Election, Nidd, Temple and more spring.

It has Happenned. Warm weather. Days of it. All in a row. I can only assume it is because the Great British public got a new Government. It should be noted though once again the political process failed to elect in a new Prime Minister. In fact the voters (Gail and I included this time) failed to vote in anyone. This has meant that first runner up and third runner up suddenly realised that rather than having absolutly nothing in common and being life long enemies they have now, so we are told after a week of secret romancing, got lots and lots in common are are really very very good friends. To prove it to the people who think it is important, the first place politician got married to the third place one. It was a garden wedding in the sun behind their new city home at number ten Downing Street. They declared their troth for five years. Which is a long time for modern marriage. The couple are now called "A New Politics". Everyone is happy especially the people who like it when there is a Government. Those people went to market and bought lots of Pound notes. So England has a new Left-Right coalition government of new Conservative Liberal Democrats doing what the omnipresent civil service tells them. I think that neatly ties up all the available political manouvering space and I wonder what the new opposition (Labour ex-government) can do to differentiate itself.... It seems obvious new Labor is wondering about that too. Gordon, the bloke who got them only second runner-up place in the election was sent home to Scotland..... A bit harsh I think. He said he didn't want any more politics and wasn't going on the business circuit of directorships and speeches at conferences.....Smart call, given the likely demand for his services. Anyway now Labour have to pick a loser leader, that will be fun to watch. It is interesting being able to watch the original Westminster system working from up close. A bit disconcerting that Australia has based it's structure on it, but thankfully we seem to be able do it better. While Australia has had coalition as a norm for years with the Libs/CP, the concept of coalition government doesn't seem to sit so well here. All rather interesting as a diversion but much more importantly, it is so nice to have the sun in which to sit and sip Pimms. As you can see when the seasons change so do our back yard visitors, pheasants are an unusual frequenter of our yard and rarer still to get a female. This one stayed for an afternoon but failed to become as brazen as the grey squirrels. Squirrels are considered vermin by us locals, except Gail who can't get over their little furriness....

All squirrel shots on this blog appear by dint of Gail's photographic infatuation and my lack of resolve not to include them. I mentioned in the last blog that I have joined a writers/artists group http://www.leedssavages.com/ and they held their launch at a place called Temple Works of which I now add a couple of inside shots. The main space shown behind Gail here is some 2 acres (about point eight of a hectacre) and when built was the largest single room in the world. This is a ground floor space made available for free use by anyone artistic. The building is being put structurally right by the owners but all internal works, cleaning, painting, electrical, plumbing, heating, are done by groups who have some cultural or artistic proposition in return for free use of the space. Right now the building is achingly cold to work in but hopefully in time and with use the warmth will infiltrate. Gail and I are still getting out to Yorkshire places we have not been to. There are millions of them. The shots that follow here are of Nidd Hall, in Nidd, in Nidderdale. It is a Victorian home of opulent hideousness and over the top plaster decoration which was the fashion a hundred or so years ago. The whole place with it's huge grounds, stables and worker's village is now part of the Warner Group of Hotels where rich old people go for hlidays. We should have felt very out of place. It was nice though to have a drink and burger and while we enjoyed the stroll through the grounds and around the lake, there are better places in Yorkshire. Good news is it is close to Ripley Castle, one of those better places, where they sell the nicest soft serve ice cream in the universe, according to Gail.

Hopefully there will be more nice stuff to tell you about over the next few weeks, I expect so.

Spring and houses

Oh yes!!!

Spring arrived in our backyard for an afternoon and we rushed to make our first Pimms in a jug.... We got the mixing instructions on the bottle wrong and ended up mixing it way above recommended octane levels resulting in us getting well and truely in rapid time. It was about halfway through this process we decided it would be a great idea to set up a timed shot of us both....It says 1 part Pimms, 3 parts mixer, I sort of read it as 1/3 Pimms and 2/3rds mixer. And gave it a glug or two extra Pimms....probably ended up 50/50. Which was how we felt hence the somewhat less than level photo and stupidly grinning posed result.

