Intriguing puzzle solved

Have you come across one of these?

We first encountered one in Basel, earlier in the year whilst standing outside the cathedral.

At the time, we weren't sure what it was/what to do/how it worked.  Until this evening, I still wasn't really sure, but a recent post on the Moo blog piqued my interest and curiosity again and finding that we have barcode scanners on our Nokia N95 phones, of course, I just had to find out more.

So there we are.  Another mystery solved.

See if you can decipher this green one - a small prize for the first person to find the link and leave me the answer in the comments! (Nokia N95 phones aren't essential!)

Time to relax

Well, after all the fun of last week, it was a huge relief to enjoy the company of friends from the Netherlands and get out into the fresh air and relax.  Hopefully, Ofsted are satisfied with what they saw so we can get on with our real work for a while and await the nit picky bits in some weeks time.

The glorious Autumn weather has proved a great source of material for my photo blog and the obvious place for a Sunday morning walk was the National Arboretum, at Westonbirt, just up the road from us.

 

I think we chose the perfect time to enjoy this wonderful place.  The maple trees in the Acer Glade were a stunning variety of colour and the fire-reds and oranges were contrasted beautifully with those which were still green.  Not only that, but by arriving early, we had the place to ourselves* as you can see from the photographs!

The old trees stood majestically with their own character steadfast alongside the more showy individuals, their wonderful shapes and contortions of the trunks quietly inviting a closer look. 

A beautiful Hydrangea bush was at my favourite stage with the most wonderful palette of colours in every petal.

Along the way, we enjoyed interesting conversation, linguistic trivia and the company of friends.  What better way to spend a weekend?

* not really, but we missed the huge influx of people who were streaming into the car park as we were leaving. I think this could have been the busiest day of the year!

The full set of photos can be found on my Flickr page,

Silk purse?

Oh boy.  Yesterday was a definitie "hide behind the sofa" day.  Not only did I have a double slug of Ofsted to keep my mind on overdrive, I also got to see the results of this for the first time.

As you might recall, I found the day most uncomfortable and quickly realised I'm not a natural performer.  Show off perhaps, but ask me to put my money where my mouth is and I find myself having to dig very deep indeed to achieve anything near the standard I set myself.

And there's the problem. See, I think I can do anything.  Sadly, it's not quite true.  And that bit in my profile about wanting to do it perfectly in the next five minutes is absolutely correct. So when I received a frosty response from Mr Ofsted yesterday, in spite of trying so very hard to do the professional job I'd been trained to do, I went into a swift and precipitous decline. My second encounter was a little more successful - ok, I shared the pain with a colleague, since we were working together on a training session - but nevertheless, I feel so very responsible if the outcome is anything less than perfect.

Fortunately, as far as Ofsted are concerned, I have talented colleagues who cover my tracks and keep the show on the road.  In the case of the film project above, once again, it was the real professionals who saved my bacon.

The proof of the "sow's ear" proverb perhaps?  The evidence is to be found here .  The rest is on the cutting room floor. 

And oh my goodness, they must be knee deep in it....

Out of the Office

Breakfast here

Lunch here because I was involved in this

"Tea" (with some G) here in excellent company

and supper in the best place of all...at home.

Day Off

It was our intention today to head over to Somerset House where the Origin Craft Fair was ending its first week.  Mark drove up and met me in Muswell Hill bright and early and the walk from the car park to Aldwych was glorious.  London was looking fantastic in clear sunshine - not a cloud in the sky.  We walked through Trafalgar Square, thinking that we'd sit a while and enjoy the view but sadly all the paraphernalia with an event in the square prevented that.  Admiral Lord Nelson had a better vantage point as you'll see from my photo of the day yesterday. 

Though we've both walked past Somerset House many times, this was the first time either of us had been inside and I have to say, I was amazed at what I saw.  A trip to the loo revealed all kinds of walkways and passageways beneath street level - on the Aldwych side at least, for the other side is high above the Embankment.  Mark explained this was all reclaimed land - something I didn't know/hadn't really thought about before.

We loved many of the exhibits in the craft show - some extravagant silver candle holders by Brett Payne and some fine woodwork and furniture.  We both loved Michael Berger's Kinetic rings too. Had a short chat with Jane Adam, whose jewellery I wear and which always provokes comment and admired the beautiful felted shawls of Maggie Scott whose technique of incorporating fine digitally printed chiffon with very thin layers of more woolly fibres intrigued us both.  But budgets being budgets, we settled for smaller "souvenirs" in the form of a gorgeous merino woven scarf by Keskusta, a woven silky one by Margo Selby and a frilly knitted merino wool creation by Florrie - a longer and more drapey version of the neck ruff shown on their website.  I have to wait for that one to be made.

After a short break sitting in the sunshine on the terrace overlooking the river, we returned to explore a little more of this amazing building, starting with Nelsons staircase.

The Nelson staircase rises elegantly from the corridor where the Deli/Cafe is to be found, and the Navy staircase at the opposite end.  Here we found a great description of what might have greeted us in earlier days:

"In these damp, black and comfortless recesses, the clerks of the nation grope about like moles, immersed in Tartarean gloom, where they stamp, sign, examine, indite, doze, and swear..."

Looking down at those dark and gloomy places below, it's wasn't hard to imagine such scenes.

We agreed that we need another visit to this interesting place and added it to our list for another day before heading back across town on an errand or two.  Finished the day with a delicious supper with Edward at Ottolenghi having spent ten minutes or more deciding which nine flavours of chocolates we'd include in our box of chocolates - Marmite and Port and Stilton were Mark's choices, whilst I went for more conventional Cinnamon and Cider - sadly the Yorkshire Tea ones were sold out!

Headed home late last night and intend to have a quiet day today.  The fun begins tomorrow.