Gallery update
At some point, I’m going to update the gallery software I use on here, as it seems to be getting spammed pretty badly at the minute, therefore I’m going to do a backup of the site shortly. Expect downtime while it goes ahead.
Archive for October, 2007
Why didn’t anyone tell me?
Top Gear started a new series two weeks ago, and I didn’t find out until today! BAH!
The staff day night out II…
…the revenge of the Kroenenburg.
So, yesterday was indeed the last day of a very depressing three days at work, made even worse by the fact I missed the chance to see Underworld with Andy M. Sigh.
Three days, another kebab wrap, another curry from Silver Star, two large and agressive wasps, one chair kicked around the office, and another 36 hours of getting to grips with the new logging system, (which in my not-so-humle-opinion shouldn’t have been changed in the first place), it was time to decide what to do for the morning. MS was in with me, as he was the previous time, GW finished at 4AM, after covering for CS, after he rang in sick for two of the three days, so me and MS went to the pub.
We got dropped off at York Road, at approximately 8:50. It’s a short walk from the ramp to our early morning boozery, but it gave us chance to top up our wallets. One of the jewellers on the road had been cordoned off using police tape, with a bobby standing guard. The shutters had been forced open and there was broken glass underneath. I don’t know if they’d successfully broken in or not, as there was nothing in tonight’s paper about it.
Onto the pub. We were, once again, one of the first in there, so we grabbed the comfy seats, and talked about all manner of stuff. Linda F joined us a little later, by this point I was feeling the effects of the alkyhol. I’d not eaten anything since the chinese some 11 hours before, so I was a bit worse for wear. I found out that Linda went to the same school as me. She didn’t know that Mr Gray had died.
At about 12PM, I decided to call it a day. I headed off home, hoping to be out a little later. MS wanted to watch the football and rugby, which was on at 3:45 and 8PM.
I headed off home, and, you won’t believe this, I had my camera with me. I’d taken it to work in order to wear the batteries down so they can be recharged fully. I decided to do as I did pthe last time, and walk home. It wasn’t a bad day, pretty warm, overcast. I took a visit to the Dyke House area, which is on my way home, to see the continuing destruction of aincient council houses.
At the centre of the demolition is the Chester Road chippy. I’ll be sad to see this go. I’ve stopped off there a few times, and had a lovely bag of chips, though, admittedly, it was a few years since I was in there.
Most of the terraced streets have gone, flattened only a few weeks ago, though there still stands a few properties, such as the one above.
After that, I returned home, but not before purchasing some Worcester Sauce flavour Fench Fries, and eventually went to bed.
I didn’t make it out to see the football or the rugby, but apparently, we won both. Wooo.
The Lakes!
Well, as I mentioned in the previous short post, Sunday was indeed the day I was off to the lakes With Coatesy and his son, Daniel. It was great, though it wasn’t without worrying car problems, which I’ll explain in great detail later.
The day started at 5PM the previous day, and after enduring 12 hours of work, I finished at 8AM, and Coatesy was picking me up at 9 which means that by the time we were due to set off, I’d already been awake 15 hours (if my sums are correct).
The weather seemed OK. A little overcast, though the sun was still breaking through occasionally. He arrived, and we set off on the journey. Traditionally, our first stop is the Wynyard Services, in order to get stocked up on crisps, Ginsters savoury products, and bottled water. Well, that’s what I got anyway.
On the way there, we passed a surprising amount of old army vehicles and “classic” cars. I have no idea where they were going, or what they were going for, but it seemed a bit odd to see so many in a line, off for a Sunday drive.
Eventually, we left the A1 at Scotch Corner, and headed along the A66. Part of it has very recently been made into a dual carriageway, and as we headed parralel to a beatiful valley, his ipod chose “The Way it is” as the next tune to play. I didn’t even know he had it on there. It was one of those moments I’ll probably always remember. Both of us, singing along at full volume to this tune, almost 10 years after we first did it, walking through the pot-holed carpark of the rugby club on Brierton lane, which is now a housing estate. This particular track being played, on the journey to the lakes is also a bit spooky for a reson I’ll explain later.
The first stop, for no more than 5 minutes was Penrith. The only reason we stopped is so the Sat nav could be reprogrammed with a sensible route to the Lake District. And, seeing that Penrith is no more than a few miles outside of the District of Lakes, it didn’t need much programming. Ultimately, our destination was Ambleside. Coatesy had heard from a friend that this was the busiest place, with the most to do, so we couldn’t go wrong.
