July in the Garden...

How beautiful are Aubergine flowers?

July so often seems to be where the garden really seems to come into its own - but also where it demands a fair bit of work and attention, and this year is no exception on that! 

Tromboncino Squashes

The month dawned sunny and warm, with the temperatures ramping up until the second week of the month saw us in the year's third heatwave with temperatures above 30°C for a run of days - unsurprisingly this means rather a lot of watering, particularly for our huge number of tomato plants. This is another reason why MrEH has been firmly told we will NOT have that many plants next year! Sadly the San Marzano variety have struggled with the temperatures and the fluctuating moisture levels - we're losing a lot of fruit to blossom end rot and there really isn't much we can do to prevent it. First past the post on fruiting though was Maskotka - a variety we hadn't grown before but which we would happily choose again, nice tasty fruits, slightly larger than a standard cherry tomato, and prolific. By the end of the month the Gardeners Delight and Minibel were also joining in, and we're not expecting to need to purchase tomatoes for the next little while now. 

Tomato harvest ramping up!

Although the new water butt has very much proved its worth simply by how fast it fills, it does of course still require some rain to get - and keep - it full, and that has been in short supply. Realising that not only does it take the rain from our roof, but next door's too was an added bonus. We’ve prioritised using the water from that when it has water in it - but unsurprisingly it doesn't take long for our 9 litre watering can to empty it, and even more so when we have a hosepipe ban - and yes, that is indeed where we find ourselves! Even a garden the size of ours takes a surprising amount of time when it all has to be watered by watering can, but it's worth the effort. We were grateful for a short but heavy downpour mid-month but that's al the rain we've seen in ages.

A garden visitor that is always welcome!

Tromboncino squashes are proving to be a great success - although again we have far too many plants as I mentioned last month. Thank goodness though checking the info on these confirms that if harvested young they can be used effectively as courgettes - we're currently quite pleased about this as at the moment the actual courgettes really aren't doing that well. Hopefully a run of at least slightly cooler temperatures might help on that score. Cucumbers are also struggling which is a shame as they did well last year - I think next year we'll look to get them in a sunnier spot perhaps. 

Sunflower - proving that the bees enjoy them!

Another thing doing really well this year is our sunflowers - with one out the front of the house absolutely proving its claim to the "giant" title, now being well over MrEH's head height and still climbing, while having multiple flowers on it too. The back garden ones aren't being left out either, with plenty of flower to be seen there as well. Lovely cheerful things - this is a "must have" for us in the garden now, and we were delighted to take a few spare plants that next door wanted rid of, too. The lavender has been positively covered in bees and we waited until it had properly finished flowering to cut it back, Similarly the Aquilegia was left to go to seed - this will give us some new plants in the garden, and some of the seed has also been scattered up the way in our little "guerilla gardening" spot where with any luck they might spring into life. Some very cheap reduced bedding plants from "hospital corner" at a favourite garden centre have also been filling the pots with blooms - that is such a good way of getting masses of colour for very little money, just make sure that the plants look like a good soaking and repotting will give them a new lease of life.

Peas have mostly finished, although a flurry of new growth is starting to flower as well so we may yet get some more. We have mostly stopped cropping the rhubarb now, although we may pick one more batch to cook and freeze. The strawberries are flowering again and we are starting to get odd fruit there again now - it's not been the best of years for them, but they are producing runners now and we're starting to pot those up ready for planting a couple of new troughs in the autumn. With luck beans will be the next thing we properly harvest - although look, this little Aubergine may have something to say about that! 

Robyn. 

A glimpse into the past...

 

Our lovely fireplace - seen here at Christmas

Pretty much as soon as we moved into the house we started trying to find out a bit about its history - the town itself is pretty well documented and we already knew a reasonable amount as we'd gone through the same exercise when we first moved here - indeed, I even have a blog site now with images of the town as it is now and references to the history. It is far harder to find information about specific areas of housing though - the building of the town was divided into neighbourhoods first and foremost, and then estate areas within that - we fall into one of the earlier neighbourhoods to be built, and had narrowed the building our house down to a narrow band of years around 1950, and had in fact managed to find some old photographs which bore this out also in a visit to our local museum. 

