Rundown of December (pre-Christmas)

Book Group at Ali’s house on 1 December to discuss Quentin Letts’ The Speaker’s Wife. Started out with some prejudice given that Letts writes for the Daily Mail. Also, the blurb on the back refers to ‘an England which has neglected its beliefs’. Groan. Christians with a persecution complex are all I need. It was an enjoyable read if you abstract away from the irritating bits, including the ridiculously OTT depiction of the ‘celebrity atheist’, Dymock – he once drowned gerbils for God’s sake. And he’s ‘anti-love’ – as if that has anything to do with atheism. The book’s central character, the C of E vicar Tom Ross, is a well-drawn character – complex and flawed – but most of the others are pretty two-dimensional. Fun though and I was amused by the church of 'Alleluia! Jesus'.

Ruth and I drove out for a pre-Christmas visit to The Tree Barn at Christmas Common, which is mainly a Christmas tree growers but also has a shop selling posh and tasteful decorations - in fact we bought two baubles made out of star anise for about £8 each, which was a bit extravagant though they do smell nice. The shop was so crowded we could barely move around so we didn’t stay too long. Went on for a Welsh rarebit lunch at the Herb Farm at Sonning Common. Then called in at the Playhatch garden centre and bought a new artificial tree, as Ruth wanted a better specimen than the two little cheap ones I've used for years. The new tree is a slimline model as we don’t have much available width. Looked dead tasteful once it was decorated.

Went out for a joint Returns-ISA team (plus Harvey, the head of Planning & Forecasting) Christmas lunch on 12th December, that being the latest date available before various people disappeared off on leave. Had a pleasant lunch at Zizzi in the Hub. Hoa (on the left) looks particularly demob-happy, probably because he was about to depart on a pre-Christmas ski trip. I was nothing like as drunk as I look – I’d only had about half of a small glass of rosé.

Ruth and I went for a two-night pre-Christmas mini-break in Cardiff in mid-December, for no particular reason other than to look at twinkly lights and possibly buy a few festive trinkets. We stayed in the Park Plaza, as Ruth had stayed there for a week on a business trip a while back and thought I would like it. Indeed I did – it’s large, modern, luxe and impersonal, all the things I like in a hotel.

Our room was supposed to have a view of Cathays Park, but this was obscured by a Winder Wonderland extravaganza in between – not that we were in the room much during daylight hours anyway. Being not long before Christmas, the hotel’s lobby and bar were packed out with office parties on both the evenings we stayed, something I dimly hadn’t factored in beforehand. We did manage to book dinner in the restaurant for the second night and were reassured to note there were a few other couples dotted around among all the revelers. In fairness to the staff both the food and service were very good.

We caught a little one-carriage shuttle train from Queen Street down to Cardiff Bay, and had a walk out to the Barrage and back, and tea in the little Norwegian Church. It was a particularly lovely wintry day.

Looking out from the Barrage

Add caption

The Wales Millennium Centre

Visited the Senedd - when Mum and I went there in 2010 we had been able just to wander in through the main doors, but there was none of that on this occasion – Ruth and I were funnelled in through a security room where both us and our bags had to be scanned before we were allowed in. A bit OTT in my view but there you are.

We did a bit of wandering around shops and through the arcades, which were prettily swathed in twinkly lights. Ruth had her eyebrows threaded at Bollywood Eyebrows. We went into the market briefly. We had a nice lunch at Wahaca – a chain I’d never tried out before – and dinner on the first night at a quirky restaurant called The Meating Place, specializing in, unsurprisingly, meat. In fact some of the meat was served on skewers hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Primal.

Rundown of November

Attended the ‘Data Matters: work effectively in the new HE landscape’ conference on 3rd November, a joint endeavour between HESA, JISC and the QAA. Lovely venue, though I walked past the entrance several times, staring confusedly at Google Maps, before being beckoned inside by a kindly security guard (not the first time). Met several other colleagues from the Strategy & Information Office who were also attending, plus Susan, ex-of Returns team but now part of the Quality Enhancement and Learning Analytics (think I’ve got that right) team in LTI.

