Hebrides 2012

Do you know, it occurred to me the other day that I have LOTS of Hebrides photos from this year's trip that you've not yet seen, so I thought I'd do a sort of skip through the trip - with lots of pics and minimal text, so you can look at all the pretty stuff without me waffling on.....

It all started here..... well, no, it all started at home actually, and then RAF Scampton to watch a Red Arrows Practise session, and then a long drive north.....but in terms of actually heading across to the islands it started here - Mallaig...

I took that shot shortly after removing my shoes and socks and swapping to sandals as it was BLOODY hot. Seriously - short sleeves, cropped trousers and very definitely sandals hot. The feet stayed bare and the trousers cropped for the next several days in fact...as we wandered on beaches and admired some rather snazzy sun patterns in the sea....

One of the real plus points of being up later in the year was the sheer amount of flowers making an appearance...

...and the lack of internet signals across the Islands (the new lodgings don't have broadband) was but a minor inconvenience when you took into account that one of the places that DOES have a signal also has this view to look out while you're waiting for blog posts to upload...

There were masses of birds to be seen, including for the first time, one of these...

About time too!  We've spent years wanting to see one of those in the wild! (pssst! It's a Corncrake!)  

As usual we managed to fit in visits to some of the other Islands while we were across - as well as our base North Uist we spent time on Baleshare, South Uist, Benbecula, Grimsay, Berneray, Barra, Vatersay, Harris & Lewis...in fact we made it to the very top of Lewis - the Butt as it's known, complete with rather impressive looking lighthouse...

So thats "Below, looking up" dealt with - let's switch to an "Above, Looking down" - a shot from the top of Burrival (You remember, the little humpy hill next to Eaval) in fact...

Now as you know I don't do climbing hills just for the sake of it, for a view like that though I will quite happily tackle a bit of a steep scramble. Fabulous isn't it!  Also fabulous were these fantastic waterlilies we spotted on Grimsay - "Stop!" yelled Ben "You HAVE to go back at look at that Loch - it's full of waterlilies!" and so it was...

And then, before we knew it, it was time to start thinking about heading home. One last walk in the sunshine that had been with us almost all the way through our trip...

Then as dawn broke the following morning it was time to go to the ferry - with the hills still shrouded in mist just across from us...

...and then all too soon we were off across the water back to Skye to start the long drive home, with the hills of Uist rapidly vanishing on the horizon.

Robyn

Whipps Cross....

This rather impressive looking building is Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone, East London. It was our local hospital when I was growing up, and as a child who enjoyed things like gymnastics, and horse-riding, I did spend a fair amount of time feeling bored in the A&E department there. I've always loved the architecture of the building and it featured in several projects I did at school, including taking centre stage in one section of my "History of medicine" project and being drawn for an art & design module.

Construction started in 1900 and was completed in 1903 - initially  it was a Work House Infirmary, however the name Whipps Cross Hospital was used from 1917 after it had been used to treat injured WW1 soldiers.  David Beckham, Jonathon Ross, and Graham Gooch were all born there, as was renowned photographer David Bailey. I remember being told some years ago that Whipps was the first hospital in the South East to be built to the pattern recommended by Florence Nightingale, and certainly the design of the part pictured above would fit with this theory - the wards are large, open plan, with large windows to let in lots of natural light and air. I've been unable to find anything to back up this suggestion though so shall have to leave it as simply a possibility.

The first time I can remember being at Whipps was when, aged about 6, I tripped and headbutted a doorpost in the passageway of our house in Walthamstow. A trip to A&E with my longsuffering Dad followed - we waited AGES to be seen and the eventual verdict of concussion was no surprise to anyone. I was more upset about having to miss the last day of term at school than about the bash on the head though, and it never stopped me running up the passageway either! Visits for various other reasons followed through the year - at least one more with concussion I think, and a quite thoroughly broken elbow when I was 13 (Too swollen to put in plaster much to my annoyance - I did have fun getting other people to write rude things on my sling though!). My final visit there on my own account would have been a mysteriously sprained ankle when I was about 20 - I went to bed and it was fine, by the following morning I was unable to put it to the ground and spent a week on crutches.

