Off to the Tower

DaddyHen and I had been meaning to go and see the poppies (Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red) at the tower for a few months – we finally made it today.  A dull and overcast day – with the threat of rain at any moment but somehow we managed to stay dry.

Beautiful sea of red in the moat, it goes on and on 

 

cascades down the walls and over the walk ways;

 

a really poignant display. 

 

The poppies are lovely – we bought one in memory of DaddyHens GreatGrand Father Alfred Dewberry 

I’d not been to visit the tower since 1977 and DaddyHen since early 1970s and at £22 each for an adult I don’t think we’ll be going again anytime soon. I have to say that there were plenty of people who had paid.

The ancient and modern

 

 How did you spend your Saturday?

MummyHen X

 

Birthday Treat part 2

Yesterday was second part of DaddyHens birthday treat – a walk over the O2 or should that be the Greenwich Arena as we are still in Olympic mode. Anyway it’s the O2 to me. http://www.theo2.co.uk/upattheo2

There are some criteria which need to be met

1.    10 years or older – Check – with a few years grace

2.    A minimum height of 1.2 m – check by ¾of a metre

3.    A weight of less than 130kg/21 stone/286lbs which is the maximum weight our harnesses can bear. – check – a few stone to spare

4.    Able to wear a harness which has a maximum width waist of [125cm] and a maximum upper thigh width of [75cm] which are the maximum measurements of our harnesses. – check although having well developed thighs I did have to get the tape measure out!!

We booked in, completed the necessary H&S forms. Watched the safety video (cheesey to say the least), donned the blue nylon boiler suits (nylon in this heat not a good combo) and the harness. Long hair had to be tied back, bags etc placed in lockers – only small camera that can fit in small pocket on can be taken up or phones. No bags or large SRL cameras allowed.

BIL#1 had climbed the day before and had given us some tips on what to wear; sturdy trainers or walking boots, thin t-shirt and shorts or leggings, as the boiler suits are very hot.

Jeremy our guide attached us to the safety cable and showed us how to get past the wire joiners (I can’t remember their official name) and we were off.

The start is VERY steephill going up was really hard work – gee whiz it was very very steep; pulling with one hand on the wire rope and swishing along the metal attachment thingy (I can’t remember its name); it’s hard work.  On our trip there were about 12 people most where young, I’d say in their 30s however, there was an older women who was probably in her 60s who did very well.  It hard work pulling yourself up the steep start and remembering to swish along the metal thingy, if you don’t compress the metal thingy it clamps on to the wire and you come to halt.

Its flattens off a little after the initial walk up the side and it’s a little like walking on a trampoline its very springy and there’s an urge to bounce; which Is not allowed!!

I’m not good with heights but I was concentrating so much on the metal thingy and hauling my body up the hill that I didn’t even notice the height.

The platform at the top has wonderful views; Jeremy unclipped us so we could walk around freely and take photos.  The views are spectacular -   around the perimeter are skyline information panels.

The view from the platform was stunning, canary wharf with the shard peeping through

The helter-skelter (ArcelorMittal Orbit), the Olympic stadium just about visible and the Aquatics centre

Royal Naval College and Greenwich

Down the Thames to the east; Thames barrier, Woolwich, North Greenwich pier and Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud, you may ask it’s the monstrosity to the right of the pier, if you squint you can see an figure of a man in the centre.  Squint harder he is in the middle.

Excel centre, DLR red train, cable car

St Marks Victoria dock – a significant church for DaddyHens family; paternal Great Grandfather is named on the WW1 Memorial, MILs marriage, DaddyHens christening – sadly it’s not a church any longer but a music hall – but at least it’s still being used.

London’s only lighthouse – Trinity Buoy Wharf.  The pier on the foreground is part of London's longest pier

  

Sky kiss

MummyHen X

Tall Ships on the Thames

During the Olympics there were Tall ships on the Thames doing trips from Woolwich Pier to Deptford Creek.

Given that the summer weather has been typically British it was a bit of a gamble when we booked.  It would be awful if it was windy and raining – ahhh. 

It turned out to be a blistering hot day – factor 50 was liberally applied.  Parking in Woolwich can be a little difficult so I booked a parking space, however the directions on the website took you to the wrong place, so DaddyHen and MIL went to book in whilst I drove around the oneway system to get to the car park – a little concerned given that the ship would depart at 13:00. Managed to get parked and all was well.  We boarded the Wylde Swan, built in Hull in 1920, to be used in the Herring fleet, and then used by the Germans as a torpedo carrier during WW2, now a nine sail tall ship taking part in Tall Ship races.  I would love to participate in a tall ship race but I am a dreadful sailor (I spend most of my time very unwell and green round the gills) full history and details of events http://wyldeswan.com/index.html

DaddyHen & MIL know Woolwich well; MIL was born and bred in North Woolwich, her paternal family moved there from East Malling at end of 19^th Century.  DaddyHen spent the first three years of his life in North Woolwich before moving to saarf of the river.  So a trip to see this part of London from the river is always interesting. MIL was surprised to see that so much had changed, the factories that her ancestors had worked in all gone,bar one (Tate & Lyle).  She did however, like some of the flats that had been built although probably way out of our price range.

Going through the Thames Barrier

Greenwich from the river is always a lovely site the view up through the Naval College to Queens House is such spectacular vista.

The island where DaddyHen used to play as a child – not too sure how he got here; probably shouldn’t ask!!

