Wednesday 14 March 2012

Work outing; carpets and plastering; water

Accompanied Judith and Guy to a meeting last Thursday with HESA representatives at their offices in Cheltenham. I had originally been down to drive, but had managed to get out of that so we all took the train from MK, and very nice too – trains not crowded and a lovely sunny day. Had a useful two-hour meeting with HESA, who always seem to me an extremely on-the-ball and well organised outfit, then had lunch before ambling back to the station. A very civilised day.

Marina view

Had another useful weekend, starting with taking Harley and Lola to the vets for jabs, followed as per usual by Ruth muttering about the cost and threatening to re-home then. After they had been released from their cage and had scurried off resentfully, Harley under the bed and Lola under the coffee table, we welcomed Marc from Rainbow Carpets to measure up the bedrooms and give us an official quote for re-carpeting. The carpet was duly ordered and I gather that it is now in stock, so we just have to arrange a date for fitting. Quelle excitement. I think I have been banned from wearing shoes of any kind upstairs once it is installed. On Sunday morning, we had a return visit from Mark the plasterer to inspect our little cupboard in bedroom 1. He has been booked in to do the work next Saturday, which will be good but did mean a rush job to finish stripping the paper in time, a vile job but now more or less done.

We went up to the marina on Sunday afternoon for a low-key pasty lunch with Ray and a walk around some new permitted paths which have recently been opened up. At the moment the paths, which snake around the various former gravel pits, are exposed and not terribly interesting, but judging by the amount of new planting, the intention seems to be to establish more greenery. We finished up with an outdoor drink at Boaters, the new and renamed marina bar and eatery.

Chester; car repairs; misc constructive activity

Left MK blisteringly early on Thursday 23rd (0622 train – but it meant a return ticket for only £24) bound for a city break in Chester with Mum. Pictures here. We had, after some dithering (mainly on my part), ended up booking into a Premier Inn again, so after dumping bags we set off towards the city with the aim of locating a café for breakfast. After a pleasant stroll through Grosvenor Park and along the river, where we stopped to admire the weir and the Old Dee Bridge, we walked into the city centre and had a fine breakfast at a branch of Carluccio’s. Viewed the Town Hall and the cute baby elephant statue in Town Hall Square (though it was impossible to take a photo of it that didn’t also include man on bench eating pasty) and then went to visit Chester Cathedral. We paid the entrance charge with a certain bad grace – although Mum had toyed with the idea beforehand of claiming she was there for the purposes of worship (apparently you can get in free if that’s the case), in the event we didn’t think we’d manage to look devout enough, so paid the fee. Impressive building and the red sandstone is striking.

Chester weir and Old Dee Bridge

Disappointingly, we couldn’t get into the Cloister Garden as it was shut for safety reasons due to the paving slabs being wet (somewhat mysteriously, as it was a sunny day). Afterwards we had a wander along part of the Rows and called into the Mad Hatter’s Tearoom for an indulgent cupcake, before taking a late afternoon walk along part of the City Walls and stopping for a glass of wine at The Pelican. We ate dinner at Artichoke in the Steam Mill – lovely food though I left almost unable to move. Must practice that elegant small portions thing.

On the Friday we had a quick breakfast at the PI before setting out for Chester Zoo. My painstaking research beforehand had identified the bus we needed to take, so after a 15-minute bus journey we were deposited at the Zoo entrance along with a number of other people, when it promptly began pouring with rain. Luckily, I had stuffed into my rucksack the new Muji raincoat I had bought earlier in the week to replace the Pocket Coat, so was able to wear this, albeit it does look completely absurd (having seen this photo Ruth has asked me never to wear it in her company). I haven’t yet cut it to size as per the instructions, so that would probably help.

