Cole family visit

29 Dec 2011: Thursday, we took a trip over to Moseley to visit Desmond and Kathy Cole, picking up Daphne, who stayed overnight in Nottingham.

Christmas in Norwich

24-26 Dec 2011: Daughter Sophie was our host for Christmas again, having a 'social Sunday' in Norwich. There were 11 of us at lunch, a mixture of Sophie's friends from Uni and the York tavern, and us. Will cooked a venison casserole!

Tuck in folks!

It's all so delicious that Will finds the casserole emptied

Skyping with Henry and Carol

Getting our just desserts

Lucy and Tom arrive for the evening fun

Thankyou to Sophie and Will for organising this - it's a new paradigm of Christmas celebration (sorry Charles Dickens....) 

Tall Buildings Party

11 Dec 2011: We invited the members of the Tall Buildings design studio to a Sunday-lunch party at our house in West Bridgford, everybody bringing a little bit of food. SN-C made some fine desserts. It was rainy, so we didn't have the hoped-for walk on the hill south of the house, but anyway, a good time was had by all. It is certainly a very international grouping, with students from various parts of India and of China, and a few besides (Vietnam, Turkey and..... err.... England!).

Bike in the vet!

Rear view

21 Nov 2011: Oh dear, I have been without the BMW motorbike for three weeks now, it has been stuck at Bloors having itself fixed. The clutch is worn and this is the largest operation it has had since new - all previous work was minor, although never cheap.

Front view, with much of it laid out on the floor

 I've been managing with the car mostly, to work, but we now have a parking charge per day, so I am now getting into the habit of using the pedal bike more and more. The punctures were fixed on that, but I still have problems with the rear wheel chafing the frame. It's healthy and if one plans to leave early enough, it's workable. My time is still about 40 mins because of the long hill at the end, and the roadworks forcing me to push the bike over a long stretch of grass for the final leg.

Arturo Ui at the Playhouse

12 Nov 2011: We went to the Playhouse for the final night of the run of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertold Brecht. It's always a good night out to the Playhouse, but on this occasion it was one of the largest audiences we have seen - the fame of this production has travelled widely. We saw 4 of our W Bridgford friends during the interval (Jacksons and Jones)
   It's not a fun night out.... the play was written in 1941 when the war was still in the early days, and to those escaping from Germany into exile, it must have seemed that the evil was unstoppable. It wasn't actually performed until 1958!
  This production started out in the Liverpool Everyman and completed its run in Nottingham.
  The play is a black comedy, played out against a background of Warner brothers view of Chicago in the thirties with gangs controlling areas of the city, and there were lighter moments. Of course the most ironic moment is the 'mercantile and middle classes' thinking that Ui would be quite useful to them in their money making schemes, and that if he ever got a bit uppish, they would be able to deal with it. We all know how badly that ended. The play becomes less 'comic' as it proceeds and as the thugs representing Goering and Goebbels take control, on behalf of their master.
   We are all so cultured to see things end happily, that it is deeply shocking to see it end with Arturo Ui and his henchmen in total dominant triumph - his final speech to the people (cauliflower vendors) of Chicago and Cicero is astonishingly reminiscent of the Hitler speeches at the Nuremberg and other rallies, even down to the minute of silence at the start, and the build up to a crescendo of anger and triumphalist hand gestures. 

Sunday Lunch in sunny November

6th Nov 2011: on a sunny day in November we had an enjoyable dinner in our house with our friends, the Harms, and with Sal's sister Rose and her partner Paul. Apologies, I forgot to take a picture of the event, but here's a picture of Paul and Rose's PV array!

Ruddigore at Theatre Royal

1st Nov 2011: It's years since I have been to a Gilbert and Sullivan, and possibly we may never have been to one together - what have we missed!? So, we went to the Opera North production of Ruddigore. Great fun!

Victoria Gardens

30 Oct 2011: We went for a Sunday walk in the Victoria Gardens and the Meadows. There's a lot of work going on (to do with flood prevention), so it's difficult to find a way into this secret garden. Here's the statue of Victoria, who I am glad to see still has her bronze Art nouveau panels on the plinth.
  This brings back memories as we used to bring the children here often when they were young and we lived at Elm Tree Avenue... and I remember Henry asking if Victoria was holding a teapot.

Overlooking the Victoria Gardens is the new Green St housing development, by Marsh Grochowski, built by Igloo properties.