Went up to London again the following day to meet up with Helen. For a change, and having only recently discovered the Milton Keynes Coachway, I went by National Express coach rather than taking the train. Boarded coach, which was already fairly crowded by the time it got to MK, and found a seat next to a sleeping teenager (one of many such on board). In the main a fairly dull journey down the M1; it got more interesting once we were into London. Plus side of the coach: the ticket was less than half the cost of the train ticket; down side: the journey takes twice as long, and ends up at the dispiriting Victoria Coach Station. Don’t think I’d taken a coach from Victoria since I was a postgrad at Essex, when to save money I sometimes used to go by coach back to Colchester. Was really expecting it to have undergone a refurb in the meantime but no, it seems to just be even more of a pee-stained dump. Given that it appears heavily used, including presumably by a good many tourists, it could really do with an overhaul.

Caught up with Helen over lunch at the branch of Strada near the Festival Hall before walking across the river to Tate Britain. Helen had mooted the idea of going to the Impressionists exhibition that runs until May, but in the event we decided we didn't feel inclined to pay the admission fee and that we'd just have a mooch around some of the free galleries instead. Which we did, here are some of the things we saw.

Untitled (One Hundred Spaces) by Rachel Whiteread

Akua-Ba by John Skeaping

Not sure about this one

We had tea in the (packed) café before I made my way back to Victoria Coach Station to catch the return coach back to MK. Not sure the whole coach thing is something I'll be doing frequently.

Met up with Ray's sister Sharon on 11th November for lunch in the café at Stubbings. Sharon shared her plans for a creative project she is engaged in - I'm waiting to hear more in due course. We had an enjoyable wander around the Christmas display afterwards.

Went up to London again on 19th to visit Ruth's friend Patrick, his now-wife Barbara and their c. eight-month old son Ben. Patrick and Barbara are renting a cute, if snug, little house in Seaforth Crescent in Islington, part of a terrace of former council housing. Apparently even now only a couple of them are privately owned, including the one Patrick and Barbara are living in, which they're renting from an ex-colleague of Patrick's. Visions of their neighbours having been able to be resident for years in an expensive part of London on a peppercorn rent. Bah. We went for Sunday lunch at a pub a few streets away, whose name I've forgotten but it might have been The Railway Tavern on St Jude Street. Nice roasts.

Had a birthday tea party at Mum and Dad's on Sunday 26th as a joint celebration for Mum and Huwie. Huw turned one on 29 November. Mum's cousin Jonathan came for lunch and Anne and Ian joined us later for tea.

Mum and Huwie

What does the internet know about you?

Snip below from MapMyWalk showing a short walk I did a while back. What caught my eye was the ad below it – was this random, or targeted in some way? Does what the internet can gleam about me suggest that I might be the type of person who wets the bed?

Also, this suggested list from a Google search. All I'd done was type in the letter ‘w’, for heaven’s sake. Does the internet think, based on my age, that the first suggested item is the kind of thing I'll be interested in? I can't now remember what I was searching for information on, but it certainly wasn't that.

In a similar vein, I had a recommendation pop up for this app. FFS. Assume TENA Lady products will be next.

Rundown of October

After passing M140 (Introducing statistics) with a distinction (hurrah), started M248 (Analysing data) in October. It’s a level 2 stats module so a step up from M140. So far it’s interesting, but indeed quite challenging. Will need to adopt a more constructive attitude than I did with MST124, e.g. as in this interaction with a practice quiz question earlier this year:

Have been having fun with the Duolingo language learning app to revise/learn some Dutch. Bart seemed unimpressed with my admission that Ik spreek geen Nederlands was about all I could say in the language. Charmed to see from this that it’s an enlightened sort of app:

Went on a ‘Heidi Plus Advanced’ training day on the 12th at Imparando (UK) Ltd, located way out on Commercial Road. Quite a trek. Learned that the excellent Dan Kidd is leaving HESA shortly, which is a shame.

