Goodbye To An Old Friend

It's only a car but in the four and a half years that we owned the Toyota Prius we grew very attached to it as it was our main transport during the six months that we were living in Scotland and making regular visits to see the builders in Suffolk. In that six months we notched up almost twenty thousand miles and spent an awful lot of time in the car. We'll never forget driving away from Southport with the Prius loaded to the roof with everything we might need for six months of caravan living.

But since we bought a new car in June last year the Prius has been sitting on the drive for most of the time as it's nowhere near as comfy as the new car. We sometimes need to travel individually (even though its only short distances) so a second car is a necessity. We wanted something comfortable to use for most of our short journeys around Suffolk and regular visits to the family in Kent while saving the bigger vehicle for Scotland and longer trips. After plenty of research we came up with the Mercedes B200 sport. It was the Which Best Buy in its class and the Mercedes Dealership, Robinsons in Bury St Edmunds, were very helpful last year.

It arrived yesterday. It's not the best looking vehicle but it's beautifully equipped and very comfortable. The salesman went to great lengths to sell us the special stone chip insurance and, it's a good job he did as, driving back from the dealership, a lorry threw up something that hit the car.

So, with less than fifty miles on the clock, we were on the phone to the insurance company today making a claim - an insurance worth taking out!

I mentioned visits to Kent earlier. We went on Friday to help the family prepare for our granddaughter Catherine's birthday party. It was a stiflingly humid sunny day but in the evening a huge storm cloud suddenly blew in and within a few minutes we went from dusk to pitch black. Paul filmed a few seconds on his phone.

Sudden blackness (the green is a pedestrian crossing).

An enormous lightning flash.

And back to blackness with another lightning bolt in the top corner.

We've witnessed some of the wildest storms we've ever seen in the UK over the last few days - they really have been spectacular.

A Big Thank You To The Crown Framlingham

I'm a bit late in posting this (needed time to recover from the hangover) but Marion and I wanted to thank The Crown for giving us a memorable evening on our wedding anniversary last Thursday. 

We booked a table for dinner and chef Matt Ransome provided a fabulous meal. It was one of the glorious evenings that we've been enjoying lately and we were able to sip a few glasses of fizz outside the hotel in the sunshine before going inside to eat. Service from Emma was, as always, extremely friendly and attentive. She was accompanied by an equally friendly and helpful young man.

We enjoyed a couple of delicious amuse-bouches before this delightful light starter of wafer thin cucumber filled with Cromer crab. I know that people taking photos of their dinners are a pain but this was so nice to look at that I asked if they would mind me taking it.

  
I had this substantial duck breast served with lovely gnocchi as a main and Marion enjoyed an excellent salmon course. We accompanied these with a nicely chilled bottle of good French white and rounded the meal off with a great cheese board and some light sorbets.

It's wonderful to have such fine cooking and good service within easy walking distance of home. We've watched The Crown go from strength to strength since David and India took over the place and Matt Ransome is a very adventurous chef who clearly takes great pride in developing new and interesting dishes. Although there are many fine dining establishments in Suffolk I see little point in driving to them when this excellent venue is right on our doorstep.

Thank you.

If You Build It They Will Come

When I first heard about Little Lightning's plan to create an art house cinema in a local barn here in Framlingham I was delighted and said so on this blog. Last night, after a couple of months of anticipation, the big night finally arrived and a sell out audience headed to Little Lodge farm for the opening. 

It was a warm and sultry evening so we chose to walk and took a bucolic stroll around the castle moat and the mere before heading across the quintessentially English cricket ground. We arrived to be met by the charming hostess Georgie and assistants serving welcome glasses of chilled prosecco. 

The barn is still in the course of restoration and we had been warned in advance that temperatures might drop inside the building. There was little chance of that with early evening temperatures still in the twenties as we took our seats in the barn which has been comfortably furnished with a mix of old sofas and chairs. A chilled glass of white wine from the well stocked and inexpensive bar behind the screen was welcome as we settled down to watch the wonderful 1988 Italian classic Cinema Paradiso. 