We took a detour to look at Julian Marsh's house, a remarkable development on a corner (replacing an old meat factory?) forming a terraced edge to the houses in either direction. It is remarkable... and amazing faith in the area that he should build it there. The walk ended with afternoon tea in the Riverbank pub by Trent Bridge.

Vicki and Paul

9 Oct 2011: We took a trip to the Welsh borders (south of Hereford) to visit Vicki and Paul, long standing friends of Sally. They live in this lovely little John Nash house. The bit nearest the road is as Nash built it, and it has been extended a couple of times (they still get passers by stopping by to admire it). They are interested in doing something to improve the energy balance, so we were discussing heat pumps and PV - over a splendid lunch. The best option for PV could be a grid of PV panels in the orchard south of the house. We also heard enjoyable stories about touring with the Pink Floyd in the seventies.
(PS John Nash 1752-1835, master planner of Regent St, Regent's Park, architect to royalty, including Buckingham Palace and completion of the Brighton Royal Pavilion.... see the Wikipedia entry about him. Apparently, they occasionally get groups stopping in the lane to see the house, on a Nash-spotting architectural tour.)

Steve Jobs

7 October 2011: Steve Jobs died after his long illness, on 6th October 2011, his birthday.
    Anybody who know us is probably aware of how important Apple computers have been in our lives. We had the first Macintosh 128 in December 1984, and had it upgraded to a 512k, then to a Mac Plus, then went through the later models, had the Mac 2, the 2fx, the SE30 and SE and LC. We didn't bother with a Quadra or the first models of the Powerbooks, but came back in when the G3s and iMacs were made. I still have the oldest Mac Portable in the UK, brought over to UK from New York in Concorde on the day of its US launch in 1989.
   I ran MacTel BBS for 14 years, having taken it on from Paul Beaumont (when he went to University) and then it sort of stayed with us till 1999. We had the two MacSeptembers in 1987 and 1989 (with David Thomas), and had a magazine called Clipboard, based on the musings of MacTel. The BBS itself ran through several models of computer, starting with the original Mac, then a Dell PC, then back to Macs (using a Performa with a high pile of CD drives and hard disks, and a stack of modems.)
  Then we started dealing in second hand macs, buying them from a company in East London who redistributed machines for Apple Commercial Credit, and this grew to an authorised dealership, Exmicro, selling new computers.
  Ironically, it was the arrival of Steve back to Apple in 1996 that was the beginning of the end for us, as he toughened up the retail outlets, and small dealers disappeared - but the product line improved so vastly, that much of what he now has been credited with - the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad all came after this date. Thinking back to when the Lisa and Mac came out, few remember what a tedious thing MSDOS and the IBM PC was, and going back further to 1976 (or was it 1977) few remember that when the Apple 2 came out, computers were commonly the size of wardrobes or freezers, and needed more space than that for the air conditioning.

Lambley House

View from the South, back garden
The sloping conservatory members have been replaced

1 Oct 2011: On the hottest October day in weather history! We had the Melton Rd Shoppers market in the morning, and DNC did his stint for Rushcliffe Solar on the WB Transition stand.
    Later Dnc went to the Lambley house, designed in 1981-2, for a visit to the owners Mike and Myrtle Felstead. They've spend quite a lot rebuilding the conservatory, and had borrowed the original drawings for reference. There was an element of thermal storage in the building, and it has whole house MVHR since 1981, which must be one of the first ever fitted! How I wish that I had stayed with that energy efficient design idea after that, it seems like 30 years gone round, and here I am back doing thermal storage and heat reclaim.

View from the lane, the north side. The Vee dormer was
a later addition

Cleopatra Ballet

1 Oct 2011:  In the evening we went to the Northern Ballet production of Cleopatra, at the Theatre Royal. This is such an infinitely sad story, especially when compressed into one evening - although in reality, the mixture of triumphant and tragic events took places over 39 years.
See some excerpts on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auk4Oy-cfzk

The evening was warm and the city centre full of cheerful people. Nottingham seems to have a very latin culture in warm evenings, and the night before, Chapel Bar was entirely full of outdoor tables and seating, and people enjoying the evening, at 11pm!

Hugh McClintock Birthday

30 Sept 2011: It is the 65th birthday of our long standing friend Hugh McClintock and we had a small tea party in their garden with their friends the Jones (who we regularly spend New Year with) and with the Edwards. We've all known each other since the days of the NCT and the toddler support group of the early eighties, through Pedals and many other connections.