The cable car and the Dome

Canary Wharf

Posh swanky apartments

Military landing craft – there were a few police and naval ribs and boats messing about on the river.  This landing craft whooshed past – I took a few snaps.  When I was reviewing them for the blog I looked more closely at the two people on the bow (technical term?!?) wearing white shirts. These two figures are Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

Woolwich Ferry

Tate & Lyle – Grandad Jim (MILs father) worked here for over 30yrs; in addition to various other ancestors. 

A lovely couple of hours – shame these trips are only available during the Olympics; I hope they have been a success and they return next year for the summer.

MummyHen X

Hot Thursday

The sun is shining and its hot the outdoor thermometer is showing 32.6 and its only 10am.

Bread turn out OK but not that cheesy even with a load of strong cheddar; it loaf didn’t last long so it must have been yummy. I don’t really do bread, well I eat it every now and then but I then suffer from the most awful stomach pains – will I ever learn!?!?

The hens are all back to normal now which is great but still a few days more to get the egg production back on track.

The weekend didn’t have any plans but we had a lovely day on Saturday – we went to Battle (no we didn’t fight) 1066 Alfred arrow in the eye.. It was lovely – really pretty high street bunting over the road, pretty shop window displays, flowers (forgot the camera so no pictures). I did have an ulterior motive – DaddyHen was going to treat me to an ice cream maker attachment for my KA and it was the only place that had one that we would collect and it would be a nice day out.

Onward then to Maynards Farm – to PYO; time was short so we cheated and purchased raspberries, loganberries, plums, blackberries and cherries from the shop– all so much cheaper than the supermarket and I do like to support the local economy/smaller businesses and not the big corporate enterprises.

Had lunch in a lovely pub The Oak & Ivy in Hawkhurst - They do excellent food and great beer which Daddyhen loves. Whenever we’re in the area we always pop in for a drink. It has a great history of smugglers and gangs from bygone times.

Sunday was spent in the kitchen making ice cream vanilla, cherry & chocolate; I looked at a heap of recipes and decided to use my own; a basic custard recipe and then added the fruit or chocolate. Lovely ice cream really smooth but the cherry didn't taste much of cherries - umm don't want to go down the route of artificial flavours so Hen family will just have to put up with the natural flavours. The chocolate was seriously chocolaty; only a very small portion could be managed. We had the vanilla with plum tarte tatin I used this recipe and it was delicious, for lunch on Sunday. I froze the rest of the fruit - lined baking tray and placed each berry individually on the sheet so that they don’t touch, freeze for 24hrs and then put in bags or plastic boxes.

I have crochet squares to send to FosterMummy for the Bloggers Blanket – Can you send me your address so I can send them off.

Off on a tall ship tomorrow – the weather is going to hot

Well it was 10am when I started to write this but a few interruptions later is now after 1.30.

DaddyHen just brought me fish finger salad for lunch - yum 

MummyHen X

It’s hot and Greenwich was hot

The weather forecast was due to be a lovely hot summer’s day (at long last) so we decided to take a trip to Greenwich.  The Cutty Sark has been restored, the navel college grounds are now open to the general public, and there are some lovely pubs and restaurants.

Parking is limited so a bus trip was in order – 40 mins later in the heart of this wonderful historic town. It was busy, the Olympic equestrian events are taking place in Greenwich park so there was a lot a activity over in the park, temporary buildings, stands for spectators, bridges over the road.

There was concert going on in the naval college grounds, families with picnic, blankets on the ground, children playing while the music was playing, the sun beating down, shorts, t-shirts, little dresses and wonderful blue sky.

The £12 we paid each to visit the Cutty Sark, was in my view good value, the restoration was fab – the smell of teak wood was just heavenly. 

The hull of the ship is clad in copper which is so bling - apparently it makes the ship go faster.

Lower deck - being 5'11" in stocking feet - I had to mind my head - those iron girders were so low.  But the smell of the wood was divine.  I didn't realise that the Cutty Sark did more runs from Australia with wool than from China with tea - very informative exhibition in the lower deck.

The tangle of the rigging was beautiful against the blue sky even if it did look like ordered mess.

DaddyHen visited when he was very little (umm some 40+ years ago) and remembered the figurehead collection.

The view on from the top deck - over to HMS Ocean, The Shard in the background.

A very informative 2 hours was spent going over the Cutty Sark - an enjoyable day.

MummyHen X

Here comes the torch

For some reason I regressed to being about 8yrs old waiting for father Christmas – I was so excited about the prospect of seeing the torch. Not really sure why I don’t have tickets to any of the events but I just had to see the torch.

The torch was going through Eltham at about 8:30am this morning – a short drive, lots of side roads for parking – right we were off. 

And the SUN shone – (Here in the UK it’s been raining since beginning of April) so to have blue sky and sun was wonderful.

The convoy began with a few police outriders – the security was low key, watchful and alert but allowing the spectators to get a good view without being overbearing - followed by the Olympic cars, the bus carrying the torchbearers and floats from Olympic sponsors.

Then the torch carried by June O’Regan - nominated by one of her grandchildren read about it here

 And to our surprise a ‘kiss’ would take place just yards from where we stood

It was really lovely, lots of excited children (and me), flags waving, bunting, the houses that lined the route were bedecked in red, white and blue

And then it was gone – onwards towards Woolwich

MummyHen X