The days have been bringing some pleasant sunshine, we even had a few days where it was over 13 degrees.... maybe nothing to write home about but we think of these events for days afterwards. You will see from this shot that the season has bought new visiters to our landscape. Along with their happy quacking when we enter into the yard there is the ever present downside of what they leave behind.... All duck feeding has ceased. It is heartwrenching trying to get them to understand they should return to the river or wherever their natural food is. I think they have fallen in love with our place.

This strange sculpture of a telescopic sheep with wool of flax rope and the shot of the fascade of the building below both have quite a bit to do with the fact that Greg has become an early start member of a writers group called the Leeds Savages http://leedssavage.com which has as its occasional base the Temple Works Building which by happenstance is not far from where we first lived when we came to Leeds three years ago. http://www.templeworksleeds.com/tw/ All of which may be interesting but not as interesting as why a sheep has telescopic legs and flax hair.

The building is quite famous because for a while it was the largest undercover open workspace in the world. As it was used for flax production and weaving there was a need for constant temperature which was acheived by putting soil to some depth on the roof. Well, naturally grass and trees took root and it was decided in order to keep the forest from re-sprouting and the grasses overgrowing the roof windows they would put a bunch of sheep on the roof. Now sheep have to eventually get down from roofs to go to market, get sheared and that sort of rural stuff. It was a problem which saw the world's first lift invented to take the sheep up and down from the roof. This is not the world's first sheep lift you understand. It was the worlds first mechanised lift of any sort. Think of this next time you are waiting in line for a elevator...... I tell you the things we love about Leeds gets longer and longer...... Now at least you can understand about the telescopic flax sheep sculpture.... We had been wondering for some time.

What you see here are a numer of shots of houses we have been looking at around Manchester. There is a thought between us that we may rent out Wetherby and buy another place closer to Gail's work which seems to be mainly based oer that way. Yes another property renovation..... Will it ever end? Really we don't know as Gail may decide to change employers i which case we would be closer to her work here then.

It is key to us that if we move it has to be to a canal side home where we could benefit from the network of national waterways...... more on that in later blogs if the move ever comes off.

You will see from the snaps the size of home is not going to be huge for our budget nor will it be in great shape (again). But we have found places with fantastic views, good sized frontages or rear-ages to canals and yet agai we are getting the smell of dust and cement in our nostrils and have started pawing at the doors of banks and real estate agents in anticipation of that ellusive deal.

Not suprising then I guess that we also find ourselves pausing for thoughts over the odd margharita and ales in various bars and nightclubs across the country. I can't tell you much more at his stage but I will when something wondeful happens or even if it doesn't. Oh and Gail was quite tickled to find these springtime boot-thongs in a shop in Warrington. Thankfully the shop was closed or they would have walked , so to speak. I ask you, legwarmers and toe straps? Only in the UK I think.

