Jay's little excursion...

Afternoon,

I tried to upload some pictures but that didn't work today. No worries...

Last sunday we took Jay to Stanstead Forest. We again let him off the lead. He was fine, just trotting about and not trying to run off. When we got to the bottom part of the forest I remarked to Jackie that it was a bit odd that we hadn't seen any deer. Normally we see quite a few in that place. Then I noticed Jackie pointing at something behind me...

I quickly looked around and saw a whole group of deer, at least 7 full sized roe deer, sprinting out the side of the forest. Unfortunately with Jay in hot pursuit.... He chased the deer all the way down the hill and through the sugar beet fields until the deer and himself were out of view. The missus and I were rather worried but it is impossible to chase a greyhound as they leg it at 40 MPH. So we just stood where we were and waited. And luckily after a few minutes he came walking back. He was so knackered that on his way back he just stopped and laid down in the sugar beet field. Jackie had to wade out into the muddy field to go and get him.

He hadn't hurt his feet on the flints in the field and the deer must have been ok as he was wearing his muzzle. So, all's well that ends well... He has had his first free run and he hasn'thurt himself or any other animal. On the monday he was rather stiff and achey but he deserved that ....

Tomorrow, wednesday, I'm off to Turkey. I'm going the long way... Flying from Heathrow to Paris, from there to Istanbul, a night in Istanbul then on my way to Erzurum, ater a job there it'son to Trabzon. After a site survey there it's on to Isparta City in Antalya province. The trip should last about 8 to 10 days. I'll see if I can find a phone line so I can do some updates to the Blog.

Cheerio,

Alex.

Wheyhey, Jackie scoops the prize!!!

Morning all,

I don't know if anyone remembers but about 10 entries ago I asked if anyone knew what this strange flower was that I had noticed in the woods in Arger Fen in Suffolk. No replies for ages until my missus managed to find out what it was. It is called Lords and Ladies and the technical latin names are Arum maculatum, Araceae (Arum family). The dutch name for it "Gevlekte Aronskelk". It is known under several other colloquial names in english for example: Cuckoo pint, Arum, Starchwort, Adder's Root, Bobbins, Friar's Cowl, Kings and Queens, Parson and Clerk, Ramp, Quaker, Wake Robin. This first picture is what it looks like in spring and early summer.

It flowers: May - June.
Lords and Ladies is a perennial plant of about 25 cm high, which may be patch forming. It has large arrow-head shaped leaves, which are glossy green and have black or purplish blotches. When spring arrives, these leaves may be one of the first to emerge from the ground in shady habitats. The extraordinary 'flower' has a white-green blotched sheath, which form a graciously shaped pitcher-like surround (= a spath) to the purple finger-like spadix. The spadix arises from the real hidden flower below.The spath open in the daytime and actually generates heat, which helps to disperse a faint smell, which is very attractive to insects, but not to the human nose. This is what the flowers look like.

The flies can go into the hidden chamber (which is designed as an insect ski-slope), but an arrangement of hairs prevents them from flying out again. However this is not meant to be a death trap, but simply a way to ensure that the insects stay for the night to pollinate the flowers. The next day the stamens will mature and shed pollen on the flies This process results in the withering of the hairs and the insects are free once more to fly off to find another similar hotel room for the night.
Later on in the year, all that remains of this plant is the pretty fruiting stalk with bright orange-red berries, which is the result of a successfully fertilised flower. These berries are very poisonous to people: "In spite of their very acrid taste, they have sometimes been eaten by children, with most injurious results, being extremely poisonous. One drop of their juice will cause a burning sensation in the mouth and throat for hours. In the case of little children who have died from eating the berries, cramp and convulsions preceded death if no medical aid had been obtained." (Mrs. Grieve)

Cuckoo pint or Lord and Ladies grows in woodlands, hedges and ditches. It is common in most of Britain, but rarer in Scotland.
Lords and Ladies has a tuberous root, like a small potato. It is brown on the outside and white within. This tuber is acrid like the rest of the plant, but this acridity is lost during drying or cooking and then only the starch is left. Baked tubers can be eaten and are nutritious, because of the starch. Another use of the starch was to stiffen the white ruffs, which were worn round the neck of Elisabethans. The herbalist Gerard comments on this practice:"The most pure and white starch is made of the rootes of the Cuckoo-pint, but most hurtful for the hands of the laundresse that have the handling of it; for it chappeth, blistereth, and maketh the hands rough and rugged and withall smarting."
So, No, it wasn't deadly nightshade, but Yes, it is poisonous, well, the berries are. So first prize this week goes to Jackie for solving the mystery.

