Godless trip part 2

Monday we got on a boat and went for a trip down the Thames.

I love the view you get of London landmarks from the Thames, and of course, many you can't see any other way.

We stopped off at North Greenwich and had a look round the O2 Arena Square which is looking really good

and then got back on the boat to Greenwich where we went round the Cutty Sark.

I
t's had a huge restoration programme, and has been lifted up 3m to create a hall under the hull which is very impressive.

From there we walked to the Royal Maritime Museum which was hosting an Ansel Adams exhibition.

Ansel Adams took beautiful black and white photographs, and this was a stunning display of landscapes from the mountains and the sea. Then it was a steep wall up the ill to the Royal Observatory, and I couldn't understand why the parkland in front of the Naval College was all being reseeded, until I was reminded that it had hosted all of the equestrian events during the Olympics.
The view over London from the Observatory is stunning, and you can just see the reseeding in the bottom of the picture

Of course, you have to take the obligatory picture of the Prime Meridian, which I am reliably informed also runs through Cleethorpes. Lots of tourists having their picture taken standing on it, but I've not seen that happen in Cleethorpes.

Then it was back on our boat, back to the Embankment, and a quick tube journey back to the hotel.

We were off to the theatre again, so grabbed a meal in the Massala Club - a thali of mixed curries, very nice. Then off to the Theatre Royal to see One Man, Two Guvnors. A comedy set in the early sixties, but based on a Commedia Dell'arte play from 1743. It was hilarious. One of those plays where you are desperate for the interval so you can stop laughing. Well worth seeing.

Tuesday morning we went to the Museum of London, which we'd not done before. Lots of really interesting stuff about the History of London, including the plague, the great fire, the Blitz and how the city has developed. well worth a visit.

Then we checked out of the hotel walked to St Pancras where we took advantage of the shops to do a bit more Christmas shopping, and a very relaxing journey home

Godless trip

The weekend before Christmas we always try to get down to London to see the Godless shows, as they are affectionately called. More on that later.

Sunday - early train to London, first class, booked in advance so dead cheap. Walk to hotel, stopping for a sandwich lunch on way. Check in, get lovely warm chocolate cookie from reception (a feature of all Doubletree hotels) and set off for a walk. Towards Covent Garden we saw a group of Pearly kings and Queens - first I've ever seen "in the wild".

Covent Garden looked lovely - all decorated for Christmas, and was obviously very busy.

Managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping and buy some presents, and saw the Jack Daniel's Barrel Tree

There was also a giant lego advent calendar, and loads of street theatre and buskers. My favourite  was not actually a busker, but a homeless person I think who was playing Christmas carols through a traffic cone - and doing it very well and collecting loads of money!

From there we walked to Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus through to Trafalgar Square. Saw the Christmas tree and Menorah in the square, and had a quick look in the National Gallery. We both love the National Gallery - so many beautiful paintings in there.  Then a walk back to the hotel to get ready for the show. We ate at a little Italian place  and then walked to the Bloomsbury Theatre, which is owned by UCL.

Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People is put on by Robin Ince, and originated from an arguement he (as an atheist) had with someone from Christian Voice, who said that atheists couldn't have fun at Christmas. So, determined to prove him wrong, Robin puts on this celebration of science and comedy every year, which always sells out.

We love it. Always slightly anarchic, different people appearing every night depending on when they are free, or whether they just happen to turn up. This year we had Robin, obviously, and a variety of other scienctists and comedians.
 It started with the band, and a laser harp! Very impressive. Laser beams played with white gloved hands.

 Alexei Sayle, turned up unexpectedly, he said he was just passing, and read some of his autobiography:

Richard Herring, in a very ironic Christmas jumper,  talked about his book, Talking Cock. Don't need to explain what it was about, needless to say it was hilarious. So funny that I bought a copy from him at the interval for Stuart for Christmas.

Ben Goldacre, (of Bad Science fame) had a good 20 minute rant about pharmaceutical companies refusing to release all of their clinical trails data. Very interesting, especially when you look at how much money the government spent on Tamiflu during the last flu scare, and yet there is no real published evidence that it works.

There was music from Helen Arney, Grace Petrie and others (can't remember them all), and the mathematician Matt Parker showed us his binary scarf:

as well as solving a rubric cube puzzle in under 3 minutes whilst delivering a stand up routine.

Perhaps the most bizarre act was Baconface, who turned out to be Stuart Lee in a wrestling mask with bacon draped over it.

My favourite bit was from Andrea Sella, Professor of Chemistry at UCL who produced ever increasing sizes of explosions on stage:

You can't beat an explosion for pleasing a roomful of nerds and scientists!

