Annie Baileys

Torn between needing to pack and wanting to make the most of our last days in the area, we needed to discuss something, so I suggested going to Annie Baileys near Great Missenden. We pass this place quite often and I was intrigued to see what it was like, having assumed that it was a diner style stop off. However, it is much, much plusher than that and the food looked amazing (I say looked as opposed to tasted as it looked beyond our price range)! It takes its name from the landlady of the day at the then Red Lion in Cuddington in the 1840s.

What a Beautiful Day!!

Thursday
Back road on way to West Country

Friday
Beautiful Days! I absolutely love this festival and it’s clear that everyone else here does too. Rolled onto the site and lunchtime, pitched the tent and then went to see the Levellers’ acoustic set which as tradition rules, kicks off the 3 day ear-fest (obviously not my new thing for the day!). The Road started proceedings, with others including 15 years (this sounds great acoustically!), Burford Stomp, Lowlands of Holland, Elation, Dirty Davey, Another Man’s Cause, a song I didn’t recognise...and I call myself a fan?), Far from Home, Men-An Tol, Before the End, Julie, the Boatman and culminating with Just the One! After a lot of dancing, smiling and general Levelling, we stayed in the big top and saw Devon singer/songwriter John Smith who was great – at his best when he was playing the guitar on his lap like a drum/piano/guitar. We then saw Jim Moray, then a fantastic duo with the most beautiful, gentle voices, called Chris While and Julie Matthews. Next up was a rockbilly Amy Winehouse Imelda May who was awesome, so energetic and professional. We then rushed over to the main stage and caught the end of The King Blues who were much better live than I had realised from their extensive radio play. Then the brilliant Dreadzone (not new) before Hawkwind (also not new) which was great. They – possibly deliberately – became a bit overwhelmingly Spinal Tap, so we went to see Seth Lakeman (not new!) who replaced Richard Thompson at the last minute, after he broke a finger.

Saturday
Started with a crumpet which I realised had bacon on it, but no matter, I was hungry! Started at the main stage with Mozzy Green, then the very catchy Will and the People before the wonderful Dorset band Pronghorn. I had heard about this band, and not only were they every inch as funny and entertaining as I thought they would be, but there was a revolutionary innovation, a bar on stage manned by Mr Potter, making it Potter’s Bar! They also had a Country dancers versus the Cossacks competition, (which we lost!). Then wandered to the Big Top and saw Kissmet (not new) who were quite funny, although I felt they tried too hard to make everyone like them instead of letting the music speak for itself. Then a change of pace for Lau, then back to the main stage for The Wonder Stuff, (not new) then the wonderful Saw Doctors who were amazing live. We were right down the front for the Galwaymen, kicking off with the wonderful N17, before launching into their cheery set. They were brilliant and really seemed to enjoy themselves, as did the people next to us who spent the whole set trying to throw a bouncy ball onto the stage, succeeding just twice! We were then perfectly placed for the Pogues (not new). I’ve seen them about five times, always at Christmas, but this gig was just the best by far, even though they didn’t play Fairytale of New York. They started with Repeal of the Licensing Laws as Shane Macgowan had yet to make it onto the stage, but once he did (complete with patch over his left eye), they rocked the festival, with favourites from Streams of Whisky to Fiesta to my personal favourite Boys from the County Hell. We had the misfortune of standing next to a complete wassock who kept shouting “Sickbed of Cuchulain” “just f***ing play it!” ad nauseum, even shouting over the top of Shane Macgowan’s announcement that it was the next song....Spider Stacey appeared to be getting annoyed with this character and indeed his fellow Pogue Shane, particularly when he dedicated one of the songs to the “people of Omaha”....What a set, topped only by my favourite musician passing me later with a big smile!

