What it is to be tired

Gordon Bennett, I'm tired. We had a whistlestop jaunt in Devon this weekend, meeting and partying with family, playing in rockpools and a well-earned pub dinner, a mile or two from the village of Nomansland! I kid you not. We barn-danced, which was hilarious. We held live crabs - they tickle! We (I) found a sandwormy-fishy thing while building a small sandcastle of great potential. We looked at a hermit crab, and hoped that another, larger, crab wouldn't exemplify the wild outdoors when confronted with a trapped fish.

We made friends with the cats at the Mitre pub, and admired the satisfying honk of an old car horn, and the toot of a bugle, relics from the wall of the pub. (Good job she couldn't reach the scythe...) The B&B was superb. Lovely hostess, great house, absolutely fab veggie breakfast, and she produces the most amazing wicker basketwork. We all left wanting to come back for the class! We even saw an owl on the way... and thank goodness for satnav systems...

All that in two days. And now I've got some temp work for the week - the early finish is nice, particularly as it is fairly close to home. The interview at 5.15 yesterday was a challenge after a day of work though! (But it had a duckpond...)

Two Moors Way B&B Link

Google Analytics

Just been experimenting with Google Analytics... hopefully I'll be tracking all sorts of things on here now! I haven't been the most proliferate correspondent recently though... It is tricky to find the subject matter when days are filled with hosting, feeding and seeing relatives, or in pursuit of work. (No news yet - boo!) However, I did manage to conquer a few of the Malvern Hills at the weekend. Perseverance, Pinnacle, Third Land and almost to British Camp. Good fun gadding about with family.

What fun it is to bake

A friend and I spent a happy afternoon baking yesterday. As meetups go, what a great way to do something productive during the day, where you have lots of opportunity to catch up. Lovely. Even though the nutty loaves were not rested in the fridge overnight, and may have not come out of the loaf tins in in one piece, they were delicious. And the flapjacks superb. Who knew that orange zest could make them so tasty?

Not sure where the flapjack recipe came from, but the nutty loaf was from one of the Hummingbird bakery cookbooks. The picture was totally unassuming, and is not a recipe I would have ordinarily chosen, but it was worth it! Cooking apples in a lightly cinnamon-flavoured cakey loaf, with a few pecans and lots of walnuts, and melty hints of dark chocolate. Fresh from the oven was best - moist and warm. I'm very glad we made two! We had a slight disaster upon finding that the recipe requires that the batter be left overnight! Instead, we just put it straight in the oven - no harm done! (I guess it helps with allowing the wet parts of the mixture to settle, and may be why they didn't come out in one piece.) Impatience still allowed for delicious food though!

Link
Hummingbird Cookbook

Croak!

Cheering too much made me lose my voice. It is an interesting thing, to attend an interview and answer the phone in this condition! The Paralympics were superb. I had an absolutely brilliant day watching the GB team vs. USA, and Sweden vs. Belgium in the wheelchair rugby, a.k.a. 'murderball'.
A few highlights, impressions and items spotted:

• Seeing Jonathan Edwards' bum before noon. (Well, a clever art installation on the route between Euston and St Pancras involving painted footfalls of Olympic achievements. So, the footsteps taken towards the triple jump, the jumping off point, and the bum and foot prints of the landing - all sorts of sports represented. Very clever!)
• Seeing a gold medal up close before even entering the park! A few members of the Moroccan team had gathered for filming, and one man was keenly showing off his medal. Couldn't help but grin even more having seen that.
• Seeing her madge's row boat tethered in the river at the low level of the Olympic Park. 
• The most spic 'n' span loos in an event site ever!
• Gigantic police horses
• Catching up with family members I've not seen in a while
• Spotting Boris in the audience - you really can't miss him with that hair!
• I really liked the park itself - nice to have such a large open space so close to London.
• The velodrome is gorgeous. And the basketball court does indeed look like an upturned mattress.
• Seriously impressed with each of the teams we saw: such different skills and tactics used. 
• Impressive array of spare wheels (and I liked the Captain America shields that Team USA had on their wheels!)
• Meeting so many members of athletes' family in the audience - we were only 4 rows back! We were behind Mandip Shemi's mum, near to some of the coaches of the team, near to Aaron Phipp's mum and partner, and next to the USA coach's wife and kids! For the second game, we were next to a lively group of Swedish fans, one of whom was brother-in-law of the captain, and behind us were pals of one of the big goalscorers. We got quite into the Swedish chants: "Sverya!" (Or thereabouts...)
• On the way out, noticing the vast array of different flags hanging from the balconies of the athletes' village.

It was cracking - such a great day. I enjoyed all of it! (And the sun shone, which was nice.)
Links
Murderball film

Lots of people, big signs

Rather snazzy rowboat

Police horses and the giant mattress!

Spare Team USA wheels - they were needed!

We saw the first two games

Team USA support camp - right next to us

Team GB pre-game huddle

After being introduced to the crowd, and prior to national anthems

The final score

Sweden and Swedish supporters before game 2

The introductions to Swedish and Belgian players

More Swedish supporters ( we had a crowd by us too)

The velodrome

High fives!

I suppose it had to happen

I have been felled from great levels of activity by the axe of illness. Summer cold passed on by nearest and dearest. Pah! Busy busy last week having finally got some temporary work. However, it was awful, so I'm glad it finished! 350 phonecalls to answer in a day is not fun, for a variety of reasons. Another interview this week - I'm not quite sure of the tally, as I'd rather not think about it! I am drafting a blog about all the many and varied tasks I've had to complete as part of the interview process, but rather than tempt fate in some roundabout way, I'll leave that until I'm fully settled into something permanent.
This week holds further excitement with the late offer of a ticket to the Paralympic games tomorrow! I'll be watching the afternoon session of wheelchair rugby a.k.a. "Murderball"! Team GB are on first, so I'll be nice and hoarse of voice in time for the interview later in the week. A large part of the excitement of the day is that I've picked a fast train home, but paid not much extra to go first class. I'll want the guaranteed seat, snacks, and probable quiet by that time after a long day. (And if I get there early enough, the first class lounge!) I've done travel to London often enough in the last few months to know when to scrimp and when to splash! And a shorter journey is always nice.
Oh, and one more thing... Saturday was a pleasant trip down to Somerset for the BOS folk festival, where family performed brilliantly! Mudlarks choir - fab group. Felt really iffy by the end of the day, therefore only one picture. Still feel pretty iffy now, so I'll leave it there for now.

The famous wonky church tower in BOS Somerset.

My ticket!

Links
Mudlarks choir