Within minutes, we were surrounded by mountains and water. It didn’t take long for me to break out the camera.
It’s a shame the weather was just a little bit dull. I only took two photos at this location, electing to use my camcorder for the first time since Berlin.
the next step was in a car park. No ordinary carpark, but a carpark where you had to pay. Yeah, righto. Like that was going to happen. Instead, Coatesy stayed in the car while I jumped out of the car…
With my photo thirst quenched, we continued along the road. It became clear to me I was near the same spot where so many childhood photos had been taken…
You see, one of the villages on the shore of Ullswater is a village called Glenridding. I didn’t know it until yesterday, but that’s where these photos were taken. That particular photo wasn’t taken yesterday, however.
Off we went, taking the Kirkstone Pass, which cuts through huge, bleak hills. I suddenly remembered where I was, and remembered there was a pub at the top of it. Indeed, I was right.
Kirkstone Pass seemed very popular this particular day. there was some type of road race going ahead, there were many fluorescent yellow signs ahead warning us of runners. There was also some type of radio relay stations up there too, featuring two middle aged blokes, with radios and very long antennae doing “something”. We reached the top of Kirkstone Pass, and all of a sudden, it began to clear up, as if the clouds didn’t want to go past this particular landmark.
While I was admiring the view, Coatesy let out an expletive. We’d taken a wrong turning. It wasn’t easy to do a U turn either. Eventually, we managed to do it, and unfortunately, the road we were meant to go down was named “The Struggle”. That was a little more disheartening than we expected. This half-mile stretch of tight, downhill road was to set the precidence for the rest of the day.
Half way down the road, he began to smell something. Whatever it was, it didn’t smell good. It wasn’t until we got to the bottom of “The Struggle” that we noticed that the plumes of smoke sprouting from the front wheels. Coatesy let out another string of expletives, and with good reason. We were the other side of the country, and with a potential disaster on our hands. My ahem… suggestion was “You haven’t left the handbrake on, have you?” Before you laugh, remember I work in tech support, it’s always best to check the obvious first.
He recalled, that when he bought the car, he’d been told of “problems” with the braking. The best thing was to retreat to a car park, and be quick about it, in case the brakes were jamming on. Luckily, there was one no more than a few yards from where we emerged, and eventually, we found a parking space.
Soooo, we were in Ambleside. The car was still smoking heavily, and the heat could be felt from quite a distance. Someone parked next to us, and gave the car a funny look, clearly feeling the heat and smelling the smoke.
Considering I was useless with cars, I had no idea what to do. Needless to say, I broke out the camcorder, and took this…
Well, OK, I actually took about seconds of video “just in case”. If things went tits up later on, I at least had something to *show* what was happening. At this point, we both broke out our mobiles to the people who we thought knew the most about cars, or at least would have the number for the AA or whoever.
I rang Daddykins first. No answer. He must have been on his way to the lodge. Grrrr. However, I had an ace up my sleeve. There was JTh, from work, who knows everything there is about cars. I felt a bit of a bastard ringing him, but it had to be done.
He answered the phone, slightly surprised to be speaking to me outside of work, but I explained the situation, and although he didn’t have them to hand, he was happy to get them for me and ring me back. During that time, Daddykins returned my call. he didn’t have any numbers, but explained he was in the car, and would be happy to help if the worst came to the worst.
During this call, JTh rang back, with the numbers for the AA, Green Flag, and the RAC. Coatesy wasn’t a member of any of them, but if the worst came to the worst, they were there. How lucky of me to *always* carry a pen and paper if I go anywhere. Coatesy went to buy a parking ticket. By this time, there was nothing more we could do. We were parked up, and although we were unsure what was going to happen, it was fate that would guide us home. Therefore, while he bought the ticket, I photographed a nearby footy game.
Off we went into the Ambleside Town Centre, walking. Unfortunately, as we parked up on the outskirts of said town, and the fact that Coatesy only had enough change on him to buy a 2hr ticket, this left our options limited.
As we walked into the town centre, I suddenly had a flashback of something that happened 14 years ago - the last time I visited the Late District. You see, I was 13. I was in love with a song I now knew as being “The Way It is” by Bruce Hornsby And the Range. I entered a record shop in what I now believe to be Ambleside. I flicked through the cassettes (oh, how times change), and stopped, after finding “The Way It Is”. At that age, I didn’t carry money, so I asked whoever it was at the time, possibly my nanna, dad and my Aunt and Uncle if they could get it for me. Their response was wholly negative, claiming that none of them could afford it.
