30 September, 2009

Bingle - New front end to Google and Bing

Bingle
Thought I would share this with you, it's actually very cool - a front end to Google and Bing which throws the search results into a split browser window, using the little icons on the top right you can expand and contract the two panes to full screen (and back)...rather useful! If you aren't used to how organised and logical Bing results can be (especially when doing research queries) you may be pleasantly surprised...!

Visit Bingle.nu...

29 September, 2009

Sunset time Redhill

Through the trees into the sunset
Oh well, that's it...over the weekend local sunset time crept (it moves by 2-3 minutes per day) sufficiently backwards that I now conclude my bus journey through Redstone Hollow in almost total darkness, so Autumn is definitely upon us (even though British Summer time doesn't officially finish until the 25th October - when the clocks go back I'll be sat at my *desk* in the pitch black)...I don't normally mind this too much at all (as, of course, there is Christmas to look forward to), but this year I'm really loath to wave goodbye to the summer sunshine (probably because we've only had a couple of very short breaks to actually enjoy it)...

Anyway, we're going to have a go at getting out to show Thomas the trees starting to change colour on the weekend (and probably take some pictures too)... ;)

28 September, 2009

Pictures of Thomas

Thomas playing in the Caravan
Thomas on the fleece
Thomas playing DS
(playing on Dad's NDS)
Thomas on West Wittering Beach
(taken while we were on holiday in the Witterings)... ;)

25 September, 2009

Finks Links #76

So that's another week over and done with...amazingly there's been time to do some reading on the internets! So here are a few of the interesting or cool things I tripped over during my stagger through the tubes -

Let's start off with "having vanquished the dreaded pink" and "the cat traps are working"... ;)

An incredible eye on Russia, photography by Sergey Maximishin...

The People of Walmart blog (incredibly entertaining, but also surprisingly socially revealing about this eclectic sub-section of America's population)...

Just in case you haven't already laughed today... ;)

January 1975 - "QWERTY is obsolete"

Inside the (real) Soviet Doomsday machine...

Meet Specialisterne - A Swedish company that employs people with autism "This is not cheap labor, and it's not occupational therapy. We simply do a better job".

An amazing lamp powered by human blood (read the text at the bottom)...

Oh this really is verging on science fiction now...check out the Sneakey system, can cut you a working key from a blurry photo of the master, taken at a funny angle from 195 feet away...awesome!

...and finally a ham-flavoured Employee of the month fail and a well thought-out playground sign fail...

More as soon as I have a decent amount...! :)

24 September, 2009

Thomas - 7 weeks old

It's hard to imagine a time when Thomas wasn't part of our life.. every minute we spend with him is so rewarding and we absolutely love being parents. Thankfully, we seem to have a very good baby (at the moment)... he has been allowing us a good nights sleep and went through the night last Mon, Tue, Wed from 9.30 - 5.30 ish, then only woke once on Thurs night at 3am for a burp, trumpet and 10 minute feed before dropping straight back to sleep again.. This week has been a little more challenging as Thomas is changing his routine, but I really can't complain. My fellow NCT mums are being woken up every 2 hours and little Izzie doesn't want to sleep at all at night, so my nights sleep from 10 - 4.30 is a complete dream! We try to make daddy's day a little easier and all pile into Poppy car to drive him to the station for the 7.30 train, although how long it will last I don't know.

After our initial problems, Thomas has mastered breast feeding and he is putting on lots of weight. He is now up to 8lb 13 and I can't tell you how good it makes you feel as a mum to know you've persevered with something that was very difficult to begin with and it's paying off. It broke my heart in the early days to top Thomas up with Formula, but it really has paid off and now we have the best of both worlds.. Breast feeding and bottle feeding when I'm a little self conscious (although now it's 100% breast milk!). There is a lot of support locally for breast and the baby cafe is not only good for advice, but also a good way to meet new mums.

We've discovered Redhill is a hub for activities and today I planned to go to Bumps and Babes and meet with fellow mums from the Baby cafe, but then decided maybe a day at home would be better and allow me to catch up on washing before we run out of pants! If we wanted to, there is something on every day from pram walks to soft play for newborns... although more about that once i've been to them all!

R.I.P. The London Paper

...so last week saw the last copy of "The London Paper" rolling off the presses, the last of the cheerful (or otherwise) migrant workers handing them out on the street corner and station concourse -
The London Paper
- and the end of any sort of free daily evening newspaper for those of us working at Canary Wharf...great...

For some reason (unlike the rest of London) we don't get heaps of London Lite deposited around the place at "going home time"...As a result, I have observed lots of commuters now voluntarily purchasing copies of the "Evening Standard" shocking the sales guys (who had a rather easy ride beforehand, frankly) or resorting to picking up copies of "The Wharf" to read (which is a weekly local paper focusing just on matters Dockland)...we need some sort of campaign to get the London Lite over here!

The other annoying thing is that in the morning I like to get my daily fix of Nemi, the evening was traditionally for me to chortle over Em...but all is not lost, there is a complete (free) archive of all Em cartoons over here...(if you haven't read them before, then please do so, it's an incredibly entertaining cartoon strip and was the highlight of my tube journey)!

