Thursday 23 February 2012

Blooming marvelous

The last couple of weeks have seen a welcome upturn in both weather and lengthening daylight hours. Its so nice to go home from work in the light. But what has been most remarkable is the milder weather, climaxing today in temperatures reaching around a balmy 16 degrees centigrade.


Aside from a short cold snap last weekend, the fine weather has begun to induce more birds into song and generate many plants into flowering. While today I also managed to see my first butterfly of the year, a Brimstone. These lovely little beasts, which lay their eggs on Buckthorns, are invariably the first to be seen in spring and it is said their butter colour gave rise to the name butterfly. Although I had my camera with me, I wasn't able to get a shot of it. However, over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to collect a few shots of some of the plants I've seen in flower:


Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara (c Rotton Yarns)
Cyclamen, Cyclamen hederifolium, with a ladybird (c Rotton Yarns)
Crocus, Crocus x luteus in a sea of Snowdrops, Galanthus elwesii  (c Rotton Yarns)

While out today for my lunchtime stroll, I was also taken by this large oak tree basking in the sunshine:

The English oak, Quercus robur (c Rotton Yarns)

Stokeing up the fire

While being  off-line, I seem to have accumulated a fair amount of blog material to catch up with. Following my trip to Regents Park, London on the 9th February, I was soon back again on the 11th to watch Fulham entertain their visitors from the Potteries, none other than Stoke City.

Although a glorious day of sunshine it was extremely cold, but unlike my previous trip to the Cottage there was plenty to cheer about and keep warm in what was probably the teams best performance I'd seen all year.



Good to be back in the Hammersmith End as the lads warm up before the match  (c Rotton Yarns)
It took just 16 minutes for the Whites to take a well deserved lead through a début goal from their new Russian signing Pavel Pogrebnyak. Twelve minutes later, the score doubled when 'that man Dempsey' rattled a shot against the bar which rebounded into the net off the Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson to qualify it as an own goal.

The Stoke boot boys were clearly rattled by the two goal scorers and responded in a way only they know how with a stream of cynical tackles on the two. This led to a couple of bookings in quick succession for fouls on Dempsey, while after 15 minutes into the second half, Pogrebnyak had to eventually leave the field carrying the injury he sustained in the first half from a wicked tackle.

Fulhams' second half performance did begin to wane and they allowed Stoke back into the game after a corner from whicRyan Shawcross’ flicked header at the near post over Mark Schwarzer and into the back of the net. There was a couple of close moments when Dempsey might have done better and put the ball away, but for the quick reactions of Sorenson to deny him. In the first, he broke through the off-side trap only to have Sorneson read the situation to run out and smother the ball. In the second effort, which was literally the last kick of the game in injury time, Dempsey rounded the goalkeeper but the angle had been made acute enough to see the ball clip the foot of the post.  


All in all a good performance by the team and the day finished off nicely with my football travelling friends and a nice Indian meal at the Naweb Lounge in St Neots.

Monday 20 February 2012

Lunch at The Regent and an evening of psychedelia

The day of my technical glitch, had been preceded in the morning by a productive meeting to discuss proposed changes to gardening e-newsletters and all things pertaining to public gardens and their management. Because each of us work equal distance either side of London it was only fair, given how busy we each are to meet half way.

We therefore agreed given the subject matter was gardens, what better place to have our meeting than the cafe at Regents Park. We could combine our meeting with a walk through the park to look at various aspects of management in its formal gardens.

Starting in the herbaceous memorial gardens it was impressive to see the managers (The Royal Parks), were ignoring the advice usually given by most garden books. That is to cut down and tidy all the dead stems of herbaceous plants in the autumn. This deprives lots of beneficial insects somewhere to live over the cold winter months. Anyone with any interest in wildlife would leave the stems over winter and remove them just before spring, when in actual fact the work involved is also less strenuous.

Dead herbaceous stems can look quite pretty during winter and add a host of hues to an otherwise colourless flower border, as well as structure and shape. Here's a few shots to illustrate what I mean



(c Rotton Yarns)
While walking in the gardens, we found a bumblebee out in search of nectar! Given as you can see we'd a recent fall snow with more forecast for the following day, then this little lass was certainly braving the elements in her quest of nectar. This clearly demonstrates the value of having a supply of nectar giving plants year round. The plant she was visiting was the winter flowering Shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima 


(c Rotton Yarns)
Further around the gardens we happened on another little gem for early nectar in the form of the Lenten rose Helleborus orientalis


(c Rotton Yarns)
Just as we finished our walk through the park to go our separate ways, we came across the local herons stood at the edge of the frozen lake. Normally quite a shy bird, these guys have become so used to people handing them food they are quite approachable. I remember in the early 1970's when they first began to breed in the park, causing quite a stir at the time as it was a first for Central London. 


