A CHRISTMAS DIP IN THE SEA?

One thing I've always promised myself I would do one year, is to have a dip in the sea on Christmas Day. Mrs Troy's mother did it several years ago but all I did then was watch safely from the beach as upward of a hundred people stripped off their winter clothes and ran down into the waves. Here's the photo I took at Clacton-On-Sea on Christmas Day in, I think, 2005.


At least the sun was shining and the sea was calm. Afterwards I wished that I too had taken the plunge.

Now let's jump foward five years to 2010. I was determined this year that I too would plunge into the sea on Christmas Day. The event was taking place as usual at Clacton and, even more local to my home, a charitable sea swim had been organised at Felixstowe. In fact all around the British coast similar events were taking place. I decided however that I would prefer to do my Christmas Day swim more discretely in a small cove rather than on a crowded town beach. I suppose I was concerned not to make a fool of myself if I chickened out seconds after my toes first entered the water. The secluded cove I chose does not even feature by name on even detailed Ordinance Survey maps but locally it is called "Anchor Beach".

I suspect many people in Suffolk are unaware of its existance. Certainly I wasn't expecting a large throng of people dressed in their warm winter clothes on hand to witness my Christmas dip. What I hadn't bargained on was the weather! On Christmas Day morning I switched on the TV and selected the News Channel. In big bold letters across the bottom of the screen it said THE BIG FREEZE. Unprecedented low temperatures were being reported across the UK. At this point you are probably expecting me to chicken out?

Troy is not one to be deterred by TV headlines. Once I've made my mind up there is no stopping me. So I hurried down to the cove, stripped down to my swimming shorts and plunged into the sea. It was invigorating and I would recommend it to everyone. After a few minutes in the sea I also had a swim in an outdoor swimming pool. I don't have any photos to show you of my sea plunge but I do have a picture of the sea cove taken a couple of days before Christmas and also a picture of me swimming in the outdoor pool on Christmas Day.







Troy, being sensible, waited until spending Christmas in Lanzarote before having a Christmas Day dip in the sea. Surely you didn't expect ME to do it in the UK? After my dip, Father Christmas came to visit the Troy family on a camel.



I hope you all had a great Christmas and as this will be my last posting of 2010, I wish you all a happy, healthy and enjoyable 2011.

A BROAD CURRICULUM

I've seen a lot of discussion in the newspapers about the pros and cons of the SATS tests in schools. Apparently, some schools focus very much on teaching to the test rather than offering a broad curriculum to their pupils. Troy Junior, at his school, I'm pleased to say, enjoys a broad curriculum with enrichment activities and school trips.

Recently Troy Junior's Year 5 class have been learning about our solar system. A recent homework was to choose an element of the solar system (sun, planets, comets etc.) and produce a factual document, poster or presentation on it. Troy Junior chose the sun and diligently researched it.

This week he comes home from school and asks us this question - "What is the hottest part of the sun". After we didn't answer he told us "Page 3". I asked him what was hot about Page 3. He replied with a cheeky grin and a cupping action with his hands.

I don't read The Sun, preferring the sober Daily Telegraph. However I am pleased my son shares my interest in astronomy and heavenly bodies.

(If any readers from outside the UK remain confused by this post, you may enjoy this link)

LONDON & BELFAST

The half-term school holiday has come round quickly and yesterday we decided to visit London and Belfast, all in the same day, without leaving England. One of the benefits of being a Daily Telegraph subscriber is that I receive certain special offers. One was the opportunity of joint membership of the Imperial War Museum for the price of a single membership (£35). With children under sixteen entering free, this gives us the opportunity to visit the IWM museum sites in London and at Duxford (Cambridge) plus the Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast in London for a relatively modest outlay.

So yesterday we set off down to London on the train. The first bit of good news was, that when asking for two adults and a child off-peak tickets, the nice man at Marks Tey station said that we could have up to four adult tickets for the price of two, with Troy Junior effectively travelling free on the third adult ticket. So that was useful saving; and worth knowing for the future.

Although I used to commute into central London on a daily basis, yesterday was the first time this year that I've ventured into our metropolis. I was surprised to see three new buildings - the Heron Tower close to where I used to work on Bishopsgate, the beginnings of The Pinnacle also on Bishopsgate and The Shard being built near London Bridge. We took some photos of the work in progress. Here's the start of The Pinnacle with the completed Heron Tower in the foreground:-



And here is the The Shard in progress:-



A few people were hanging around the construction. We thought that rather than trying to see in through the glass windows, that we would wait until the building was opened - that seems safer!



But the main purpose of the day was visiting HMS Belfast at its moorings between London Bridge and Tower Bridge.



I've been before, on my own, several years ago when Troy Junior was just a toddler. There are many many sets of very steep stairs onboard so it seemed best to wait until Troy Junior was much older before taking him. At the age of nine he can also appreciate better other aspects of the museum. All in all, there are nine decks to visit on the ship, from the engine room to the bridge. Here's a view from the forward deck looking "aft"


and a photo of Troy Junior doing his best to stop the anchor blowing away.