I am sure that we were not alone in having seen the film before but it was an inspired choice of opening movie being, as it is, a love letter to cinema. You can't fail to be charmed by the scene stealing performance of little Salvatore Cascio who plays Toto the child who befriends projectionist Alfredo and begins a lifelong love affair with the silver screen. 

This was the Director's Cut - a longer version containing new scenes - so there was an interval in which, continuing the Italian theme, we were served a very tasty spaghetti dish and an equally delicious tiramisu.    

As the evening progressed the sounds of thunder echoed around the cinema as one of the enormous storms that have been rolling around the South East and East Anglia over the last few days found its way to Framlingham. As the barn is not fully renovated yet, each lightning flash briefly lit the cracks between the roof tiles and, with perfect timing, one of them accompanied an explosion on screen.

We hoped that the storm would pass before we needed to head home but there was no let up to the torrential rain so we walked back down the pitch black and flooding road in a state of some nervousness. We were kindly offered a lift by the organisers but we were so wet that we declined for fear of soaking their car. Our way was, fortunately, lit by a torch lent to us by friends - without it we would have had to rely upon the lightning to help us find our way back.

It was an excellent evening; a great film choice, lovely food, excellent comfortable venue, tremendous value and good company. We're really looking forward to the next one The Thomas Crown Affair on Saturday 16th August - let's just hope that next time it's Little Lightning only in name.

An Anniversary Dig

It's our 38th wedding anniversary today so, naturally, I went out with the metal detector and Marion went to have her hair done. But that doesn't mean we aren't celebrating. Last night we went to Jimmy's Farm for a meal and the fabulous Shakespeare performance that I reviewed on yesterday's blog.

The weather was glorious as forecast and I enjoyed a refreshing bottle of this. I haven't seen dandelion and burdock for years. It was a real favourite when I was a kid.

Marion looked as lovely as ever 38 years on from our big day. We're continuing our celebration tonight with a visit to The Crown here in Framlingham.

As for the detecting?

Here's what I turned out of the bag when I got home after four hours in the fields.

After getting rid of the rubbish I was left with this. It may not look a lot to those who are not into the hobby but there were some really nice and interesting finds.

This tiny medieval coin has a perfect portrait of the king (possibly Edward iv) but somebody has carefully clipped off all of the legend from the edges leaving a full identification well nigh impossible. Clipping coins was rife in medieval days but was a risky activity as penalties could be severe if you were caught.

Here's the other side of the coin.

Another medieval penny turned up. Sadly this one is not as clear but I think that it is probably Edward I.

This buckle could date anywhere between 1300 and 1600 but it's unusual to find one with its pin complete.

This is a small piece of horse harness decoration which I think dates to around 1600.

This weight is a real puzzle as I've been through 3500 photos of lead weights on the PAS database and not found another like it. My best guess is that it is post medieval but I will leave it to the archaeologists.

The thimble is certainly post medieval and probably falls into the modern period.

This stud was probably used as a harness decoration. There are some traces of silvering remaining. I think that it's from the medieval period.

Finally there is this strap fitting which again could date from medieval to post medieval times. In view of the coins and other finds it may well be at the earlier end of that scale.

So all in all a productive few hours. I've just taken delivery of a new (slightly larger) coil for the machine and look forward to trying it out soon. We're off to Bury St Edmunds on Monday to pick up Marion's new car so I'll drop the finds off with the archaeologist to get them recorded and make sure that my identifications are right

Red Rose Chain's Comedy Of Errors Does Exactly What It Says On The Tin

We don’t tend to do too much on impulse but I saw a tweet praising Red Rose Chain’s Theatre in The Forest the other day and went straight online, checked the weather forecast and booked tickets for Shakespeare’s The Comedy Of Errors. And less than forty-eight hours later we were at Jimmy’s Farm just outside Ipswich enjoying a lovely pre-theatre dinner before heading into the woods for the al fresco play.

What a delight it was to see Shakespeare staged in such an authentic way. With the action set in a Cuban bar and a musical score that included Rock The Boat, We Are Family and Latino dance numbers you may question that last statement but, with plenty of crowd interaction, cast members taking on more than one role, girls as men and men as girls this was Shakespeare as the Bard intended.