A couple of weeks back we were outside the house chatting with a builder who had come to quote for some work we're considering having done, when a gentleman walked past, hesitated for a moment, then said "I hope you don't mind me interrupting, but I was born in this house!" - well, as you can imagine, that caused QUITE the excitement! He told us that he was born in 1955, and lived in the house with his Mum (initially his Dad too, but sadly his Dad died when he was still very young) and 4 siblings too until they all gradually left home as they reached adulthood - imagine anyone being happy to have 6 people living in a 3 bedroom house now! They were the first family to live in the house from new - and had many happy years in it which is so lovely to know - it has always felt like a "happy house" if you know what I mean, we know our predecessors loved it here too. 

We asked if he would like to come in for a look round the downstairs (which is after all the bit that has changed the most) and he initially declined, but then a few minutes later asked if it would be OK if he changed his mind as he admitted he was curious to see how it looked and felt - we said that of course it was, and I lead him inside. The front room he told me was much the same - and yes, it did originally have an open fire, as would have been expected at that time! The back of the house has of course changed hugely thanks to our sellers building the extension, shed and garden office - he told me that the garden was of course much bigger when they were there which we'd known of but never really thought about - and they had 5 apple trees and a pear tree, if only THOSE were still there now! 

It was an absolutely fascinating conversation and really gave us insight into the house and its history which was lovely - a subsequent conversation with a neighbour later in the day helped fill in more blanks as well - it seems likely that we are the fourth people to live here since it as built in the very early 1950's - with a young couple with a couple of daughters filling the gap between the original family selling (after the death of his mother, by the sound of it) and our sellers moving in in the mid 2000s. It prompted me to look at some of the paperwork from when we bought the house too - including the copy we have of the original transfer from the Council when it was bought under Right to Buy  in the late 1980's - we now believe by our friend from the above conversation's mother. (I'm kicking myself, at no stage during the conversation did we think to get his name, or tell him ours!) MrEH & I have also agreed that a task for the winter is probably to pick up once again on more of the local history we'd looked into previously - perhaps with another trip to the Museum archives. 

Robyn

Grump Grump GRUMPY!

 

Red 8 & Circus 8 2014 - "Stop!"

So - right now we should be sitting on an RAF Base in Gloucestershire baking our backsides off and wielding our cameras at lots of fantastic aircraft at the Royal International Air Tattoo - lovely vintage ones, big commercial ones, heavy military ones and whizzy fast pointy ones -  and why are we not, you may well ask? Well, events in Iran have meant the cancellation of the event for this year - as soon as the USA started their little party, and rather a lot of B-52 & B-1 airframes started arriving at Fairford, we had our suspicions that the writing might be on the wall, and sure enough, late May saw the expected email land from RIAT telling us the news. It has to be said at the time it was just a case of shrug, think "not unexpected" and make some decisions around tickets, accommodation etc - but now the dates of the show have come and we're not there it is hitting harder!

2016 - Red 1 & Prince George

I first went to RIAT in 2014, and have been back every year that the show has run since, with the last few years being in the FRIAT (Friends of RIAT) enclosure with its grandstand seating, marquee and (the best bit) posh toilets!  we pay a premium for this of course with tickets pitched at the £300+ level, but also get the benefit of attending right from the first day of arrivals through to departures day which makes for 6 days of immense fun. We've seen ludicrously cold-for-July shows, lovely sunny shows, shows where there has been SO much rain that we've barely seen anything fly some days, shows where the relentless grey wall of cloud has been ever-present and shows when it's been so hot we honestly felt like we were frying. This year it must be said would probably have been one of the latter! Regardless though, it is always one of the highlights of the airshow season, and it does really feel very strange indeed to not be there!

2017 - Italian Tornado creating some heat...

It made me think back to some favourite moments from the years I've attended - with the first shot above being my absolute favourite RAF Red Arrows groundshot from my very first Circus at Work project in 2014. Then Circus 8 Ross was one of the original reasons for these projects starting, and has featured here on the blog a fair few times I think. the second photo I've chosen is also featuring the reds - this time then Red 1 David Montenegro with a rather little Prince George, along with the now Princess of Wales of course. I got a tip off a very short while before this visit happened and was lucky to be able to get myself in position to get some nice shots of their time with the team. 

2019 - Not all grey skies are bad...

