I was reading an article on happiness which endorsed my view that you should do something new every day in order to keep your mind refreshed. Before I pat myself on the back too vigorously though, it said that these new things could include listening to new radio stations or smiling at someone you don’t know. I tend to do these things anyway, but liked the idea that they could count alongside my daft midnight dashes into corner shops and purchases of monsoon-flavoured milk etc. So thanks to my fantastic new digital radio which was a birthday present from the ever-thoughtful Mabel, I listened to a station called Passion for the Planet which was absolutely superb. Not at all preachy, just a nice blend of all kinds of music from world music to rock combined with ethical living. I am addicted!
Before I got home, I did indulge in one of my usual hasty new things – I parked up at the Bellhouse Hotel near Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield and went into the plush reception. My intention was to have a quick drink in the bar, but a very well-dressed golfer passed me on my way and I got the fear and changed my mind. It may help to picture me in a suit with flipflops. Not a great look, particularly for expensive hotel bars.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday - "Don't touch the pretty things"
Not new, but worth a mention. Someone I know was due to be interviewed live on radio at 7.30am. 9.10 came, with no phone call, and I received this message from him: “I'm going to have to time my poo to coincide with the news and travel”
Anyway, onto my new things....I dashed into Laura Ashley in Amersham to do something new, and I really did dash because it was 5.29pm and I didn't want to pay for a parking ticket. Having driven past Laura Ashley almost daily and seen the huge red “sale” stickers on the window I thought I might actually check out their king size sheets, until I saw that they had been reduced from £75 to £40 – I couldn’t convince myself to spend more on bedding than I had done on the actual bed so then strolled around the store noting that there were small small side tables which were marked “sold - £150”. If people are spending that amount of money on side tables then I do not believe there is really a recession....
Anyway, onto my new things....I dashed into Laura Ashley in Amersham to do something new, and I really did dash because it was 5.29pm and I didn't want to pay for a parking ticket. Having driven past Laura Ashley almost daily and seen the huge red “sale” stickers on the window I thought I might actually check out their king size sheets, until I saw that they had been reduced from £75 to £40 – I couldn’t convince myself to spend more on bedding than I had done on the actual bed so then strolled around the store noting that there were small small side tables which were marked “sold - £150”. If people are spending that amount of money on side tables then I do not believe there is really a recession....
Monday, July 27, 2009
Quorn - the village, not the non-meat product
Friday
New things were zipping round Gerrards Cross looking for somewhere to park.
Saturday
New thing was going to a pub in Quorn called the Manor House en route to my lovely cousin’s house for a barbecue. The Manor House has a really nice beer garden where we sat enjoying lovely, but expensive beer and the occasional steam train puffing past us just like in the days of the Titfield Thunderbolt (if it had indeed existed). Idyllic.
Sunday
Started the day bright and early by going back to Quorn for the car boot sale (fortunately my cousin is as fanatical about boot sales as I am) where I spent all of my time buying strange things and Mabel spent an equal amount of time eye-rolling at each respective purchase. To be fair, he paid for each one, and ended up carrying it. We then went to the Rancliffe Arms in a village called Bunny (Which I refused to believe was real until I got there and saw a road sign) for my uncle’s 50th birthday. A very nice pub – it looks like the place has been renovated recently, the food was good, but the staff! Oh my goodness. To call them shocking would be generous to them. It was like being in a Hollyoaks audition – lots of beautiful but useless people. They bellowed offers of starters and drinks at us, treated me as if I was a leper when my vegetarian dish (a very nice vegetarian filo pastry basket filled with tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach – should have been delivered with a handbell and a sign saying ‘unclean’...) arrived with a mixture of pure shouting and disdain: “Is there a VEGETARIAN at this table?” . I was far too scared to order dessert!
New things were zipping round Gerrards Cross looking for somewhere to park.
