Saturday 15 October 2011

Craster – Cul-de-Sac-Deluxe


Craster Harbour
As you drive into Craster you are greeted with a cul-de-sac sign. The only way out is back the way you came or via the sea. I tell a lie, you can walk along the coastal path to the magnificent ruin of Dunstanburgh castle or head due south and eventually land up in Blyth or Whitley Bay!!





This is no bad thing though, it means no through traffic and therefore it’s very quiet and peaceful.
Apparently sixty per cent of the housing here is holiday cottages. Unsure if this is a good or bad thing, if they are used the year round, it will obviously boost the local economy, which is a good thing. Problems occur when people buy holiday cottages that lie empty for most of the year.
Having said that the Shoreline Café was open and occupied at 5pm on Sunday, which implies that the trade is there for them.

Kipper Smokers
L Robson the local fish smokers provide kippers country wide and are sensible enough to maintain a web presence and the superbly appointed http://www.kipper.co.uk/ .

As well as this there’s an art gallery, run by local seascape artist Mick Oxley which was opened by David Miliband MP (the one who didn’t become Labour Leader). His paintings are well worth seeing and his web site is http://www.mickoxley.co.uk/ .

Craster is amazing. One phone box, a kipper smoking factory (well shed) , with adjacent shop and restaurant that opens for three and a half hours a day , is closed Sundays and doesn’t take cards. Opposite this you have The Jolly Sailor a wonderful pub with free internet access, and a sign board featuring a jolly sailor straight out of HP Lovecraft!!

There’s no mobile phone signal, no analogue TV, and digital TV is almost non-existent barring BBC1 and BBC2. The nearest attraction is Dunstanburgh Castle, a sprawling ruin maintained by English Heritage that you have to walk through 1.25 miles of livestock occupied cliff top pasture to get to.
Craster is essentially a cul-de-sac, but this is no bad thing if you want to get away from things but still have some semblance of comfort such as a decent local restaurant, food store and pub.
Dunstanburgh Castle

The walk to Dunstanburgh is visually stunning, and, amazingly, at points gives you mobile phone reception!

Today is the last day in Craster, will definitely come back.  Last night there were two lights, possibly torches on the breakwater just outside the harbour until about three in the morning. Though it was stormy they definitely were not distress signals, so I assume researchers or mad divers, although it would have been a great start to a Lovecraftian horror movie in keeping with the pub sign at The Jolly Sailor!.

This morning I went down to the rocks outside the harbour, even though they were chained off. Got some interesting views of the rocks beyond the harbour, no sign of any corpses rising from the depths or mermen!

One thing this week has done is allow me to put down a couple of words for the blog. Two thousand of those were for yesterday’s novel experiment, but that is still quite a few words for y diaristic observations. All this is maybe forty minutes from Newcastle, which is an absolute find.

Sunrise in Craster
Another thought is that in a week’s holiday on the North East coast of England there has been virtually no rain at all. The weather has been superb, allowing walks along the coast and inland without the need for big coats and umbrellas!

Anyway I’ll wrap this up now, until my next visit.

Alnwick and It’s Straight Tailed Lion


Straight-Tailed Alnwick Lion
Alnwick is the nearest centre for shopping and stuff to Craster. It has a lion on a pillar, commissioned by some lord or other , and when the sculptor wasn’t paid his dues he finished it off with the straight rod of a tail!!

Here is a Vocal Story about talking to the lion.

It’s home to Barter Books in the old railway station and republishers of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters now the subject of much litigation due to their extraordinary success.
You also have the Alnwick Garden and Treehouse and adjacent Castle, location for many outdoor scenes in the Harry Potter films, such as broom training and Quidditch backdrops.

You also have the Alnwick Playhouse , which features film , dance , art exhibitions and live music , I noticed Catfish Keith and Ralph McTell were attractions that were due soon.

I have also discovered the Wine Boutique, an excellent wine emporium, with brilliantly helpful staff and more than reasonable prices. Since the demise of Oddbins it’s great to find a local wine shop with integrity and value.

There are many eating places and pubs and you have a supermarket as well. It is, however, infested with the ubiquitous Greggs and Subway chains , as well as three Boots within sight of each other.
Another plus is that all day parking is only two pounds, a place definitely worth dipping in to.

Alnwick Garden Cascade

Alnwick Garden Walter Sculture cum Flyng Saucer
 Just been to the Alnwick Garden which is amazingly impressive, it’s fountains ad Treehouse are an absolute must to see.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Apple iPhone 5 Is Here - Sorry Make That The Apple iPhone 4S

Apple for the first time in a long time don't have a new product. The much trumpeted iPhone 5 , is in fact the iPhone 4S . It's a major improvement on the iPhone 4 , faster , better camera , and all that but you'll have to wait til next year for the iPhone 5. Can't wait to hear Charlie Brooker's verdict , and I know they'll shift faster than a greyhound in a dragster!! Here's Charlie Brooker's first impressions of the iPad - He ended up buying one and loving it

Anyway you can pre order your iPhone 4S through Orange or T-Mobile on the inks on this page!!