Cheerio,

Alan Titchmarsh.

Rob and Jo's new arrival!!!

Wheyhey!!!

Don't know if anyone remembers but a few months ago my mate Rob told me that his wife and him were expecting a baby. Well, its here now.

According to Rob it is called: James Jimbob Robert Jr James Robert Ingram. According to Jo he is called James Robert Ingram. I'm sure he told me what it weighed and how big it was but as I have no experience with being interested in babies I have forgotten.

This is Jo and James in the hospital. According to Rob Jo is doing fine, just a bit knackered...


This is one of young master James fast asleep. Hey! That is funny... That is exactly how Rob used to look when he was asleep on jobs working for me... Like father like son 'ey?

This is Robs daughter Heidi taking care of the new man in the family. Heidi, just think of the money you can squeeze out of Rob and Jo for all the babysitting you can do for them! Who cares about full daipers hahahahaha......

In all seriousness, Rob, Jo, Heidi and of course Master James, all the best for the future and good luck with it all!

Alex and Jackie.

Jay's progress...

Afternoon,

Haven't updated the site for a bit, I have been busy. I have booked my tickets to go and see my family in Holland in December, for my dads birthday. It's his 65th so I can't miss that.

On saturday we took Jay to one of our favourite walks. We took him to Wormingford. We also took Jackie's sister's dogs with us, Sheeba and Kahlua. We took them for a reason. This is the first time we tried Jay off the lead. So the other two were there to slow him down incase he did a runner... It went very well. He didn't just leg it and disappear over the horizon. He stayed fairly close and spend most of the time trying to get his muzzle off. As we don't trust him around small dogs yet when we do let him off he will have to wear a muzzle. In the piccie above Kahlua did an abortive run into a field with Jay and Sheeba in pursuit. Luckily the ground was pretty rough so they all gave up rather quickly.

On the sunday the missus and I finally took the swimmingpool down. As it is a frame pool the spot where it has been the grass is fairly manky and rotten. Jay thought that that was the cue for him to start rolling in the smelly mud. Unfortunately for him we straightaway stuck him in the shower as he stank to high heaven. To be honest he didn't bat an eyelid, just stood there and let us wash him. OK, granted, I don't think it was his favourite moment of the weekend but at least he didn't holler and whine.

In the evening he did his best to convince us that he indeed is a lapdog as he climbed over me to get to the space between me and the missus. He spend most of the evening there. At least he was clean hahahaha....

So, again, we seem to be going the right way with him. Give it a few months and we should be able to let him off anywhere. What the mutt doesn't know yet is that the missus has enrolled him for dog obedience classes....

I'll keep you informed,

Cheerio,

Alex.

Chef Jarred? Chef Jarred?

Afternoon!

Meet my brother-in-law. You are looking at the new head chef at The Bell in Clare. Jarred used to work in Florida as the head executive chef in the Sanctuary golf resort on Sanibel Island. He came over last year summer and bummed around a for a while but now will be exiting palette's all over Suffolk and Essex.


For serious foodies, the menu will be shaken up if his previous performance is anything to go by. More info about the place here:
http://www.pub-explorer.com/suffolk/pub/bellhotelclare.htm

By the way, Jarred looks rather suprised in this piccie, I stuck a camera in his face during a recent camping trip. (T-bone steaks for breakfast, excellent!) Go over to the Bell and give it a shot, the man certainly knows a thing or two about food!

Cheerio,

Alex. 

The dog's furry bits...

Afternoon,

This is Jackie enjoying the new kitchen which is nearing completion. On friday we got the table and chair delivery. It all looks pretty nice. I got a few things to sort out like skirting boards and a few things to hang of walls but we are nearly done.