Sunday
Already! This festival is packed with musical talent, there is no such thing as a bad band here, and it means that the seconds just rush by! I woke up at what seemed to be 6am but later turned out to be 10.30am. My dad had already been out for breakfast (drinking his tea with Howard Marks!) and had come back for me, so we started with the main stage and a good opening set from Greg McDonald, followed by Hatcham Social. We then went over to the Little Big Top (although I may have fallen asleep for a bit somewhere?) and saw a talk by Howard Marks, followed by his daughter Amber Marks who is fascinating. She is a criminal barrister and an expert on sniffer dogs, and I am hoping to get hold of her book Headspace to read about this in more depth. We then perched at a spot near the Little Big Top where you can see the main stage to catch a bit of Frank Turner before returning to the Little Big Top for Melo Park who were great; the lead singer Sian Evans has a distinctive voice which put me in mind of Kosheen, before I looked in the programme to find that she is indeed the same person! The down to the Bimble Inn for the lovely and fun Dan Donnelly who did a couple of new songs alongside his favourites. Why can’t I find his album anywhere – if you could buy them in the UK, he would be extremely successful with his knack for catchy songs, clever lyrics and lively persona. Back-to-back folk songstresses with beautiful voices Eliza Carthy and then Cara Dillon before the wonderful Blockheads. Except I couldn’t stand still during their set, as I was dancing uncontrollably with excitement and counting down for the Levellers!!!!! Innovatively, they played the entire Weapon Called the Word album, in order (almost), from start to finish, with a reminder in the middle from Mark Chadwick that when it was released, you would have to turn the record over at this point...Their performance was just incredible – I had tears in my eyes from Carry Me to Outside/Inside and through Together All the Way, which if I had to choose a favourite Levs song, might be a contender...Then Barrel of a Gun and Three Friends. The rest of the band left the stage leaving the Levellers 2 Simon Friend and Mark Chadwick to play their beautiful Social Insecurity and Cardboard Box City which just sounded amazing with the cool evening breeze blowing across the crowd. A real moment to cherish. Then the rest of the band returned and played before two I had never heard live before, Hard Fight and Last Days of Winter. Then I have no Answers, and No Change (amazing live - can't wait to hear the recording of this at the Royal Albert Hall). Then the Ballad of Robbie Jones, Blind Faith, and the rocking England My Home and What you Know (joined by 3 Daft Monkeys), which usually polishes off a set in fantastic up-tempo. But there’s more! The band comes back for the obligatory What a Beautiful Day, One Way, Cholera Well and Riverflow. Then while I was running through their extensive back catalogue working out that Liberty must be the rabble rousing encore, the Levs returned to the stage, Jeremy yelled LIBERTY and the crowd pushed to new highs. As if it couldn’t get any better, the chorus was accompanied by fireworks from behind the stage, causing me to weep with joy again, before the Levs and the fireworks culminated in one last hurrah, topping off perhaps the greatest gig of my life. Thanks to all of the lovely Levellers and support crew for making me, and 12,499 other people very, very, very, very happy! Here’s to next year!
Monday
New thing was a farm shop in Dorset – except I’d forgotten that I’d got up at 5am and so therefore it wasn’t open!

Tuesday
New thing was meant to be In the Loop which turned up today. However, I happened to see Mabel’s foot which I assumed was better, and it’s turned a gangrenous shade of black. So I made him go to A&E at High Wycombe (after turning up at Amersham which doesn’t have a casualty department). Spent a fortune on parking, but it was worth it as his foot was broken.

Tuesday/Wednesday - "Wine Racking my brain for something new"

New thing was firstly trying to go into Wine Rack in Gerrard’s Cross, but when I parked up, there was a black Audi two centimetres from my bumper, so I ended up having to drive round in a big circle, but in that completed my new thing! Mabel fixed my car for me when I got home so I took him to the Red Lion pub for a pint (not new – but the patio, bingo!)

New thing was stopping at the Shell Garage in Amersham for mini cheddars as it was the only thing I could face eating!

Higher love, Higher Denham

New thing yesterday was driving through the lovely village of Higher Denham, made for a beautiful sunny day like this.