Ordered myself a new table and chairs (‘Jerry’ chairs and ‘Lance’ table) from Habitat and, more surprisingly, managed to assemble it by myself over the course of a weekend in MK. Love it so far. Pretty easy to assemble though the table top was quite heavy.

Boxes

Finished product

Advertised the old set on the Wolverton Park Facebook group and, very conveniently, a young couple from a few doors down wanted it and duly came along to relieve me of it. How’s that for karma?

Managed to make Book Group again in October, this time at Lesley's house to discuss Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Most of us had liked it, apart from Helen, who thought that the boy Oskar wasn't plausibly autistic (not that autism is ever actually mentioned in the book) before going on to say that people on the autistic spectrum annoy her anyway, a view apparently influenced by watching The Bridge.

Booked the afternoon off on Tuesday 31st to meet up with Ray for some Samhain celebration. We started by going over to Furzton Lake and having a walk around. It was a grey day, as the photo suggests, but we collected some berries and autumn leaves for my seasonal display.

Furzton Lake

Took a detour at Ray’s request to walk around some of the perimeter of the National Bowl. Not really sure what the story of this venue is – it has apparently hosted some big names in the past, but these days has a distinctly abandoned air. As if to underline this, a rat ran across in front of the entrance gates shortly after I’d taken the photo below.

The National Bowl entrance

Rusty-looking perimeter fence

We later had dinner at my flat and lit candles for friends and relatives who have died - we did this last year and have adopted it as being quite a nice little ritual.

OU noticeboard again. This gets straight to the point:

Also OU noticeboard. So, are naughty steps like a thing that you can buy?

Miscellany

Important to mention, I feel, that this picture of short-lived 1980s band Kajagoogoo has been adorning one of the whiteboards in Bart’s and my office for a month or so. Can’t remember now quite how they cropped up in conversation with Matt, but I must have confessed I’d been a fan at the time of their biggest hit ‘Too Shy’. In my defence, I was 14 and Smash Hits was adorned with their photos at the time. Following this conversation, Matt printed out this picture for me on the office colour printer, no doubt using more than his fair allocation of toner.

Given the brief window of fame enjoyed by Kajagoogoo, it’s been interesting to note which colleagues coming into the office have actually known who they are – it’s noticeably been people in a fairly narrow age range of approximately mid-forties to early fifties.

Learned from Matt that bass player Nick Beggs actually went on to have quite a respectable career as a rock guitarist. Unsure what Limahl has been up to since The NeverEnding Story, but according to Wikipedia, he's "openly gay", the shameless sod.

While sorting out a mess of paperwork this week prior to the Christmas break, I came across various party leaflets from June’s general election. So, the election, eh. Being on the electoral register in two constituencies, due to whole dual-living shebang, enabled me to spot the subtly top-down approach to the Conservative party’s pre-election publicity on this occasion. Couldn’t decide whether to be amused that it was thought necessary to emphasise to the public – and perhaps to the MPs themselves – that each Tory candidate really did support the PM, honestly.


In the event, Rob Wilson lost his Reading East seat to Labour’s Matt Rodda, which I was pleased about, less on account of anything to do with Rodda – though he has been around in Reading for a while so perhaps deserves a go – than because Rob Wilson supported remaining in the EU prior to the referendum, and promptly switched his allegiance to Leave afterwards, under the guise of “we must heed the will of the people”, or some such b*ll*cks, even though Reading was pro-Remain by 58% to 42%.

¹

Politics leads me laterally onto a memory of hearing Conservative MP and Chairman of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady announced on Radio 4 a while back, prompting me to check if he was the same chap who was in my college at Durham in the late 1980s. Indeed he was. We weren’t personally acquainted but Brady stood out rather, already looking like a Tory MP even at 20 – indeed, he looks remarkably similar now judging by the images that a Google search brings up.

Recalling others among the slew of posh people at St Aidan’s: my first year roommate Astrid Salvesen was the daughter of a golf course architect and former captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, and the enigmatic (i.e. I fancied her) Anna Bonas, who roomed on the corridor below me with her soft blonde hair and hosted dinner parties in the cramped college kitchens, is apparently the cousin of Prince Harry’s ex Cressida (though Cressida must be a good deal younger) and according to this, gave her surname to the Oliver Bonas chain of womenswear and accessories shops.