Injuries and illnesses weren't the reason I spent the most time at the hospital though - from aged 14 I spent most of my school holiday time doing "duty hours" there as a St John Ambulance cadet. Based in the Connaught Day Hospital, a day centre for elderly and disabled people, doing everything from just sitting chatting to people, to helping them with their meals, answering the telephone and running errands around the hospital, it was all great fun and I got to know almost all of that wonderful old building (and in chilly weather got to borrow one of those fabulous warm swishy nurses cloaks like they used to wear in "Angels"!) I learnt all sorts of things, not least that much as I enjoyed it, I didn't want to take up nursing for a career, and that most ambulancemen have a filthy and irreverant sense of humour. I also learnt the entertainment value that the A&E staff found in dispatching a new student nurse off for a "neck tourniquet for the head injury patient" (think about that one) - we used to get at least one of those every time there was a new rotation of students down there!

Robyn.

Frugal Friday...

Check, Check, and Check again...

How often do you check your receipt after you've visited the shops? We all know we're supposed to, but judging by the quick surveillance operation I carried out at Tesco on Friday, very few folk do. I'm guessing that even those who check their supermarket receipts on a regular basis tend to do it less often in other sorts of shops (My quick check of my Boots receipt on my big stock up recent revealed one item (which I had three of) mis-charged, and another which was meant to be being cancelled through the till, not credited, but not in my bag either!  Tesco receipts regularly reveal goods that are over-charged (oddly enough, less so ones that have been charged below what I was expecting!) and as they will refund you "double the difference" of anything you have been wrongly charged for, a quick scan over the receipt can sometimes prove lucrative! Other supermarkets also offer price guarantees which can pay more than just a straight refund if you are incorrectly charged on your shop.

View from Burrival, North Uist

How about bank statements? I have blogged before about how we got caught out some years ago by being charged someone elses water rates for a while - a significant sum which, as we'd not checked the statement regularly, we had simply failed to notice the going of. At that time I used to check quarterly, but it was only when I broke that pattern for some reason that I noticed the unexpected debit from the account, and investigated...why? Because the payment out was also quarterly, but didn't happen within the same statement-month that I was routinely checking, so each time it happened, my check missed it. Either a monthly check or at the least an irregular one would have caught this much sooner. Credit card bills get scrutinised every month - and always have. We use a single account with one of us as a second card holder (NOT a joint account - these do not exist in the world of Credit cards) so as all our spending goes to the card to maximise the cashback earned, it's necessary to check through to allocate who needs to pay what.

Sunset - Locheport, North Uist

Gas, electric and water meters - left neglected, these can result in either you being a long way into credit and paying more than you need each month, or worse, getting caught out paying insufficient to cover your use and owing your supplier a large sum, which they MAY demand back in one go! A lot of energy providers will also offer an incentive for you keeping them up to date with your readings too, either by way of a reduction on your bill or by giving you loyalty points for one or other of the schemes out there. On that same subject, it's worth checking out whether your supplier are part of one of these schemes - British Gas for example have a tie-in with Nectar and I believe EoN are partnering with Tesco Clubcard. Cook your food and be rewarded with points to help pay for it, while being accurately charged only for what you have used - that's a win/win situation surely! Of course it also goes without saying that it's well worth checking whether your current tariff is the best you could be on!

Beach - Balranald, North Uist

On the subject of those annoying plastic cards that end up filling your purse - do any of those have points balances on them you've forgotten about? How about those clubcard vouchers you have on the fridge - are any of those risking running out of date? If so strike quickly to either spend them in store, or better still exchange them via the current "Clubcard Voucher Exchange" for double their value. (This is one of the best of these they have done, with frozen food being included).  Better still use them on rewards for meals or days out that you would have paid for anyway - this multiplies their value so you can get - for example - a £20 Pizza Express voucher or £10 to spend on travel with Red Spotted Hanky or Megabus  in exchange for a £5 clubcard voucher.  You can check for any Clubcard Vouchers you had forgotten about or lost via Tesco's own website too. Nectar have a smartphone App these days which allows you to check your points balance, and of course Boots have their "Advantage Kiosks" which not only let you check balances but also dispense tempting money saving vouchers!

