2012 in pictures

2012

We have gained a teenager, a puppy, seen puffins, been to Germany, France, London, seen wizards, fairies, monsters and football matches. All in all a very good year.

How much do cats and dogs know about Christmas - in photos

Look at my lovely hair clip

I wonder if the dog that lives over there has to suffer the indignity of reindeer antlers?

Small dogplus post = 

Mmm, that was a tasty fly

It's Behind You

It's Pantomime  time, and that means men dress as women, women dress as men people suffer the indignity of dressing up as cows, horses, donkeys and b list celebrities can not only find work but receive top billing in small towns up and down the country.

Yes folks, it a pantomime blog. Roll up roll up, no that's the circus, oh no it's not....oh yes it is. Whatever it is, it's behind you!

Friends won a couple of tickets in a raffle to see Jack and the Beanstalk (or should I say  Jack and t'beanstalk as we are in Derbyshire) at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield. We joined their party to make a night of it.  

We arrive, we meet up, I break the display of plastic swords, tiaras, and snowflake fan things that were for sale. I was only trying to see if the sword lit up. I contemplated blaming a child, but instead took the responsible decision to move away and pretend it wasn't me.

We are seated down stairs in a nice block, I look around to admire the Pomegranate, it has a certain music hall atmosphere and appearance, very promising. On to the performance.  I was particularly excited as the fairy was to be played by Charlie Dimmock who I may have had a crush on when she was involved in the Ground Force gardening show...not sure if it was her bubbly flowing ginger hair, or her blatant lack of a bra that did it for me. I was curious if this was to be the case in a family pantomime, portraying a fairy called Organic. It was at least appropriate the pantomime story involved a large plant.

And there she was, stage left, introducing the evening, sporting enough foundation garments to support the crooked spire.

Anyway...

I was armed with throat sweets in the event all the shouting of 'its behind you' and 'oh no it isn't' got too much. It was an excellent performance all round, the dancing was great, the singing was actually fairly impressive and the jokes were what you expect for a family pantomime.

I was a little disappointed the principal boy was played by an actual boy, tradition there had gone out the window, such a shame, nothing like a bit of girl on girl action for an evening of family fun. I also only remember only one thigh slap, maybe a health and safety initiative, in action.  Only one thigh slap permitted per performance?

There was a rather surreal scene involving wallpapering, maybe a misunderstanding of the slap stick element by the script writers, it was however a skilful bit of comedy and went down well with the crowd. I loved some of the fabrics in the costumes, and the dame character's outfits got progressively more outlandish.

A good night was had, sore throats all round, no repercussions regarding the tampered with display (the sword was still lit up when we left) and us adults may have embarrassed the teens with our enthusiastic joining in. 

Butterbeer anyone?

We had a Hairy Otter experience once at an aquarium, but today was the Harry Potter real deal. The otters just swan around, admittedly they were very cute, but didn't hold our attention for three hours, unlike today's experience.

Bundled into the car once more, sandwiches, minced pies and fizzy pop in a plastic bag, and we were set for a magical day out. Apparently by the fifth time I'd sung the first few bars of the Harry Potter theme tune, it was getting a little annoying. Well I guess the family had a point, we were still only in Chesterfield. Was that going to deter me? Hmmm.

 

We arrive, we scoff at the car parking guys sunglasses, we scoff our sandwiches in the car park, secretly hoping everyone would eat enough not to have to pay for overpriced junk food in way too much packaging, we make our way to the door. We navigate the complicated ticketing system which we had apparently created ourselves by pre buying a ticket to help reduce queuing. We then join the end of the queue to get in, I'm sure the queue had grown 20 car loads longer in the time it took me to exchange my queue busting ticket for a ticket, queue singing the HP theme tune to lighten the mood. Thankfully there was the set for the cupboard beneath the stairs to distract from the queuing. Not the singing as was apparent from the received threats.

We are corralled into a room full of posters, we wait in this holding pen until there are the requisite number of Potterites present. We go into a cinema and watch a funny little film of the three main characters. Pretty cute. Then...the screen lifts and reveals the door of the great hall, very cool. We shuffle into the great hall, decked out for Christmas, listen to a talk and are let loose into the rest of the exhibition. 

