bigbadblog

I have spent many, many, many hours (and a few pennies) keeping the family heritage websites in business over the last 18 months. My interest emerged as a consequence of a) advancing age,  b) increasingly vague remembrance of stories told eons ago my grandmothers Celia and Maisie TV's 'Who do you think you are?' and 4 suitcases of photos and letters handed to me by my eldest aunt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Orwell farm, 2009.  2 years ago I visited two houses close to Loch Leven, Orwell Farm where Maisie was born in 1901 and Grahamston Farm where her mother had been brought up. Orwell farm 1901/2 Grahmston 1890s Grahamstone farm, 2009. Grahamstone was farmed by  Alexander Dickie (born 1829). The land making up the farm was exposed after the water level of Loch Leven was lowered with the opening of  'The cut' in 1830 which exposed 1100 acres of la...

I took a sunny 25 mile ride around Bedfordshire to keep in touch with what a bike feels like. The Doom Bar half way refreshment was appropriate as I was wearing my Kernow jersey as supplied by www.Foska.com. It was also the first outing for my Foska hi-viz water/wind proof top which did its job with the wind at least. I might have to invest in some long warm cycling tights and gloves if this bizarre behavior persists over the next few months!!

End to End Malaria... your money for their lives Landed at lands End

The chilly weather was only a short aclimatisation aid... we were soon up in the 30's with warm winds and unbroken sunshine... funky flower pot spotted in Leucate Plage We took a trip to Perpgnan airport to deliver A and her parents for their flight home and then headed back to Leucate Plage to rescue N & G from the exfoliating sand blast on the beach and have lunch served by a waiter with an impenentrable accent and a fag in his mouth! Rescued from the sandblasting snap,snap,snap We made an early morning raid on Carcassonne Castle and were leaving as busses were unloading the hordes...

Its f***ing COLD and windy! It was suppossed to be sunny and sweltering! Never mind at least the chocolate is good here :-)

The 15th of July was a day I had thought, on several occasions, might never happen! But Matt pulled out all the stops over the past year and to exceed many peoples expectations and get a 'Desmond' (2:2). Proud parents were there to celebrate the end of  4 long years and the beginning of the next chapter in life. Well done my boy!

is where I'm heading this week end!

Passing through a 'chocloate box' Sussex village  The (race to the) Finish...

The team at the end of 54 miles of fun!

The 'Zen will limit Karmas' team completed the London to Brighton Bike ride without mishap and took a paddle in the sea to cool off weary legs.  All donations are welcome and go to the British Heart Foundation. Updated 6th August... we have raised over £3000 before adding tax relief

500mm of rain in 6 days had a dramatic efect on the Genal river. The 1st picture was on the 23rd Dec. and the 2nd on the 24th..

ST Mawes has another live webcam which is well wrth a look http://92.244.185.32/view/index.shtml

I shall be cycling the London to Brighton route on Sunday 20th June along with 25,999 others. All donations are welcome through http://original.justgiving.com/zen_will_limit_karmas There was some doubt in my mind, when I agreed to do this 10 weeks ago, whether I would manage to get fit enough to stay in touch with my 4 fit team members but with the aid of lycra, St Piran, a bike service and some regular practice rides round the Bedfordshire countryside I think it might just be possible! The real challenge will be to stay on the bike all the way to the top of Ditchling beacon! The odds seem to be heavily against us achieving this due to the sheer numbers of other cyclists..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cwv0Ts2y2U or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIB36JRWe70&NR=1

Well it seems as if i have not been back to this blog for nearly 6 years and a lot has happened since then! I was just moving from wood to coalite for the central heating back then... during hte winter of 2008/9 the back boiler started leaking and finally gave up in April 09 after long service and abuse! Now joined the Gas Brigade and no longer have to empty ash on alternate days which is liberating :-).

I was fully expecting to have had to fire up the stove before now but its still comfortable enough with out a fire for now! I have eventually tracked down a company to supply spare parts for thelong overdue service for the Coalbrookdale Severn .... ashpans lined with tin foil dont last long and the glass was so cracked it was hardly worth having in the doors. New rope seals all round and a coat of stove blacking will bring back a bit of sparkle to its rather dour presence in the sitting room. 1st stock of coal arrived yesterday and if we are to believe the warnings I ought to get more in before the threatened 'big freeze' arrives. Half term has passed by now but Matt is now an almost fully qualified RYA sailing instructor(inshore) after five days of 'hard core' training at Grafham Water. Tim has moved a bit closer to fininshing collecting data from his transect of Cooper's Hill for his Geog 'A' level,at least he has drawn the plants found whilst throwin...

The balmy weather keeps on coming! Good thing too as I have yet to get a supply of wood (brownie points for the carboon neutral fuel) and solid fuel ( brownie points instantly cancelled!) for the stove that serves as the source of No. 67's central heating. I reckon that I don't need to start up the fire until its below 14C.... but then I stand accused of being an aesthete by those who know me well enough (thanks Jim!). I think this is the result of many years of living with limited income mixed with a puritanical dislike of debt! Where did I get that from? .... anyhow, central heating at the push of a button would be great but won't be coming to this house for a while! An extra layer does the job and the computer pumps out some heat which keeps the frost off.

Another summer holiday in Our Cottage comes to an end for the Stephens contingent who left the Wheatleys to enjoy the heat of the Cornish Riviera. Don't know who the fat bloke on the left is!

Thank you Andrew K for corrections and suggestions as to who, and where, some of the photos were of. I think that I remember seeing some other photos from this film and that it was the year that Alice and Christopher got engaged. I will find out from Mother because she should know!

Celia and Alice punting on the Cam 1950ish