Stornoway - Isle of Lewis

Have you ever been taken by surprise when you've checked a receipt, statement or bill? Or worse, been caught out like we were by NOT checking one? What other things do you make a habit of checking to ensure that you're not missing out?

Robyn

ps - yes, totally unrelated photos to subject matter. Nice though, aren't they!

A little trip South...

A few weeks back I made use once again of one of those super-cheap train tickets to travel to Devon for the Dartmouth Food festival.  As you might remember we have family down there, and I went down at Mum-in-Law's urging last year for the festival and thoroughy enjoyed myself, so when she asked if I fancied going again this year I had no hesitation in saying yes!

Amazing tiled signs at Exeter St Davids Station.

Firstly a cheery train journey - they were giving away rather delicious yogurts at Waterloo Station when I got there so I grabbed one of those - there's no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems as though a free breakfast is perfectly doable! Then the train through lovely countryside - alongside the Thames for a bit, Wiltshire, a lovely view of Bath, then down through Dorset and finally into Devon. A change of trains at Exeter St David's - one of the most beautiful stations in the country - before heading onwards to Paington along THE most beautiful section of railway line in the country. I blogged about this trip last year and no matter how often I do it it never gets old! A brief stop in the pub in Paignton before going to get the bus, and finally the ferry across the river Dart from Kingswear - a journey best done on the open "float" of the "Lower" ferry (So named because it's lower down the river that the "Higher" ferry) so you can truly appreciate the scenery. Mum & Dad-in-Law meanwhile were on their way back to Devon from a holiday, so in fact I arrived at the house before they did - no matter though, simply meant I could settle myself in with a cuppa and a good book and ensure the kettle was hot for their arrival!

The Lower Ferry with Dartmouth in the background

The following morning dawned grey and drizzly - not ideal for a day when we planned to spend a fair amount of time outside wandering around! We headed down to town regardless though, there was a demonstration we wanted to see in any case, with James Tanner, and as by the time that was finished it was pouring down with rain, we moved to a slightly warmer area of the marquee and stayed for the next one, too! Some fabulous food being cooked - which we got to sample as well - and some really interesting and informative stuff being talked about. At the opposite end of the scale later in the day was the fantastic Hardeep Singh-Kohli who was truly hilarious and had us rolling about, but sadly all his food was chilli-heavy and neither MiL or I can tolerate much chilli. we'll forgive him though as his jokes were great!

Hardeep Singh Kohli

Saturday was much brighter day, but BITTERLY cold with it - scarves were the order of the day and I was wishing I'd taken a hat! The cold wind off the river made its presence felt all day although it was chased away rather at lunchtime by the wonderful street food on offer - Tartiflette for me and Butternut Squash soup fort MiL, both the perfect warming, seasonal antidote to the chilliness about. We were spoilt for choice on options for eating there and then - the range of fabulous and inventive street food out there now is just amazing - Bennetts by the Waterfront (the fish & chip shop which championed the mackerel bap for Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's "Fish Fight") were there serving sustainably fished cod in ciabatta, fried whitebait, and of course those Mackerel delicacies, someone else was doing filled pancakes, and another stall offered freshly baked wood-oven pizzas. To wash it down there was a tent with a cocktail bar and also a bar from one of the local breweries, although I have to admit that due to the temperature when a drink was called for we were tending towards the cafe in the market square and a cup of tea instead!

This amazing display of infused oils was stunning in the sunshine!

The festival itself was excellent once again - although it does feel a little like some larger marquees are called for - particularly the one behind the market feels crowded and cramped and at times being able to move around it was practically impossible. The range and choice of different types of foodstuffs was superb - and limiting the numbers of each type of stand (Bakery, meat etc) means you don't end up with six places selling bread to make a sandwich but only one option for cheese to go with it! My "Product of the festival" vote can be evenly split between "Wonky Kitchen" fudge, and Sharpham Estate cheese - both utterly delicious and very reasonably priced for the quality of the product. Best demo was Mark Puckey from Padstow Seafood School (Yep, Rick Stein's gaff) and the Seafood restaurant, who with his apprentice Charlotte cooked up an absolute feast of shellfish of varying types - meaning I got to try razor-clams for the first time - and managed to admirably combine the actual cooking with what was effectively a teaching session too. MiL made her living cooking for cafes, pubs and hotels for all her working life and even she came out saying she'd learnt masses from him.

