Curly's Capers

On  Wednesday 23rd May 2012, the Olympic Torch arrived in Cheltenham Promenade at about 18:40. The security troops lined the road, as the crowd waited patiently for signs of the runners. They were preceded by the sponsors: Samsung Comms, ( who provided no info regarding where the flame was,)  Coca Cola ( who gave no drinks,  vouchers; but just partied by) and Lloyds TSB ( who threw no money{a tad unlikely}, but drove by in an austere looking truck; a clear sign of recession perhaps.) Then, if you please walking by, came the  torch bearer and athletes. So the moment passed and we dutifully headed for the pub for a drink to wash the heat of the day away. -********************************                                          C onsuming our passions and imagination               ...

Well there we are:  The Boys ' did good. '  Last Saturday (12/5 )  the Robins beat Torquay 2 - 0 at Cheltenham and then in the second leg away   (17 /5 )  also won 2- 1; thus winning the tie 4 - 1 on aggregate.  Their prize another Wembley appearance, this time  against Crewe  on Sunday 27th May. The winning team to be promoted to League 1. A great end to a great season.  COYR &&&&&&& Tricky chap coincidence; you never know  the way things fit together; from unlikely circumstances. So it was that last weekend, after checking my diary for the week ahead; which normally makes a blank page look interesting; I discovered that I had some appointments to attend to, leaving  Wednesday as my free day. I decided to use the day to travel to travel to Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust; not having visited there for a couple of years. It was then that I discovered  Wednesday (16/5) m...

Many moons ago, I remember looking at my Late Father-in-Law's copies of the 'Reader's Digest' magazine. Inside each issue was a section entitled " Word Power." The idea was to guess from four possibilities the correct definition of a word given. In this way, so it was said, you would build up your vocabulary usage. However, I don't think they had this degree of difficulty: "Neither agomphious not arctoid , neither creodont nor czigany , Howard Bly knew himself a lonely, imperfect being ever scrambling to imitate the manners and habits of those he loved and admired, not to mention worshipped, as was the case with Spencer Mallon." P.53 From "A Dark Matter, " by Peter Straub ( 2010 ). In this story which I am presently reading, the character Howard 'Hootie' Bly has a photographic memory and can remember every word and definition from an unusual dictionary source. To confound his friends, he tends to utter them in ordinary...

This picture probably tells us all we want to know about last week. Yesterday (4/5 ) D. and I went down to the nearby Wetlands at Coombe Hill to see the state of the water. This is what we saw. As you can see the canal had flooded across the pathways and  the bottom right picture was taken at the water's edge on the starboard side. The nearby fields were also full of water. As you can see there was no walk to be had, so D.and I made our way back up the  lane to the main road and caught the bus to Tewkesbury. Glad to report no immediate flooding worries, given normal rain-fall, although the Ham, Tewkesbury's  council owned meadow of 177 acres lying  on the flood- plain,was under water and yielded these shots of the nearby Abbey. But enough of all this water; let's cheer ourselves up with this remarkable  goal  scored by P. Cisse for Newcastle against Chelsea earlier last week. Goal! Ho'way The Lads! ...

D. and I were on our way to the Gloucestershire Way , only to find  a notice informing us that the Tewkesbury to Stow Road was closed near Ford. We changed plans and made our  way  in the direction of Winchcombe and decided to stop at Hailes Abbey. This was once a Cistercian Abbey, founded in 1246 by Richard of Cornwall and dissolved by King Henry V111 on Christmas Eve 1539. Although never housing a large number of monks, there were many workers, mostly to look after the 4000+ sheep on the land. The pictures above show the Dining  Room and how it looked then. Amazingly for such a large room, only 20 monks at any time dined in there, silently contemplating their food whilst listening to the scriptures read by a monk  from a balcony ( top left of 2nd picture.) The Shop/ Museum had some interesting artifacts and two life sized figures one dressed in the white cowl as a monk and the other in a brown cowl as a worker. Outside I was fascinated...

The above picture shows the front entrance of Hanbury Hall built in 1701 and surrounded by 20 acres of  recreated gardens and then by a further 400 acres of parkland. The estate is situated in the village of Hanbury, near Droitwich in Worcestershire and of course since 1953 in the capable hands of The National Trust. Hanbury Hall  D. and I visited here last Saturday (21/04 ) and first took a guided tour around the ground floor of the house. Apart from the impressive staircase 'Hercules ' paintings, ( recently restored at a cost of eighty thousand pounds) and the usual family portraits, I was taken by the table in the dining room, pictured here. I admired the plates and asked about them. Apparently  they were only made and introduced about three years ago and they tell the story of how Emily inherited the property in 1771. The plate below shows the elopement of the above mentioned lady with the local Curate; causing quite a scandal all those years ago in 1...