It was all very impressive, and magically, no one got hungry and all I had to buy were four glasses of butterbeer. 

 

Never trust green

Bauhaus museum

This was an excellent choice for a visit for all of us. We  were hopeful of a visit to the Guggenheim and we were disappointed that it was 'between exhibitions' and was closed. On the day we were visiting, we ended up in the Gallerie Laffayette instead, not the sort of gallery I was hoping for it has to be said!

The Bauhaus Museum was our second choice, supported by Maisie who is keen on design. The audio tour was fascinating, talking about the different teachers' influence and ways of approaching design. It was fascinating to hear about the designers behind the tubular cantilevered chair which we take for granted today. Although a seemingly simple design, was achieved through a complicated series of experimentations and building on each other's ideas. We loved that Kandinsky was deeply distrustful of green, seeing it as a nothing colour. Also, the first tubular stools which were made for the student canteen were a little unstable, and students regularly toppled over, much to the amusement of others. The design morphed into a table, and the tubes for the stool legs altered and a upholstered seat replaced the wooden one. This design is available today.

After a delicious lunch at the cafe, off to kaDeWe. Europe's largest department store....gulp! Adults were looking forward to seeing the food hall, Maisie the cosmetics, of course. 

Time for a quick drive in a Trabant and back home

Fallen leaves

The Jewish museum, we were all a little nervous of how the displays would impact on us. The building itself is quite imposing, the new section is based around an exploded Star of David, and has slashes for windows to represent the cuts inflicted on the Jewish way of life through history.

I was keen to contextualise my grandmother's experience. She lived in Berlin, and is Jewish. Born in 1916, she was a teenager when antisemitism was gathering pace. We saw photos of signs posted around the country with anti-Jewish sentiments. Many Jews came to Berlin at this time from smaller towns and villages as the big city offered more anonymity and protection. My grandmother may have been amongst them; her past is unclear as she rarely speaks of her childhood. Unfortunately, she has dementia and her few stories are often muddled and frequently repeated.

There was a walkway devoted to the axis of exile. Many Jews emigrated to other countries in the years leading up to WWII. My grandmother travelled to London. I'm unsure of the year. There were, however, restrictions on what they could take; only possessions they could prove they owned before 1933, wedding rings were allowed, as was silverware.

It was sobering to think that moving to a strange land, speaking a new language with only your clothes and your knives and forks was a better option than staying in your own country. Thank goodness my grandmother chose this. Staying behind was documented by a series of artefacts donated by families of victims of the holocaust. The statistics of the number of Jews murdered during this time is shocking, but reading the stories associated with aged photographs, dolls, teddies, letters and drawings painfully brought home that all those murdered were individuals, all with a life lived, with family and friends.

The holocaust tower was a very powerful building. Lit only by natural light, from a small slit way above your head. Not heated and dark, you could make out traffic noise from outside. All you could do was stare at the chink of light and hope.

Moving on to an exhibition commissioned for the space. Called Shalekhet 'fallen leaves' consisted on 10000 faces made of thick metal plates. All crying out. You could walk over the pieces which made a powerful clinking noise. Like the sound of a noisy canteen, but much more sinister. We spent quite some time in there. Maisie felt guilty and uncomfortable walking on the faces, but was compelled to do it anyway. I explained my interpretation - that's what you do, you walk on people's past experience, and build on it to make a better life. Remember those faces and what they represent, move forward and challenge inequality and persecution. A very powerful piece, used the space and the sentiment of the building's architecture vey well.

After a quick look at the temporary exhibition, R.B. Kitaj, I realised I didn't like his work as much as I thought, maybe too much of it one place. His strongest works were those addressing his Jewishness. He was clearly a very talented artist, and there were elements of all of his works on display that I could appreciate.

Off to check point Charlie, a quick photo opportunity. A quick look in the gift shop (we were too museumed-out to got to another). Maisie said "I know where all the wall has gone, they are selling it look!" Yes indeed, you could buy bits of concrete reported to be part of the wall. Why you would want to is anyone's guess.

