Sunshine in February

The low temperatures of the last few days have made us appreciate some time at home and after our boiler suddenly stopped listening to the thermostat controller and decided to stay on overdrive for a couple of days, we found ourselves a little too cosy and warm here.  After a couple of days on manual (ie hero control) the engineer sorted it by fitting a new Hive controller.  Once the novelty of being able to control the heating from a distance has worn off, I think it’s going to be great!

We have been on a little adventure in the meantime, though, as my work took me to Wrexham again yesterday.  My hero offered chauffeur services too, so we splashed out on a night at the Premier Inn and took the opportunity to enjoy the winter sunshine by exploring a couple of places on the way.

The last time we were in the area we had visited the Chirk aquaduct but a few days afterwards, we realised that we’d missed the chance to see another similarly breathtaking example of engineering, the Pontcysyllte aquaduct.  No, we had no idea how to say it either, and we are not alone it seems – help is at hand here.   We left the car in the car park at the Trevor basin where a fleet of holiday boats were being spring cleaned ready for the new season.

Setting out onto the pathway, we realised how deceptive that bright sunshine is, because it was bitterly cold up there.  Difficult to see, too, because the low winter sun was quite blinding when walking towards it.

With just a narrow pathway by the side of the canal, it was important to watch our step, too!

So we walked to a point just under half way, gazed over the beautiful landscape, marvelled – and shivered – at the view directly down from this great height, and turned around to walk back.

Sadly, no boats moving around at this time of the year, but at least there were not many other visitors.  I wouldn’t really want to be passing too many folks walking across here because there’s not much room!  What a relief it was to walk with our backs to the sun again, too.

We felt that we’d like to get a good view of the aquaduct from down below, to get a bit more of an overview and some idea of the size of the masterpiece.  Seeing a small white van crossing a bridge down there, we decided to aim for that small road and see if we could find a place to stop down there and look back.

Back in the Trevor Basin, we took a look at some of those holiday boats, some of which are available for daily hire to groups of up to ten people.  Maybe …or maybe not!

Driving across the tiny bridge down in the valley, then, we looked back to where we had been standing less than an hour ago.  We marvelled at the courage, imagination and engineering skills of Thomas Telford once again.

We got out of the car to take another photo from the same place as the person who made the video about the aquaduct on YouTube.  It’s difficult to get a feel of the magnitude of the aquaduct from any one spot but having been up there and down here, we were ready to move on.  It was way too lovely an afternoon to spend indoors though, so we got out the National Trust cards, perused the app on our phones and decided to drop into Erddig.  We spotted that the Wolfs Den was closed and also that the restaurant was being refurbished but neither of those worried us too much.

“Great timing!” said the woman on the welcome desk as we showed our cards, “you’ve just made it in time for the last fireside chat of the day”.  We followed another couple through into the yard to the “meeting spot” and looked forward to sitting and listening to some stories by the fire.  It seemed like a good way to begin our visit because actually, we knew nothing about Erddig at all.

As we stood waiting, the other couple wandered off, leaving the pair of us wondering if we were in the right place or whether we should have gone to the front door.  A clue to what made Erddig special was on the wall beside us – photographs of servants in “Downton Abbey” style, alongside a poem about one of them written by the master of the house.  Since no-one had come to meet us, we decided to follow our noses and see what’s what and as we did, we came face to face with about half a dozen people coming out of a side door.  “Hello, you must have come for a fireside chat?  Come on in”.

We had no choice really.  Two volunteer guides and a member of staff stood in an empty space, formerly a dairy, we were told.  A small fire burned in the hearth as one of them went off to look for any other punters as we learned that this was it.  The House was closed and all there was to do here was to sit and listen to some information about the place and the people who lived there.  Of course, we listened politely and expressed our appreciation, but dear me, that’s half an hour of our lives we won’t get back!  Sadly, Erddig appears to be an interesting place, but the National Trust did us no favours by not making it quite clear at any stage that there was such a limited offering that day.  Our membership meant we hadn’t paid for tickets: if we had, then we’d have been there a little longer, having a rather different conversation.

A warm hotel room and a hot drink suddenly seemed very tempting indeed!

A morning out

The weather appeared to be set fair for the day and with neither of us committed to anything today, we decided we’d put the National Trust cards to good use and visit Lacock Abbey. 

We rather liked the sound of this outdoor exhibition, thinking (hoping) it might be rather similar in tone to the marvellous Fresh Air shows we love to visit in Quenington, near Cirencester.  Anyway, a morning out in the fresh air sounded good after a few days indoors.

Whilst my hero sorted out the parking, I did a quick spell check on the information board.  Oh, National Trust, how could you describe Lacock as a “traditional medieval village layed out in a square” ?  