Going a bit further back, I was at school with chick-lit author Fiona Walker, whom I remember as being a pleasant girl even if she did once get out of running the 1500 metres by breaking into sobs partway round the course. I haven’t yet read any of her books but have been meaning to read one just to see what it’s like. (More famously, the lovely Lucy Worsley also went to St Bart's, but as she wasn’t in my year I can’t really count her.)

¹ Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36616028.

Walk from Monsal Head, 6.95 miles

7 October

Yes, we drove for two hours each way to do a seven-mile walk. Well, I didn’t, Galina did. But the point stands.

My colleague Rebecca, who was one of the ‘OU Pretty Things’ team that did the BHF walk in May, announced her intention a few months ago of setting herself a Three Peaks challenge over the next year – not the actual Three Peaks Challenge as that’s a bit mental, but doing Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike over the course of the year. With that in mind, she’d suggested doing a walk further afield in order to get some practice at steeper climbs and had suggested either the Brecon Beacons or the Peak District. As the Peaks (or the south Peaks, at any rate) are a shorter drive from Milton Keynes, we plumped for that. Rebecca’s original (probably quite sensible) plan had been to drive up the evening before and stay over, but several of the others indicated that they’d prefer to do it in a day, so that was what we did in the end. Galina volunteered her family’s people carrier and we all met at the Milton Keynes Coachway at 7:00 am on the chosen Saturday, and piled in.

On arrival we parked at the Monsal Head car park and walked down to the floor of Monsal Dale, pausing for photos by the River Wye (one of several, seemingly).

Sara, Galina, Hai, Matt and me [Rebecca taking photo]

Lunch

Steep climb up to Brushfield Hough. Briefly crossed the Wye for the second time in Millers Dale to visit Litton Mill, which I’m sure I remember learning about in school as being an example of some pretty ghastly working conditions. It’s now converted into accommodation. We paused here for lunch, along with another group of walkers.

Briefly crossed over the Monsal Trail, which apparently used to carry the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway. Quite a mouthful, but it must have been a scenic route.

Monsal Trail

We had a quick look into Litton Tunnel - the trail continues through the tunnel, but Rebecca elected to go up and over, using what one walk blogger I found termed "an exhilarating path clinging to the bank of the valley" (sorry, I'd reference you if I could find the article again). It was indeed quite exhilarating, though the others with cooler heads than mine didn't seem too bothered by it. Here we are heading to peruse Litton Tunnel; the start of the 'up and over' path can be seen on the left. The second photo, taken by Rebecca, shows us making our way along the path - the figure at the rear is me having a quick sit down to gather myself.

We finished the walk by crossing the viaduct and returning to Monsal Head, where we went for tea and cake in Hobb's Café.

View from the viaduct

Tea

Interesting walk with some great views, though some quite strenuous bits in parts (for my level of fitness, at least). Bit of a drizzly day.

Took the opportunity on this walk to try out the Buff I'd recently bought on Dave's recommendation, after the blustery Chilterns experience in previous post. It indeed proved quite useful.

Map and elevation below:

Walk in the Chilterns, 8.6 miles

10 September

Weekend walk with Matt and Rebecca from work. It was a route Rebecca had evidently walked before, but new to me. We took the train to Tring and walked from the station towards the village of Aldbury, taking a footpath towards Pitstone Hill. Diverted a short way to visit Ivinghoe Beacon, the eastern end of the Ridgeway. It was a blustery day, as evidenced by this selfie I took. Great views though.

Rebecca and Matt on Ivinghoe Beacon

We returned via some woodland belonging to the Ashridge Estate, taking in the Bridgewater Monument, where we queued briefly for the café before giving it up as a bad job. We walked back to Aldbury and had a drink in The Greyhound before getting the train back to MK.

Map and elevation from MapMyWalk below. The northern tip of the map was the diversion to Ivinghoe Beacon.