Thursday

New thing today was Azuza in Marlborough where I spent £6 to access their wifi which I couldn't access...the same thing happened in another cafe called the Food Gallery although the staff there couldn't have been more helpful! I then went to see my lovely friend Maria for a very quick lunch at her house that I'd never been to before in the village of East Grafton. I think these are the signs of middle age; I've made cakes, I've made bunting, I've stopped listening to trance and I now want to move to a village. Maria is extremely intelligent and capable, as well as being incredibly hard-working, and is totally on my wave length. Not many people I know would offer their clothes to me because they're destined for the charity shop (and I'm entering month 4 tomorrow of my year of non-clothes buying!) , but I love her for it!

Wednesday

New thing today was Old Thatch Gardens (above), the former home of Enid Blyton, only it was closed!! So I had to (arm firmly twisted, of course!) go to the Spade Oak pub next door!


www.oldthatchgardens.co.uk

Tuesday

Bit of a sad new thing today as MrM and I had to go to his aunt's funeral at Margate crematorium before heading to the wake at her daughter's house. MrM was in some serious need of being cheered up after that, so totally inappropriately, I took him to see Inflatable Buddha and 3 Daft Monkeys. The gig was at the Old Bookbinders, a venue in Oxford that subsequently closed after the gig. It was an amazing night. Inflatable Buddha are poets, literally. They had us dancing like madmen and putting "a better bit'o butter on our knives", before the wonderful 3 Daft Monkeys did another fabulous set! There seemed to be some lovely people in the crowd and we had a brilliant time. Fittingly, as we were in Oxford, when 3DM introduced this song:



they said it was the intro to Inspector Morse! This reminded MrM of the time I found the Inspector Morse soundtrack on tape in my old car and decided to wind the windows down and blast it out loud like bad boys while cruising round the city centre!!

Monday

Have attached a pic of someone with the same name as me to distract from the fact that my new thing today was something boring in Thatcham.

Sunday

What a beautiful day -hey hey! We were ambling to Oxfordshire enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous scenery but then realised that the clocks had gone forward, so had to hurry to get to the World Poohsticks Championships on time! After registering and being issued with our colourful sticks, we threw our sticks into the water then ran round to the other side to find that MrM was the winner! We'd been talking in the queue to a young family with a lovely baby called Henry, so MrM gave his ticket to the next round to the baby, then he and I went to the Crown and Horns Pub in East Ilsley for the first time. It was ok but the woman who ploughed her baby's pushchair into my car was not.

Saturday

New thing today was trying something new from the menu at the Art of Siam in town! I always have the same dish, so tried something different tonight - a much hotter curry that nearly blew my head off!

Friday

I was back in my hometown today. Here's the view from the window...



New thing was heading into town for a walk up and down Cheap STreet, the main steet in the town which has a variety of new shops in it which I stuck my head into as my new thing - I only bought old things though from the charity shop!

Thursday

I went into the Prospect Hospice shop in Hungerford - one of those occasions where my insistence on doing something new every day collides with my 2011 'A Charity a Day' challenge!

Wednesday

I did something new today but I'll be blown if I can remember what it was. Anyway, I did something MEMORABLE, so that's the name of the game! Thanks to my lovely former colleague who was in the know about our appearance about half way through this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwpoCSPRebE

..I got the opportunity to interview the big man himself! I absolutely love Mark Thomas - if there were more of him in the world, it would be a much better place. In fact if there were more people like him, then there would be no need for so many of him. I'm talking nonsense.
Anyway, he's coming to Newbury to do his "Extreme Rambling - Walking the wall between Israel and Palestine - for fun", so I chatted with him about what made him do it and about his adventures. I said that I'd met him at the MPs' expenses stunt where he's kidnapped Margaret Moran's baytree (she paid for it on expenses, along with £22,000 of dry rot treatment at her boyfriend's house - not even hers), which was hundreds of miles away from her constituency. Mark Thomas then beheaded her bay tree as she wouldn't resign and made a minestone soup with it. I reminded him of this and he said: "Oh mate! That was a great day, but I have to admit, it wasn't the best minestrone I've ever made!"

Tuesday

New thing today was a visit to the National Motorcycle Museum for the Fleetworld Electric Vehicle Showcase. This was a great back drop for the seminar, and provided a great test route for customers wanting to put the electric range to the test. The seminar was very interesting and answered questions on range, cost of ownership, tax implications and maintenance.

Monday

Took a walk through new parts of Stroud Green (at a house for sale!) on my way back from the swimming pool.

Sunday

I needed a walk after our Royal visit (MrM's parents) so we headed out to St Mary's Church for the first time since we got married, and then headed west by the A34 and along the River Lambourn towards Bagnor - what a lovely spot with a great view of Donnington Castle - only lived here for 6 years, so absolutely acceptable not to have been here before (slaps wrist). I didn't live in Newbury when the bypass arrived but think I would have been one of those who protested against it.

Sunday

New thing tonight was seeing the Dubliners - an Irish band who have unbelievably been about for just unedr 50 years. We took Mr M's parents who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the performance.