Our last weekend in Midsomer

Saturday
Inspired by a couple that we know who are spending 50 days buying food from a 50-mile radius, I decided to check out Emmett’s Farm Shop today on my way to Bourne End to buy myself a bike! Stopped off and bought a couple of things, which though expensive, were off great quality – so much better than anything I have ever bought from a supermarket. For example, the butter was £2.09 but nearly got eaten in one go with a marvellous freshly-baked baguette and the avocadoes were bursting with flavour. The last few avocadoes I’ve bought from the supermarket have tasted like plastic green balls with no texture or flavour to speak of. I also noticed that I didn’t stick any ill thought out purchases in my bag, nothing went in that I hadn’t intended to buy. From there, I went to On Two Wheels to get a very meagre percentage of my tax back through the Cycle to Work scheme. I bought a very nice mountain bike – then when I went to pay, they reminded me that you have to spend more than £200 to benefit from the scheme, so I just bought it anyway. I then went into a charity shop further up the road, but then when an employee barked: “Do you want something?!” at me, I ran out and as there were a couple of people looking around our house today, (as my bike purchase didn’t take as long as I thought it would), ended up checking out the new Beaconsfield services and going to Starbucks of all places, which I hate. In mitigation though, Starbucks offers bags of coffee grounds for you to take free of charge which are meant to be very good for the compost heap!

Sunday
What a glorious day! We couldn’t face getting up early to do a much-needed boot sale, so went to Great Missenden as a kind of last hurrah before we leave the Midsomer area for good! We walked (or in Mabel’s case, limped) up to St Peter and St Paul’s Church where Roald Dahl is buried. His grave simply has his name and dates, but no mention of who he was, except there’s a beautiful tree nearby, with a dedication on the paving slabs and three enormous giant footprints towards the grave. Very touching and the most beautiful view into Great Missenden. We then ventured to Bovingdon before stopping by a pub called the White Hart in Whelpley Hill which was an intriguing mix of country pub complete with old men playing traditional board games, and gastropub – was quite surprised to see items on the menu such as fried courgette balls, cracked wheat, smoked garlic and tomato sauce and roast rump of lamb with roasted vegetables and coriander essence.

"Appe - Thai -zing!" (Friday)

With the help of my colleague who also agrees that we should do more outside of work stuff, we went to the Tamarind Thai Cafe in Station Rd, Rickmansworth. I’ve passed this so many times and always thought I should try it. And now am so glad we did! It’s brilliant! Very simple clean and bright decor with neutral colours and nothing to suggest it is a Thai restaurant. The food was authentic and tasty, and reasonably priced. We both had steamed rice – with beef for Tom and with prawns for me, from the lunch menu. It was absolutely packed as well which is a great sign! Topped off back at the office with Tom's homemade blackberry icecream made from the blackberries he and I picked at work on Wednesday! Looking forward to our next lunch date now!

My "Essential" new thing

New thing for yesterday was a specialist bouquet and plant shop called Essential Flowers in Money Hill Parade in Rickmansworth where I bought a lovely orchid, sadly not for me, but to give to my neighbour to help apologize for the death of the budgie which died about an hour before I was due to hand it back. Cue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npjOSLCR2hE

Wednesday - legal seagulls and magazines

A couple of new things in Chalfont St Peter. Went to see the solicitor and he took me into a room to discuss my legal issue, providing me with today’s new thing. I also went into a newsagent further up the main street that I hadn’t been into before, so a vast improvement on yesterday!

Tuesday - vegetarian falafel

New thing was vegetarian falafel and not even home made. All the great things I could have done, and that’s what I choose! My new things require better planning or else it’s weird stuff I find at the supermarket or ducking and diving down back roads!

Oishi desu! Watashi-no sushi desu

Monday
The point of doing something new every day was to make sure that no two days melted into each other. So last night’s new thing wasn’t the purest, but I have spoken to my stomach and we both agree that it was memorable. We are moving house soon, (back to where we used to live, providing a whole new problem of whether things are new or not, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it, providing I haven’t already crossed it), so I am doing my best to make delicious things to eat with the strange assortment of items in our storecupboard in an attempt to use them all up. I came across two packets of sushi rice, bought in a rare enthusiastic mood for unusual food. So, after buying all the requisite extras, rice wine vinegar, mirin (whatever that is) - ah yes, rice wine, I remember from my Japan days (and a bit of help from google) and wasabi, I set to work. It must be noted again that I am the worst cook in the world. Without exception. I find cheese on toast difficult and don’t remember ever eating it without having to cut burnt bits off. So this was quite a challenge for me, which fortunately worked out well. I made maki sushi with avocado and the special rice I’d made, combined with either trout or crab sticks as I mistook the courgette in the fridge for cucumber and it went down a treat, and was surprisingly filling. Hope this counts? Will ask the boss (me) and report back.