Grey heron (c Rotton Yarns)
It was later in the evening having downloaded my pictures from the trip and trying to view them on my photo editor in preparation for my next blog when suddenly the computer screen went all psychedelic in strange colours and then the screen went black to the accompaniment of me mumbling something about parts of a male anatomy!

A short interlude - Normal service will resume shortly

People may have wondered where I've been hiding for the last two weeks and probably hoping my urge to fill cyberspace with my inane drivel has passed and that will be the last you ever hear from me.

Well unfortunately, that is not the case. Due to a slight technical glitch, I have been computer-less until now. In view of the technical circumstance I thought it appropriate and fitting, to celebrate my return with one of the 40 or so clips featured once shown by the BBC.

During the 1950's and into the 1960's (its the latter period I remember this from), whenever there was a break between programmes or a technical breakdown  in studio transmission they would broadcast an 'Interlude'.

This consisted of a short film shot in tranquil settings such as a river bank scene or windmill sails revolving. These films would be accompanied by a suitable piece of mood music. Of all the clips, probably the most famous is the film of the potters wheel seen here.

Normal service will resume shortly

Sunday 5 February 2012

It snow fun unless you make the most of it

By the time we had returned from London yesterday, the forecasted snow had arrived with a vengeance and was beginning to settle. After an hour of being home it had reached a good depth of 75mm when setting off into a driving blizzard for a late evening bevvy at the local. By the end of the night it was a good 100 to 125mm deep. It certainly made you realise just how much harsher it would have been for Scott and his comrades a hundred years ago. The severity of the snow had set the stage for the following days activities.

After a well deserved lay in, despite having a 100 and 1 better things I could and maybe should have been doing, I was instead lured to join friends at the local nature reserve for our own version of the winter Olympics. When we have a decent snowfall, this is where all the local families from the town come to sledge down the steep hills into the bottom of the quarry, typically using all manor of things to sit on or in. Items ranged from 'House For Sale' signboards, to large rubber dinghies and anything in between.

It was a great morning out and a hell of a lot of fun was being had by all the locals including our little clique, with our carry mats and plastic bags being used to sledge down the hill. After a while yours truly conjured up the stupid idea that with the armoured casing around my smart phone, it would be fairly safe to take a video of what it was like going down the hill. On my first attempt, after encouraging a hefty push to get me going, I only managed to get half way down before coming off the mat in a fit of giggles!

 
Another couple of more successful attempts failed to record anything as I'd accidently turned the camera off on the way down. Finally I managed to get some footage. The expletive is a result of getting stuck half way. Again the run finishes with lots of giggles.


After a while, our sledging got more daring as people took turns at going down head first. This I declined, but did participate in the next series of stunts, that of doubling up with someone else.

At the same time our technical prowess with cameras diversified and on my final run, we had the cursory on board camera as well as someone videoing from another camera at the top of the hill.

On this run, between the bouts of giggling, there are yet more expletives as we managed to get further than anyone else, heading straight toward a clump of small trees. The first video is taken from the top and the second from the on board camera!




Of course it was not all childish behaviour as I did take time out with the camera for a few winter shots.




Saturday 4 February 2012

A Baird day at the office

Saturday saw an early start for a trip to the London Natural History Museum.

The London Natural History Museum (c Rotton Yarns)
Two exhibitions to be viewed - the Scott Exhibition and Wildlife Photographer of the Year and both well worth anyone seeing. The Scott Exhibition is an amazing in depth look beyond that of the ill fated and failed attempt of five men to reach the South Pole, thwarted by the Norwegian Polar explorer Roald Amundsen. The expedition was also responsible for gathering a vast amount of valuable scientific data from detailed meteorological and geological surveys, to the collecting and recording of rocks, and all forms of wildlife. The expedition had set itself many objectives and in doing so was probably the reason why the men failed to reach the Pole before Amundsen who had but the one goal in mind. The exhibition tells the story through the diaries and photographs, along with an array of artifacts from the expedition, illustrating the harsh conditions endured by the team over the three years and just what a forbidding place the Antarctic is.

The Wildlife Photographer exhibition was a complete contrast to the earlier Scott exhibition. An endless array of simply stunning photos some more so  than others, I think it would be hard to pick an outright favorite there were so many I liked and for all different reasons. I think all you can do to appreciate the diversity of it all is to click on the link above and look at the pictures for yourself.

Between exhibitions we feasted on a wonderful selection of tapas from a nearby restaurant called Casa Brindisa in Exhibition Road. Apparently, of equal interest is the Lebanese restaurant next door, called Le Comptoir.