Saturday
New thing was going to a pub in Quorn called the Manor House en route to my lovely cousin’s house for a barbecue. The Manor House has a really nice beer garden where we sat enjoying lovely, but expensive beer and the occasional steam train puffing past us just like in the days of the Titfield Thunderbolt (if it had indeed existed). Idyllic.
Sunday
Started the day bright and early by going back to Quorn for the car boot sale (fortunately my cousin is as fanatical about boot sales as I am) where I spent all of my time buying strange things and Mabel spent an equal amount of time eye-rolling at each respective purchase. To be fair, he paid for each one, and ended up carrying it. We then went to the Rancliffe Arms in a village called Bunny (Which I refused to believe was real until I got there and saw a road sign) for my uncle’s 50th birthday. A very nice pub – it looks like the place has been renovated recently, the food was good, but the staff! Oh my goodness. To call them shocking would be generous to them. It was like being in a Hollyoaks audition – lots of beautiful but useless people. They bellowed offers of starters and drinks at us, treated me as if I was a leper when my vegetarian dish (a very nice vegetarian filo pastry basket filled with tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach – should have been delivered with a handbell and a sign saying ‘unclean’...) arrived with a mixture of pure shouting and disdain: “Is there a VEGETARIAN at this table?” . I was far too scared to order dessert!
Friday, July 24, 2009
ICU ICA
Thursday’s new thing was going to the Institute of Contemporary Arts on the Mall where I met my lovely friend Badger before he starts a new job in Belgium next month. His friends are fascinating, and later on in the night one of our mutual friends turned up – I hadn’t seen him for 11 years so it was truly brilliant to catch up. He too is fascinating and so, so nice. We had drinks in the bar. I had too many drinks and ended up in a bus shelter in Harrow where the lovely Mabel drove out to get me at 3.30am in the morning so I have spent most of today working out how to thank him and say sorry...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Waste of a week - I am the Hillman Imp
Monday
Went up some deadend in Chesham – at the time marvelling at how it was a good analogy for my life!
Tuesday
Got sent home from work due to my constant coughing and nose-blowing, so I took the opportunity to go into Help the Aged and Oxfam in Beaconsfield.
Wednesday
Sent home again owing to constant coughing, nose blowing and then a sore nose, so went into a pharmacy in Little Chalfont to get a dose of Lemsip.
Went up some deadend in Chesham – at the time marvelling at how it was a good analogy for my life!
Tuesday
Got sent home from work due to my constant coughing and nose-blowing, so I took the opportunity to go into Help the Aged and Oxfam in Beaconsfield.
Wednesday
Sent home again owing to constant coughing, nose blowing and then a sore nose, so went into a pharmacy in Little Chalfont to get a dose of Lemsip.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cough, cough, cough, sneeze, splutter, croak, cough, cough, cough
Friday
Lots of new things today, not all of them intentional.....set off for Chertsey this morning bright and early. I have learned today that even though you may arrive an hour early for an appointment, it doesn’t mean that you will be early. I rolled up at 8am thinking that I had an hour to kill, but am definitely not feeling my usual self and couldn’t find my way back again! I did something similar in 1998 (it seems like yesterday, can it really be 11 years ago!) I got a taxi to take me down to my interview at the Simpson Tower at Bay and Queen. This was at 7am. My interview was at 11am. So I killed those hours by drinking about a million cups of coffee. It was a very jumpy version of me who returned to the Simpson Tower just in time for my interview, only to then notice that my interview was on the 24th floor on the Thompson Tower....I remember I got there just in time and was so full of caffeine that I remember jumping out of my seat at one point...My enthusiasm won me the job though, and I worked there for a year, and ended up becoming very good friends with my interviewer, a wonderful and inspiring woman. Anyway, back to Chertsey, I stopped off at Sainsbury’s of all places, as I seemed to think there would be a toilet there. There wasn’t, although they were hundreds of school children in there. I eventually made it back to the office I was meant to find for my meeting just before 9am. After that, I had another good look around Chertsey, which looks like a lovely town. It has everything, and I mean everything! There’s even a blimmin’ “game room” shop selling your every Ms Pacman need! I then headed northbound on the M25 – or at least I thought I had. About an hour later I realised that I was approaching the junction for the M23, so I ended up heading for Brighton in an attempt to turn back!