Afternoon tea and a traditional German konditorei was needed at this point. We managed to be attracted by the bright lights of the Rittersport cafe/shop. Hardly traditional, but warm, cosy and the promise of hot Rittersport chocolate was too good to resist! We were not disappointed. We may have purchased some chocolate too. Well, it would have been rude not to.

sprechen sie deutsch?

Half term and time for a trip...

We arrive at the airport at the appointed time, terminal 3 Manchester. I look for the flight details on the check in board, Leanne says "I've already checked in we don't need to check in." That's fine, but I can't see the flight on the board. Leanne says it won't be there as the gate won't be displayed yet. I insist it should still be on the board. We repeat this conversation maybe more times than was strictly necessary. Eventually, I ask a nice British Airways woman, who says, no that's terminal 1 you will be needing... off we potter. The stress of getting up at 3 a.m. was starting to show. We find the departure gate without much difficulty, it's amazing how being at the correct terminal can help with this.

We fly, we get train tickets, we arrive at the rented apartment; all good.

Trying out my best German to buy pretzels and a ham and cheese thing for Maisie, words were flowing, Bitter, Danke, Schinken (ham), anyone would think I was fluent. Unfortunately, I then blow it by trying to pay the guy the time it was displaying on the till, not the Euros #doh! I didn't retrieve the situation by saying some random numbers in German, it was all too late. The guy was, however, fairly understanding. 

We had a few other language challenges, particularly when going to pay for stuff. The lovely check out person would say something, we would stare blankly like rabbits in headlights, checkout person would repeat incomprehensible sentence. Eventually we managed to mumble out the word 'English' and they would repeat the sentence in perfect English. One bloke even sorted out my change for me, bless!

Back to the trip...We walk to Alexander Platz and catch a tourist bus to get our bearings. We all loved seeing the East Side gallery, the longest remaining stretch of wall with painting by various artists (with some amendments by graffiti artists). The sun was setting, the light was beautiful, it was all quite moving. 

My Grandmother comes from Berlin so it felt like I was getting in touch with my roots. I was looking forward to exploring and discovering over the next few days.

Woe betide you Molly Moppy

I can’t believe I’ve not mentioned Molly in the passages yet.

Introducing Molly the dog.

She is a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle.

This creates a rather cute teddy style dog, Maisie’s dream dog.

There’s a reason she is so cute I’m discovering.

How can you be mad at such a cute dog for...

• Destroying a box of tissues
• Destroying a toilet roll, and distributing
• Chewing all the ends off your shoe laces
• Shredding up knickers
• Weeing on the carpet in the lounge, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, bedrooms.
• Pooing (although this has stopped almost) in the same places
• Jumping at the big dog and cat to annoy at every opportunity
• Whining at 6 am in the morning
• Developing the ability to escape from her enclosure within three weeks
• Finding a way out of the garden into the neighbours garden
• Discovering the ability to exit through the cat flap

We’re all going an a summer holiday...with added teenager

Our holiday destination of choice this year was France, first to see friends in Lille, then onto the Vendee...with two teenagers and Sabrina the sat nav lady.

A driving trip with a shuttle trip to France, regrettably requires an early start. Problem one and two...the teenage girls. Genius top tip I don’t mind sharing, tell them it’s a 5.30 am start. Then, when this has sunk in, say, actually it’s only needs to be 6.30 am. We had fist pumping and whooping at the prospect of a 6.30 am start, result.

They were both up at the required time, one a little disheveled, but up. Maisie however was sat in bed doing her nails, not just doing her nails, but painting owls on them, yes owls. When this was discovered, she was chased out of bed and seemed to be getting ready. The next thing we know, she’s on Facebook playing some sort of Ville game. No concept of getting out the door in time for the start of the holiday!

Thanks to the lovely Sabrina, it was a trouble free journey, with only the smallest blip at the end doing battle with the weird oneway system with roundabouts and cyclists in Lille.

A lovely time spent in Lille as always, and I fear I may have taken the exact same photos as last year in la Piscine art gallery. Oh well, love it there and no doubt the next time I’ll take them again.

Then the journey to the Vendee, laughing al the way at the pronunciation Sabrina attempted, admittedly probably better than mine, but funny all the same.

