So, arguably London's premier tourist attraction, 1,000 years of history with a squint at the royal bling thrown in. In half-term, in the depths of winter. Actually... not bad. Would have been better if they hadn't let all the other people in.
As in, didn't pay for the tickets, gaining entrance via the corporate largesse of John Lewis (thanks KG!). Good thing too, at £60 for a family of four. Dragged my sister's clan along too. So, arguably London's premier tourist attraction, 1,000 years of history with a squint at the royal bling thrown in. In half-term, in the depths of winter. Actually... not bad. Would have been better if they hadn't let all the other people in. Should stick these up, before I never get round to it: Annual capture of festive stuff, Christmas at the FGDs. You can also view a (prettier) rendition of these pictures on Google+ and download full sized originals, for family members that might want them. Google's automagic creation of twinkling versions of the Christmas Tree light-containing images is a bit clever of it...
Al gave me a funny look when I described this as a 'solid 8/10 Christmas', but my demanding assessment criteria make that a very good Christmas indeed :-) It occurs to me that I never got round to posting anything about the creation of Al's Christmas present last year. Which is a bit remiss of me, because it was a fair bit of effort and resulted in a rather nice objet for our coffee table, for visitors to coo over Plus... it's accessible on the web, albeit via a not great interface. But hit the fullscreen icon in the bottom right-hand corner and it's pretty good. And ignore the stupid prices on it - I didn't pay anything like that much and I'm not trying to flog copies either... We did the Isle of Wight at the beginning of the summer. And those who know it well said, 'Ah, you're right... Blackgang Chine is jolly good. But Robin Hill is better'. So we did Robin Hill this week, for comparison like.
The weather was perfect, the park was empty... and those who know it well were dead right. So... this is the modern equivalent of inviting the neighbours round, serving Blue Nun, olives and little cheesy biscuits and gathering everyone around the slide-projector to peer gloomily at nasty 110mm transparencies. Except - hurrah! - in the modern world you can fail to turn up and NO-ONE WILL BE ANY THE WISER! Anyhow: Here are some things what we done on our holidays. Not all the things we done, just the things I bothered taking a proper camera to, as I am the family historian and capturer of pictures and a Smartphone doesn't cut it for said responsibility. Also, this is why I fail to appear in all but one of the pictures. A shame, as I am undoubtedly a handsome cove. This first lot are from the Arundel Wetland Centre, a regular haunt as we are paid-up, middle-class members of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. I love this place. If I was an Arundel Pensioner I'd take a book here every day and pop next door to the Black Rabbit for a couple of pints every lunchtime. This bunch are from a day trip to Blackgang Chine, on the Isle of Wight. £80 all in, including the ferry crossing from Portsmouth. Bargain, great fun, the girls have finally experienced their first rollercoaster. Also, disturbingly, developing a passion for firearms. Ho hum. And these are from a Hatty solo session on the waterwalkers at the Church Farm site: She couldn't do them last time, on account of her broken arm. So that'll teach her to be more careful in future...
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March 2020
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