their Bronze award!

'Minor' issue with the bus on the assessed weekend. 

Fun graffiti on a water tower seen on route.

New Room

June half term I made the commitment to re-decorate my room. The previous colour of peach was way past it's prime. It has now been painted a deep duck egg green called 'Opulent' by the manufacturer. This kind of decorating is also perfect time to do a bit of house keeping and de-cluttering my room. Good-bye to my GCSE, A-level notes, the majority of my degree notes and anything else that added up to about five bags of recycling, and bags of other stuff for the charity shop. A little move around of the furniture, and also another good-bye in my room, my penguin curtains are off the rails and I am making a new set. I will find a new use for them I imagine. I've also discovered eBay to sell a few bits that are just too nice to go for free. 

New curtains!

While de-cluttering, I was thinking how hard it is to emotionally detach from things, they are just things, why is there such an emotional attachment to things. Yet, if I haven't used something in two years, why should I worry about it leaving my life? I know that as soon as I throw something away I'll think of something or find a need for it. I do have less now and it still fits in my room. I didn't want to think I'm a hoarder, but I guess I am.

Opulant

Tea with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardbrobe

Another half term, another teachers tea, this one at The Royal Garden Hotel for a Lion Witch and the Wardrobe themed afternoon tea in Kensington. Hoping for a Kate Middleton sighting!

Really liked this tea, a clean, modern interior, a live pianist, good food and staff who allowed us to sit and chat away most of the afternoon. I've also started a new blog documenting our teacher tea's around London and the UK.

Brave New Venture

I need a boiler suit - eBay, check. I need to pick a vocation - ore surveyor, check. I need to bring a crystal, check. I need to get to London, Euston for 6pm and follow someone in a white boiler suit to an abandoned petrol station and warehouse. I am at secret cinema. FYI, a bolier suit is not a flattering piece of clothing.

Ore Surveyor

The warehouse was massive, the whole experience was very interactive, just on the edge of being outside my comfort zone. Seb and I had to carry in a crate to the loading dock, exchange money for tokens, once inside walk around aimlessly trying to catch up with Annette. We gravitated to the basement where we were waiting for a expedition tour to the outside world, everyone had to put on another boiler suit and a mask. Outside it was pitch black with things hanging from the ceiling, a video of slime on the wall. Back in the loading dock there were massive vehicles, and everyone was being ferried down to witness a little scene. From where I was watching, the view was being lit up by people recording on their phones and tablets.

Field Analyst department

The movie - Prometheus 3D, with an introduction from Ridley Scott. I am not a fan of Alien, I remember watching it when I was younger and it completely freaked me out. I had Annette there who is as much of a hater of all things scary on screen as I am, to cling on to. Saying that, I did enjoy this movie, it was entertaining and held my attention for the duration, and the 3D was actually pretty good.

Reading up about the movie on IMBD, it's not officially a prequel, although I'm sure there were a lot of nods to Alien and the franchise that even I recognised a few. Good review of this secret cinema on Wired. It is an expensive way to go to the cinema, I do enjoy it now and then.

Snowdon

One thing on my list of this to do this year was to climb Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales, at 1085 meters high. Coinciding nicely with a friend's birthday camping trip to Wales, that gave me the perfect opportunity to go to that part of the country. I drove to Wales after work to the Cae Gwyn Farm, a lovely campsite with nice facilities, wasn't such a fan of the midges that were crawling over every part of exposed skin. And I forgot the insect repellent.

Half of the people went for a little biking session and James, Lindsay and I went to climb the mountain. A nice leisurely morning, I was sharing a tent with James and Lindsay with my own little  cosy compartment, very snug. I'm all about the glamping, air bed - yes, pillow - yes. James and Lindsay's part was much more glamped than mine with proper sheets and duvets. 

The campsite was about an hour's drive to the car park, we did have a mis-hap with the map reading and parking and started to walk in completely the wrong place. Once we did figure out where we were and got to the right parking place, the car park was one in one out. It took us about half an hour to get parked before we started walking anywhere.