The Hairy Monster/Cornflake

Thursday addition
Forgot that I wolfed down a packet of Red Thai Chilli kettle chips in order to achieve my new thing yesterday.

Friday
Intended to have a lunch with my colleague in a cafe but he had to rush home with medicines for his nephew who has swine flu. So racking my brains all the way, I decided to see if there was a pub in Hyde Heath but got distracted by two pubs in Amersham I’d not been to. I chose the one with outdoor seating at the front first as we were enjoying the first blast of sunshine I’d seen in weeks, The Swan. It was actually quite dark inside when I got there, and as I approached the bar, the woman behind it answered the phone and embarked upon what appeared to be the start of a lengthy conversation without once acknowledging me. So, mission accomplished, I left ready to go to the pub opposite next time I needed to do something new. However, once I’d told Mabel about the first pub, he developed a taste for beer and we then went to the Eagle which was a traditional pub where we sat in the garden.

Saturday
After taking a look behind our new house to see exactly what was there, our new thing was going to Newbury Racecourse to “help” promote the forthcoming opera The Marriage of Figaro at Newbury Racecourse along with other good work done by the Greenham Common Trust at a culture event celebrating the multi-ethnic nature of West Berkshire. There were displays of traditional Thai, Chinese and Scottish dancing, martial arts and lots of great Chinese and Indian food. I also took the opportunity to have my eyebrows threaded by a lovely lady called Ritz. I’d heard about threading before and was intrigued to see how it worked and whether it hurts. It’s quite an art to watch and also to be on the receiving end of and is incredibly precise. The cotton is held in a precise way between mouth and hands and is twisted along the hair being removed. It didn’t hurt too much – just a very slight burning sensation which went quickly.

Marriage of Figaro details: Saturday 22nd August, bring a picnic! More details here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=100328522277&ref=ts

Sunday
Praise be for the first sunny day in ages! We used it wisely by driving through the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside to the beautiful village of Mentmore (probably helped to stay beautiful by the complete lack of signposting to let you know where it is!). The area has been in the news of late as it’s near the railway crossing where the Great Train Robbery took place 46 years and one day ago! Even before we had parked the car we were drawn to the amazing beauty of the area. Passing Mentmore Towers, the former home of the late Beatle George Harrison before he donated it to the Natural Law Party. The 6 and a half mile walk was a gentle one made even more simple by my constant stopping for elderberries and blackberries which were out in force. We passed the Church of St Mary the Virgin Church and ambled across a few fields until we got lost and had to ask a farmer for help. He suspected that we were following the book which I had in my hand, before laughing and telling us that two people had already crossed his land, lost, thanks to the dubious directions! He allowed us to continue across his farm, where we came upon the village of Ledburn. Stopping for more blackberries, we were greeted by a bouncy dog and his owner who suspected we were on the trail of the train robbers and directed us, against what I had gleaned from the book, correctly down to Sears Crossing. It’s hard to believe that this quiet spot was the location for one of the most famous crimes of the last century, but then of course it was deliberately chosen exactly because it is so deserted. After leaning over the bridge to look for the famous light, (and also any spare banknotes that might have been dropped) we continued on our way, eventually ending up on the Grand Union Canal, before returning to the car. We had a well-earned pint in the Stag, part-owned by F1 Racing Driver Mark Webber, admiring a vintage car with the number plate “DLT”. Could it be? Yes! Dave Lee Travis is sitting outside the pub with a group of friends. We then returned home stopping at another pub on the Grand Union, not so nice, this one, called the Grand Junction.