SaturdaY
“Blurg”, as Liz Lemon would say. Feeling worse than yesterday, new things were walking to Berkeley Stores to get a newspaper, which was a lot further than I had realised. Then we went to a really nice couple’s house to collect something off freecycle. That was it for the day apart from a lot of coughing and sneezing.
Sunday
New thing was going to a road called Hyron Close. Until the afternoon when Mabel insisted on going to see Harry Potter. I agreed on the condition that we went to the over 18s only performance, which was absolutely rammed! I thought the film was good, did a nice job of condensing the first half of the book, although some of the “love” bits were a bit contrived, but isn’t that true of real life when you’re a teenager?
Lots of new things today, not all of them intentional.....set off for Chertsey this morning bright and early. I have learned today that even though you may arrive an hour early for an appointment, it doesn’t mean that you will be early. I rolled up at 8am thinking that I had an hour to kill, but am definitely not feeling my usual self and couldn’t find my way back again! I did something similar in 1998 (it seems like yesterday, can it really be 11 years ago!) I got a taxi to take me down to my interview at the Simpson Tower at Bay and Queen. This was at 7am. My interview was at 11am. So I killed those hours by drinking about a million cups of coffee. It was a very jumpy version of me who returned to the Simpson Tower just in time for my interview, only to then notice that my interview was on the 24th floor on the Thompson Tower....I remember I got there just in time and was so full of caffeine that I remember jumping out of my seat at one point...My enthusiasm won me the job though, and I worked there for a year, and ended up becoming very good friends with my interviewer, a wonderful and inspiring woman. Anyway, back to Chertsey, I stopped off at Sainsbury’s of all places, as I seemed to think there would be a toilet there. There wasn’t, although they were hundreds of school children in there. I eventually made it back to the office I was meant to find for my meeting just before 9am. After that, I had another good look around Chertsey, which looks like a lovely town. It has everything, and I mean everything! There’s even a blimmin’ “game room” shop selling your every Ms Pacman need! I then headed northbound on the M25 – or at least I thought I had. About an hour later I realised that I was approaching the junction for the M23, so I ended up heading for Brighton in an attempt to turn back!
SaturdaY
“Blurg”, as Liz Lemon would say. Feeling worse than yesterday, new things were walking to Berkeley Stores to get a newspaper, which was a lot further than I had realised. Then we went to a really nice couple’s house to collect something off freecycle. That was it for the day apart from a lot of coughing and sneezing.
Sunday
New thing was going to a road called Hyron Close. Until the afternoon when Mabel insisted on going to see Harry Potter. I agreed on the condition that we went to the over 18s only performance, which was absolutely rammed! I thought the film was good, did a nice job of condensing the first half of the book, although some of the “love” bits were a bit contrived, but isn’t that true of real life when you’re a teenager?
Friday, July 17, 2009
Weds/Thurs - a mum lookalike and Charles Dickens
Wednesday
Went in Thomas Cook in Rickmansworth because I saw a woman in there who was the spitting image of my mum.
Thursday
New thing was hitherto unexplored parts of Beaconsfield and I wish one of them had remained unexplored as a man in a giant 4x4 came whizzing round a corner and very nearly crushed me and my car! We then went to a pub called the Charles Dickens making me realise that I have never read any of his novels, which is something I should rectify as I don’t think that knowing the words to Oliver! counts!
We then walked down the street to lovely beautiful untouched houses and antique shops. This is the heart of Midsomer Murder country, and as the author of that always says, the reality is also a lot stranger than the fiction. The went to the Royal Saracen’s Head which wasn’t new but a good insight into the area. Barbie and Ken came out as I was going in, and as Mabel bought the drinks, I sat down at a table, and a very well-to-do woman plonked all her unwanted glasses on my table! To make matters worse, the glass collector then asked me if I had finished with them! There were about 20 empty glasses, and it looked as if I had downed them all!