[Sorry! Mrs Troy has insisted that I delete this photo of Troy Junior so replaced by this view from the bridge]



There are many realistic "tableaux" onboard, using dummies, for example in the ship's galley, an onboard surgery and an onboard dentist.


When Troy Junior was younger, he used to get quite spooked when museums used fully dressed dummies and wouldn't go anywhere near them. Another reason for leaving our visit to HMS Belfast until he was older.

All in all, a very enjoyable day out! This link will give you more information on HMS Belfast.

LET US PREY

The school holidays are now over and Troy Junior is back at school. This summer seems to have flown by. Well that's my excuse for not having posted anything since 31st July. I'm wondering how many of my "27 Followers" are sticking by me through this thin posting season? If you do call by, please leave a comment, even if it is just "Hello". It would be nice to know you are still there!

At the start of the school holidays (Summer, Christmas and Easter) I produce a grid on A4 paper with the days across the top and the weeks down the side. Into this grid we then fill in trips away, planned days out and other organised events to ensure Troy Junior is adequately entertained through the holiday period. So much so, that he actually then enjoys his "rest days" when we just laze around at home. At the end of this holiday I asked him if was looking forward to going back to school. He responded "Yes". When asked why he explained succinctly "I need an education". There is no arguing with that, is there?

On the last day of the holiday, Troy Junior and I visited the local Owl Sanctuary. In some ways its a bit misnamed as they have many birds of prey and red squirrels, as well as their rescued owls.I guess it has evolved from its original purpose to become more of an attraction. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time there. The highlight is the flying display.

These birds are very photogenic. Here are a few photos I took during the day.

First an owl which had been raised from a young chick at the sanctuary.



Here's an eagle. They are quite magnificent birds.



And a Red Kite in flight.



This bird actually flew straight over my head several times, missing it by what seemed like inches. However I was too busy ducking and so missed getting what could have been a brilliant photo.

It was also interesting to see the red squirrels. For those that don't know, (let's call you "foreign readers"), the small red squirrel was the native British squirrel but when the larger grey squirrel was introduced into the UK it overran the native species who now only have very few colonies left. At the sanctuary, the red squirrels were in a large caged run but fortunately the cage wire doesn't really show on the pictures I took.

Here's a red squirrel enjoying a snack.



Hopefully I'll be back again with another posting much sooner than last time. Stay tuned!

A LIBERATING EXPERIENCE

I've just realised that it is over four weeks since I last posted here so before July is out, I must do a posting to tell you about our recent trip to France. My father and I have recently had a most enjoyable few days over in Normandy. For more recent readers, I should explain that my father home cares for my elderly mother who has advanced Alzheimers. Ever three months, he has a one week respite break and my sister or I take him away for a few days. He's been to Falmouth and Florida with my sister and to Northumberland (twice) and Hong Kong with me.

This year, he didn't fancy a either long car journey or the hassle of airports so I looked in to local ferry trips from Poole, close to where he lives. We settled on the Poole to Cherbourg ferry trip which is only two and a half hours by the fast (38knots)ferry. The only downside was that it leaves at 7.15am so we were up and out of the house just after 5am! Taking the car on the ferry was simplicity itself and by 11am french time we were heading east from Cherbourg on the local coast road. We took the MGF and toured with the roof down throughout our travels.

Our first port of call was Barfleur from where William The Conquerer set sail for England in 1066. It has a delightful fishing harbour. (If you click on the photos you should get enlarged images).


We then called in at St Vaast-la-Hougue which has an enormous marina before heading down to Port-en-Bessin, central to all the D-day landing beaches, where we had booked five night's accommodation. Port-en-Bessin is a delightful village with an active fishing fleet, harbour and many seafood restaurants. In the picture below you can see the outer harbour but the port itself goes inland beyond the very far right of the photo. The hotel we stayed at is on the far right of the photo and overlooked the fishing quay where the boats unloaded their catches each day.


During our five night stay we visited most of the D-day landing beaches. The next photo shows Arromanches-les-Bains and Gold Beach where British trops landed on 6th June 1944. We (the British troops, not us) actually built an artificial harbour and its remnants can be seen in the photo.


There is a great museum in the town with an excellent guided tour. The tour guide spoke excellent english but with a very pronounced french accent. My father listened for over two minutes thinking the man was speaking french and being surprised how many words were similar in both languages. Then it dawned on him that the man was actually speaking english! "Ze sup-lies were brrrought in-too ze arbour and off-luuded". Once tuned in, he was actually a very articulate and knowledgeable guide.

A few miles inland is the town of Bayeux with its beautiful gothic cathedral and the world famous Bayeux Tapestry. To be honest, I only went to the tapestry because my father was interested, but it is truly fascinating. 70 metres (230 feet) long and full of marvellous details. In 58 scenes it tells of William's conquest of England in 1066. It is amazing to think that this fragile linen has survived over a thousand years whilst buildings have crumbled and disappeared. The centre of the town, around the cathedral is full of old buildings that survived the war. Here is the cathedral.


On the outskirts of Bayeux is the British Cemetery with over 4,800 graves of British soldiers killed in the liberation of Normandy in 1944. It is a poignant sight - row upon row of white headstones. And the ages of dead - 19, 24, 22 etc. All young men buried in a foreign field away from home. This photo shows only a small part of the cemetery.