We also got to make fleeting visits around some of the other galleries at the museum and take time out for a coffee in one of the cafe there. In the mammal section we familiarised ourselves with what a grizzly should look like as we seem to have made a habit of not seeing them in America last year and have now set ourselves up for yet another dip in Romania later this year.

I think someone has eaten his porridge (c Rotton Yarns)
We also seemed to frequently find ourselves in the main entrance lobby of the museum where people seem to have been hanging around for a long time.

Dreadful bus service in these parts (c Rotton Yarns)
The geology gallery was also visited which again was very interesting in its use of media to demonstrate how the earth functions beneath our feet.

Entrance to the geology galleries (c Rotton Yarns)
I suspect by now you're probably wondering what relevance this has to the blog title. Well I would have thought as readers you'll be getting used to waiting for me to build up to it. And here it is!

As we left the museum to head home before any pending snow was able to disrupt our flaky transport network, I decided to check to see how dear old Fulham were getting on or not away to Manchester City. Encouraged by recent almost correct predictions as to the level of their defeats, I had anticipated a 6-0 drumming by the Manchester club. They were off to a good start, being 1-0 down to a penalty given away by the normally very effective Chris Baird. They went 2-0 down later on to an own goal, scored by Chris Baird. Fortunately, he does not seem to have anything to do with the third and final goal, but did get booked by the end of the match - hence the title of the blog. I was quite miffed at the result as I had grossly overestimated the final score.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Game on

Wednesday evenings post work trip to Craven Cottage for an evenings exciting entertainment delivered little on both counts - in fact contrary to the title of this blog it was more like game off! I will move onto the real reason of the title later, but first I might as well get the match summary out of the way.

On one of the coldest evenings this winter I took the train into town and managed to make the ground some 30 minutes prior to kick off. I was somewhat disappointed at having to settle for a seat in the Putney End, alongside the visiting crowd, but the game was a sell out and I could not get tickets for the Hammersmith End.

I'm never one to feel the cold, but even the 'heat island' effect of being in town didn't seem to make any noticeable difference. The wind blew straight in through the side of the stand and circulated around and under the plastic seats causing a cold bum all evening! There was little to cheer and applaud about either to help keep one warm and take ones mind off the cold.

Neither was it helped psychologically by the abundance of female fashion slaves around town. A nice pair of legs may be a pleasing sight to a bloke, but honestly! - I could feel the cold through my jeans. All those lovely legs on display must have been frozen to the bone - it certainly made me feel cold.

You would not think it a sell out from the picture below, taken soon after finding my cold seat.
view from the Putney End (c Rotton Yarns)
Once the game got underway, there was an early goal from that man Dempsey, but it was very clearly offside and disallowed. The game then descended into one of those mediocre battles between two mid-table teams. Neither seemed to be able to focus on maintaining a steady pattern of play - rather like my blurred image of the match in progress.

Game off (c Rotton Yarns)
Eventually in the second half, that man Dempsey done it again and scored from one of the evenings better moves. Later and not surprisingly West Brom managed to score a cracking goal to equalise and that's where the result stood - yet another disappointing Fulham performance.

For my colleague Del and me, the highlight came after the match when we tried to beat our record of getting from the ground back to Kings Cross to catch the 23:00 fast train home. The record is to reach Kings Cross at 22:48. Last night, after the final whistle which must easily have been at 21:55 we got to Kings Cross at 22:45, shaving three minutes off our previous best time! This was despite having to change at Earls Court and then being stuck for almost 8 minutes just outside the station at Kings Cross!

First leg - our route from the ground to Putney Bridge  Station (c Bing Maps)
Second leg - Putney Bridge to Kings Cross via District and Victoria Lines - stations underlined in red (c London Transport)

We had more than enough time to grab a coffee before sauntering to our waiting train which got us to our destination by 23:35. After the short drive home I was in bed by 23:55 - two hours after the final whistle! Damn good going if I say so myself.

Game on
This was a very successful training run for my proposed grand birthday trip where I will be attempting to get from Craven Cottage to the National Exhibition Arena in Birmingham in 2.5 hours (see 'Birthday Plans afoot').

I will be hoping to fit in another couple of training runs between now and the end of March, as potentially I can go to watch Fulham play, Stoke, Wolves and Swansea between now and then. In last nights practise, the tube got to Euston (the stop before Kings Cross) by 22:35. This bodes well for the real event as on the day, that would give me a good 25 minutes to make the train which when I last looked at timetables leaves Euston for Birmingham just after 18:00. The match will finish at about 16:55.