Gorgeous Olives!

Great few days, great to catch up with some of the family too, and a nice relaxing journey back on boat and train (the ferry up the river from Dartmouth to Totnes is a fantastic trip not to be missed - I jumped at the chance of taking that route!) and some tasty bread, cheese and cake to nibble on while I travelled!

Robyn.

Flying High...

Phew - what a weekend! Packed full of fun and entertainment, for surprisingly little dosh, which is always a winner!

First off yesterday - an early kick off for the boys down at the rugby club. Just a friendly match but hard-fought against local rivals Bishops Stortford, a team playing in a league of a substantially higher level than ours, who started the first half by banging in three tries in the first ten minutes. Not quite the start we'd planned. We blamed the early start as frankly it appeared that some of our boys were still asleep! Thankfully they woke up quite fast after that and it all started coming together, helped along by the opposition insisting on chatting-back at the ref, who didn't like it, so after warning them several times he helpfully sin-binned the worst offender for ten minutes. Good job that doesn't happen in football or the fans would be watching an empty pitch while all the players sat on the bench!

That's going to hurt....

End result was a narrow win by 6 points to our Harlow boys and our unbeaten run continues. We're under no illusion that we're likely to go through the season without losing any matches - nice as that would be - but it's doing wonder for morale at the moment. My morale wasn't so great after the match though as in the course of 80 minutes I'd seen my beloved Canon 40D stop working altogether and my 70-200mm lens playing up too. Thankfully I always carry a spare camera body in the bag in any case, so I was able to switch to that, and the lens problem, while annoying, wasn't insurmountable. The 40D will be heading off to canon shortly for what I hope won't be too high a repair cost. My good pro-photographer pal has always impressed on me the importance of having gear in reserve "just in case" and yesterday his point was proved, in spades. Thanks Steve!

I think the chappy in blue might appreciate some help.....

Anyhow, victory secured, it was off to the clubhouse to watch England fail to beat the Aussies - a good match but disappointing result, especially because for the first 20 minutes or so we looked by far the better team. Oh well, it could be worse, we could be Wales, who got beaten by Samoa the night before, or indeed Scotland, who get beaten by pretty much everyone......

On to today then - a lovely bright day, albeit quite crisp and cold - Autumn with a distinct nip of Winter! This afternoon we were expected in Balham for a friends birthday bash but as we were going into London anyway we decided to make the most of the train tickets by heading in early and taking a ride on the still quite new London Cablecar across the Thames. What a ludicrous idea this is - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the planning meeting when the idea was first voiced...!

 It is truly bonkers, made all the madder by being reached on the North side by that other bonkers mode of London transport, the Docklands Light Railway - aka the best low budget theme park inside the M25.  The ultimate prize when riding the DLR is to get one of the coveted front or back seats - allowing an uninterrupted view along the track and some rather alarming sensations when cornering. It's not just kids desperate to sit in these either - when we alighted today our seat was instantly grabbed by two adults with not a tot in sight!

Excel Centre & Royal Docks

 Initially I think a lot of people expected the cablecar to be horrendously expensive - the sort of thing that your average family could go and look at, and maybe travel on once as a treat, but nothing more. In fact nothing could be further from the truth - our fare across today, using a Pay As You Go Oyster Card, cost just £3.20 each. A family of four, Mum, Dad and two kids can cross for under £10 - less if the littlies are under 5 as they then travel free. The views are comparable - if not better than - those from the London Eye, although of course the crossing takes only 5 minutes as against the 30 minutes the Eye takes to do a full revolution.

Air Line Southbound looking back towards the Royal Docks

We crossed from North to South - Royal Victoria Dock to North Greenwich, meaning the Millennium Dome was just down to my right, and the Thames Flood barrier to my left. Although the cabins can accomodate up to ten people I should imagine that would be a bit of a squeeze - they were putting a maximum of eight in today. We were lucky, being the first to board our cabin and then being joined by a family of Mum, dad and thee small children, all of whom were wildly excited at the idea of crossing so high above the river, and by half way across were asking if they could do it again!

