CIDER CONFIRMATION

I have just received confirmation from the Australian Chapter of " the Knights that say ni" that the place where cider is made is called a Squashery !! (See comment on the previous blog).

However, in a rather disparaging exchange, a Harrogate neighbour (see above photograph) has just called around asking "Are you whackers from a nuttery?" If so, will you do a trade with these freshly harvested cannabis leaves?

WESTON - OLD SODBURY - BEDFORD THEN HARROGATE

We were right royally entertained in Weston Super Mare by Bruce and Pat, with a visit to the local garden centre and it's winter wonderland ( see photo) and to the Thatchers Cider Squashery. (Any advance on squashery?). On Thursday we took Molly, the new pup, for a walk on the Mendips, (see photo) then in the evening Steve, Jane, and their grown up kids, Tom and Vicky came round for a chat. We had a lovely time, lubricated with cider of course.

Friday became very cold, but on Saturday the temperatures improved and we decided to watch a bit of local soccer. We arranged to meet Jerry at the ground and then follow him to his beautiful home to stay the night in Old Sodbury. Tom (18) was playing for Locking, and the old war-horse Jerry (46)was playing for Hutton. We called at both grounds and found both were wearing No 9 shirts. Alan Shearer eat your heart out. The photo below shows Jerry in full flight giving the opposition a hard time. Clearly there is more to living in Old Sodbury than meets the eye. We stayed the night with Jerry and Anne and again had a lovely meal and chat.

On Sunday we headed to Bedford to stay with Pam (Kerry's surrogate Mum in Bromham) and George, and to catch up with friends from our Cranfield days. En route we called in on Martin and Jane Eshelby in Rushden and got an update on Cranfield University. The following day we visited Pat Chapman, took Pam and George for lunch in Goldington Green, visited Margaret and Mike Darlington, and caught up with Lisa Butterworth. (Bromham friend of Kerry Lou) In the evening we went to The Swan in Bromham and had dinner with Mick and Chris Darwood. Mick and Chris were our next door neighbours in Bromham and Mick - was and is - Mr football, Mr cricket, and Mr bowls in Bromham. We had a lovely meal and replayed a few tough games of football, winning all of them, of course. The photo shows a few old posers after an evening at The Swan in Bromham.

A LIVERPOOL PILGRIMAGE

On Saturday 17th November, under the expert guidance of local spiritual leaders David and Christine Jaggar, we visited three famous shrines in Liverpool: the cathedrals at Anfield, and those of the Catholic and Anglican churches (shown in order below).


The Catholic Cathedral is spectacular inside and is a must see. Surprisingly, Anfield pre-dates the Cathedrals which have only recently, been completed.


Having paid homage to these shrines we visited the other city icons, the Cavern and the famous marble urinals. The spiritual journey continued with an evening of blues music in Birkenhead played by the "Blues Band" led by Paul Jones, formerly with Manfred Mann.



Sunday arrived cold and cloudy and gradually became colder and darker. Undaunted, these intrepid travellers, journeyed to Aintree for the famous culinary delights of beef burger and chips at the indoor equestrian centre. This was followed by a visit to Albert Docks and the Tate modern art gallery. Only the most sensititive and artistic soul can appreciate the juxtaposition of Beechers Brook and a painting of a piece of dirty soap.


Our final Liverpool delight was the turning on of Christmas lights in Liverpool City centre. A spine chilling experience.



Exhausted by this hectic pace, the high priest of Anfield “Is Onner “ Dave Jagger headed off to North Wales to complete a walk up Offers Dyke. We headed to Porthcawl on the South Wales coast to visit cricketing tragedy and implacable Umpire Steve Kuhlmann (see bottom photo). During the wine fuelled discussions, the exploits of Wharley End Cricket Club attained new heights of success and achievement.


Our journey to South Wales via the M6, M5 and M4 was memorable because of our first sighting in 30 years, of snow, which covered the open ground in and around Birmingham.

MOLAR PAVLOVA AND WII

The previously un-named celebrity dentist and Wolds mountaineer has applied his talents to the development of a new pavlova known as the Molar Pavlova. The molar shown in the photograph is drilled then filled with an amalgam of raspberries and strawberries and finally capped with clotted cream. The dessert is designed to restore the lucrative levels of tooth decay that existed before the introduction of fluoride.



On Thursday 15th November, fuelled with pavlova, we headed South via Macclesfield to Liverpool. In Macclesfield we called to see our walking companion Bella and her owners David, Val, and children Katie, Andrew and Chris.

We enjoyed a lovely meal together and were then introduced to Nintendo's new gaming software Wii. Suppressing my prejudice againts electronic homicide, I decided to have a go and found that the games were mainly sporting (those that Andrew revealed to me) and with the hand held sensor I played tennis and golf, almost as badly as in real life. The following morning we took Bella for a walk, said our goodbyes and set off for the Pool, actually to the Wirral to be precise.

THIXENDALE IN NOVEMBER SUNSHINE

Thixendale lies in the Yorkshire Wolds only a few miles from Malton and is the spiritual home of a famous York dentist whose name, for professional reasons, cannot be published on such a high rating blog site as this.