   Di was short of lettered candlesticks, so we had to sing Hugh a 'Ha py Birthday' His regular cycling must be helping because he had enough breath to blow them all out first time!
  The weather was wonderful, part of the heatwave that is giving England an 'Indian Summer'.

Ballet about Caravaggio

Montage of Caravaggio paintings, demonstrating
chairoscuro - lively contrast of dark and light

28 Sept 2011: We went to the Playhouse for a modern Ballet performance, based on the life of Caravaggio. Apparently, it was the world premiere! and on the very night we attended. The music varied from pure electronic to very modern italian dance music, and for much of the time, the dancers were leading towards arrangements of subjects that appeared in the paintings - such as Doubting Thomas, or David and Goliath.
  We saw a Caravaggio last week in Genova in the Palazzo Bianco, and I wish I could remember which one it was.
  The ballet was put on by the Darshan Singh Bhuller company (and he was sitting with the audience viewing his creation).
  The ballet starts with Caravaggio (1571-1610) dying of fever and having flashbacks to his turbulent life - and it was an  extraordinary life, shared with Popes, prostitutes, beggars, rent boys, gamblers etc. The Ballet culminates with the game of royal Tennis in which he got into an argument over a bet, and finished killing the other man - for the rest of his life, he was on the run - still painting. I gather that he was due for a papal pardon at the age of 39, but he died of fever while travelling to Rome.

Italy summer 2011

Antoniella's dome at Novara

Sept 2011: We have been in Torino for three days, and before that, we spent a day in Novara - that is almost unknown to tourists, and it was pleasant to be in an Italian town that was just that.
    We seem unexpectedly to be in search of very tall things. Novara has an exceedingly tall dome over its principal church St Gaudenzio, but nobody seems to take an interest - we went inside and were the only people inside the vast building. (turns out later that the same architect, Antoniella, did the great Mole dome in Torino!)

Stresa from above (not my photo)

  We decided not to go to Torino direct, but to head north to Lago Maggiore, to see the magical coastline of that lake, and to see Stresa, the jewel like small town on the west coast - we stopped for a little lunch, I had a paddle in the lake water, and then we took the high road up to the hills, to go to Novara, cross country.
  On the way from Stresa to Torino is a hill town called Biella which has a large outskirts, including factories making cashmere-silk garments with many factory outlets. We drove about in a somewhat random fashion hoping to find one that was open... but didn't so continued on, hoping that the SatNav would be able to find the hotel in Novara.

_____________

There's a lot more to add, but I will have to retrofit the later articles under these, in date order. There are the wonders and pleasures of Torino, Chieri, Superga, Lingotto, Genova, Piacenza and Cremona to add in.

Natasha's wedding

25 August 2011: We went to the wedding of Natasha Evans (Niece) and Philip Way in St Peters, Parkstone. This was a big family affair, with both families fully represented. We stayed in the Bournemouth seafront Travelodge the night before. It was a wonderfully happy event, with everyone dressed in their best outfits, and the couple truly in love.

There was a long reception at Sandbanks hotel after (where Tasha works), and dinner dance, late into the night. The hotel is in prime position, closest to where boats pass by, in and out of Poole Harbour. The following morning, those who were still around met again in the coffee lounge of Sandbanks before departing home. Phil and Tasha went to Mauritius shortly after for the honeymoon.

  It was great to see such a lot of family, especially Robert and Jane (Dobbie), and all the Coles. oh, and Rupert played the saxophone during much of the drinks reception.

[I'll try dig out a few more photos for the blog.]

Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield July '11

28 July 2013: We visited Wakefield to see the Barbara Hepworth gallery - designed by David Chipperfield. This is largely in in-situ concrete (of exceptional quality) and is situated over the river Calder, south of the city centre. 

All the main displays are on one level, and most of the lower floor is for conservation and storage areas.


Most people approach the gallery from the north, on the footbridge over the Calder.


The windows are organised to give the best views with seemingly frameless fixing of the glass.

For more info about the gallery, see:

http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/

Fountains Abbey July '11

27 July 2011: We took a long weekend in Yorkshire (staying the night in Harrogate) , and started with a drive to Fountains Abbey near Ripon. This cistercian abbey was one of the largest monasteries in the North, and seemed to be the main node for the regional economy, health, education etc. It is difficult to believe that such cultural destruction could have occurred, but greed combined with despotic level of power knows no bounds. 

Apart from the main Abbey, the supporting outbuildings extend for a very long way. The residential population must have been huge.


