Monday February 28, 2005

Product of the week the English crumpet

The English crumpet. A traditionally breakfast dish but one that can be enjoyed at anytime. My wife puts Marmite on hers I do not understand why.. I prefer just margarine. Simple and delicous.

The Verve

The Verve , I first heard about them on the BBC news when it was announced they were splitting up. While visiting friends in Wigan soon afterwards (which is where they started) they played us the album Urban Hymms.

Urban Hymms is perhaps one of the best Rock albums of its time. I would not dream of comparing it to the likes of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd etc they are like chalk and cheese. Thw whole album is excellent but the tracks that are mega awsome are "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "Sonnet", "The drugs don't work", "Space and Time" and "Lucky Man". It is one of the few albums I play in the car and press the repeat button on the cd player to hear a track again.

It puzzles me that I find 'modern' bands like the Verve by accident and feel there are a lot more like them with stuff I'd like to hear. But I do not listen to the radio and only hear of such bands by accident.

A walk around Littlewick Green

As I was on my own again Saturday, after a few domestic chores I went for a five mile walk starting at Littlewick Green a small village just off the busy A4 road. The village is loop of road that leaves and rejoins the A4 so is pleasantly quiet. I passed the home of Ivor Novello known as RedRoofs. I walked south, across a field over the Paddington Westbound railway line. At the most southerly point of the walk I passed Shottesbrooke House home of Sir John Smith the first freeman of the new Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and founder in 1965 of the Landmark Trust . I then walked through the churchyard of this church.

The church has a legend which is the architect climbed to the top of the spire to toast his work, fell and was buried on the spot ! Either way the church is meant to be a small version of Salisbury cathedral. After the churchyard by a field was what we call a Ha-Ha (below). As can be seen it is a ditch with a fench at the bottom of it. Landowners desperate not to spoil the views from their houses employed Ha-ha's to keep the animals in the field but not ruining the view.

I then walked back to Littlewick Green in a Northerly direction across the railway again. I crossed a field with turnips in it where a load of sheep were graving on them. Usually the sheep are kept to a restricted part of such winter food so they do not gorge themselves on it. I could see an electric fence so perhaps the sheep had found a gap in it or the battery powering the fence had failed.

On returning to Littlewick Green I went to the pub and had a nice prawn and marie rose sauce ciabatta with salad and crisps. On leaving the pub it was raining so the walk was timed to perfection.