Sunday 25 September 2011

What Is It WIth September?

Just noticed that I've never previously done more than three posts in September . Haven't a clue why this is. Could be that it's the run up to my birthday , or summer is over and winter is coming , certainl had some stormy weather recently.

The thing is there has been stuff to write about , but I haven't written . Maybe this year I will make up .... or not!!

Minimalism #2 - PIL's Album

Just read an article on PIL's Album , which is probably my favourite. While I'm aware that PIL has been a hurricane of members (49 I believe) with John Lydon it's controlling eye so to speak , I was quite shocked to find who actully played on the album.

"Rise" is still my favourite PIL single , and "FFF" and "Fishing" two of my favourite PIL tracks . This isnt to belittle their other stuff. Anyway....

I was aware of John Lydon's affiliation with Bill Laswell from his appearance as a guest on The Golden Palominos' "Visions of Excess" , but what I wasn't aware of (remember the albums minimalist sleeve art and vinyl origins) was that he'd ditched the original band and brought in a veritalble superstar line up to record the damned thing.

These included Ginger Baker on drums , Ornette Coleman on reeds , Stevie Vai on guitar , and more . This is lifeted from the Wikipedia entry , but you get the picture.

"Produced by Bill Laswell (despite Lydon-fuelled faction and disunion) and with many of Laswell's usual rotating cast of musicians, it also featured guitar solos by Steve Vai, considered by Vai himself to be some of his best work. Jonas Hellborg, solo bassist and at the time, member of John McLaughlin's reformed band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, played bass on the album. Jazz great Tony Williams and legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker drummed on the album, which also featured Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Japanese electropop group Yellow Magic Orchestra."


Anyway , if you don't have the album, rectify the error of your ways and purchase it now to find out what you have been missing !! PIL are currently in the studio recording their first new material in 20 years!! Below playing Public Image and Rise in 2010!

Mininmalism #1

Minimalism , or laziness has been the order of the month for 2011, this being my second post despite various things happening and the run up to my birthday , but sometimes life gets in the way of things you plan to do . I still need to find a place that will hire me a reciprocal saw to dismember the tree that fell into my garden two weeks back. It's in manageable chunks , and the leaves have bee disposed of , but it needs chopping into fire friendly sized logs.

Some Winter Fuel!

The other thing is that I'd started this post based on some surprising facts about one of my favourite albums , but that will get it's separate post.

Also we've have Facebook's pointless revamp , making it almost unusable , crashing phone applications and stuff like that , making people very irate , not least of them me, I believe the iPhone app is well and truly shafted. Not a good "customer" experience.



I'm also getting more than a little bored with all these groupon clones , such as Voucher Cloud and LivinSocial. Both available from the Android App Store and LivingSocial insists I'm in Wolverhampton and won't let me change it , but is happy to send me offers from the USA and Eastern Europe. I'm all for saving money , but not when it costs me my time and sanity!!!

Oh and A Kindle has entered the domicile. And yes it is impressive but it's not mine, I'm happy with the reader on my Advent Vega!!

Sunday 4 September 2011

Give Me £50 - And I'll Let You Advertise My Product!

I have a problem , a good friend of mine bought me a £30 Fenwicks Voucher and I want to buy a denim jacket . Denim jackets are nowhere to be be seen , lots of winter jackets , Belstaff making a big comeback , but I just want a light jacket I can wear when its warm , then thought I maight get a paitr of jeans with G-STAR plastered all over them - £110!!

So I pay £110 and look like a human version of one of these taxis with Claims-4-U palstered all over them! In the sixties my uncled reckoned no on would be idiotic enough to wear T-Shirts advertising a product or brand. Now it seems it's almost mandatory!! Nike , Reebok , Levis , Paul Smith , Superdry , Tommy Hilfiger.

Everyone expressing their individuality by following like sheep , and paying for the privilege.
In the mid seventies Don Revie  and Admiral sportswearcame up with the idea of squeezing more money out of Leeds fans by marketing replica shirts , now the biggest Premiership teams often have four kits a season , thats £200 if you want to keep up.

Personally I go for retro shirts , whicj means you buy what you want when you want , but it must be hell for parents keeping up with the kids wants.

It seems almost all we wear today has a brand that marks you out as a potential sales hoarding for the latest Nike , Prada ,Aramani or whatever. So I'm off to town to buy something , I wonder what!!