Summer finally arrives

Hoorah, it's summer finally. This pic was taken yesterday at Fistral Beach, Newquay. I was born in one of the houses on Pentire Headland at the back.

When I was a kid I earned cash in the summer by stacking deckchairs and clearing litter.

Dark Age Warrior Mass Grave

One cannot stick a spade in the ground in England without uncovering some history.

This mass grave of executed Viking Warriors was found at Ridgeway Hill in Dorset in 2009 by men working on a road. They have been dated to the reign of Aethelred the Unready (unraed). The nickname is a pun: Aethelred means noble counsel and unraed means bad counsel.The reign did not go well, although he did codify jury trials by twelve thegns and the reeve.

More here:

Happy New Year from London

The Palace of Westminster, Big Ben (above).

Tower Bridge, City of London (above). 



London Eye, The South Bank (below).

North Kent in Autumn

Lest We Forget

Sgt Percie Mitchel Lambshead Military Medal
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry - Algeria, 1942
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry - Tunisia, 1943
King's Shropshire Light Infantry - Anzio, 1944

Shaw's Corner

A front view of George Bernard Shaw's House at Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence. Not a bad pad for a revolutionary socialist. It is now managed by the National Trust, recently called a left wing organisation by one of our loonier right wing MPs for opposing changing the law to allow his speculator mates to concrete over Southern England. When Shaw moved in Ayot St Lawrence was not attached to public utilities so the house had its own well and pump.

 A rear view of the house.

Shaw's writing shed. It was rotatable to track the sun. It is now deep in shadow from trees but I suspect it had an open vista in Shaw's time.

Inside.

Another view of the rear of the house.

The view from the back garden: I suspect the trees would have been lower.

I am no botanist but I suspect this is a wild English rose.

Trelissick Gardens

The south coast of Cornwall is the mildest climate in mainland Britain. Here are some photos I took on my recent trip to Cornwall when we popped into Trelissick Gardens for lunch. The National Trust do a great soup lunch.

I was amused to hear a government minister describe the National Trust as a radical left organisation, the National Trust???, because they oppose his plans to allow the Corps to concrete over places like this.

The Fal

I had to make a fast trip down to Cornwall, land of my fathers, to see an unwell relative in the Royal at Truro. While there a took some pics of The Fal, the largest ria on the South Coast of Cornwall that has Truro and Falmouth on its banks. This was a mainly agricultural region when I was a child. My Scout Troop used to camp here. Now it is a sort of dispersed upmarket retirement suburb. The original Treasure Island was filmed here. South Cornwall is almost subtropical. Pineapples can be grown outdoors. The pic shows the Fal at Malpas, Truro.

The King Harry Ferry. This is a chain ferry, also known as a moving bridge.

Looking down the Fal.

Another view of the King Harry.

Restronguet Creek where my father moored his motor cruiser. There is a strong French influence on S, Cornwall. Frenchman's Creek is nearby.

Restronguet. We used to lunch on Cornish scrumpy and pasties bought from the Pandora Inn which was Medieval. Unfortunately, it burnt down recently - thatched roofs do that.

The Fal at Trelissic.

The Fal is used top 'park' resting ships as it is very deep. As the recession bites oil tankers will end up here.

East London

This is the setting for the novel that I am writing.

Beautiful Great Britain

Arctic air is flowing over Southern England bringing frost and even a light dusting of snow.

This picture was taken by Anthony Spencer (note it is copyright), one of the finest landscape photographers in the world. It is of Corfe Castle in the Westcountry, the rural part of S. England. I used to take my girlfriend there when I was working in Bournemouth. She was a student at London University and used to visit me for the weekend. The pictgure has won the landscape photo of the year award.

See more of Spencer's amazing work here:

http://tonyspencer.wordpress.com/

Englefield Green

A Californian friend of mine spent part of his childhood living in Englefield Green next to Windsor Royal Great Park. I am posting these pics to jog his memory. He recalls playing baseball with English kids on the green. Well, he was playing bseball; they were playing rounders. Here is the Green and cricket pavilion. Note the sacred misletoe - the clumps in the tree to the left of the pavilion.




The pub on the green.


The High Street. Royal Holloway College, London University is only a mile away. On the right some students are waiting for the bus.

And finally, the Church.