Went in Thomas Cook in Rickmansworth because I saw a woman in there who was the spitting image of my mum.
Thursday
New thing was hitherto unexplored parts of Beaconsfield and I wish one of them had remained unexplored as a man in a giant 4x4 came whizzing round a corner and very nearly crushed me and my car! We then went to a pub called the Charles Dickens making me realise that I have never read any of his novels, which is something I should rectify as I don’t think that knowing the words to Oliver! counts!
We then walked down the street to lovely beautiful untouched houses and antique shops. This is the heart of Midsomer Murder country, and as the author of that always says, the reality is also a lot stranger than the fiction. The went to the Royal Saracen’s Head which wasn’t new but a good insight into the area. Barbie and Ken came out as I was going in, and as Mabel bought the drinks, I sat down at a table, and a very well-to-do woman plonked all her unwanted glasses on my table! To make matters worse, the glass collector then asked me if I had finished with them! There were about 20 empty glasses, and it looked as if I had downed them all!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday - new type of soya bean
Rubbish, I know. All right, did I mention I went to see University Challenge being filmed last week?!
OK – time to wheel out the last lots of “things no-one knows about me”:
1. I lived in Portsmouth for 20 weeks and didn’t get mugged.
2. I’ve been defeated by my ipod
3. I’ve known since I was little that money isn’t everything
4. The biggest role ever given to me in a play was “Villager 3” in the Pied Piper with the line: “Yes, you did; you gave your word.”
5. I got to grade 6 piano and curse the day I gave up. Why? Why? Why?
6. I never waste my vote but never think there’s anyone to vote for.
7. I once fled at 3am when I was challenged to stay in the haunted room at Littlecote House.
8. I watch too many French films.
9. One couple at least is married thanks to my speed dating events.
10. Even though children hate me, I used to volunteer with a children’s swimming group and have taught them in France and Japan.
11. I am TEFL qualified but only achieved this when I LEFT my last teaching job! (Unintentional anagram!)
12. I do something new every day.
13. I have a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award and a lifesaving bronze medallion. Never have progressed to more precious metals...
14. I quite often rely on my sense of smell to tell me whether to buy something or not. In English, that means I sniff things quite a lot.
15. My life has improved dramatically since I worked out – about two days ago – how to turn off the automatic pop up which tells you when emails has arrived.
16. My favourite film ever is Withnail and I. Perhaps I can identify with him?!
17. If there is a newspaper in the room, I can’t rest until I’ve read it.
18. I frequently have pickle on toast for breakfast when I think no-one will find out!
19. Touch wood, I have only ever broken one of my own bones when I flew over the handlebars on my bike, landing on my arm.
20. I once locked myself INTO a hotel room because there was a really scary painting on the wall – incidentally that was the night JR was shot, though I can’t remember by whom.
21. I discovered the other day that I am not a rock goddess – I got 64% at Rock Star!
22. I hate my name!
23. I failed my driving test twice!
24. I can drink up to 20 cups of tea a day, and although my boss won’t let us sup out of anything but paper cups, I have an enormous mug (not my face) the size of a soup bowl.
25. I am looking to buy a motorbike but have only been on the back of a Harley Davidson!
OK – time to wheel out the last lots of “things no-one knows about me”:
1. I lived in Portsmouth for 20 weeks and didn’t get mugged.
2. I’ve been defeated by my ipod
3. I’ve known since I was little that money isn’t everything
4. The biggest role ever given to me in a play was “Villager 3” in the Pied Piper with the line: “Yes, you did; you gave your word.”
5. I got to grade 6 piano and curse the day I gave up. Why? Why? Why?
6. I never waste my vote but never think there’s anyone to vote for.
7. I once fled at 3am when I was challenged to stay in the haunted room at Littlecote House.
8. I watch too many French films.
9. One couple at least is married thanks to my speed dating events.
10. Even though children hate me, I used to volunteer with a children’s swimming group and have taught them in France and Japan.