Fountains has extensive grounds with the Georgian Water garden of Studley Royal.


Some kind visitor offered to take our picture


Nave interior


The small village buildings nearby are undoubtedly built from stones quarried from the Abbey.

Dame Stella delights

21 June 2011: On the summer solstice evening, we went to an evening of the Lowdham Book Festival, with Dame Stella Rimington stepping in at short notice to replace the BBC journalist John Simpson. She was director general of MI5 in the nineties, and probably the inspiration behind having Judi Dench playing the part of 'M' in the Bond movies. She is now a successful novelist, with the character Liz Carlyle (not totally based on herself) playing her part to defend Britain against spooks, spies and saboteurs.
  She really was a good speaker (I think she went to school in Nottingham so this is her old home), and she answered all the questions well, including two from DNC, one about the Iraq 'dodgy dossier' and one asking her if she had met Judi Dench.

Great Notts Bike Ride 2011

19 June 2011: I (DNC) took part in the GNBR for another year on the 58 mile ride. I wondered where everyone had gone, apparently most people had left at 8 am, but as the departure time was any time between 8am and 11, I thought it was alright to turn up at 9 o clock. I rode with someone called Alison who shared the ride with me last year.
    All the way round, we found very few people, the communality was missing altogether. At the half time lunch stop at Kelham, there were only one other picnic table with people sitting. None of the usual buzz of Newark. After Kelham, the route changed from its normal easy Trent side cruise into a nasty ride along the busy A616, and an even nastier long hill climb up to Eakring (where there was no feed-station), and back down the hill again to Southwell.
   I think nobody had thought it through or ridden the route at normal speed. They expected the ride to be 8 hours (including stops), but by 4pm, they were already taking down signs and closing the feed-stations - no tea or anything at Thurgarton, only 5 hours after the latest start time of 11am, and nothing organised at Eakring, the most distant part of the ride. Any Alison's trip computer said that the ride was 65 miles, not 58 miles!
  The original concept of the 50 mile ride was to enable light weight riders like me to extend our normal range by making a 50 mile cruising route that stays mainly on the plain. The hill climbs should be for the 72 mile sportive route. The start should be restored to 9am, with everybody encourage to leave in that hour, and nobody allowed after 10am. The bunching at the start is part of the pleasure of the ride.
  I had a horrible experience.... losing my iPhone somewhere along the route (fell out of the panier), but didn't discover it till we got to Thurgaton, about 12 miles after I last used it. We texted the phone with my home landline, and thankfully, the phone had been picked up before it had been run over by a car, and the cyclist who found it was one of the few people who was actually behind us. So we waited at Holme Pierrepont and he brought it to us, and collected a good reward!
    Hence... No Photographs!

Sister Daphne's 60th

14 May 2011: It was Daphne's 60th birthday, so there was an Evans family barbecue in the garden of Natasha's house, in Hill Crest Rd, Poole. All had a good time.
  We picked up Desmond from Birmingham on the way down, to save fuel for the drive down to Poole.
  We're planning to return in August for Natasha's wedding.

Desmond, Daphne and DNC






Jo is alert for any camera, Tasha and Phil in the background take it easy.

DNC, Daphne and Des	Daphne decides it's time for cake: we all enjoy!

Sally, Carol, Phil and Jane's David

A life passes on...

26 April '11: my dear Tabby cat Becks, who in this picture is taking an interest in the datalogging process for my Sunboxes (in case we dropped some food nearby) has passed away... and I have to bury him in the garden.
  He was about fifteen, and had difficulty breathing and eating, so we had to do the right thing for him.
  Long live the memory of Becks! He will live on in my chargingtheearth blog, for certain!

Birthday meet at Owlers April'11

25 April 2013: We took a trip up the M1 to join Rose for Sally's 61st birthday celebration, at Owlers in Hebden Bridge. 

The weather was excellent and we all ate outside.

It has been an amazingly sunny April and it's lucky that Rose and Paul installed their solar panels beforehand. The new extension is great, blending in well with the existing house.

Despite the rainless April, the 6000 litre garden water tank is continually replenished from the spring on the hill behind, and keeps the Owlers garden growing well.

Nicholson-Cole family relaxing under the modern staircase in Owlers



The Wheelers, Stewarts and N-Coles. Dan+Fran and Phil+Rachel joined us later in the day. Sorry, not to forget Lucian, Dan+Fran's young son!



Sophie and Barney drove the whole way here in her Picanto