sunshine Wetherby markets and HarewoodHill race fumes

Ahhhhh, Wetherby in Springtime sun.... what better way to spend it than at the monthly farmers market in the town and a day at the motor races....? First let me draw attention to the blue sky and shadows... I know for many this is nothing much to have attention drawn to, but, if you glance back through recent pages of the blog, you won't find pictures with either..... there is good reason for that. The Royal Market charter granted to Wetherby has a long and continuous history going back to the year 1240. It is not every town that has the right to have traders plying their goods on the street on regular days. Fair dos there are quite a few such towns in Yorkshire but not many with the history of this one.... Anyway,,, we have a general street market every Thursday for traders from near and far but once a month, on the second Sunday, the local farmers only are allowed into town to set up stalls and hawke their produce. What that means is that we get the chance to buy meats, vegies, herbs, breads and all sorts of stuff made, grown and produced on our local farms.. It is a great treat not only giving us lovely cheeses, smoked stuff and real fresh vegies but also because the farmers are such a chatty bunch. As far as we can determine every one of them has either lived in, has a brother currently, a daughter about to, a friend staying, or is just back from a trip to Australia. The result is, as happened again yesterday, it usually takes about 20 minutes to buy any one item as there is great animated discussion about the journey time, the wonders seen and why anyone would leave Sydney to live in England.... A question quickly dealt with from our now well-honed experience in such chats by saying "Not England, in Wetherby!' to which the wistful misty eyed response of 'Eh, by gum' hints the local farmer acknowledges all the wonders of life here and gives a small sigh and a smiled nod......Before re-launching in to tell us all about the food, the heat, the birds, the beaches, the spiders and the wonderful time had in Australia... Just up t' road from town, a couple of rural miles, there is a large estate owned by the royal family, well, by cousins of the royal family, called Harewood House. It owns a great chunk of Yorkshire, part of which has a hill climb car circuit laid into it. www.harewoodhill.com for those interested. This snap shows the course which is the longest hill climb course in Europe. I presume there are more than two. For me it triggers memories of the early days of Bathurst before it went all professional and V8 only. For the past few years I had seen the Hillclimb signs as I passed by in season and as the sun was shining I dragged Gail, not complaining too much, for an afternoon releasing my inner gearhead. The club is very open with lots of categories for all different sorts of cars. If you don't know, hill climb is car against the clock. Each driver motors to the start and the clock is started when the car leaves the chock, it is then a battle of tuning, skill and conditions against the hill and the best total time and top speed over a measured section. I could go on about the intricate mechanical balance required and the changes the wind and track conditions make but who cares? The roar of the motors, the jokes by the commentators, the willing daring-do of the drivers and the pretty vehicles all make the afternoon a hoot, even for Gail.



As well as all this, the scenery around the track is none too shabby and when you top it off with a sausage on a roll and a few chips there is nothing much more a rev-head could want.








Unless it is a wander through the history of Aston Martin expressed in racing tune sheet metal and sparkling chrome


Or the smell of high octane racing fuel venting spent from the exhaust of a formula open wheeler being tuned








Or the witty banter and generous offers to 'why not take one out for a spin on the track?' from the Arbarth sponsor reps.... that was made to Gail not, regrettably, the old fart she was with at the time... I would have taken them up on it.
But there it is, a short but sunny day in Wharfdale, may they be more plentiful as the season rolls on.

Manlangang 2010 - Yorkshire

Hi Matt Hi Ret, Here are the shots we took of you both and a couple of shots you might not have taken at the time. If there are others from any day you missed, like scenery shots you might not have caught let me know and I'll post them up here for you. These first two were at the salmon ladder at Wetherby weir.

These lasses were at the Knaresborough castle Maundy faire on Saturday morning after our first magnificent poached egg breakfast.

Ballancing on the edge of Sutton Bank above Thirsk (James Herriot museum)

Me Ret Gail Matt Carolyn David all at Fennel french restaurant, upstairs having cocktails before entrees, mains and puddings. I recall Ret had a dessert this night.. although she never does, really.

High morning tea, or second breakfast, at Betty's Harrogate, note waitress in traditional uniform.. nicely caught don't you think?

Steam train going into Skipton where we saw narrowbats and had a drink in the canal-side pub

On the Wharfe river outside the Bolton Abbey priory.

Didn't now if you got a shot of the sun light thru the stained glass in the priory that day, here was Gail's best shot.

The final meal, buffet breakfast at Clocktower restaurant Rudding Park.

And the never to be forgotten Roomster, Skoda's answer to a T.A.R.D.I.S.

It was wonderful having you both to stay, Gail and I had such a great time showing you our neighbourhood. We are both looking forward to next year's Manlangang adventure, what-ever and where-ever that turns out to be. Hope you have just as good a time in Ireland and the weather there is as kind to you as it was here..