The Dome & the City of London beyond

Having come back to earth - literally - it was time to head further south to join friend B in celebrating her 50th birthday - the venue was a lovely little Moroccan restaurant just a short distance from her flat, our party had a whole section of the restaurant and B had brought in masses of wine and beer (the restaurant is not licensed, but allows you to bring in your own bottles at no charge) and had arranged food for everyone too - we had assumed it was going to be a meal with everyone splitting the cost at the end, but B very kindly picked up the tab for the whole thing which was a lovely surprise. The food was stunning - mixed starters with traditional breads, dips, houmous and little filo parcels filled with meat or vegetables, followed by a main course of the restaurant's signature Tagines - I had lamb and it was positively falling off the bone and cooked to perfection. I was utterly stuffed at the end, but in a good way! The place itself had a marvellous atmosphere, with stacks of character and some of the most amazing lampshades you can imagine - blown or twisted glass in all manner of shapes and colours - I did try take some photos but they're not good enough to use, annoyingly - you will just have to imagine! There was much chat with old friends, and some new acquaintances too, and most importantly B had a great time too!

All in all a great weekend - although I think we'll both benefit from getting back to our respective workplaces for a rest tomorrow!

Robyn

Frugal Friday...

I was determinedly trying to hold off posting anything in relation to Christmas for a bit longer, but looking around the other blogs I read, I can see that I'm on a losing track there!  Everywhere I look on my reading list at the moment there are tales of recipes, moneysaving home-made gifts, and in some cases a marked determination not to spend a penny on anything related to the festive season!  FrugalMummy over at My Beautiful Life has written an excellent series of posts on planning for the festivities, and there are many others out there writing in the same vein too.

For us, Christmas could more aptly be named "Mid-Winter-Mas" - as we are not religious in any way, so for us, the season is about getting together with friends and family to celebrate, well, being with friends and family, as much as anything else! Before anyone starts huffily suggesting that in that case, we shouldn't be celebrating at all, pipe down  at the back, there has been a celebration around December 25th since long before the Christians cottoned onto the idea of joining the party, and in fact research has shown that it seems highly unlikely that Jesus Christ was born in December at all!  We'll let you keep the celebration if you allow us to borrow the name - deal?!

Whilst we mostly choose to be frugal in our daily lives, we are happy to spend extra on one another at christmas. As a family though, we lean generally towards buying presents that are needed by the recipient, or items which will be a nice little treat that the other person would not be able to justify for themselves. We are great fans of the "gift list" too - what better way to know what the other party would most appreciate?   My Mum's list thus far includes a new dressing gown, a hairdryer (hers is suffering from a nasty case of impending death!) a tube of the makeup she likes, and underwear, among other things.  For us to buy her these things means that her personal spending money throughout the year won't have to be tied up by purchasing necessities. Likewise, one of MrEH's presents from me for the past few years has been a box containing so far as possible all the toiletries he will want for the year - toothpaste, soap, shower gel, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes, all the odds and ends that he loathes having to go and buy for himself. The shaving oil he likes, and odds and ends of rugby kit that are needed are likely to get bought by someone for him also, and likewise with me - my list this year will no doubt include clarinet reeds, music,  memory cards for the cameras, the Clinique powder I love (and which I'd not found anything cheap that even comes close to being as good as) and more than likely underwear and socks, too! If there are recipe books we fancy then the inlaws usually come up trumps - and my great Aunt - who at over 80 is finding it increasingly difficult to get the the shops, usually gives money on the basis that we all know what we want and can go and get it easier than she can, and it means we get something genuinely wanted, too. MrEH and I usually pool any money we get given to go towards visits to other islands while we're on holiday - the last two years Auntie D's money has paid for us to go and visit the gorgeous Islands of Barra & Vatersay.

There is genuine pleasure to be had in buying things for people that you know they are going to be grateful to receive. I understand entirely why folk are kicking back against the commercial aspect of Christmas - and indeed every other "festive" occasion, and yes, we do generally give some home made presents, and even odds and ends picked up in the charity shops - the last two years Mum has had a cardboard box full of books for example, all picked up for 40p each from the local hospice Shop (She knows, I'm not giving away any secrets!) it keeps her in reading material for a couple of months, and helps the Hospice too - what's not to like? Mum-in-Law benefited from a rather gorgeous blue earthenware dish the other year - just the sort of thing she collects for serving food in, and a bargain at another local charity shop at £2.  We buy odds and ends in the sales too and put aside, it all helps to whittle down - and more importantly spread - the cost.  We don't spend extortionate amounts on one another - we never have, really, and all the family kids knew when growing up that we would stop getting presents from the Aunts and Uncles when we hit 18 - something which we will apply to nieces and nephews as well.