More Chesham!

Wednesday
New thing today was once again exploring new roads on way to yoga lesson in Chesham (at which the teacher has half an hour late). Once again, I’m staggered at how big the town is! Also did a bit of a woman’s magazine new thing and listened to The Hits....a digital radio station.

Thursday
New thing was finding a short cut through a village on my way home taking me down Misbourne Avenue in Chalfont St Peter/Giles/Dave past some truly beautiful houses. Also listened to Q Music – another new music station!

Tuesday

New thing was going into a deli called the Monk’s Kitchen in Chorleywood just for a nose around since I was in town anyway to get some sandpaper so we can get this lovely table ready to sell! £20 ono if you’re interested!!

Yamada!

Tuesday
New thing was firstly buying some new vegetarian kievs from Sainsburys and then watching My Neighbours the Yamadas, a beautifully-drawn animation, which looks like a moving watercolour. Rather than a film, it’s more like a series of snippets from family life or a cartoon strip in a comic. As well as quoting Basho throughout, the film relies heavily on Japanese imagery and is a really cute snapshot into family life.

Lots of lions, Margaret Moran...

Wednesday
New thing today was driving through Purse Caundle. There’s no pub here – eek!

Thursday
New thing was going down to Wellington for a meeting. En route I stopped off at two places to buy newspapers; the first had nothing but porn! I then went on to the rubbish dump (now known, of course, as the household recycling centre). While I was there, this bloke put a load of garden furniture, mainly plastic chairs, that looked eminently useable to me. I was about to retrieve them, but one of the workers asked me what I was doing – i said I was just looking as it seems “the world has gone mad” to which he said; “tell me about it, this happens every day”. I didn’t want him to get me arrested so moved on quickly (this happened to another poor recycler who tried to do exactly the same thing with exactly the same item) - you would think if anyone should be arrested, it’s the rich sod who has so much money that he throws perfectly good stuff away to be buried in landfill:
This from Schnews:
“RUBBISH ARREST OF THE WEEK
For recycling
One Wrexham woman found herself on the wrong side of the law when she helped herself to four plastic garden chairs from a privatised council tip. The Waste Recycling Group - instead of lending her a hand for helping push towards their target of 65% of all rubbish being recycled – phoned the cops.
One house search later and the chairs have been returned to their rightful place: a landfill, and the would-be Womble is waiting to see if the CPS is going charge her under the Theft Act.”
Anyway, after going to the tip, I proceeded into the town, which is a delightful place with a nice laidback 1970s feel to it and lots of independent shops. Had time to visit lots of these and also a nice cafe where I had a caramel slice and tea, watching one of the waitresses taking great care over a frail old lady. She read her the menu and helped her sit down which nearly brought a tear to my eye for practical and simple kindness.

Friday
New thing today was going into the cafe in Maple Cross and enjoying a builder’s tea and a plate of cheesy chips. The place is magnificent, a real throw back to the early 1960s, with the old formica tables and 60s wipe clean chairs. Also, once I got home in the evening, as we are without television at the moment, we watched "His Girl Friday" from 1940 - what a great film with just breathtaking fast, smart dialogue. Rosalind Russell is the true star of this film, great turns from Ralph Bellamy (just googled him and found out he was the father in Pretty Woman) and of course the wonderful Cary Grant...Nice day of throwbacks!

Two lions – ROAR! Saturday
New thing was going for a lovely walk through the wonderful “Midsomer” countryside, passing an idyllic cricket match and then giving up on our walk when it started pouring with rain. We then retired to the wonderful Lions Pub at Bledlow, which is known to fans of Barnaby as the Queens Arms. The adjacent church is also known as Badger’s Drift church! We had a lovely, noncompetitive darts session in the pub (in which I won two of the three games). Came back through lovely villages and stopped off at Kingshill where we saw our second cricket match of the day and also our second Lion-themed pub –the Red Lion.

Sunday
Went to Strada down by the Thames and then to a great restaurant called Gaby’s near Trafalgar Square to prepare for this.....:
http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Anna