Moving right along…

A surprisingly large number of people were around considering the house was closed today and January wouldn’t normally be the choice month to visit a garden.  The exhibition appears to have attracted interest and though we’d have liked to have had the place to ourselves, we soon shook off the crowd!

The twelve exhibits were spread around the fairly large gardens, all easily accessible from a gravel path which was showing signs of fairly heavy wear in places.  The National Trust do seem to have hit the spot with this exhibition, for sure.

We thought it was the larger, more striking exhibits which worked best.  Those which caught our eye from a distance and invited a closer look.

Some smaller, more dangly things had mirrored surfaces which glinted in the light as they twirled in the breeze.

But other, smaller, more traditional painted glass works didn’t seem to work quite so well in this setting, we thought, especially since there were other, more successful dangly things in trees.

The magpie in me was immediately drawn to these colourful pieces, especially when I realised what happened when they turned around slightly.

I rather liked these panels, too and could see why they’d been chosen for some of the exhibition’s publicity shots.  I was pleased to see something a little different and more imaginative, too.

But my favourites were the two lotus flowers, standing on either side of the front steps

Each about a metre in diameter, the glorious blue of the surface lifted the spirit on a winter day.  Had they fitted in my bag, I’d have been very tempted…

Though the exhibition was the main attraction and clearly, what had taken us to Lacock in the first place, other small features caught our eye, including this little quiz in the botanic garden.

And though we passed a couple of cats mooching about by the pathway, neither was quite so placid as this one.

We had enjoyed wandering around the Abbey, admired the beautiful vaulted ceilings and learned something new in the bakery.

Apotropaic marks.

I think we earned our lunch at the Red Lion, then.  Very good it was too!

In a class of my own

I headed out to Bernina first thing this morning for the first day of training for my sewing machine.  The joining instructions were clear: there would be just half an hour for lunch so sandwiches should be brought en route and allowing plenty of time for two stops on the tube and a seven minute walk, I rolled up with ten minutes to spare.

I was surprised to find I was the first to arrive.

I was even more surprised to find I was the only one booked in for the class! 

Even so, there was a programme of instruction to be followed, starting with essential maintenance – cleaning and oiling.  Hannah and I were already acquainted having met at the Festival of Quilts, where she’d offered some support when my hero was upgrading the Bernina software.  So, it was more of a friendly run through the details rather than formal tuition which was particularly enjoyable for me.

It meant I could ask specific questions too, without fear of taking up valuable time from others who might have more pressing needs.  I’d had difficulty adjusting the bobbin tension when using some 30wt thread to stitch denim recently but all became clear once it was demonstrated at close quarters.  The changes from my last Bernina are many and the new bobbin system has taken some getting used to, being not so immediately/obviously/conventionally adjustable (until now).

The day was spent mostly on the basic functions of the machine and the practical applications, many of which were already familiar.  However, Hannah had a few new tricks up her sleeve to show me and I was glad to have had the time to explore some of the things I hadn’t discovered so far.

With such focused attention, the programme for the day was complete by 2.30pm, so we called it a day so that I could follow up Hannah’s recommendation of a visit to Raystitch.  I was pleased to have had chance to take a look around this amazing emporium where the stock was so much to my taste, I could have selected it all myself!  The Nano Iro Japanese double gauze is lovely but needless to say as soon as I stood in front of it, I couldn’t remember what it was I had thought of using it for.  Some lovely linen here too plus an amazing range of basic haberdashery including the irresistible Merchant and Mills pins – I had to have a box of entomology pins!

Anyway, the 205 bus is my friend and to-ing and fro-ing during the last couple of days has become second nature – I’ll always take the bus in preference to the tube.

After a quick wash and change, I was off out again, taking the chance to sneak in a quick look in the National Portrait Gallery before meeting Edward to go to the opera.  There wasn’t enough time to do anything serious; I reckoned I had thirty minutes at the most, so I simply visited a few favourites, of which I’m not sure this sentimental monstrosity counts!

I much prefer the completely unsentimental pose of the handsome Albert Ball, born in the same year as my Grandad and whose story is told beneath the smallish bronze on a simple plinth.   I don’t recall the full sized monument in Nottingham at all, but I think it must make an even more striking tribute to this young man.

 

I smiled as I passed the Grayson Perry exhibits dotted around the gallery, having enjoyed the TV programmes.  But what really caught my eye was a small exhibition of Catherine Goodman’s portraits.  All worked from life, these heavily encrusted paintings were so skilful in capturing the personalities and each one had layers of stories built into the final portrait.  I wished I’d had longer to spend in these two rooms alone.

I particularly liked Emma Freud’s statement alongside this portrait of Stephanie Pierce, The Headmistress:

“I have yet to understand how some particles of pigment suspended in linseed oil are able to reproduce a life lived long and fulsome”.