This is Jay after he came back from the vet on saturday. He went in on friday to have his nuts chopped off. While they had him under they checked his teeth and found that there were quite a few rotten ones there so they fixed that straightaway by pulling most of them. That meant they had to give him extra sedation so they couldn't get him to come round on the friday. They kept him overnight and the missus picked him up on saturday morning. We were expecting a quiet timid dog after all that but he took it all in his stride and didn't show any lingering affects from the anaestetic. In fact he straight away dove into his food and devoured everything that was there when he came home. It helped that it had the remains of a chines takeaway in it as that seems to be his favourite meal.

This piccie shows him laying down after that big meal for a bit of a rest. His teeth didn't give him any bother, he was chewing his squeeky toys with no apparent pain whatsoever. So that
was no big problem, nice one. Thanks to the excellent staff at Ardmore Vets in Sudbury.

Cheerio,

Alex. 

Tall Boy Mick not forgotten...

Afternoon again,

I was trawling through some old pictures and I found this one of my other dog Tall Boy Mick. Mick died this June but this was taken last year near Bures in Suffolk.



This was taken on the 11 of July 2005 and my boy does look good here.
He is still missed every day...

Alex. 

Furry bits...

Afternoon all,

Tomorrow the handsome fellow below will loose a few essential bodyparts. Tomorrow he is going to the vets to have his nuts chopped off. As retired racing greyhounds are all registered and have identifying ear tattoos the Retired Greyhound Trust does not want people to start breeding with retired racers. This would muck up the bloodlines of the breed. So,part of the deal when you rehome an ex-racer is that you have him or her neutered.

So unbeknownst to Jay tomorrow morning he will go to see the vets and he will lose a few furry parts of him. Personally as a man it doesn't bear thinking about but we have to do what we have to do as we signed the contract. It also makes male dogs a bit less aggressive. They don't have the urge to fight other male dogs anymore. I will keep you informed about his progress. This is why we are having him done over the weekend so we can keep a good eye on him.

Bye for now,

Alex. 

Swans on the Sudbury Meadows...

Morning again,

Blimey, I'm in photo mode today... These are a few shots from last week on the Sudbury Water Meadows. While I was walking the new dog a few swans came screaming down.


What type of swans are these? They are always hanging around the meadows as a the locals feed them bread there.


Actually it was pretty hard to get a decent shot of them while they were flying. That is one thing I don't like of my Konica Minolta Dimage Z3, the shutter time only goes up to 1/250 of a sec. That is slow when you want to capture fast moving images. My original Minolta Dynax 7000i had a max speed of 1/8000th of a sec and you could capture a racing car screaming past and still end up with a razor sharp image. Maybe it is time to invest in a decent Digital SLR...

Still, the images aren't too bad, at least the light was good.

Cheerio,

Alex. 

Deadly Nightshade?

Morning again,

Just to see if there are any other clever people out there... This thing I spotted a few days ago in Arger Fen. Does any one know what it is? I believe it to be Deadly Nightshade which is quite poisenous.


They only appear in the autumn and ALL animals leave it alone. There aren't that many about, in this forest I only spotted two.


So, is it Deadly Nightshade? Is it really deadly?


Answer on a postcard please... Have fun!

Cheerio,

Alex.

The power of the Internet...

Morning all,

A while ago I posted some pictures of a riverside flower that I remembered from the time I lived in The Netherlands. Low and behold one of my old mates from Holland saw the picture and was able to identify the plant.


According to him the plant is called Impatiens Glandulifera (royle). The english name is Indian Balsam. The dutch name is ReuzenBalsemien. All I know is that it looks stunning and it stinks like rotten eggs. Lovely. (For the people amongst you that don't believe I am dutch, ik kom echt uit Nederland. Ik ben in Utrecht geboren en heb in Nieuwegein gewoont. In 1993 kwam ik een leuke vrouw tegen in Spanje en een jaar later ben ik verhuist naar Engeland in Suffolk. In 2005 ben ik met haar getrouwd (twaalf jaar nadenken om zeker te weten hahaha) We wonen nog steeds in Sudbury Suffolk, de plaats waar Sir Thomas Gainsborough vandaan komt. Dat is een van de bekentste landschaps schilders in Engeland. Zie, bijvoorbeeld, Mr and Mrs Andrews 1748 - 1749.

