Curly's Capers

It occurs to me that time can be a little like an accordion; it seems to compress itself bringing to mind fragments of conversations, together with sounds of music and 'pictures' of places. The older you grow; the greater the compression; making it difficult to sequence when these things  actually happened. Try thinking of a song from the past. Now try putting a date to  when it first  occurred. Check your guess and depending upon your age and whether your song has a time memory 'tag'; you're probably going to be wrong. The other day, armed with the knowledge that the wicket was damp, the atmosphere redolent  of imminent drizzle; and the north wind was starting to blow; being,  clearly, the first day of summer.  Into my mind came unbidden the song "Here Comes Summer"; the one that goes # Oh, let the sun shine bright on my happy summer home #. For the rest of that morning I tried in vain to remember who had originally recorded the song, to no ...

Looking back over my notes, I realized that I have neglected writing a few remarks about a short circular walk I completed, which started in the Gloucestershire village of Sapperton  in the vicinity of the parish Church of St. Kenelm. Taking the road, away from the church,  the footpath is reached on the right; being a narrow track, between houses, which leads down into a pleasing grassy valley. The white building you can see in the mid-distance is  the "Daneway" Public House, which provides a convenient half-way 'watering hole'. The walk continues down to the bottom of the valley and then enters  into woodland. The woodland track runs by the disused Thames and Severn Canal. Wild flowers  grow profusely on the ground and, of course the trees provide welcome shade for the walker. The track leads to a canal tunnel.   The Severn and Thames Canal Tunnel situated at Sapperton, was between 1789- 1811 the largest tunnel of any kind in England. It wa...

Visited Snowshill Manor,near Broadway today. I noticed near the Restaurant, an unusual replica wind toy, with back-up electric motor. Snowshill Manor houses the amazing collection of Mr. Charles Wade, with over 22,000 objects; including toys. Above is the original toy model, suspended from the ceiling in the attic of the Manor. The replica was built by volunteer Barry Silcock and took over seven years to construct. Although, it has been up for a season, it still has problems when the wind gets up, and conversely, when the wind dies, it needs a heavier  weight to start the electric motor up. It still looks mighty impressive though. As interesting as the Wade collection is;  I prefer the Manor Garden with  many arresting borders. Also because the Manor is positioned, near the top of the Cotswold escarpment, there is always the valley to look down upon. See also :  New Bits: Cotswold Coda 12/07/'10. Further information will be found at: ...

When I last visited Tyntesfield, the large Victorian House and Gardens in 2010, situated near the Bristol to Clevedon Road (B3130) ,   ( see Hitting the Heights 22/05/'10)  the roof was being restored and the building was festooned in scaffolding. Now a year on, the house's exterior  has been brought back to its original state. As you can it really is a magnificent property and testimony to the work of the National Trust. On my recent visit the House was closed, and I gather much needs still to be done, to bring some of the rooms back to a viewable state. There is a special problem with the  outside natural light, which causes damage to the material  and fabrics, if too much is allowed to intrude. As, in most things, it is a question of balance, to enable the public to see the interiors, yet not harm the rooms. In this respect, naturally photography with flash cannot be permitted. However, apart from the house, the grounds and formal gar...

Sea flowing bringing the pier pressure of: doughnuts, rings, fragments, pebbles, stones, and diamonds, which engage your attention in " The Lanes." Brighton, fishing for compliments; But; full of Eastern promise. Ck. 11/05/'11. P.S. Carlton Hall  did 'the business' for H.R. M. at York in the 'Dante' yesterday, coming through a narrow gap to win with plenty in hand. Now as low as 6/4 Fav. for the Derby on Saturday June 4th 2011. Royal Wedding/ Winner? 

It's been a good time for the Royals. The Wedding, showed that even "backs to the wall" Britain, when it came to ceremonies and State rituals was peerless in the execution of such events. The rain was not allowed to ' rain on their parade '; the snaps were taken; the media and crowd went home happy and within hours factories in south east Asia were ' knocking off ' copies of the Wedding Dress. The newly titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge de-camped to Anglesey, in Wales; thereby allowing Duke William to keep his eye on his father's kingdom. The aforementioned Prince of Wales, managed   to have a few words with the President, in Washington ensuring that his organic food products, "Duchy Originals" were reaching the White House and no doubt giving the President tips on the 'Greening of the U.S.'. With Electoral Reform, off the menu for another generation, the 'great and the good' went back to the shires, content with a jo...