We stayed in an F1 half way in Chartres, Maisie refused to go to the toilet (shared) stating they were a “plastic stink box of hell” not sure how she managed, oh to have a young bladder once more (probably an over-share, sorry)

At one point, there was a really strange noise emanating from Alex...”Oh that’s my sonic screwdriver” Yes, that’s always on the top of my packing list as well? 

We had a great time at the camp site, activities, swimming, reading, eating...perfect

Beep Beep

The wheels on the car go round and round, I know that because you can see them. Well, you can when you go for a ride in a Caterham sports car. Some friends of ours recently purchased such a vehicle. When offered a ride I jumped at the chance of nervously, not at all elegantly, lowering myself into the passenger seat. I was given the steering wheel to hold whilst my driver (aka Antony) leapt in elegantly and expertly. I dutifully pretended to drive, as does every other person in a similar situation apparently, good not to disappoint. After being strapped in with the 29 point harness (only 4 really), a process similar to an Alton Towers ride, we were ready to go. At the push of a button, and the roar of the engine we were off.

I think I remember shouting awesome as the car raced rather quickly it felt, to the speed limit, which was actually only 30 mph, goodness knows what it’s like at top speeds. We whizzed through the streets of Sheffield and I could see the wheels going round reassuringly, the fender things rattling away, and the wing mirrors were vibrating so much there was no chance of seeing anything approaching from behind, not that I imagine anything else on the road had a chance. We reached some roadworks, boo you might say, but these provided the perfect chicane for Antony to show off the cornering. Surprisingly good suspension, surprisingly good weather for a South Yorkshire evening, and no surprises when I got out, it must have been one of the most inelegant scenes the street had seen all year, think kayak and that’s pretty close.

The dog wondering if he can beat a Caterham

The clambering was worthwhile, it was like being in a shark, crossed with chitty chitty bang bang, very very cool and to be recommended.

Check it out Peak Road Sport

Summer Bumper Issue - includes free gift

We have...been to the seaside, admired puffins, won big time on a penny push machine, been on a boat, got a new kitchen, lost a dearly loved cat, there must be something else? Now what is it? Oh yes, that’s it, the whole entire country has gone Olympics mad. We went to the most hot ticketed event of the entire games, New Zealand v. Belarus football match. 

The Puffin bit

The best puffin photo we took

Puffins are very small and hard to photograph. I had an idea I would be able to sit and draw one...not a chance. Darting around, getting mixed up with other sea birds it was hard to even photograph one. But - it was so exciting, none of us have seen puffins before, so if felt like a great achievement to spot some. We were also delighted by the gannets, less enamoured by the smell and satisfied the weather was really kind.

A Lancashire Belle on the Yorkshire one!

The boat bit

All aboard the Yorkshire Belle, I'm actually a Lancashire Belle, but I kept that quiet and they let me on anyway. The YB is a lovely little boat commissioned by the RSPB to take enthusiastic twitchers out to see the sea birds that hang out at Bempton Cliffs from the sea side perspective.

Encouraged by the fact that all the women volunteers had puffin earrings, we were hopeful of actually seeing some. We were not disappointed, there were more sea birds than you can actually shake a bit of seaweed at. We had seen them earlier from the cliff side, but now we could see loads of puffins bobbing along on the water.

Maisie with 'winnings'

The winning bit

In NZ you don't really have the traditional sea side gambling opportunities that amusement arcades offer. Not wanting Maisie to miss out on an important part of her upbringing - beginner gambling, we ventured into an arcade on Bridlington's seafront. After converting a pound coin into 2 pence pieces (it's used to be a penny in my day - 100% inflation) we were all set to fritter it away.

We were delighted when Maisie won a lovely dolphin keyring. Who said gambolling doesn't pay.

The home improvements bit

We have a new kitchen, it's vey exciting and a million times better than the old one.

r.i.p. Weka (on the right) 

The sad bit

We were all fairly traumatised by the loss of our lovely little Weka cat. He was unfortunate enough to be hit by a car. Such a lovely cat, adored by the whole family he was even great mates with the dog. He was a regular on walks with the dog and would dash in between his legs and taunt him a little on the way.

He would always find a patch of light or a warm spot to sleep. He had a bath tap water habit and would explore any box bag surface he could find.