Sadly, I was turfed out of the gallery shortly afterward – not for bad behaviour but because it was closing time!

Just time to meet up with Edward then, to take our seats for The Marriage of Figaro and to enjoy a really outstanding performance at the Coliseum.  The production was super, very funny in parts and beautifully sung.  We both declared it to have been a great choice.

Another late night then, and another day at Bernina tomorrow to look forward to!

Bright Lights

The next phase of fun has begun with a few days in London and a rich assortment of activities to keep me on my toes.  Another complex packing challenge is complete and with just one more “adjustment” to be done later in the week, so far, so good.

Checking into the hotel yesterday brought back memories of a rather special day three years ago when we held an amazing party in this space.  Now, a bunch of bankers were convening for a buffet lunch and we left them to it and buzzed off to make the most of our time here.

We enjoyed an afternoon out in the fresh air, taking a wander around Spitalfields where the remains of this paisley pattern on the pavement was representative of all that’s left of the rich textile heritage of the area.  Not much going on in the market either on this Monday afternoon – plenty of sellers but not many buyers at all.  We made our way through the office towers trying to dodge groups of smokers under the canopies and the fug that surrounded them.

Thankfully there are still a few trees in amongst all that steel and glass and the we admired the beautiful autumn colours on what was really a dreary afternoon.  We returned to the hotel to put on our glad rags and meet up with Edward, Amy and our Kiwi friends, Fiona and Wayne for dinner over the road at Galvin La Chapelle, one of our all time favourites.

Today, we enjoyed a fun lunch at the Park Lane Hilton where the 2014 UK Bus Awards were presented and the decisions we made on those warm summer days in Victoria were announced.  It’s always a lively do and made all the more interesting because we see so many old friends there and this year was no exception. 

Afterwards, however, my hero and I went our separate ways.  He went off to Paddington to catch the train home whilst I took off the party shoes and put my flats back on to walk through Mayfair and on into Oxford Street.  I visited my usual haunts – Blink to get my eyebrows done, the magazine counter to see what’s new there and a quick whiz around M&S to see if there’s anything more inspiring in the Marble Arch store than we see at home.  (There isn’t)

The shoppers were out in force and clearly, Christmas has been switched on all round here.  I know, it’s only 30-odd days to go but I’m not really ready to embrace the idea yet.

There’s something about Scandinavian style decorations though, isn’t there?

I hope I’ll have another opportunity before Christmas to come and savour the richly decorated windows, but for now, enough.  I was meeting Edward again tonight, he’d booked a table at one of his favourite Italian restaurants and I needed to get to Highbury station.  Trullo was every bit as good as he’d said it would be and it came as no surprise that it was packed, even on a Tuesday night!

So, here I am with a huge hotel room to myself and hoping for a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow, I’m going to need all my powers of concentration because Bernina friends, the fun is nigh!

Turnaround

It’s changeover day here.  The washing machine is working hard and we are up and downstairs, sorting things out and asking “have you  …?”

The answer to this question was yes!

We had a fun couple of days in Wrexham.  Neither of us had been there before, though I’d been to a conference somewhere nearby a few years ago.  Anyway, all went according to plan, my work there was worthwhile (I hope) and both journeys were trouble-free.

My workshop took place in Oriel Wrecsam where the exhibition of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” drew my attention.  This little arrangement on the wall appealed to me – something about the proportions and the limited use of colour, I think, though the relevance to the theme of the exhibition left me wondering.

For me, it was the traditional Ardizzone illustrations which proved the most appealing however.  They bring back memories of schooldays, of “silent reading” in draughty classrooms and books borrowed from the Junior Library in Hull.  Lovely.

With a full day workshop to teach on Saturday, the idea of exploring beyond the town centre was a non-starter until I was told that I needed to leave the gallery before they closed at 3pm.  Workshop content was quickly adjusted then and off we went, mid afternoon to look for the aquaduct at Chirk.

Telford’s masterpiece of engineering carries the Llangollen canal high over the Ceiriog Valley and alongside is a similar construction bearing the railway line.

The canal was closed so there was no traffic, sadly.  It must be spectacular to watch the boats crossing, I think!  WE peered through the closed tunnel and could just see a little daylight at the other end.

On such a still, Autumn afternoon, it would have made a lovely walk – not for the faint hearted though.

So we peered along the waterway, crossed over the border to read the sign

and crossed back into Wales again.

Meanwhile, just down the road, this was taking place.  Who knew?

(Oh, and if your Welsh is as good as mine, you’ll need the translation in order to answer the question, “Have you paid and displayed?”  Normally, we have a good chance of guessing the meaning of a sign, even when we don’t speak the lingo.  Here – no chance!!)