Here's another view with my father looking at the monument.


Apparently, the film "Saving Private Ryan" gives the impression that only US troops were involved in the liberation of France. This blog isn't so crassly nationalistic. During our visit we saw Utah and Omaha beaches where US troops landed and Pointe du Hoc where US Rangers stormed 90 foot cliffs under heavy fire. And Juno beach which was taken by Canadian forces with Poles, Dutch and Czech soldiers also involved. No one individual army could have overcome the german fortifications along the "Atlantic Wall", it was truly an full Allied effort. Here is the US "Omaha" beach.


Everywhere along the coast there are Union flags, US stars and stripes and the Canadian maple leaf flying in the breeze. The locals welcome their liberators warmly.


Sitting in a restaurant on Friday evening we saw a poster advertising the UEFA Under19 football tournament in Normandy. I went online later and discovered that France were playing 'Angleterre' the next day in Saint-Lo so we even managed to take in an international football game during our brief visit!

All too soon, our five days had flown by and it time to head back to England. I can thoroughly recommend Normandy for a short vacation. Lovely scenery, gorgeous beaches, excellent museums and a special history are to be discovered only a short journey away from the UK's south coast. The roads are quiet, the parking is free everywhere (a refreshing change from the UK!) and the food excellent.

YOUR NEW EGG BUYING GUIDE

In London you can pick up the Sunday newspapers from about 10pm on a Saturday evening. However with the internet now you can read those same Sunday newspaper articles from about the same time on a Saturday from the comfort of your house out in the sticks. That's what I did yesterday. I logged onto the Daily Mail website and thought it was April Fool's Day. The headline that greeted me was "EU To Ban Selling Eggs By The Dozen". Here's the link - unbelievable - so you can tell that I'm not making this up.

So the EU (or the Evil Empire as I prefer to call it) is now telling shopkeepers and I assume also direct farm sellers that their eggs must now all be weighed and then sold by weight not by numbers. Do you know how much an egg weighs? Well no one in the Troy family did either, in fact Mrs Troy has never mastered non-Imperial weights at all. So I got out my precious metal digital weighing scales, changed Troy ounces (well they have to be named after someone!) to grams and put a medium sized egg on the scales. Ladies and Gentlemen, a medium sized egg weighs 65.4gm.


So how good is your mental arithmetic. Suppose you want to buy six eggs - what would you now ask for? In true Monty Python style your conversation may go...

You : "Good morning, dear shopkeeper, I'd like 392.4gm of eggs please".

Shopkeeper : "Sorry Sir [or Madam], this is a cheese shop".

For those not too adept at mental arithmetic what you have just done above is attempt to buy six eggs from a specialist cheese shop.

You probably think I'm being silly. You wouldn't ask for such an odd amount of weight down to one decimal point now would you? Instead the conversation would probably go something like this...

You : "Is this an egg shop?" [good, you're not getting caught twice]

Shopkeeper : "Yes Sir [or Madam], we sell only the finest eggs. Didn't you notice our Royal Warrant?. We sell eggs to the Prince Of Wales".

You : "Excellent! If they are good enough for Charles and Camilla, they are good enough for me! I'd like half a kilo of eggs please".

Shopkeeper : "No problem Sir [or Madam]...(counts) one, two, three, four, five, six, seven (pauses then mutters under his breath - "err, four hundred and fifty seven point eight grams"), "You did say half a kilo?"

You : "Oh yes please!"

Shopkeeper : (egg cracking sound) "And this (picks up part of shell containing some yolk and some egg white) makes its exactly half a kilo. I'll put the seven whole ones in a bag but you'll need to carry the broken one home carefully".

You : "That's fine, I've still got nearly half an egg back at home from the last time I purchased eggs, so this will just make up the eight eggs I need for my baking".

The European Union has come up plenty of stupid schemes in its time but this surely is one of the most ludicrous. Early this morning we took Troy Junior along to his Sunday morning cricket practice and I asked several of the parents there if they'd seen the article about eggs having to be sold by weight not by number. All, without exception, thought I was pulling their leg.

The English are an apathetic bunch who have let Johnnie European get away with 'murder' since we joined the Common Market. Maybe, just maybe, something as small as an egg could be the catalyst that gets us to wake up to the sheer stupidity as well as the total democratic deficit that is the EU. Perhaps we are 'happy' to borrow money then ship £8billion a year of it across to Brussels to build roads and bridges in Ireland and Greece but maybe (please!) we will finally revolt against the EU over buying eggs by weight and regain our freedom?

UPDATE - Wednesday 30th June. According to the BBC this was a false alarm by The Mail On Sunday although I think there has been some behind the scene pressure as initially an amendment to save the "selling by quantity" had been rejected. See this link

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THEM SO FAR?

Along with another 21 million people here in the UK, I turned on my TV to watch the match at 7.30pm yesterday evening.

Watching the images relayed from the stadium, it made me proud to see such fine, upstanding, clean cut, hard-working young Englishmen representing our country in South Africa.

But enough about the Princes William and Harry. What about the English football team - weren't they CRAP??