I’ve often been to a Shakespeare “comedy” and questioned the validity of that word but Red Rose Chain made The Comedy Of Errors exactly what it said on the tin. There was no questioning the comedy classification this time with the audience regularly in fits of laughter as the cast threw everything into the production presenting us with slapstick and farce as well as making Shakespeare’s jokes, for once, funny.

I won’t single out any of the cast, as all were outstanding. The words were delivered clearly and, despite an extremely convoluted plot about twins, it was extremely easy to understand and to enjoy everything that was going on.

We’ve seen scores of Shakespeare plays in the last fifty years. Many of these were at the RSC but I can honestly say that few equalled this performance for entertainment value. Five stars for a super evening. It’s on for a few weeks, book your tickets now.

Sizzling In St Andrews

We’ve been regular visitors to St Andrews ever since we first drove daughter Sarah up to start university here about fifteen years ago and “sizzling” is not a word that immediately springs to mind in association with this lovely place. But “sizzling” is exactly what it has been for the last couple of days with temperatures rising into the high twenties, ice cream parlours working overtime and the editor of the local paper no doubt working on his “Phew What A Scorcher” headlines to be accompanied by photos like this of not only hundreds of people on the fabulous beach but many of them actually IN THE WATER.

We couldn’t miss the opportunity to enjoy some of the sunshine and set out on our bikes for a pleasant ride up to Allanhill where there’s a great café with lots of open-air seating and these amazing views of St Andrews.

After the climb up to Allanhill it was all downhill to the coast where the hordes were enjoying the three lovely St Andrews beaches.

After the ride we headed to nearby Craigtoun Park where I rowed the family around the boating lake (note the natty life jackets – health and safety gone mad).

Rose loved playing in the woods.

The weather forecasters said that it would be wet today but could not have been more wrong as we woke to clear blue skies stretching to the horizon. We went to Perth with Sarah, Rose and Melody to see the Peppa Pig live show – great fun for kids.

The glorious weather continued after the show so we decided to head for somewhere to eat lunch outside. We settled for Rufflets Country House Hotel just outside St Andrews. We had a very nice lunch on the terrace and the kids were able to run around without spoiling other diners’ enjoyment of their meals.

After that I had another ride on the bike. The forecast remains good for tomorrow (which probably means it will be pouring with rain) so maybe we can find time for another bike ride before starting to get packed and ready to head back home to Framlingham.

Can It Really Be Three Years?

It seems like only yesterday that we had a phone call from Duncan to tell us we were grandparents for the first time. It was early in the morning and, as the baby was not due for another week or so, we had no inkling that she would be arriving so soon. I had promised to pick my mum up from Liverpool Airport that afternoon so we couldn't drop everything and head to Scotland immediately so, by the time we left home, we were in danger of missing visiting time. Fortunately, the roads were clear and we managed to fly up the motorway and arrive in Dundee with five minutes to spare and, somehow, maintain our unblemished driving licences.

How things change in three years! We spent 6th July helping Sarah and Duncan to give their little Rose a lovely birthday party. It was themed on Pirates and Fairies (Rose is hooked on these Disney characters) and the guests made a real effort so we had a garden full of Tinkerbells and Captain Hooks. All the fairies including Marion were girls and all the pirates including Duncan and me were boys so there was no groundbreaking swapping of gender stereotypes. Sarah baked a very pretty cake and arranged lots of games including a treasure hunt, painting and pinning a parrot on the pirate. Apart from a brief shower (for which Duncan had sensibly taken the precaution of borrowing a number of gazebos) the weather was kind and a lot of happy little kids, including the birthday girl, had a super afternoon.

Rose was a purple fairy.

Melody was a blue one.

Marion was a multi-coloured one.

We've had a week of continuing poor WIFI cover at the caravan. Caravan Connect advise us that our site is at the extremity of the park so we are basically getting what's left of the signal by the time everyone else has used it. It's so poor that downloading the Archer's Omnibus which usually takes a minute or two has taken almost an hour (and several reboots). At least service is normal with the radio and TV. I loved Lily Allen's Desert Island Discs. I'm not very familiar with her music but her desert island choices were right up my street and I think sales of this one are going to rocket.