Thursday, January 24, 2008
There's a new blog in town
Go west young man!
Life on the allotments.
Labels: Buckland Brewer, Devon, gardening, North Devon
:: Posted by pete @ Thursday, January 03, 2008
Annus Dumnoniorus
Just over a year of living and working in Devon. Much has happened. Some of it good. Some of it not so good. Some of it wet.
- Number of times arrived at work soaking wet after walking along the Taw in driving wind and squally showers: umpteen
- Number of cakes, donuts or cookies eaten in celebration of work colleague birthdays: 6
- Devon cream teas: one
- Walks on Exmoor: 4
- Letters to the Journal about Devon CC crazy parking plans: two
- Hours wasted at work on the internet: REDACTED
- Mentions of the MSC Napoli on local TV news: zillions
- Jobs: 1
- Teams: 2
- Desks: 5
- Other jobs applied for: 1
- Number of power failures: 1
- Times boiler broken down: twice
- Rooms painted: 6
- Money spent on building works and decorating: £6000
- Meals provided by vegetable plot: a dozen or so
- Letters in opposition of planning applications: 1
- Parish Council meetings attended: 5
- Gardeners' Club meetings: 10
- Pints from the Country Life Brewery: 20
- Bloody pictures of the bloody Taw Bridge at bloody sunset: too many
- Times wished back in London: zero
Labels: Devon, lists, North Devon
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Civic Duty
Civic planting in Barnstaple.
On this evidence, the police in Tampa might not make it on to CSI.
Our local village shop on TV. Click on "Latest Edition" and scroll to 19:10. Lack of local customers hurts, but closure of the Post Office will kill it.
Got your free Radiohead yet? How much did you pay?
iPod-alotry
"I Shall Be Free" - Bob Dylan
"Bittersweet Me" - R.E.M.
"Time to Find Me (Afx Fast Mix)" - Seefeed
"Chronology" - Ornette Coleman
"Djed (Bruise Blood Mix)" - Tortoise
"Song Meat" - Subtle
"Simple Halo" - Shipping News
"Chorale" - Spring Heel Jack
"Saint Stephen" - Grateful Dead
"Wren's Nest" - Vic Chesnutt
"Rockstar" - Sebadoh
"Love is Like Jazz" - The Magnetic Fields
"For Lack of Better Words" - Orso
Labels: Barnstaple, Buckland Brewer, daily bollocks, North Devon, police state
Friday, August 24, 2007
I'm 100% Behind You ... (Pushing You Out the Door)
Oh shit. Tottenham Hotspur coach Martin Jol has received the kiss of death.
"Martin has my 100% support and I'd like the fans to understand that they need to take the last few days in the context of what we think has been significant progress over the last six years," [club Chairman Daniel] Levy said.
Well, that's that then. Spurs travel to Old Trafford for the annual 4-0 defeat to Manchester United. What, you expect Man U to avoid victory four games on the trot?
Gerry Adams airport hell. Yes, that Gerry Adams.
To quote a commenter: "I love post-mortems. The recurring death of English football is particularly entertaining."
More Steve "Steve" McLaren news:
"McClaren now has the worst record of any England manager after a dozen fixtures. It would have been folly for him to look full of good cheer when his side had just lost at home to an improvised Germany line-up but he hardly seemed traumatised."
Bused home via sunny Bideford.
iPod-olatory
"Exhausted" - Joseph Arthur
"Sim Gishel" - Autreche
"Foreign Hotel Garden" - Papa M
"Crest" - Tortoise
"Walk All Over You" - Mark Kozalek
"Valerie" - Broadcast
"Tomorrow is Already Here" - Stereolab
"First There was Jazz 2" - Wibutee
"Cody" - Mogwai
Labels: aviation security, Bideford, Gerry Adams, iPod, Martin Jol, North Devon, soccer, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Headless Chickens
Paul Robinson makes a horlicks of a Schneider cross as England lose 2-1 in a miserable "friendly" to the hated Germans. Steve "Steve" McLaren has completed a year as England coach in which time the "golden generation" has produced a succession of mediocre performances and equally mediocre results. At least he's not Sven Goran Eriksson. Sven is currently riding high in first place in the Premier League - but it won't last. Hopefully, McLaren won't last too much longer either. Hire Martin O'Neill, for f&cks sake. Oh, and Team Beckham was on the pitch.
Firefox is teh suxor and users are thieves.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick in deeper dog poo-poo.
Funny road signs are very funny.
Google offers a calendar - well, I never.
New toilets in the pipeline, no pun intended.
Egg boxes are banned in craft lessons as they might cause salmonella.
Everyday more than 2 million people read the Daily Hate. How would a limp wristed, liberal fare reading the tabloid?
iPod-ology
"What are You?" - Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy
"Hallucinex" - Stereolab
"Dark FX" - Mouse on Mars
"Accused of Stealing" - The Delagados
"F-Train" - Squarepusher
"Jungle Jim" - Rodan
Rock Parquet
Labels: Barnstaple, Devon, football, iPod, North Devon, Rock Park, soccer, sport
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Lost in Exmoor
Make a slight deviation on the South West Coast Path and who knows where you might end up.