We had a pleasant, albeit damp, wander around the Zoo, though found the signposting a little vague so spent quite a while figuring out how to get to our chosen enclosures. Once back in Chester we went for tea at the Refectory Café in the Cathedral – splendid setting in the 13th century monks’ dining hall. We duly admired the large east window and the tapestry on the west wall. Later we had an evening walk around the ruins at the east side of the Church of St John the Baptist and had a look at the Roman Amphitheatre, before going for dinner at Ristorante Sergio, a traditional-style Italian complete with exuberant head waiter. In the morning Mum went off to get her train while I went for a walk along the river and over the Queen’s Park footbridge, opened in 1923 in front of sundry Aldermen, where I had a quick poke around the posh streets on the other side before walking along the river the other way past Chester Castle and the extravagant Propylaeum, before heading back for my train.

Took the car in to Anglos on the Monday morning and was told that the wheel rim (?) was split, not just bent, meaning that a quick bash back into shape wasn’t going to be possible. I had been assuming that one of the advantages of owning a Ford would be that parts would be readily available in the UK, but no, it turned out that the correct wheel had to be ordered from Germany and wouldn’t arrive until Thursday. Anglos reckon that the chap who had my car from new ordered non-standard wheels for it. How helpful. I duly took the car back on Thursday, and it now has a new wheel, at a cost of £220. I have apologised to it and am now driving extremely carefully.

Met at Ali's house in Tilehurst on Thursday evening for a small select Book Group gathering, though Ali's daughter stayed to pad out our numbers. Discussed Louise Stern's Chattering, an interesting collection of short stories written from the point of view of deaf people. Ali had announced beforehand that we were getting baked potatoes, which underrepresented the delicious twice-baked jobs with pancetta and cheese that were served up - very nice.


Ruth and I both booked Friday off and had a pleasantly domestic few days, starting with a trip to the tip on Friday morning to offload some rubble left over from the plastering, a couple of buckets of soot and other crap from digging Harley out of the chimney, and the top portion of the cordyline which Ruth trimmed the previous weekend to allow space for the new bamboo to (hopefully) grow and flourish. We then drove over to Dobbies Garden Centre on a bit of a whim and had lunch, followed by an unplanned purchase of a granite orb which is going to form a new water feature for the garden. Later we took the car along to Nisi Hand Car Wash on Cardiff Road, near the Cow Lane bridges, for a bit of a buffing by way of compensation for breaking its wheel. Ruth persuaded me to go for the Gold Service, but in fact the only extra with that appears to have been an extremely pungent air freshener which I may have to dispense with soon as the whole car now stinks of apples.

Noticed from an ad on the side of the KFC at Reading Retail Park that KFC now includes gravy among its offerings. I haven’t had a KFC for about 20 years, but this sounds particularly unpleasant – though, amazingly, there’s actually a Facebook page dedicated to it. Comparable perhaps to the new offering on the Domino’s Pizza menu of a stuffed crust with mozzarella and barbecue sauce – just not an appropriate combination.

Jacksons Lane looking south

On Saturday, continuing the constructiveness, we visited Rainbow Carpets on Caversham Road and actually chose a carpet for bedrooms 1 and 2 (though the actual decision-making may have been helped by my refusing to leave the shop until we’d chosen one). Very helpful chap who gave us a provisional estimate then and there and a couple of samples to take home, with an appointment to come and measure up next Saturday.


Made a particularly excellent asparagus and chive frittata on Saturday evening, which Ruth has suggested is worthy of blogging. Here it is.

On Sunday, despite the dire weather forecast, we went for a walk through Caversham Heights via Chazey Road and up Jacksons Lane, which bisects Caversham Heath golf course. The rain really set in at this point (no golfers in sight) but Ruth impressed me by remaining in reasonable spirits, though there were threats along the lines of my owing her a ruched blind or two in compensation. Then out on to the A4074 at Chazey Heath where I had originally thought of stopping for a pint at the Pack Saddle, but as it was only 11.10am and we looked like drowned rats, we passed on that and headed back into Caversham.

In an attempt to meet more people in MK I went for a pleasant dinner on Tuesday evening at the MK branch of Strada with members of the OU's LGBT Network. Bagged a lift with Jeannie, who I've met a couple of times, and met several new people including retired couple Maggie and Sylvia - Maggie, who retired from the OU last year after thirty years, is apparently a former European judo bronze medallist. There's constructive activity.