11. I am TEFL qualified but only achieved this when I LEFT my last teaching job! (Unintentional anagram!)
12. I do something new every day.
13. I have a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award and a lifesaving bronze medallion. Never have progressed to more precious metals...
14. I quite often rely on my sense of smell to tell me whether to buy something or not. In English, that means I sniff things quite a lot.
15. My life has improved dramatically since I worked out – about two days ago – how to turn off the automatic pop up which tells you when emails has arrived.
16. My favourite film ever is Withnail and I. Perhaps I can identify with him?!
17. If there is a newspaper in the room, I can’t rest until I’ve read it.
18. I frequently have pickle on toast for breakfast when I think no-one will find out!
19. Touch wood, I have only ever broken one of my own bones when I flew over the handlebars on my bike, landing on my arm.
20. I once locked myself INTO a hotel room because there was a really scary painting on the wall – incidentally that was the night JR was shot, though I can’t remember by whom.
21. I discovered the other day that I am not a rock goddess – I got 64% at Rock Star!
22. I hate my name!
23. I failed my driving test twice!
24. I can drink up to 20 cups of tea a day, and although my boss won’t let us sup out of anything but paper cups, I have an enormous mug (not my face) the size of a soup bowl.
25. I am looking to buy a motorbike but have only been on the back of a Harley Davidson!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday - Carpe Diem!
Another one of those uninspired days where a very tired Margery Dawes gets back to the train station needing to do something new. So, says I, why don’t I go into Waitrose and see if they have any weird products I’ve never bought before. Result! Bought this weird herbal tea infusion which tasted like bubble bath and appropriately was called Carpe Diem Kombucha. I certainly seized the day on this one!
Monday, July 13, 2009
University Challenge - da da da da-da da da da!
Friday
Got the train up to Manchester- and was extremely impressed to arrive in the city centre in just two hours! I couldn’t believe it, I sat down, fell asleep and was there! Plenty of new things ensued, from a visit into a charity shop before I wandered across Manchester and reached the Granada Studios in Quay Street very, very well ahead of the start time. So I kept walking, through Salford and then back into Manchester along the canal, before going for lunch of an orange-coloured beetroot and goat’s cheese tart at Giraffe (where the woman shouted “table for one” at the top of her voice, which I thought was a tad unnecessary, as well as the “optional 10% tip added onto the bill” – how is that optional?!), after going into a pub called “The old Grapes” where the woman said she “can’t serve bitter shandy”. I then watched the cricket on a large screen in Hardman Square in Spinningfields in Manchester and then met my dad. We then joined the back of the queue for the filming of University Challenge, mingling with other audience members, contestants and their parents and the odd person who had accidentally got into the wrong queue, having wanted to watch the Jeremy Kyle Show being filmed. We passed plaques to certain late members of Coronation Street such as Patricia Phoenix and ‘Ena Sharples’, passed pictures of the best of ITV programming and then being led downstairs to the studio. I have watched University Challenge since I was little, even when Bamber Gascoigne was the host, not that I ever understood any of the questions then (not that I do now either!), so to see the set in real life was just brilliant. The audience was sworn to secrecy, so I can’t say much about the programme, suffice to say that it was thrilling to see how quickly the contestants answer the questions and also that the teams are next to each other – I’d got it into my head that one of the teams was made to sit above the other! Probably got that idea from The Young Ones! Jeremy Paxman was exactly how he appears in real life – such a legend and very engaging with the audience and the contestants. What was very, very funny is that there was a woman in the audience who complained several times that she hadn’t been provided with any orange juice, Jeremy Paxman happened to hear one of these complaints and made his fantastically disdainful face, saying: “Sounds like an abuse of human rights; someone call Liberty”....