So, by all means kick against the commercialism if that is what you want, or restrict presents to "token gifts only" if that is your desire, or what your budget will allow, but remember that the same as we respect your wishes for this, so you need to respect the wishes of others doing things differently. There is more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes, and so there is more than one way of achieving the same objective, your way might be right for you, but it might not be right for everyone.

How do you choose to celebrate Christmas (Or Mid-Winter-Mas if you prefer)?

Robyn

Oh no it didn't!

BBC Radio has reached the grand old age of 90 years old this week. That's older than the oldest person I know, and more than twice my own age. At about 5.33pm on 14th November 1922 the first broadcast was made from the 2LO transmitter at Marconi House, London, initially just to the London area, but rapidly spreading coverage across the country as more and more transmitters were turned on. Now there are 56 BBC Radio stations across the UK - 10 National, 6 "National Regions" and 40 more local radio stations.

There was quite a party on Radio 2's Drivetime show last night, as well as the special arty-composition put together by Blur's Damon Albarn, there was also a rather splendid compilation entitled "90 Years in 90 seconds" put together by the Drivetime team themselves, which, for my money at least, was rather better than the official offering. You can listen to it from iPlayer via THIS LINK. Jumping directly from classic comedy which had me chuckling, to the terrible chillingly sombre address to the nation on the outbreak of war in 1939, and the panicked, frenetic broadcast from the scene of the awful 9/11 attacks in 2001 "If you go over there you can see them jumping out the windows oh my god they're jumping out the windows!" - this combination really should not have worked, but did, stopping any form of complacency in its tracks and forcing you to actually stop and listen for just a minute and a half.

Robbie Vincent - picture from shapersofthe80s.com

Radio has played a big part in my life - from Mum listening to Radio London when I was a child....the Robbie Vincent Phone-in at lunchtime was a favourite and when we did our family fundraising for Guide Dogs for The Blind for a few years we were able to get the Radio London team involved and Dad and I were fortunate enough to be invited to the station to meet them all. My autograph book still bears Tony Blackburn's autograph as proof of this! One of my most treasured possessions as a child was my little battery powered Transistor radio - brilliant for illicit late-night listening to Capital Radio, but I used to spend a fortune on batteries as I invariably fell asleep without turning it off! As soon as I got my own car the radio became all important - always in use far more than the tape deck, or later, CD player, although I confess that the 10-CD changer system I bought for a later car usurped the wonders of the broadcast medium for a while. From Capital, through Heart, Magic and Virgin, on to now alternating between Radio 2 (weekday mornings and early evening) Absolute (weekday afternoons) and Classic (the rest of the time). Back in the mid 90's we went through a patch of going to lots of radio recordings too, from the Masterson Inheritance (A rather splendid improvised comedy drama with the likes of Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin and Josie Lawrence) to Just a Minute - classic Radio 4 comedy. Back in those days recordings were held in the rather fabulous  "Paris Studio"  in London's Lower Regent Street - a fabulous building, it was as exciting knowing you were going to that building as the recording itself ever was! Sadly in 1995 it opened its doors for the final time, and while the purpose built "Radio Theatre" within Broadcasting House is lovely, but not a patch on its grand old predecessor.

Masterson Inheritance - picture from bbc.co.uk

Back in the late 70's there was much speculation that the age of video would spell the end for radio - and indeed for a while there did appear to be a waning in interest in the audio, in favour of the visual. Over time though things settled down again, and the next major impact on the popularity of radio was with the introduction of Internet radio and Digital Broadcasting - several of the BBC's stations are now internet/DAB only - that is, not available on the standard FM/AM wavelengths. In fact since these innovations radio is probably at its most popular since Wartime when families had a regular date with the "Wireless" as their main link with news on the conflict.

Video killed the Radio Star? Oh no it didn't!

Robyn