The guy who came up with the goods is Ton van W. We used to work for the same company in Hilversum and Huizen. We worked for APT which stood for AT&T and Philips Telecommunication. I worked (well, worked....) in the power department while Ton was busy generating wrong transmission documentation. Sometimes I wonder what happened to some of the other guys in that company, like Bob Leefkens, Piet Tijdemans, Jacko Lankreier, Otto Ouderkerk, Gerard Kruidenberg, Paul van Dijk etcetera. As I moved countries in 1994 I never have seen any of them ever again, with the exception of Jacko who came over for a training course in Maidenhead. I came over and we had a good piss-up and got stinking drunk hahahahaha....

OK, gotta go, am prepping for a trip to Turkey, off to Erzurum, Trabzon and Antalia in a few days I hope,

Cheerio,

Alex.

Autumn in the fields...

Morning all,

These are a few pictures from a recent walk in Arger Fen in Suffolk. Saw a nice mushroom poking through the forest floor there. Don't ask me what it is, I don't know.


We had Jay with us who was very exited about his first walk in a forest. We are still keeping him on the lead as we are not sure yet if he is ready to be of the lead yet. The weather was good seeing it is the end of september and we are still walking around in T-shirts.


This is Jay after his walk. He gets knackered pretty quickly, no stamina yet. He does like his walks though as he goes mental as soon as you get the walking collar of the peg.


I think things are going OK with him. He seems to be getting more settled and he is eating better. On saturday we bought him this bed that you see in the picture. He had been laying on the floor on a folded blanket. I paid 50 quid for that soft basket and what do I find the morning after I bought it? He has totally ignored it and has made himself at home on my settee... bugger. He didn't want to sleep on the settee before that is why I bought him a basket! Ah well, never mind, as long as he sleeps...

More later,

Alex.

Kitchen floor down....

Blimey, progress!

Over the last weekend the missus and I have managed to get the tiled floor down. This was pretty impressive for us seeing that we have never tiled anything before in our lives. We got a good deal at one of the tile places in town. We got 15 square metres of tiles, all the adhesive, all the grouting, all the little square things that go in between the tiles, the tools, the buckets and a stirring thingy for my drill all for 175 quid.


As you can see we haven't done to badly here. It wasn't straightforward (like anything ever is in this bloody kitchen...) as the floor wasn't quite level. We were told that if there was more than 5 millimeter height difference anywhere on the floor it would have to be screeded. Well, where there used to be a wall there was a great big ridge sticking out. But with my enthousiastic approach I just slopped an extra thick layer of tile adhesive and hoppa! no more ridge...


The grouting was done by my missus and a spiffing marvellous job she did too. The only thing left now is to find some decent skirting boards to stick all around the room.


There is one small problem... The kitchen fitter who installed the kitchen and levelled the cabinets was supposed to leave me a gap underneath wide enough for my plinth underneath the cabs. Unfortunately the gap is NOT wide enough. I now need to cut off about a quarter of an inch of the plinth. That is not going to be easy. The boards are 10 feet long and to cut of such a narrow strip is going to be tricky... Ah well, if we can tile a whole floor with no experience we should be able to fit a plinth... bring it on!

So after all the hassle we have had over the last 5 months (Has it really been 5 months??? Just for a kitchen????) we are now nearly ready. When it is all done I am gonna get my brother in law, who is a executive chef, to come around and we will have an all mighty dinner party to forget all the shite that happened during the build...

Sofar thanks to: Keith the kitchen fitter, Steve and mates from Youngers the plumbers, Martin the plasterer, Mike Broom, the gas repair people, the insurance people, the loss adjusters, Homebase, Topps Tiles, Focus but most of all:

The one person who did not give up: my wife Jackie, who kept up the pressure, wrestled with insurance people, sorted deliveries, chased lacksadaisical delivery companies, pushed my lazy arse around so things got done, sorted out payments/cheques/orders, did a mean bit of grouting but most of all never got depressed when things exploded, burned, broke, leaked, got condemned, stolen, damaged and fitted upside down! Ta, luv.

More when it gets done,

Cheerio,

Alex.