Next up the Italian Tornado display aircraft from 2017 - this was an absolute highlight of the show that year and never more than when it took off on day 2 in nasty persistent drizzly rain and produced a sensational display that was worth getting the camera wet for!  Also memorable thanks to weather conditions was the now rather evocative shot of Battle of Britain Memorial flight Spitfire MK356 against heavy grey skies in 2019. I love the way the colour of that cloud brings out the colours of the aircraft, and also that it is being flown by my pal Andy. Sadly this is the aircraft that was lost in the crash at Coningsby in 2024, which also lead to the death of the then pilot, Squadron Leader Mark Long, I still love the photograph but seeing it now certainly makes me think. 

2022 - The Korean Black Eagles

A two year break over Covid in common with most other big events was certainly a blow, but because of the bigger picture was somehow slightly easier to swallow, and of course when we all got back there in 2022 it just felt like the biggest treat!  That year probably the biggest buzz surrounded the Korean Black Eagles who put on some absolutely sensational displays - they are probably the closest display team to the UK's Red Arrows in terms of precision and the dynamic nature of the display and I think pretty much the entire crowd was totally wowed by them. 

2024 - Turkish F-4 Phantom arriving

The 2024 show definitely saw a person highlight for me in the shape of my first sight of flying F-4 Phantoms - the one pictured above being from Turkey but there were also Greek ones attending too. There is just something special about these aircraft - it's far from just me who was excited to see them! The tail art on this one was spectacular too - the Greek aircraft also had tail art but sadly applied by transfers and those didn't survive the stresses of the transit and landing so well!

2025 - Apache pyros

I confess I struggled to choose a favourite shot or moment from the 2025 show - it could easily have been the Spitfire pair from the Aircraft Restoration Company and Rolls Royce, the stunning Danish F-16 solo display in its final ever UK displays, the Reds flypast with the RAF's newest aircraft the Wedgetail or indeed the incredible amount of "Spluff" - the aviation geek's nickname for vapour clouds - produced by several of the fast jet displays. In the end though I settled on the shot above of the Army Air Corps Apache display finale - that year's "Friday special" as it was the only day over the weekend it was performed! That was probably the shot that anyone who was there on the Friday wanted more than any other - and there was a LOT of politics and complaints afterwards about where on the display line it was performed! No complaints from those of us in the FRIAT grandstand though as you can probably tell! 

2023 - sneaky extra F-35 & Harrier shot!

I'm not sure whether that little look back over the years has made me feel better or worse about being stuck at home this year, but at least I know that Alysha, Byron, Marc & Tim are all feeling much the same levels of grumpiness. We're already planning for next year though and looking forward to it - and confirmation from the Air Tattoo team yesterday with the 2027 tickets helped a little perhaps - only a year to wait!

Robyn

Looking back...

 

...and down! A recent trip to Duxford set me thinking about the rather fantastic flight over London I did in the Classic Wings Dragon Rapide back in 2019 - a present from MrEH, and such a special experience!  I think I probably blogged about it at the time - I'd certainly be surprised if not - and there were probably more photos included then (I'm going to need to double check now aren't I!) but I found the one above just now and goodness me what a view of London that is!  We actually got closer to The Shard than that - at one stage it felt as though we were essentially circling directly around the top, although I suspect that was an optical illusion. 

Look carefully and find the Cutty Sark! 

Here we go - another photo that I don't believe I did post at the time - 2 for the price of one on a Looking Back post? Whatever next! 

Is that a Sombrero?!

We were back at the Shuttleworth Trust a couple of weekends ago for their "Festival of Flight" show. Some of my little group went both days, but it was also MrEH's birthday weekend so I opted to attend just on the Sunday - which was an excellent choice as the temperature was a LOT cooler thank goodness - those who were there the day before said it was really quite unpleasantly warm! The show days are structured into two parts with the main flying during the afternoon, then a shorter evening display after a 90 minute break, thus getting the "golden hour" light. 

As always the Trust get together a cracking mix of aircraft - choosing from both their own collection and many wonderful visitors too - it's always hard to know what to peg as the highlights and sometimes it can be the most unlikely things too! I think most people would probably include the beautiful Avro Anson Mk 1 at the top though - it flew alongside Shuttleworth's own Anson (a Mk 19) and then did a beautiful solo display too - ticking all the boxes for almost being worth the ticket money on its own!