I took this vid of The Fields of Athenry (a song we played at our wedding) - I am very proud of my Irish roots and Mr M calls himself an honorary Irishman too (or at least he did on Thursday to mitigate the Guinness consumption - not sure how Irish he felt after Ireland beat England at rugby yesterday!):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNLOO_qPRDY

Friday

First thing today was driving around Silverstone at 30mph with a photographer hanging out of the boot of my car taking these pics:

http://jakobebrey.com/search_results.asp?championship_id=87&events=6950&activity=&keywords=

Then continued my exploration of Silverstone having a look at the press centre, the control tower and the paddock...

On the way home, I popped into Buckingham to have a look at the town centre, ending up buying a footstool from a lovely shop called Bridge Street stores selling "pine and painted furniture and beautiful accessories for the home and garden".

Thursday

Happy St Patrick's Day! New thing was a shop in Rickmansworth before my meeting.

Wednesday

A meeting room at work for quite an interesting briefing.

Tuesday

New: Southampton Guildhall for the Levellers who performed all of the hits from their seminal album Levelling the Land to mark its 20th anniversary! (I quite clearly remember excitedly buying that on cassette tape, with a cheque - man did I feel old last night!).

They were supported by the Wonder Stuff who are always entertaining and a great choice of act for the 20th anniversary. They did the classics, Don’t Let Me Down Gently, Welcome To The Cheap Seats and of course The Size of a Cow:



Then, introduced by a political video overviewing of the state of the nation throughout the last 20 years, and much booing to Thatcher's ugly mug appearing on screen, the Levellers started with One Way, moving through the tracks in order, including classic B-sides such as Devil Went Down to Georgia, Dance before the Storm, Hard Fight and one of my favourites, the Last Days of Winter:



There is no such thing as a bad Levellers gig, and even the slightly dampened down acoustics in the Guildhall couldn't sully the amazing live act that is the Levellers. Unsurprisingly, most of the gigs on this tour have sold out, as Levelling the Land is an incredible album that is even more politically relevant now than when it was written. Though it's 20 years old, it sounds fresh and vital, possibly helped by the fact that the Levs have never been followers of fashion and put the highest levels of energy into their live shows.

After coming to the end of side 2 and Battle of the Beanfield, they came back on stage with Hope Street, Cholera Well, and Carry Me - the first time I've heard it since Mr M and I danced to it as our first dance at our wedding. I nearly cried when it was played tonight (I assume it was just for us -hehehe!)

When they finished up with What a Beautiful Day, the three of us, sweaty but happy, marvelled at how quickly the night had gone by. Roll on Beautiful Days!!

Tuesday

New thing today was Dejavu in Reading which played host to 'Cafe Scientifique'. Tonight's event was a talk by Professor Chris Rhodes, who is director of Fresh-lands Environmental Actions. His talk, quite terrifyingly, was on how soon the world will run out of oil. Oil dependency is just incredible - is there any part of our lives that is untouched by oil? I was aware that oil supplies would start to decline in about 15 years, but peak oil is likely to be reached in about five years. This could not have been a louder or clearer wake-up call - Prof Rhodes says each one of us should be cutting our use of oil by 70%. I consider myself quite green, but that means no more driving, flying and growing all of our food ourselves.

“Across the world, 30 billion barrels of crude-oil are produced each year, not only for fuel but to make practically all products ranging from plastics to pharmaceuticals. Nearly all of our food also depends entirely on oil. However, world oil production is set to decline within 5 years. If we continue as we are, Western-civilization will collapse, and our salvation requires a re-adaptation of how we live, from the global to the local; to a world of small communities far less dependent on transportation. Technology will not save us, unless we cut our energy use and particularly our demand for oil.”.

Sunday

New thing today was reading The Road Home by Rose Tremain. It's eminently readable; I read it from start to finish this afternoon, armed with a glass of rose (I thought I was being funny at the time, punning on the author's name.)

It tells the story of Lev, an Eastern European migrant worker who comes to England to find a better life and so that he can send money home for his mother and daugther after his wife dies and he loses his job in a timber yard. I loved this book because it points out in an unostentious way, the major problems of society in the UK and the thing that I hate about living in this country.

In the wake of factory closings and his beloved wife's death, Lev is on his way from Eastern Europe to London, seeking work to support his mother and his little daughter. After a spell of homelessness, he finds a job in the kitchen of a posh restaurant, and a room in the house of an appealing Irishman who has also lost his family. Never mind that Lev must sleep in a bunk bed surrounded by plastic toys--he has found a friend and shelter. However constricted his life in England remains he compensates by daydreaming of home, by having an affair with a younger restaurant worker (and dodging the attentions of other women), and by trading gossip and ambitions via cell phone with his hilarious old friend Rudi who, dreaming of the wealthy West, lives largely for his battered Chevrolet. Homesickness dogs Lev, not only for nostalgic reasons, but because he doesn't belong, body or soul, to his new country-but can he really go home again?

Saturday

New thing was parts of Shaw armed with a litter picker and a black bag. So much rubbish, so many people willing to litter, so little time...