The unavoidable olympics bit

After various people had finished jogging round the countryside with a torch, it came time for the Olympics. However, Leanne had secured tickets for a footballing event which took place before the opening as there are so many fixtures to get in. We went to see New Zealand verses Belarus at Coventry City f.c. 

It was a great atmosphere, chatty security guards, entertaining crowd warm up by throwing giant balls into the crowd which we were expected to have a game of keep up with (Maisie's favourite bit!) and exhilarating football. Several 'Great British' waves and a pie. 

I lied about the free gift.

Can anyone smell burning?

Torch tôrCH:  

1. A portable light produced by the flame of a stick of resinous wood or of a flammable material wound about the end of a stick of wood; a flambeau. 

2. A gold coloured piece of metal, fashioned into what looks like a boy racer exhaust pipe, which, when lit, can bring cities to a stand still and inspire flag waving from all parts of the community. 

Yes, I have seen the light. Yes, I waved a flag. Yes, it was exciting. I even high fived a police officer on a motor bike, yes at my age. I could have done without the commercialisation of the whole thing with a giant coke sponsored truck at the beginning of the torch party (i didnt get any fizzy pop) and the mobile phone truck, no not giving out phones but flags ( I got one of those). But the atmosphere on an (unusually) sunny Monday night, stood by the side of the road, waiting for some one in a white track suite to run past with a torch was well worth staying at work for an extra hour and wandering out the door.  The bonus of being outside the university was the available WiFi, me and my work mate could live stream the torch cam, so sunshine, crowd banter, expectation and geeky ness. Cool.

Handy print out and keep guide to how not to camp

1. If the weather looks like this on the way, those clouds are not going to blow over, TURN BACK NOW.

2. DO NOT take a dog to oversee proceedings with a disdainful, long face.

3. ALWAYS be familiar with your tent i.e. don't buy it months earlier, leave it in the bag and expect to be able to assemble it quickly whilst rainclouds are threatening. Otherwise you will need to consult the instructions again, again and ...again.

4. DO NOT allow the dog to think it was all for his benefit.

5. DO NOT allow the dog to help cook the evening meal.

6. If your destination looks like this, ask if there is an available caravan for hire. If your pitch site looks like this after you have packed up, please go to the doctors as you may have trench foot.

PRINT OUT THIS HANDY GUIDE AND KEEP IT WITH YOUR TENT

Scared crows?

It the time of year where Derbyshire goes a little crazy. If it isn't pulling petals off flowers and sticking them in clay to make well dressings; gathering up bits and bobs from the bottom of kitchen cupboards, presenting them on a table and calling it a jumble sale or antique fair; it's fashioning old shirts and trousers into scarecrows and displaying them on your front lawn for passers by to admire.

Leanne was driving round with my father, and they spotted a couple of scarecrows in the north of the county. I was amused when I heard that the one with crazy hair, pink cheeks  and bright red lips started moving and was, in fact , one of the locals.

We decided to be a little subversive and make a scary, slightly demented-looking bunting-stealing corgi - like you do. I have fond memories of the 1977 jubilee celebrations, I still have the mug somewhere. So it was with a bit of guilty pleasure, that I decided to join in with the bunting-displaying monarch-loving royalist neighbours. There are queens that I do love, have loved, but that's another story.

Armed with an empty Budweiser box and a roll of brown packing tape, Maisie and I managed to fashion a dogish looking thing. It needed work but the basic shape was there. With a carefully carved bit of polystyrene we made the head. When I say carefully, I mean haphazardly hacked with a kitchen knife. 

After more sticky tape, an extension to the body, a few coats of paint and newspaper, lots of glue, more paint, a few bits of fabric...TA DA! A beautiful corgiesque creation to grace our lawn. We made some bunting and positioned it in pride of place in the front garden.

Subsequently, we have been enjoying looking at peoples’ amusement when they spot our corgi (her name is now Queenie, according to Maisie). Some passers-by have taken photos and everything. We have also enjoyed looking round the village for other scarecrows. The Queen is a popular choice, but we seem to have made the only dog. 

Our subversive dog creation paid off. We won 'most original' in the Sacrecrow Competition - a £10 voucher for the local garden centre! Yay! I'm expecting a commission for a sculpture from Chatsworth any day now.

Woof!