Disappearing George

A couple of weeks ago I posted about our new cat, George. Well, he's becoming a bit of a handful.  One day last week we lost him. He wasn't around when we got up, didn't come to be fed all day, didn't use his litter tray. Three of us searched the house from top to bottom, twice. Looked under every bed, in cupboards, behind sofas, nothing. So, we decided he must have got out somehow. Stu and Luke went into the garden and searched that, but nothing. A few minutes later, there he was on the kitchen stairs, just wanting to be fed. So, he'd been inside all the time. No idea where. Yesterday morning we lost him again, this time he'd got out of the cat flap, which I'd unlocked. So, we searched the garden, our neighbours' gardens, the surrounding streets, nothing. He still hadn't appeared by midnight, and we knew he hadn't eaten so we were worried. At 1am I went searching again, nothing. Woke at 5.30 so tried again. This time - success - he was in our neighbour's garden, and came when I called him.

Picked him, up, gave him a cuddle, brought him inside fed him, and locked the cat flap. That last bit is important!  Went back to bed. Got up a few hours later - and he's gone again. This time we know he's inside. But where?? It's now 6pm and we haven't seen him for over 12 hours - he hasn't appeared, made a noise, or eaten. Where the hell is he??? He's HUGE, and we live in a small house - where on earth can a cat of this size hide, and why?

Edit:

So there we were eating our Christmas Eve meal, when we saw him in the garden, and he calmly came through the cat flap (which was only locked one way, which we now know was important....)
he ate, was fussed, and tried to get out again. Which was when we realised he was getting though the locked cat flap by getting his paw under it and pulling it towards him. Clever cat!

Santa Cruise

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a Santa Cruise. A one hour trip down the Sheffield canal from Victoria Quays in a beautifully decorated boat, where everyone gets in the Christmas spirit and even the driver sports a reindeer hat.



We usually go in a large group of assorted kids, grandkids, friends and their kids and grandchildren. Yesterday there were 16 of us, and the little ones love being at the front of the boat waiting for Santa.




Of course, Santa arrives



and everyone gets a present from his sack. The adults get a couple of glasses of mulled wine and a mince pie. There's biscuits, juice and colouring things for the kids and we all have a great time. The weather was great, cold but sunny, and there was the added bonus of ice on the canal for the boat to break through. There's even a bar if the mulled wine isn't enough. Lots of opportunity to have a chat with Santa and have your photo taken.



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Introducing George

When my beloved Rocco died earlier on this year, I didn't want to replace him straight away, and we had a few holidays and trips away booked so it didn't seem fair to get another one if we weren't going to be there. But, last week I decided it was time. So I went to the cat shelter, but they only had kittens, adult cats who needed to be adopted in pairs, or cats who they didn't want to rehome with other cats. A bit disappointing, so I sent an email to a rescue charity, and within 24 hours they had a match! Someone had an adult male and they were moving into rented accommodation and couldn't take him with them. they sent me a photo of what looked like a largish long haired tabby and I was hooked.

So, drove with Luke to Dinnington to pick him up, with my cat carrier, which is not huge. It was only when I got there I realised how big he was!  It took two of us to get him into the carrier, and he cried all the way back. But, with lots of TLC he has soon settled in.

Here I am struggling to hold him just after we'd got him home - not a brilliant picture of me - I instinctively shut my eyes when a flash goes off!

He is HUGE!  Lovely silky long fur, a mane and tufty ears. There's been a suggestion that he has some Maine Coon in his background.

A lovely temperament, but still a bit shy. Our other cat, Ruby is not sure what to make of him and has retreated to our bedroom, but I'm sure they'll get along just fine. I've had to lock the cat flap to keep him in, and she is loving the fact that there's a litter tray so she doesn't have to go out in the cold. This morning I let her out into the garden where she ran round for about half an hour, then came in and crapped in the litter tray....

In the last day or two he's socailising a lot more, and sitting with us. Here is in front of our Christmas tree. He's like a baby lion...

Pantomine Chatsworth

Quick trip to Chatsworth yesterday to see the house decorated for Christmas - this year the theme is pantomime, so we had Puss in Boots

 and all the old favourites. As usual, the House looked beautiful. Different trees and displays in all of the rooms. There was even a beanstalk growing into the roof

The chapel has recently had a Damian Hirst sculpture installed, which I really don't like, so I was pleased to see it partly hidden!

There was a snow queen scene in the library

But as usual my favourite room was the dining room, which this time was set up to look like a scene from Hansel and Gretel, the gingerbread cottage.

And no trip out there would be complete without a visit to the farm shop at Christmas, where I spend far too much money on lovely food!

Elemental Force

I love Chatsworth House, and we have friends season tickets so can go whenever we want. A couple of weeks ago we got invited to a free event for friends - something called Elemental Force.  Tickets were limited and went very quickly. So, we turned up at 6pm, and were directed on to the lawn which had been transformed by fire sculptures

All powered by gas, they were quite  impressive. Then the main show started. The house was lit up,

music played, and then the story of the Industrial Revolution was projected on the house. It was spectacular.

and made really good use of pyrotechnics. at one point (virtual) chimneys rose out of the ground and when they reached the top of the house smoke and fire came out of them. A crane lowered a huge wheel which had an acrobat in who spun dizzily round, and the whole thing finished with a great firework display.

Go and see it if you get a chance. Details of where else its happening are here