The Flying Bulls aircraft are fairly rarely seen in the UK and so always create a bit of a buzz when a show books them - this time was no exception with them bringing over their DC3, P-38 (pictured above), B-25, P-51 and Corsair. Originally planned to be hosted at Shuttleworth itself for the weekend as I understand it, they ended up staying at Duxford instead (they were also booked for their summer airshow the following weekend) possibly because there were simply so many visiting aircraft at the Bedfordshire venue they ran out of space?! Their P-51 flying with the DeHavilland DH88 Comet was quite spectacular - two utterly beautiful aircraft, both of which are a joy to see fly, and truly special to see in formation.

Invariably mixed in with the serious stuff we are presented with a bit of lighthearted fun too - the "Barnstorming" is a favourite and not something you see in too many places, but this year's "World Cup formation" made up of an American,  Canadian and  Mexican aircraft got the crowd alternately laughing at the awful jokes being made and enjoying seeing a couple of aircraft types not frequently seen. The pilot of the Mexican Cap 10 - Stu Goldspink - got fully into the spirit of it too - look...

Somehow that stayed in place right through his display too!

A more mainstream - but none the less popular for that - attendee was the RAF Typhoon Display team - sadly just a #BoringGreyJet this year but it did at least display in the evening slot and during possibly the best light of the day. The timing on the display also served to start to thin the crowd out a bit with a fair few folk heading away straight afterwards, helping to avoid problems with getting out. It's always good when a venue plans like this and it is something that Shuttleworth are really very good at. Indeed, other venues not all that far away would do well to take notes!

Bristol Blenheim

All in all an excellent day with good pals, some great flying and very nice weather indeed. I chose to shoot with the Canon R5 borrowed from my pal Tim - and it confirmed my suspicion that Shuttleworth is just perfect for a full-frame camera. Indeed I have now taken the plunge and ordered a full-frame mirrorless camera of my own in the shape of Canon's fairly new R6 Mk3. It will be the single most expensive camera I have ever owned, so here's hoping it is the right choice for me!

Robyn

Frugal Friday…

Lundy Old Light

Some of you may recall that one thing we were utterly determined about when we were paying down the original mortgage on the flat was that we wouldn’t turn down opportunities to do things on the basis that we “couldn’t afford it”. Sometimes we might opt to say no to something because we are choosing to direct our finances elsewhere, certainly, but other times when an option for some fun is offered we will grab it with both hands! We’ve taken that policy forwards to the new mortgage too - unsurprisingly! 

When a few weeks ago I was given the chance for a week on the lovely island of Lundy later in the year, this was definitely one of those situations - although this time round MrEH doesn’t have the spare holiday time so the trip will just be for me which means it is my personal spending money that needs to cover it, obviously! Lundy is not a cheap location to spend a holiday, so I was well aware that before saying yes, I would need to run through my finances. Budgeting for this sort of thing really does help to ensure that you can properly enjoy the thing when it comes along without having to fret about how much it's all costing.

The accommodation will be shared with 4 pals which helps bring the cost down on that, at least a bit. The ferry is a fixed cost - nothing to be saved there and no other way of accessing the island, so that was an easy one to assess!  The costs for food and drink while there are also a bit fixed - we usually tend to eat in the Marisco Tavern for evening meals - opting for the daily special can bring the cost down a touch - and the options for lunch are packed lunches using products from the Island’s shop (not the cheapest, it must be said but when you consider how their supply chain works, also nowhere near as pricey as it could be!) or the Tavern again for a pasty, or perhaps a portion of cheesy chips! The accommodation has a kitchen, so that adds options as well. We will undoubtedly be in the Tavern most evenings too, although my pace of drinking is generally slower than MrEH’s so I’m not expecting a wildly alarming bar bill! 

The other thing which required serious thought was how I would travel down to Ilfracombe and back. Unless I want a horrifically early start, I’ll need to be in Ilfracombe the night before we sail - so the cost of an overnight stay there needed to be seen as another fixed cost really.  I then turned my attention to whether I could get down and back using public transport rather than taking the car - it won’t necessarily be cheaper, but it could certainly be a nicer way of doing things, and more relaxing. A budget trip down on the friday prior was relatively easy to sort - with travel as far as Barnstaple available from Waterloo for around £20. A good bus service from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe makes the last step pretty straightforward, and only an additional £3.  Getting back was rather more of a challenge as things stand - not least because of the uncertainty of timings on getting away from Ilfracombe harbour! A quick conflab with my pal who is happy to drop me at Tiverton parkway on their way home though, and we've agreed on timings which should be safe enough. Initially this looked like quite a pricey part of the trip - but it turns out a bit of digging around brings the cost down quite substantially, and taking a bit of a gamble it seems I should be able to get back to London, and then on to home, that same night, which will mean a saving of a night's accommodation. Add in a bit of split ticketing, and I should be able to get all the way home for under £40, which is a bit of a bargain really! Allowing that the journey by car would have been a tank of diesel, plus parking costs in Ilfracombe for a week, I am confident that using pubic transport will actually save me some money too. 