After a couple of hours of filming, which flew by and will be screened on BBC2 in October, we went to Carluccios for dinner (back again to the big square where the cricket was being screened) where I had the risotto, before dad went back to his car and I walked to the station. I actually met one of the contestants at the station and he and I had a lovely chat about the experience – a very clever and interesting chap. Train journey home was not quite as pleasant as the outward journey as I appeared to have reserved a seat next to some sort of rubbish party. IN addition, some genius decided to climb up an electricity stanchion near Stoke, necessitating the power to be turned off and a long wait for us. Mabel picked me up from Watford station (except he parked about four miles away!).
Saturday
Lots of things today, but they don’t start being new until the evening when we saw comedian Andrew Maxwell as part of the Newbury Comedy Festival. He was good, but didn’t seem to have prepared enough material for the whole set...
Sunday
After a very successful boot sale in Newbury, we had a very fast pint in the Plough on the Green Pub in Newbury which I’d inexplicably never been into during my two years in the town and the next, more exciting new thing, was going to Swindon for the “Everything Eco show” at the National Building and Renovation Centre which was very interesting and gave us lots of ideas (none of which we will actually be able to afford, hahahaha!)!
Got the train up to Manchester- and was extremely impressed to arrive in the city centre in just two hours! I couldn’t believe it, I sat down, fell asleep and was there! Plenty of new things ensued, from a visit into a charity shop before I wandered across Manchester and reached the Granada Studios in Quay Street very, very well ahead of the start time. So I kept walking, through Salford and then back into Manchester along the canal, before going for lunch of an orange-coloured beetroot and goat’s cheese tart at Giraffe (where the woman shouted “table for one” at the top of her voice, which I thought was a tad unnecessary, as well as the “optional 10% tip added onto the bill” – how is that optional?!), after going into a pub called “The old Grapes” where the woman said she “can’t serve bitter shandy”. I then watched the cricket on a large screen in Hardman Square in Spinningfields in Manchester and then met my dad. We then joined the back of the queue for the filming of University Challenge, mingling with other audience members, contestants and their parents and the odd person who had accidentally got into the wrong queue, having wanted to watch the Jeremy Kyle Show being filmed. We passed plaques to certain late members of Coronation Street such as Patricia Phoenix and ‘Ena Sharples’, passed pictures of the best of ITV programming and then being led downstairs to the studio. I have watched University Challenge since I was little, even when Bamber Gascoigne was the host, not that I ever understood any of the questions then (not that I do now either!), so to see the set in real life was just brilliant. The audience was sworn to secrecy, so I can’t say much about the programme, suffice to say that it was thrilling to see how quickly the contestants answer the questions and also that the teams are next to each other – I’d got it into my head that one of the teams was made to sit above the other! Probably got that idea from The Young Ones! Jeremy Paxman was exactly how he appears in real life – such a legend and very engaging with the audience and the contestants. What was very, very funny is that there was a woman in the audience who complained several times that she hadn’t been provided with any orange juice, Jeremy Paxman happened to hear one of these complaints and made his fantastically disdainful face, saying: “Sounds like an abuse of human rights; someone call Liberty”....
After a couple of hours of filming, which flew by and will be screened on BBC2 in October, we went to Carluccios for dinner (back again to the big square where the cricket was being screened) where I had the risotto, before dad went back to his car and I walked to the station. I actually met one of the contestants at the station and he and I had a lovely chat about the experience – a very clever and interesting chap. Train journey home was not quite as pleasant as the outward journey as I appeared to have reserved a seat next to some sort of rubbish party. IN addition, some genius decided to climb up an electricity stanchion near Stoke, necessitating the power to be turned off and a long wait for us. Mabel picked me up from Watford station (except he parked about four miles away!).
Saturday
Lots of things today, but they don’t start being new until the evening when we saw comedian Andrew Maxwell as part of the Newbury Comedy Festival. He was good, but didn’t seem to have prepared enough material for the whole set...
