Adventures in A Yorkshire Landscape 2: Fire and Snow

The second installment of the holiday entry. We approached Oswaldkirk on a Friday night in the dark and fog , with ice on the roads , not helped by the fact that Sutton Bank on the A170 is a one in four hill (ie steep). The benefit of this is that during the day you can get some excellent views, though towards the end of the week anything but a main road was very dodgy for our renault Clio, seen below at the far end of our snowbound car park.

Once we were in Oswaldkirk we had an excellent meal in The Malt Shovel , and meant to get back there but weather and other commitments meant it will have to wait until our next holiday.

The short video below starts with the chimeniere (we have two in our garden and they are fantastic) outside the excellent Star Inn at Harome near Helmsley (A Michelin Star pub apparently , and the food is excellent). The place is run by Andrew Pern who's published a history of the restaurant cum cook book called "Black Pudding & Foie Gras" , available here.


The following section sees birds behind the Fox and Hounds in some village that I cant remember then a lot of snowscapes. The music is "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" by Bebop Deluxe from the album Axe Victim and can be downloaded here should you wish to purchase it!

Surely They Didn't Mean That!!!

Many years ago I was working in Scotland and stopped in the village of Carnwath to get some cash from the bank there. I got the money and turned to go back to my car and saw something across the road that I thought must me a mistake. It wasn't , in the window of the local Post Office cum shop , bold as you like was this:

ARE YOU A TWAT

 After some research a mate of mine found a web site that confirmed that here : "TWATS (Tarbrax Woolfords Auchengray Theatrical Society) use the hall for their production of an annual pantomime." 

While I've got no problem with innocent mistakes and the like , you would think that someone would have noticed the acronym was in fact a very naughty word!! 

Adventures in A Yorkshire Landscape...The Start

Just to say we're back from a week in Oswaldkirk , Yorkshire , which included being cut off by snow, not being able to get a mobile phone signal , a public phone box that didn't take cash , a most excellent pub called The Malt Shovel that does excellent food , and has very friendly clientele.

The cottage we stayed in in called "Honeysuckle Cottage" at the details are here and below is the road the cottage is on.

Energy Efficient - Well We're Getting There

About two months ago our energy supplier E-On sent us and electricity monitor. These things look quite impressive and are very easy to set up. The main thing I discovered was that leaving the PC on all day cost about a quid, so it's something I now dont do , thus saving a bit of money.

However about two weeks back I noticed that the meter was about 33% up on its normal running level (£40 a month instead of £30) . Thought what was running at the time, two five live chandeliers (energy efficient bulbs) , the fridge , the heating , two PCs and the cooker clock, and....

a hallway light that used a standard 60 Watt candle bulb which was causing the increase . In theory replacing that with an energy efficient bulb has saved me about £5 a month. The new bulb did cost £1.99!

Some Snow

First winter snow, this end of 2008 , it's cold but all gone by dinner time. Took a few photos and bit of video then realised that I'd lost my battery recharger .

Also found out how slippy it can be as well , not looking forward to the journey to Darlington tomorrow. Anyway here are the pictures soundtracked by the Excellent Teenage Fanclub doing "Christmas Eve" from the excellent "Cool Cool Christmas" album available here.

I-POD Therefore I AM (a Pod Person)

I've never really liked Apple. Yes they're stylish , yes they're innovators (well good and nicking other people's ideas and selling absolutely idiotic ones). Apple products are easy to use use, do what they say on the box , but as soon as you step away from that box you're scuppered, as illustrated in this brilliant spoof:




I saw an advert recently on a bus , the prize offered was an I-POD. That's what it says in big letters and then in small letters it admits it's actually an i-Shuffle , and 1 in 100 CORRECT entries were guaranteed to win. Entry is £1.50 by Text. A 1 GB i-Shuffle costs less than £50 , you do the Maths, The kids in the ad look as though they couldnt even breathe withhout assistance!! Also the the with Apple is the Carrier is more important than the content , and it seems to me that is how most of it's target market act.

I hate the duo coloured i-Pod Ads , but theres been the odd decent spoof such as this Met Police one:



Don't we all feel like doing that!!

Seven Days In The Premiership

Being a Preston North End supporter, I don't have much to do with the Premiership, though living in Newcastle it's unavoidable. There's been a couple of incidents that have struck over the past week.

The first is Arsene Wengers rant against Stoke City's so called physical approach. He managed to fool even me. Failing to mention Adebayor's high challenge on DeLap and Robin Van Persie's sending off he went off on one about Stoke trying to injure his players. Everyone was focussed on Wenger's rant, NO ONE was thinking about the Arsenal team (with a bad injury list), and their current bad run. What do they do against a rampant Manchester United? The win and put their Premiership challenge back on course. Again Wenger shows his genius , taking all the flak while the team sorts itself out and returns to winning ways. The guy is a veritable god!!

Secondly the Referee's Ruling body want to get their Respect Campaign back on track following run ins with Joe Kinnear of Newcastle and Alex Ferguson , to name but two. They seem to conveniently sidestep the fact that respect must be earned , and regard any form of criticism as an attack on them. When they screw up there seems to be no comeback and and anyone who dares say anything is pilloried.

Take the goal that never was in the Watford vs Reading match. No action against the officials but Adrian Boothroyd , the Watford manager was censured for his criticism of the officials.

The latest is the situation with Barnsley's Iain Hume being hospitalised in the match against Sheffield United, the referee refusing to take action against some very physical action.

In and Everton v Liverpool derby Jamie Carragher wrestled Jolean Lescott to the ground on three occcasions and the referee di nothing, but was quick to red card Tim Hibbert after he'd touched Steven Gerrard in the area (after a word for Stevie G).

Until referees get it right and stop acting as though they're infallible they are not going to get respect , unless their name is Pierluigi Collina.

And now we have the Maradonna "Hand of God" thing raising it's head again. Maradonna got away with it , the referees / officials should have taken action at the time . They didnt because FIFA / UEFA encourage cheating, simulation is rewarded with free kicks and cards for the opposing team.