Humph...

23 September, 2009

Fishbourne Roman Palace in pictures

...and so we come to the last day of our break in the Witterings (boo!), but at least we had something quite exciting to look forward to -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- Fishbourne Roman Palace was practically on the doorstep of the caravan, so we definitely couldn't pass up the opportunity to pay a visit, we cleverly managed to arrive at exactly the same time as an enormous coach, loaded with elderly archeology fans, so while I checked out prices etc. at the entrance (spotting this amusing sign) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- Flyingpops fought her way past 300 sword wielding school children who were busy shouting and throwing themselves from the top of the enormous spoil heaps (left over from the initial excavation in the 60's when a bloke with a JCB uncovered the first of the mosaics) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- while teachers blew whistles and tore hair...she managed to find a place to sit quietly until the queue had gone from the tills in the gift shop -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- (which actually had some genuinely interesting little things for sale, rather than the usual rubbers, pencils and pens etc.)...

Anyway, we were told by the lady on the till (after filling out our gift-aid forms) that visitors normally start things off with a trip to the audio-visual room to watch the "Welcome" film, but it was currently full of pensioners, so they suggested a stroll through the museum first -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- which takes you through the history of the site (as far as records and archeology have revealed it's past)...
Fishbourne Roman Palace
It all started in 43AD with the construction of several granaries to feed the advancing Roman army (who had cleverly spotted that Chichester Harbour was a rather good place to drop anchor), followed fairly quickly by two large timber framed buildings -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- one of which had these decorated plaster walls (and so was probably a residence for a person of some significance) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Somewhere between 73AD and 92AD construction of the larger palace was started, and it is widely accepted that it was a high profile residence for one Sallustius Lucullus (son of British Prince Adminius), this could have been a statue of him (well, part of it anyway)...although there are other theories (obviously)...

From there we wandered over to the A/V room and watched the Tony Robinson narrated film (after being shown in and given our "the emergency exits are here and here" talk by the terribly amusing gentleman from the shop "Be warned, we have had a fire on the premisies..." (pause for comedic emphasis) "...circa 270AD" (snort, guffaw) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
It's a huge site, although you really only begin to appreciate it when you get out into the gardens (they have restored just a tiny fraction of the northern bit, but more on that later), the building, as a whole is by far the largest (known) Roman residence north of the Alps, in all around 150 meters square, which renders the floor plan comparable in size to Buckingham Palace, just to give you an idea (although obviously nothing like the same in height)...this huge building -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- contains the remains of just one tiny section of one of the wings (most of them having been destroyed by years and years of agricultural work in the area (not to mention the odd burial - cut right through the Roman archeology) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
There is a lot to see, it's nothing like as well preserved as say, the site at Bath, but there's still plenty -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- an unfinished hypocaust, some staggeringly well preserved mosaic floors (including the famous Dolphin one uncovered in that first, lucky test pit when digging began)...
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Something I found particularly interesting was where flooring has gradually subsided, settling into much older ditches as the material used to pad them (to what the Romans believed was permanently) flat has slowly compressed over the years creating some fascinating undulations...
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Outside, concrete blocks mark the outline of as much of the rest of the site as is possible (thanks to pre-existing surrounding homes, schools and busy roads) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- and then into the gardens, laid out exactly as they were when the palace was in use, Tony Robinson pointed out how this would be most Briton's first look at a cultivated garden, speculating the terror they may have felt walking through "nature tamed" along the avenue towards the imposing audience chamber at the far end, and it must have been an impressive sight, but I do sort of think by the time the Romans arrived the Celts might have worked out a little bit about farming (but anyway) -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Fishbourne Roman Palace
The gardens also contain a number of unexpected things that the Romans were known to be propagating -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- like figs and (very sour, I tried) grapes -
Fishbourne Roman Palace
- and then you find yourself facing the steps up into the audience chamber (although they don't look original to me)... ;)
Fishbourne Roman Palace
...and it's easy to imagine yourself as an ancient Briton, approaching your meeting with Sallustius Lucullus, a flutter in your tummy...!

A very enjoyable afternoon... ;)

22 September, 2009

Ship Inn Menu small print

So that night we returned to the Ship Inn in Itchenor, Flyingpops went for her "usual" of deep fried Hallumi and I had an interesting burger with Mango on the top (we shared a baked camembert for our starter) -
Ship Inn Menu Small Print
- spotted this amusing small print on the menu (you'll have to click it to read it)...Thomas, of course, came along for the trip and was *very* good throughout... ;)