For those that don't know, the art of split ticketing is useful in the world of train travel. It involves choosing your train, and then establishing where that train will stop on the way. You then drill down into where you might be able to "split" the journey to bring costs down. On this trip for example the ticket from Tiverton all the way through to Paddington comes in at £40, but a ticket from Tiverton to Bristol Temple Meads on the same train can be had for £7, and the onward Bristol to Paddington section is £25. I don't have to change trains, probably won't even have to change seats, yet still benefit from a saving on the journey. This is absolutely legitimate, there is no reason whatsoever not to do it, and it works surprisingly often. There are even companies out there who will do this for you these days - although needless to say they charge you for the privilege!

Ultimately, the decision has been that yes, it will be an expensive week, but that I can manage the costs, and have several months to set aside the funds needed. My trains are booked, my Ilfracombe accommodation is booked, and I am going! 

Robyn. 

June Reading...

 

Following on from the (mostly Cornwall-based) adventures of May, I confess I was rather looking forward to a more home-based month of June. In theory this ought to mean lots of time for reading, but in fact what all too often happens when I'm at home more is I end up spending more time on various screens, or simply doing odd jobs around the house or garden, rather than picking up a book. The first of those though is something I want to try to scale back a little - maybe this will be the month for that?

I began with a book that's been on my "to be read" shelf for a few months - Rowland White's "Harrier 809", an account of the exploits of some of the Harrier force during the Falklands conflict, and in particular RNAS 809 Squadron, from their standing up and going into action. I'm sometimes a bit wary of this sort of aviation based book as they can be very "dry" and I really am far more interested in photographing aircraft than reading about them! To some extend this did indeed fit that mould, with far more detail about individual sorties and tactical details than I would usually go for - at times I did struggle with it a bit, however the story of the personalities involved and the sheer level of determination needed to go from nothing to a full additional squadron of Harriers and Pilots being deployed kept me reading. Another review of the book said “a lot of acronyms” though - and the full ELEVEN pages of them at the back of the book underlines this! MrEH will probably read this one at some stage, so it will get kept for now, at least.  

Two new books in to report early in the month - an L J Ross - "The Cove" which was on the charity bookshelf in the supermarket (50p) and a Val McDermid - "The Mermaids Singing" which was in a book exchange outside a house near work. I must remember to take a couple of books along there in exchange at some stage. Those have both gone onto the "to be read" shelf. There was also a stack of books from a charity shop later in the month - I really must stop going in there until the "to be read" pile has shrunk at least a bit! 

Next up was a Mark Billingham - one of my absolute favourite authors, and particular the Tom Thorne series, of which this was one. From the Dead takes Thorne outside  the UK for a change, but maintains the usual themes of Thorne’s boundary pushing…the usual supporting cast are less evident in this one which is a shame, the leading characters interactions with the likes of Dave Holland are always entertaining, Holland is there in the background but doesn’t playa y significant part here. I realised early on that I had read this one before, but got fully half way through it before realising that there was in fact a copy on the shelf! As a result it will be heading back to the charity shop. 

A new to me author next - Joanna Cannon with The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. “Quirky” proclaimed the sticker on the cover, and so it was. A interesting twist was that the book is partly set in the summer of 1976 - something which has been very much in mind over the blazing hot June days while I was reading it! Nicely written- with characters you warm to and a good twist in the tail as well. I’ll set this one aside to go to Mum although I’m not entirely sure she will get on with it. 

Ending the month with an Ian Rankin Rebus novel - Set In Darkness. You know I believe that I love these because of the location as much as anything - Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities and it always works so well when a book is set somewhere you can actually picture. His characters are always so engaging though - and I love the fact that rather like the Reacher books, it doesn't matter if you don't read them in the order they were written. I got roughly half way through this before the end of the month, so that is where we will pick up in July...

Robyn