I was utterly devastated. This was the first time I’d ever seen this song for sale, and at the time I’d been after it for half of my life. To be turned down from owning it when it was so near to me was something that will ever be a break in my heart. I eventually purchased it with my Aunt Rose only a few months after this, on December 6th 1993, but it was this missed oppotunity that will always remain with me. and, that is why the playing of “The Way it Is” was so poignant.
ANYWAY. Now that I’d explained that, it’s back to what I can’t explain.
I took one look at this initially, and thought “Oh, it’s a lettuce, on a Pay here Sign”, and turned away. But then as I often do, I did a double take, and attemped to work out how that particular lettuce ended up rotting on top of that particular sign. By the time I’d removed my camera from my pocket, and shot the most random of scenes, I thought it was the funniest thing I’d seen all day. I couldn’t help it, despite the fact I’d done all of this in the full view of an elderly gentlemen who was clearly in disapproval of my choice of photo material. I nod at him politely, as if to say “Do your worst”. He glares for a little bit longer before shaking his head and walking off.
See, I was more interested in who would physically take a lettuce to a carpark, then mount it on top of a random sign. I don’t consider that vandalism, I consider it brilliance.
We spent a bit of time in Ambleside, I of course, took more images. This one is probably my favourite…
We headed back to the car, and stopped off at a Greggs, in order to buy Daniel a sausage roll or two. Whats’ strange, is that even in the Lake District, the Greggs’s are different. Their stock of savoury products is somewhat smaller. No corned beef pasties, for one thing. I don’t know whether if it’s just because they have a reduced range on a Sunday, or whether it’s too upper-class for Corned Beef. I guess I’ll never find out.
We arrive back at the car park, and Coatesy nips to the loo. I walk with Daniel back to the car. I examine the car, and am happy to find that the wheels haven’t melted into the ground. Coatesy reappears, and we make contingency plans for the rest of the day. We were to leave Ambleside behind, and head off to the town that Lake Windermere is named after… um, that would be Winderemere, then.
We bid a fond farewell to the big chair on top of the Hayes Garden Centre…
… and headed off into Windermere itself. I spent most of the journey with my head out of the window, just in case I could smell the metallic tang of burning brake disks. There were a few false alarms, but they turned out to be the sausage rolls from Greggs. I’ve had years of practise smelling those, so I know what they smell like. Did you know, the closest sense to your memory is your smell, which is why you’re less likely to forget a particular smell.
Either way, I didn’t notice the smell of cooking brake disks,and we made it to Windermere in one piece. It’s quite odd how many people were there, and how far we had to park away from everything, considering this was a cloudy Sunday afternoon in October.
Coatesy bought us all an ice cream, and, we sat around the side of the lake, while I whipped out the camera and photographed the residents
We then walked down to the main harbour, and decided to get on a tour boat. I asked some ignor-anus, who worked there, the time of the next trip. He decided to completely ignore me, and carry on walking into the ticket booth. Minutes later, as I purchased the tickets, I stared at him, with those “I want to injure your sternum” eyes. I’d been awake for 23 hours at this point, I clearly wasn’t taking ignorance lightly.
We left the jobsworth behind, and boarded the tour boat for our trip around the lake, which gave me the opportunity to once again, take lots of photos…
The bad weather was starting to set in by this time, and the views were beginning to disappear behind lowering clouds, so after the boat trip, we decided to head back to the car, and then home.
Of course, we still didn’t know whether the car’s brakes would be up to the challenge of the journey home, but luckily the weather was in our favour, as it began to “hoy down” (i.e. rain heavily), so even if they were sticking or overheating, they’d be cooled down pretty quickly.
By this time, I’d been awake for a full day, so as soon as we’d set off, I was asleep. He took the route back through Kirby Stephen, and I woke up just in time to see the cafe my old teacher runs, or at least, ran. I don’t know if she’s still there.
Soooo, that was our lakes trip. You can view all 226 photos here, and for those who would prefer a Youtube video, here’s one I made earlier…
Off to the lakes in 7 hours
Well, today, it’s time for the next installment in Jamie and Coatesy’s trips around the North. This time we’re off to the Lake District. Needless to say, I will be taking my camera.
I’ll post an update later.