Friday

Johnson's Dry Cleaners to see if my new old jacket was fixable - hopefully it is!

Thursday - Miles Jupp

Well day two of my self-imposed "no TV during Lent" and I've read almost everything in the house so I decided to go and see Miles Jupp performing his one-man show about cricket at New Greenham Arts. Miles Jupp, as well as appearing in Balamory (which was a recurring theme of the show) was also much to my delight in the Thick of It as an inept press officer.




A few years ago, Miles Jupp decided that pretending to be a cricket journalist would allow him a free pass to watch the game that he loves. Helped unwittingly by two contacts, he follows the test in India with the English press pack with the aim of finding a Welsh link -ANY Welsh link -so he can report back. This is the story of how he became a cricket journalist, rubbed shoulders with his heroes and eventually realises that the grass is always greener.

While I'm not a huge fan of cricket (as Bill Bryson says, 'It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning'), the show is more about crossing boundaries and meeting your heroes. Miles Jupp's beautiful, relaxing tones (now how can I get him to be the voice of my satnav?) and description of his journey were pleasingly funny and endearing. Who could fail to love a show that uses the words "Injuns" so frequently and even contains the phrase; "cricket administrators are notoriously sexually permissive"?

Mr M and I went to India last year on honeymoon and being a vegetarian seems to have paid off for me as I didn't get ill at all. However, Miles Jupp's description of his encounter with Delhi belly was so hilarious, well described and vivid that I've suffered vicariously.

Roll on 38 more days of not watching TV!!

Wednesday

I wonder if the kick in the head that I received inadvertently at yoga on Tuesday somehow knocked my sense of humour out of whack. My new thing today was to watch the French classic Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't find it funny or indeed watchable. I bore it for about 20 minutes because it evoked the 1950s world and the way people holidayed so wonderfully, as well as reminding me of my year in Normandy as I believe it was filmed in neighbouring Brittany which has a similar coastline. It's been so highly recommended but I found it cumbersome and reminiscent of the worst of the Carry on films! As so many people list it as their favourite film, it must be me...

My sense of humour failure continued later when I went to St Nicolas Church for an Ash Wednesday service to get my Lent off on the right foot. When I handed back my hymn book, I said: "Here's the hymn book you LENT me, thank you" and the guy looked at me as if he couldn't decide whether I needed to be killed or sectioned.

I'm going to see my favourite band next week, so I may well get kicked in the head again in the next couple of days and all will be right again.

Monday and Tuesday

Anchovies and the Hinds Head, Aldermaston!

Sunday

A lovely walk exploring Greenham Common for a bracing, but freezing walk, and to see the new sculptures adorning New Greenham Park.

Every year, Greenham Common Trust commissions the Royal British Society of Sculptors to hold an international competition to create three pieces of public artwork, with the first one, called 'Broken Symmetry' by Michael Kenney, unveiled by Ringo Starr!

After marvelling at Greenham Common, which I never stop raving about - its military history is so clear to see, despite having lived here for so long, I then went to Burghclere to see where Sandham Memorial Chapel is in preparation of a visit I'd like to make here at some point to see the paintings by Stanley Spencer.

Saturday

Started the day with a boot sale in the Acland Hall in Cold Ash. Also went to the post office for the first time, despite living in Cold Ash for about four months when I first moved to West Berkshire!

Friday

New thing today was driving around and around Ilford, discovering the joy of the high street and the building site near the Olympic site...

Thursday

New thing today was visiting the wonderful surroundings of 44 Portland Place, near Regents Park for a highly interesting and inspirational women's networking meeting, with a talk on guerilla marketing from expert speaker Brybreen Samuels.

Guerilla marketing is about achieving sales using unconventional methods and involved a short, sharp session on improving our mission statements and marketing strategies. Very interesting and also fantastic to have the opportunity to meet influential and motivated, successful women.

http://wbc44.wordpress.com/

www.insightstoimpact.com/

Wednesday

Watched The Kite Runner.

Tuesday

Last week I was in Barcelona marvelling at Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia and I'm from a town with a beautiful abbey. Throughout the English countryside, we're blessed with examples of fantastic architecture where the best artisans came together to build buildings that were considered worthy of cathedrals to worship God. I mention this because I met my sis and nephew for lunch at Cribbs Causeway, which is a magnificent temple dedicated to today's religion - shopping. I'm not really into shopping, so it was fun to watch T buying baby clothes and baby gear and a present for her partner and I have to admit it was a very handy meeting place, with free parking and lots of great shops. However, rather than be tempted into buying stuff that won't fit into my tiny house, I actually managed to GIVE something back to John Lewis! I asked them if they could kindly reuse the gift cards that they gave us to include with our wedding invitations. This was all topped off with a lovely two-course prix fixe menu at Carluccio's.

www.mallcribbs.com

Monday

Vietnamese River Cobbler - a type of fish that I bought as a new thing and served up for dinner to Mr M. Went down well - it had a nice smoky flavour which complemented the broccoli and mashed potato.