We were going up the Miners track which starts out very nice and follows a scenic path by a few lakes, then the path connects to the Pyg track by a very steep incline of scrambling up rocks. The last section up Snowdon was in a cloud, it was wet and miserable, the track pops out on to another trail that lead to the train station and cafe area. It was a lot busier at the top with people who clearly didn't prepare for rain and were just walking in trainers and a t-shirt. There is a lot of encouragement from people as you pass then, everyone underestimated how long it was to the top, it's alright we got there in the end.

Walking by the lakes

At the top I could see nothing but an endless cloud. No beautiful view over Wales, no bright sunshine to lift our spirits. We got a well deserved drink and food at the top and thought about getting the Snowdon Railway down. Unfortunately, all seats on the train down were booked, walking down was the only option.

Near the top

We took two hours to go up and two and a half to come down, a respectable time. The track is pretty straight forward, you'd need at least a basic fitness level if you wanted to climb Snowdon. I wore my heart rate monitor on the climb to see what kind of workout it was. Going up kept my heart rate in the right zone for the most part, coming down I just wasn't hitting the zone at all. Overall, I did manage to burn just short of 2000 calories, which is about four trips to the gym.

Jubilee Day @ Radcliffe

Near the end of the half term, Radcliffe had a day to embrace the Jubilee, the year seven's were split in to groups and I went with the group that went to the Science teacher. The Queen has been on the throne for sixty years this year and the Science teacher did a pretty fun link, technology through the sixty years she's been on the throne. She's lived though the invention on the pace maker, microwave oven, Apple, YouTube, the calculator. 

A selection of completed tiles, mine is the calculator

Our morning to explore the last sixty years of technology was to carve out a technology and the year in clay to make a mould, then fill it with plaster, take away the mould then paint the plaster tile. Pretty fun crafty morning.

Over the half term I watched a bit of the Jubilee celebrations on the TV, the best place to be, after NYE in London I don't really want to go anywhere near the capital if there is an event on. I'd rather be warm, comfy. the best view with a cup of tea. The only thing I was into over the weekend, was what the ladies were wearing.

Lady of the moment

Printing

I signed up for a printing course this Spring. I bought a lino print from Holland that inspired me to do my own printing. The course was run at The Artworks lead by Iain Hodgkinson, a member of the Milton Keynes Printmakers. On the course I was introduced to a few different types of printing.

Dry point - scratching into a plastic sheet, rubbing ink into the marks then using a press to get the image on the paper.

Collagraph - Adding any kind of textured material to a heavy piece of cardboard to create an image. Rubbing ink into the plate and using the press to get the image on the paper.

Lino - Cutting into a piece of lino to create a negative image that when inked will be create the positive. To create an embossed effect, soak the paper in water before using the press and create the image. Using hand made paper in a technique called chine colle, to print on combined with the embossing creates a really nice effect.

Woodcut - Similar to lino, cutting into a surface to create the negative and printing the positive. To create the print, use the back of a wooden spoon to press the image on to the paper. This method creates quite bold shapes that can benefit from preparing a background with watercolour or coloured paper then printing on top of the prepared background.

I felt dry point and collagraphs are just a little too time consuming and require a lot of patience for my type of working. The prints that some of the other participants were lovely, you can get very painterly and create a range of tone and shade with both methods.  Lino and woodcuts are much faster and I was able to create a lot of prints in the time of the course, I feel my work is very stylised which suited the lino and woodcut technique.

I stuck to the theme of birds for the course as they have very characteristic shape and lots of texture and I was really happy with what I produced. For the course I used inspiration from a rooster, flamingo, woodpecker, hummingbird and a peacock, my favourite being the hummingbird. All of which were a lino print except the woodpecker where I tried a woodcut.

Photo Contest

I won my first photography contest! I won the staff category at The Radcliffe School, my prize - five 18''x12'' prints from GraphicWorks Ltd which is perfect timing to start building my portfolio for the Brighton interview.

