Marillion – Tux On

Apropos of nothing much at all, here is the wonderful Fish-era Marillion track Tux On.

Food Festival

Today has been a busy one, with a christening to attend this afternoon. Before that, however, we went to the Children’s Food Festival which was being held by the Northmoor Trust on the land they steward around the village of Long Wittenham in South Oxfordshire. This is the part of Oxfordshire where I grew up and have lived on and off for all of my 36 years. The picture above was taken today as we walked to the event, and shows the lovely landscape of South Oxfordshire – one of the reasons I like living here.

The event was great fun, with lots of practical things for Miss Fleet to do (planting things to grow, milking a (fake) cow) and lots of delicious things to sample. As always the Ladies in Pigs in particular had some delectable things to try.

Later in the morning we spotted a young lady who was wandering the fields dispensing pesto from a large receptacle on her back. The weather has felt very thundery in the last day or so and I must confess that I did wonder what would happen in the event of a thunderstorm, and whether the unfortunate promotions girl would be identifiable after the immense detonation which might result if she was struck by lightning! (Before any experts write in (perhaps, say, a passing olive oil impresario), I know this wouldn’t actually happen, but it made me giggle at the time!)

It was great to see lots of excellent British food being promoted. and also most heartening to experience an event dedicated to getting children to try food which is more out of the ordinary than they are used to.

Good Timing from Q Magazine

Pictured on display at the entrance to Borders in Oxford, and apparently rushed out as mine hasn’t appeared through the post yet, it appears that the Editor of Q magazine has had a major stroke of luck with his choice of cover story for the August edition!

Blue Nile – New Album?

BigRab at the Ben Lomond Free Press brings us the fantastic news (as reported on the Today Program) that The Blue Nile are planning a new, fifth and (it sounds) final album, and a tour. The Blue Nile are not exactly prolific, having released four sublime albums in 30 years, so this is quite a big event.

For those who are unfamiliar with the band, the film below marries their track Saturday Night to the paintings of Edward Hopper… a marriage made in heaven.

Hopefully the album will include the fantastic new track in the clip below, which the band played at their live gigs a couple of years ago, although given the glacially slow gestation of Blue Nile tracks and the extraordinarily high level of quality control it’s more than likely that this track has been long discarded!

UPDATE – Neither BigRab nor I noticed that in fact this Today segment dates from a year ago, so too much excitement might be premature. Oh well. I stick by my prediction of 2013.

I suspect I will live to regret this…

…but I have just signed up to take part in the 2009 Brompton World Championships at Blenheim Palace in October…. It’s over a 13KM course with what is described as a Le Mans style start (i.e. one has to run to and then unfold the Brommie before setting off…) I am rather looking forward to it, but think some training will be required beforehand to avoid total humiliation… I have taken the precaution of self-streaming myself into the slowest category!

Separated at Birth

Left – Dominar Rygel XVI of Hyneria, Right – Rothmans

Rothmans and Dominar Rygel XVI (from Farscape)

Diminutive stature – check

Insatiable appetite – check

Extreme flatulence – check

Talent for getting into scrapes – check

(Updated for Spelling)

Relaxing Evening

I am on baby sitting duty tonight as Mrs Fleet is off at some meeting or other. Rothmans and Miss Fleet have gone to bed with surprising ease, so I have taken the opportunity to sit out in the garden with a nice Cuaba cigar and an equally nice glass of Rosé.

The picture quality isn’t great as I am using my Nokia E71 at the moment. I have an N85 as well, but I prefer the E71 for everything except it’s inferior camera.

Don’t let us stop you, Prime Minister

Apparently Prime Mentalist Gordon Brown could ‘walk away from all this tomorrow’, a line which has no doubt caused people all over the country to cry “we just wish you would Gordon – please don’t hang around on our behalf”.

Apparently he wants to become a teacher after he leaves office (and presumably after the men in white coats have given him the all clear). Children of Scotland – be very afraid.

Dudley Zoo

A Lemur

We’ve been to Dudley Zoo today to celebrate the birthday of the daughter of one of Mrs Fleet’s oldest friends. It was a lovely afternoon – the kids got to meet and touch a rat, a guinea pig and a rather super little lizard, had their faces painted and had a nice tea, and then we wandered around the zoo for an hour or so.

A Hungry Giraffe

I haven’t been to Dudley Zoo before. It’s compact in size and features some wonderful, but in many cases sadly deteriorating art deco architecture, in particular some lovely little refreshment stands and great swooping arcs of concrete around some of the animal pens. The animals themselves have nice and appropriately sized enclosures to live in, but many of the buildings look like they could do with some investment.

Decaying art deco concrete of the Bear Ravine

All in all, though, it’s a charming zoo situated in the grounds of the motte and bailey Dudley Castle, and made for a nice day out. The weather was great, too.

Flamingo

There is an interesting article for the Twentieth Century Society by Ben Flatman (dating from 2004) on the architecture of the zoo here… sadly the Lubetkin/Tecton pavilions, 12 of which are listed (although criminally none at Grade 1) and which Ove Arup worked on, appear to have deteriorated still further in the intervening 5 years. It’s heartbreaking to see such remarkable art deco works allowed to rot away like this, particularly given the current interest in the modernist movement.

Flowers

A few flowers from the garden, taking this morning with my Nokia N85.

The Boys of Pointe du Hoc

The last great American President, Ronald Reagan, pays a gracious, simple, and deeply moving tribute to the men who fought for freedom on the beaches of Normandy.

Hattip – Iain Dale

My Hero

Troops of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division arrive on Gold Beach

65 years ago as I type this my Grandfather was pushing inland towards Bayeux from Gold Beach with his artillery unit, attached to 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division of Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey’s 2nd Army. Grandad’s unit went ashore very early – he was among the first troops ashore on D-Day. Later he would fight through Europe, participating in Operation Market Garden, before ending his war on the Baltic (and narrowly avoiding being sent to Palestine after the war). In my experience veterans of the Second World War have dealt with their experiences by either burying them and not talking about what they saw, heard or did, or by being very open about their experiences. My Grandfather is among the latter, and so we know quite a lot about his wartime adventures.

The badge of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division

My Grandfather was a successful businessman, and I don’t think he would mind me saying he was not a natural soldier. He doesn’t glory in his exploits, and as the years have gone by it seems to me that the weight of the past, and in particular the memory of his friends and colleagues who didn’t survive to live into their late 80s as he has, has weighed more heavily on him. It is because of citizen soldiers like him, and others from the US, Canada and a multitude of other countries, that people in Europe enjoy the freedoms they do. HIs generation are passing from the stage now. Journalist Tom Brokaw described the soldiers of the US military in the Second World War as The Greatest Generation. I think his description applies equally well to the British of that era. Decent, honourable, slightly austere people for whom the term stiff upper lip meant something. Would today’s generation be capable of doing what they did should the call come? Perhaps. But no more than perhaps.

Update – For those that are interested in such things, I have recalled that my Grandad’s unit was the 102nd Anti Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery (The Northumberland Hussars) Grandad moved with them to 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, and went the Baltic with them where his war ended.

Cornwall Pictures

I thought I’d post some more of my more arty pictures of the coastline around St Agnes in Cornwall where we spent our holiday last week….

Sunset at Trevaunance Cove I

Sunset at Trevaunance Cove II

Atlantic Coast I

Atlantic Coast II

Trevaunance Cove Blue

Man and His Man at Sunset

Inside the Ferrari Factory, Yesterday

The mighty Sniff Petrol comments on F1!