Sunday
After a very successful boot sale in Newbury, we had a very fast pint in the Plough on the Green Pub in Newbury which I’d inexplicably never been into during my two years in the town and the next, more exciting new thing, was going to Swindon for the “Everything Eco show” at the National Building and Renovation Centre which was very interesting and gave us lots of ideas (none of which we will actually be able to afford, hahahaha!)!
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Wednesday, Thursday, Happy Days!
New thing was driving down a beautiful – almost too beautiful, and proper, tree-lined avenue in Little Chalfont. With speed bumps. Which is what happens when you get too rich and stuffy about things – a damaged suspension.
Thursday
Popped into the flea market in Harefield after getting some milk for the office. Except you had to pay 20p and it hardly seemed worth it for a two minute shufty round books about WW2.
Thursday
Popped into the flea market in Harefield after getting some milk for the office. Except you had to pay 20p and it hardly seemed worth it for a two minute shufty round books about WW2.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Tuesday - rumble in the Brox
New thing was Brox hairdressers in Packhorse Road in Gerrards Cross to book a much-needed haircut, which was really nice. Funnily enough, it was much less snooty in here than the two salons I went into in Chesham – who’da thunk it?
I had to stay a little bit longer than I thought as while I was there, the heavens opened and there was a downpour which would not have been out of place in a tropical region.
I had to stay a little bit longer than I thought as while I was there, the heavens opened and there was a downpour which would not have been out of place in a tropical region.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Monday
New thing today was not very exciting, although it was life threatening at one point. Stopped off in Chorleywood in a search for Stardrops. Tried the magnificent hardware store called Poores, and I swear that was the only item they didn’t stock. The life-threatening bit was not when a big guy in a 4x4 pulled out in front of me, not just once, but then twice, as he reversed two inches from my bonnet - quite the rudest thing I have experienced for - well - this week, at least. The life-threatening bit was when I blew the horn at him (once for each crappy manoeuvre that he’d pulled) as he did not like that at all. The annoying thing was that I actually intended to take the train to work, but the service on my line was cancelled and no reason given at the station.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Friday
A proper old-style hardware shop in Chalfont St Pater – didn’t get the name of the shop, and didn’t get the Stardrops that I went in for. They seemed to sell every other cleaning product but this one! Got queue barged in Somerfield by a woman who bypassed me because I turned around when I was in the queue to check the headline on the paper, so quoted lots of “Friends” lines at her.
“It’s not like I went to Spain!”
Saturday
A dry cleaning shop in Chesham.
Sunday
After a boot sale in Thatcham we headed to Bath where we did lots of new things, mostly involving fudge shops. Also watched the cute film Juno when we got home.
“It’s not like I went to Spain!”
Saturday
A dry cleaning shop in Chesham.
Sunday
After a boot sale in Thatcham we headed to Bath where we did lots of new things, mostly involving fudge shops. Also watched the cute film Juno when we got home.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Thursday - The Old Mill, Berkhamstead
WOW – went to the Old Mill in Berkhamstead for a nice summer’s day pint. Incidentally, has no-one ever told the people of Berkhampstead about the existence of the Highway Code? Anyway, after drivers (mostly in 4x4s) ruthlessly tried to pass us when it was our right of way, we eventually made it to the pub which was beautiful. We sat next to the water, which was noisy, but very cooling. A really nice, but snooty pub.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Wednesday - Silverstone and electric Kangoo!
An absolute humdinger of new thing-day today. Was dispatched to Silverstone for a day of driving the newest cars in the Renault range, including the absolutely brilliant Kangoo Electric concept car. This truly is the future and I was gobsmacked by it. It just looks so green and amazing – obviously it won’t stay like that when it comes into production – which is very soon.
The total costs of ownership are brilliant, as, depending on how you get your electricity, the carbon emissions could be 0g/km up to an average just 65g/km and it will do about 100 miles which is more than what most people do on the average journey.