In mid-November, just before the rambling season is curtailed by severe weather conditions, a well equipped international team, managed to conquer the upper slopes of Thixendale. Led by the afore-mentioned celebrity dentist, the team first took on supplies at base camp, colloqually known as the Cross Keys. The supplies can be clearly seen in any profile shots of the climbers and included a high energy food source called a PAINSBROKEHANDFULL Sandwich purposely developed for Wolds moutaineers.

Fortunately the weather held out, but as can be seen by the mid-afternoon shadows, trecking so close to the Arctic circle is a dangerous mission, and only the most experienced and well equipped teams are given approval.

Back in York the team was given an enormous reception and a lasagna, or was that an enormous lasagna and a reception. After treatment for mild frost bite, the team leader, accompanied by lasagna cook Tess, took off for a night of Rock and Roll at that famous international venue, the Bishopthorpe Social Club

TEKS YER BACK

This past week we visited friends and relations from way back, and reminisced about events which occurred before there were blog sites to record or distort the truth.

On the male side my childhood was spent at Sycarham Farm near Cloughton with Uncle Arthur (see October item on Monte Cassino) and Auntie Ivy, and cousins Derek and John.

Derek was a game shooter and horseman - see early photo of Derek on his thoroughbred. This was the horse which escaped down the main road into Cloughton which I managed to capture. Derek in the middle of the road with arms raised high - me leaping over a stone wall providing petrified support.

John was, and is, an accomplished painter. (see one of his early oil paintings of work horses.

On the female side, Kerry has fond memories of her school,Malton Grammar, (now Malton School) where her father attended as a pupil for five years, and after completing his degree at Leeds University, taught for forty years. His contribution is recognised each year with trophies which are presented to students for sporting accomplishment.

The awards night was held on 8th November and was organised and presented by the students. This year the Bruce Rolls trophies were expertly presented by Kerry, the daughter from far away Australia. We had a lovely evening. Earlier in the week we had a grand meal with family friend Audrey and her mate Joan. Audrey was a pupil of Bruce Rolls' and has visited us in Australia several times. She is now 85 and still very chirpy.

Events of note was a dinner with Dave & Jane, Butch & Alison, Ray & Janet, at the Stone Trough Kirkham.

On a lesser note, was a trip to Bootham Crescent with John, to watch York City get turfed out of the FA Cup by a team I have never heard of. Kerry noted that the language was not as colourful as the language in Macclesfield! Comments here have to be carefully crafted, as I am aware that John has now cracked the blog code and is developing advanced hacking skills.

NOVEMBER IN YORKSHIRE

Nature watch enthusiast and expert arborist Kerry Martin came up with the amazing fact that autumn in England peaks on 3rd November each year. We decided to put the theory to test. Base camp for the expedition is a brilliant B&B at the old railway station in Cloughton, North of Scarborough. The B& is in the beautifully renovated ticket office, and the &B included a cooked challenge each morning which neither of us could conquer.
Day 1 of the investigation (November 3rd) was organised by Beth and Simon who live in North Ferriby in East Yorkshire. Our six mile treck in crisp sunshine included part of the Wolds way. Pete and Judy were visiting Beth and Simon and completed the expeditionary team. (See photo) Verdict: The trees were really, really, really autumny.
Day 2 (November 4th) included a 7 mile sunny treck through Whisperdales, Hackness and Silpho in the North Yorkshire Moors. Verdict: (See Photographs) The trees were really, really autumny – even the evergreens.
Day 3 ( November 5th) was less adventurous. We toured the infamous East Yorkshire coast villages of Muston, Hunmanby, Flamborough, Foxholes and Flixton by Mazdarrati. Verdict: The leaves had left! They had taken their leave and were no more. They were deceased. The leaves had been deaded. They had dropped off their perch. They had flown the coup. They had popped their clogs. They had quit the carbon challenge. They had “coal-ed” it a day.
Conclusion: The above experiment provided conclusive evidence that November 3rd 2007 is definitely Derby Day in Victoria.

WEALTHY AUSTRALIAN VISITOR INJECTS 44 MILLION POUNDS INTO IPSWICH fOOTBALL CLUB

Photo 1: Kirstie (detention, - that boy in row three) Rolls, celebrated her birthday on Tuesday with 8 close relatives. Only 999,992 fewer than turned up to her party bash on Derby day in Melbourne three years ago. What was missing in numbers was compensated for by the excellent food and a string of bad snail jokes.

Photo 2 and 3 Halloween with the mad aunties of Ipswich.

Following a gourmet meal of sausage and mash, prepare by an international chef and soccer club entrepaneur, the neighbouring children in Crofton road were scared witless by a visit from the aforementioned aunty or - two. Fortunately, the reason for their promotion to auntie-ship had gone to bed and so was protected from any trauma.

Photo 4 On Thursday 1st November the highly camera shy Australian soccer entepaneur was escorted to the Ipswich Soccer Academy to finalise an ownership deal for the club. Shown in the Photo is the UK busness manager Peter Rolls and youth coach Richard Hall who, during his career, had captained the England under 21 team. He was completely unaware that the club's new owner had once played for Amotherby.