Labels: Devon, Exmoor, North Devon, South West Coast Trail, Walking
Sunday, August 05, 2007
On this spot...
Walking in Exmoor, part the three. The sun shone, so time for a 5 mile stroll through the Valley of the Rocks to Lee Valley and beyond (to Calvary, almost).
Labels: Devon, Exmoor, Lynton, North Devon, South West Coast Trail, Walking
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Adults 20p
Come one, come all
Come short, come small
Buckland Brewer Village Fete. Bric-a-brac. Games. Morris men. Brass band. Rescue greyhounds. Cakes. Ice Cream. Bouncy castle. That sort of stuff.
In the summer that wasn't, the sun shone.
Labels: Buckland Brewer, Devon, fete, North Devon, summer
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Barnstaple Western Bypass
Est arrive! Let the fumes increase. And buy the commemorative crap.
Labels: Barnstaple, bridges, North Devon
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Hunter Gatherer
Humankind has progressed. We can build greenhouses from the most basic and unreadable instructions.
This...
becomes this.
(ill-matching buckets optional)
Labels: Buckland Brewer, gardening, North Devon
Monday, March 12, 2007
Dog ate my blog post...
Top ten reasons why this blog hasn't been updated:
10. Down the Coach and Horses winning the pub quiz.
9. Shopping at the Pannier Market. Just what is a Pannier Market?
8. Drying out from the non-stop rain.
7. Planting basil seeds.
6. Painting the kitchen.
5. Watching Tottenham Hotspur blow two goal leads.
4. Assisting the local Constabulary with their inquiries.
3. Planning the vegetable plot.
2. Attending a committee meeting of the newly formed village Gardeners' Club (and designing the club website).
1. Too busy dressing up statues in Barnstaple.
Labels: Barnstaple, Buckland Brewer, North Devon
Friday, February 02, 2007
More dull pictures of the River Taw
It was a nice day, beautiful sunset and nothing ever happens in Barnstaple. Is that a good enough excuse?
Labels: Barnstaple, bridges, North Devon
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Shit Happens
Some suspicious looking gunk in the River Taw.
Labels: Barnstaple, North Devon
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Bridges of Barnstaple
The Longbridge at Barnstaple across the the River Taw has carried traffic for centuries. But, now the town suffocates in cars and trucks.
Behold, the Downstream Bridge...
Carrying the Barnstaple Western Bypass, this ugly concrete structure is nearly complete. Springtime sees the bypass open and Barnstaple's traffic woes disappear.
Labels: Barnstaple, bridges, North Devon
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Little Fluffy Clouds
The weather has turned. Gone are the gales and rain. It's ice and cold. As the days grow slightly longer, the walk along the Taw is in twilight. This is the Longbridge in the glow before sun up.
Photo effect fun with this picture is an extreme possibility. A Turneresque end product would most likely be the result.
the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and they were long, clear, and there were lots of stars, at night. And when it would rain, they would all turn - They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colors everywhere. That's uh, neat cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little.
Labels: Barnstaple, bridges, North Devon, sunrise
Monday, January 22, 2007
Gridlock
A day off.
Took some cardboard to the recycling centre. Got stuck in traffic. Other than tractors, around Torrington every car has at least three Border Collies on board. Speaking of cardboard...
Other excitement: setting light to the previous owners' precious climbing vine. Without intervention it would have eaten the back of the house.
Finally, a Hitchcockian scene the other morning. They eats tyres, y'know.
Labels: Buckland Brewer, North Devon
Monday, January 15, 2007
Meet the Neighbours
As it finally stopped raining and blowing a force 9 gale yesterday, we took ourselves for a wee sunday stroll. It took us around some of the farms surrounding the village. Lots of not-so-nice smells, a couple of barking hounds, bleating sheep and these little dawgies. They are heffers, in fact.
This is looking back to the village on the return leg. Note the large pool of water. Has it been raining? Is Arsene Wenger a French tosser?
Apart from livestock, sprouts are grown less than a mile from the village. Now, that's a gas.
Look carefully and you can see Exmoor.
No sprouts, but that's Dartmoor in the distance. Allegedly you can see Bodmin Moor too on a clear day.
Labels: Buckland Brewer, Cows, North Devon, Walking
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
A good start in the new job
I have no phone.
I'm borrowing a desk.
I work for the wrong boss.
And, now they're going to demolish my office.
Labels: Barnstaple, North Devon, Work
Thursday, January 04, 2007
New Digs
Welcome to the new Donut HQ. It lies about five miles from this festive sign, snapped on the day of arrival (19 December). Thanks to the idiots at BT (you know who you are), interweb access was not fixed at Donut HQ until yesterday. We're catching up on things like paying bills. (How do people pay bills without the interweb?)
Click on the above picture for access to a phalanx of moving out and moving in pictures. Got bored labelling all the shots, so you'll have to make a few guesses as to what you're looking at. That or you can ask. (For the lazy amongst you, here's the full set.)
Plenty of moving house stories to tell. Best told down the pub, so come on over and we can take 50 paces to the local. You buy the beer.
Now, where are those missing cufflinks?
Labels: Moving, North Devon