There are financial incentives from the government to help buy one of these, and then it will need a four to eight hour charge either at home or work. You can get a fast charge of 20 minutes to top up, or you can go to the dealership and have the battery replaced which takes 3 minutes, quicker than filling the car up with diesel! Once you have the vehicle, it won’t need so much servicing and should be off the road very infrequently – I am very excited about this!
After a briefing from former BTCC champion Jason Plato and his Fifth Gear co-host Tim Shaw, we started the day with a manoeuvrability exercise which was a lot harder than I anticipated – thought my co-driver was a little slow with giving the instructions, but then as they say: “A bad workman blames his co-driver”! Did enjoy throwing the New Renault Grand Scénic around the corners though! Then a test which was more my thing – was driving a Renault Trafic van forwards into a confined space and then reversing backwards and driving out forwards. I think if left unchecked I have great potential to be a white van man....
We then had a magnificent meal in the British Racing Drivers Club -for most people a Herefordshire beef steak – for me a porcini ravioli with Portobello mushrooms, asparagus and baby onions, served with chive truffle cream - while we discussed the many, many historic names of people who would have sat where we were sitting; Malcolm Campbell, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton to name just three.
After lunch, we took the cars onto the track – after donning a fetching crash helmet, I started off with another Grand Scénic which was automatic –which was an interesting experience for me! Then whizzed around the track in a Mégane Coupé which was absolutely brilliant. Made me realise just how talented a racing driver and how you have to know the circuit inside out to hammer round at top speed.
Then after whizzing round, we did the opposite and drove excessively slowly trying to get the maximum mpg possible out of a Mégane Hatch, before I put this new skill to good use after getting stuck on the M40 and taking an ill-advised short cut through Stokenchurch which meant I didn’t get home until L-A-T-E. Then realised that the state of my car was simply embarrassing thanks to the Glasto mud, so took it to the car wash in Amersham which was an experience in itself!
The total costs of ownership are brilliant, as, depending on how you get your electricity, the carbon emissions could be 0g/km up to an average just 65g/km and it will do about 100 miles which is more than what most people do on the average journey.
There are financial incentives from the government to help buy one of these, and then it will need a four to eight hour charge either at home or work. You can get a fast charge of 20 minutes to top up, or you can go to the dealership and have the battery replaced which takes 3 minutes, quicker than filling the car up with diesel! Once you have the vehicle, it won’t need so much servicing and should be off the road very infrequently – I am very excited about this!
After a briefing from former BTCC champion Jason Plato and his Fifth Gear co-host Tim Shaw, we started the day with a manoeuvrability exercise which was a lot harder than I anticipated – thought my co-driver was a little slow with giving the instructions, but then as they say: “A bad workman blames his co-driver”! Did enjoy throwing the New Renault Grand Scénic around the corners though! Then a test which was more my thing – was driving a Renault Trafic van forwards into a confined space and then reversing backwards and driving out forwards. I think if left unchecked I have great potential to be a white van man....
We then had a magnificent meal in the British Racing Drivers Club -for most people a Herefordshire beef steak – for me a porcini ravioli with Portobello mushrooms, asparagus and baby onions, served with chive truffle cream - while we discussed the many, many historic names of people who would have sat where we were sitting; Malcolm Campbell, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton to name just three.
After lunch, we took the cars onto the track – after donning a fetching crash helmet, I started off with another Grand Scénic which was automatic –which was an interesting experience for me! Then whizzed around the track in a Mégane Coupé which was absolutely brilliant. Made me realise just how talented a racing driver and how you have to know the circuit inside out to hammer round at top speed.
Then after whizzing round, we did the opposite and drove excessively slowly trying to get the maximum mpg possible out of a Mégane Hatch, before I put this new skill to good use after getting stuck on the M40 and taking an ill-advised short cut through Stokenchurch which meant I didn’t get home until L-A-T-E. Then realised that the state of my car was simply embarrassing thanks to the Glasto mud, so took it to the car wash in Amersham which was an experience in itself!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