21 September, 2009

Bosham - Tidal Floods

So after a jolly nice lunch of vegetarian ciabatta pizza -
Vegetarian Ciabatta pizza
- at the very lovely Crown and Anchor pub and Appledram (right on the waterside of Chichester Harbour) -
Crown and Anchor Pub, Chichester
- through which Thomas slept throughout, even when a very quick passing shower made us have to dash for cover under a flimsy table umbrella (assisted by a waitress who dragged the pram top for Flyingpops) we decided to go and check out Bosham again...On our previous visit we had a passable Sunday Lunch at "The Anchor Bleu" in town -
The Anchor Bleu
- of roast beef (and "vegetarian option" for Flyingpops, which I think turned out to be a "bit extra" cauliflower cheese) -
The Anchor Bleu
- on that occasion, after feeding, we took a little walk around, noticing with some amusement the following sign at the end of the road the pub was on -
Bosham
Bosham
- this time, we were lucky enough to see the same place but at high tide -
Bosham - Flooded Road
- (rather a transformation) -
Bosham - Ice Cream Van on flooded road
The guy in the ice cream van had to keep starting it up and driving it out of the water...! ;)

18 September, 2009

Thomas - 7 weeks old

It's hard to imagine a time when Thomas wasn't part of our life.. every minute we spend with him is so rewarding and we absolutely love being parents. Thankfully, we seem to have a very good baby (at the moment)... he has been allowing us a good nights sleep and went through the night last Mon, Tue, Wed from 9.30 - 5.30 ish, then only woke once on Thurs night at 3am for a burp, trumpet and 10 minute feed before dropping straight back to sleep again.. This week has been a little more challenging as Thomas is changing his routine, but I really can't complain. My fellow NCT mums are being woken up every 2 hours and little Izzie doesn't want to sleep at all at night, so my nights sleep from 10 - 4.30 is a complete dream! We try to make daddy's day a little easier and all pile into Poppy car to drive him to the station for the 7.30 train, although how long it will last I don't know.

After our initial problems, Thomas has mastered breast feeding and he is putting on lots of weight. He is now up to 8lb 13 and I can't tell you how good it makes you feel as a mum to know you've persevered with something that was very difficult to begin with and it's paying off. It broke my heart in the early days to top Thomas up with Formula, but it really has paid off and now we have the best of both worlds.. Breast feeding and bottle feeding when I'm a little self conscious (although now it's 100% breast milk!). There is a lot of support locally for breast and the baby cafe is not only good for advice, but also a good way to meet new mums.

We've discovered Redhill is a hub for activities and today I planned to go to Bumps and Babes and meet with fellow mums from the Baby cafe, but then decided maybe a day at home would be better and allow me to catch up on washing before we run out of pants! If we wanted to, there is something on every day from pram walks to soft play for newborns... although more about that once i've been to them all!


Chichester Marina

Wednesday, on a whim, we decided to pop in and visit Chichester Marina (just spotted the sign as we were out for a drive looking for somewhere for lunch) -
Chichester Marina
- and it was actually quite a good find, apart from the incredible sight of so many horrendously expensive yachts -
Chichester Marina
- the first thing you notice (as I assembled the Bugaboo from the back of the car and Flyingpops got Thomas out of his Maxi-cosi) is this strange noise generated by all the ropes and cables resonating in the wind, it's really quite a spooky sound, like an army of metallic warriors setting up a baleful moan...all the boats complaining that it's windy and here they are all roped up...Anyway, we walked around the edge, being overtaken by lots of cyclists (making me suspect it's part of the Salterns way cycle route)...

After a while, I spotted a hide off to one side of the path -
Chichester Marina
- so we popped in to see what we could see -
Chichester Marina
Chichester Marina
- found a position away from too many cobwebs (obviously fairly rarely patronised then) and were lucky enough to spot a Little Egret (or possibly a Heron) almost straight away (you'll have to click the picture if you want a good view, that was the absolute limit of the zoom on my camera)!
Chichester Marina
Which was a bit of luck, as when it sloped off we didn't see a single other sign of life for about ten minutes...We concluded our walk when we stumbled into an industrial area, designed to lift boats out of the water to facilitate repair, and reversed course (empty tummies driving us toward food rather than boats), stopping to take a picture of this amusingly name launch on our way...
Chichester Marina
Perhaps we'll return another day when we attempt the Salterns way as a relaxing walk (or gentle cycle)...

16 September, 2009

Next stop the Witterings!

Tuesday morning dawned (barely) and Flyingpops was up right at the crack of it (as it were), feeding Thomas and heaping objects at the foot of the stairs for me to try and squeeze into Poppy the Beetle (which I managed *somehow*, despite being rather fatigued after the wine tasting the day before)...anyway, petty difficulties aside, by mid-morning we were already unpacked in the (borrowed) caravan in Itchenor, had already done some emergency pie, crisp and drink shopping in East Wittering, and had paid our money (£5) for the pleasure of going to West Wittering beach - but boy was it worth it -
West Wittering Beach
- the weather was absolutely *stunning*, 27 degrees (so we were forced to shelter in the shade next to one of these groynes) -
West Wittering Beach
- the water was incredibly warm (probably one of the reasons this waterway is one of the busiest in the country), people were merrily swimming out 500 meters from the shore, although I contented myself with walking up and down in the surf, letting my feet sink into the sand and the waves wash over my legs (even once surprising me by soaking me and my camera up to the top of my t-shirt)...!
Thomas on West Wittering Beach
Even tiny Thomas came for a little walk (although we didn't give him a dunking on this occasion)... ;)