Student Winner: Emily Boycott

Staff Winner: Me!

The year sevens had had an assembly the week the winners were announced about standing out in a crowd, which my photo fit quite nicely.

Hogenboom boom

A little Easter road trip to Holland with the family, staying in a holiday home village called Hogenboom. From the website it looks like a bit of a chain around Europe, we found it though a holiday home website. It was like staying in an Ikea show room for a few nights, which I actually quite enjoyed. The one we stayed at was a fairly new complex with units still being built around the water. 

Main reason we chose Holland was to see the tulips in the Keukenhof gardens. well worth it, we were a touch too early for the peak, but there was still loads in bloom. On the way back we stopped off in Gent to see the Esher Museum - the artist who creates worlds from prints that are imaginary and challenge your perception of reality. We also had time in Gent to visit the Design Musem who was showcasing an exhibition by lifestyle designer Dirk Wynats. 

A one sided shape - source of discussion in the car

Of course there was the obligatory stop in a French hypermarche to finish off our Europe trip.

Holland 2012

The Chesterfield Hotel

Afternoon tea with the ladies at The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair. The sandwiches were the best I've had in London, they tasted freshly made and a good selection. We were seated in the dining area of the restaurant, just off the conservatory section that is advertised on the website. The ambiance was nice, but quite dark where we were seated, would have preferred to sit in the naturally lit conservatory area. Staff were very friendly and attentive, and kept offering us more cake and sandwiches, as we politely declined the offer, we're all wondering if the extras are included in the price or an optional extra - basically a posh up-sale.

Devon

Grant and I went down to the seaside to spend an evening in Ilfracombe at the end March. Found a good deal on the web, and off we went. The Grosvenor Hotel is a family run hotel on the main strip in the town, where they have combined three houses to make the hotel. There is a certain amount of traditional seaside charm that exudes from the place, but it's more Faulty Towers than The Ritz for me. 


The season hadn't quite started so the tunnel beaches that the place is famous for weren't open yet. We went for a little walk in the countryside topped of with a cider in a nice pub in the arvo. We went in Grant's sporty BMW and I will not be buying a sports car any time soon, not the comfest ride, much happier in a little Polo.

Riding around the country side in Devon

Stratford Upon Avon

A lovely Saturday meeting up with Grant and his housemate in Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. Grant and I clicked over a very leaky pipe on a Sunday when we were both Assistant Managers of Cotswolds and Costa not long after the opening. It often takes an incident to really break the ice.

Birth place of William Shakespeare

Getting involved with the tourists

Stratford is full of tourists, was nice to hear Japanese again. Lunch in a nice ye 'olde pub, The Old Thatch Tavern, a stroll looking in the touristy shops. There did seem to be a lot of nice wine and cheese shops. We all took a longer walk along the river overall a lovely day out!

Lunch!

Christmas 2011

Christmas at home, perfect. Good food, we had fillet steak instead of a joint this year. I added my NYC decorations from Macy's to our already eclectically decorated tree. This year we made our own Christmas garland to hang on the door. As always, I ate way too many chocolates and sweets and will endeavour to work it all off at the gym in the new year.

NYE in LND

The last NYE of my twenties, to prove to myself I'm not that 'old' yet, I went to see the fireworks in London. I think I'm just old, it was a lot of hassle for a ten minute display. London for NYE is full of tourists, all the people I knew in London left the city, I should have taken the hint. There was a really positive buzz, in reality there is a lot of waiting around to get a 'good spot', to watch the display, use the toliet or get a drink. We found a spot on Lambeth Bridge and saw the display sideways on, still did look really pretty and expensive. I didn't hear any of Big Ben's gongs. As soon as the fireworks ended, it was a long shuffling round to get to Waterloo due to crowd control measures everyone was herded in to Waterlook Station though one entrance. The full display to music is here. To summerise the experience, I'm glad I've done it, wouldn't be doing it again any time soon.