Leave!

On Thursday morning we went to Iron Bridge, the first arch bridge in the world to be built of cast iron, in 1779. In the evening, my toothache got much worse. I spent the night waking up with the pain, whimpering until I could safely take another painkiller, then checking the referendum results-so-far while I waited for the painkiller to kick in. It did not make me happier. This result…

June 24, 2016
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Attingham Park

The servants dining area. Who sat where. at Attingham Park. Shropshire
June 22, 2016

I don’t get a huge amount of use out of my National Trust membership, what with living in the Canary Islands, but I do like to visit a National Trust property when I can. So went to Attingham Park, a stately home near Telford. It’s gorgeous. And huge. We didn’t have time to go around much of the grounds (400 acres, if memory serves!) but we did go around the…

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On holiday

I’ve escaped for 10 days before the summer guiding rush. On Sunday morning I flew to Tenerife and spent a pleasant afternoon and evening, mostly in the hotel room. I took a nap and caught up with email. For lunch, we found a nearby Irish bar called Grandee O’Donnell that was serving Sunday roasts. It was damn good! So we went back for dinner (also good) and a little karaoke….

June 21, 2016
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Disappointment and consolation

ME and the EMIR spectrograph
June 10, 2016

Some time ago I was asked to keep June 11th free for an excursion with a VIP visitor. Then on Monday I saw on the internet that Stephen Hawking was coming to La Palma on the Britannia on Saturday June 11th. My heart started pounding. After a bit I decided it was silly to eat my fingernails, so I phoned the travel agent. Well the plan had been for me…

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Melted kettle

May 30, 2016

I boiled some water to cook broccoli, turned the kettle off and emptied it into the pan. About 5 minutes later I noticed that although the switch was in the “off” position, the little light was on. So I picked it up and looked inside to see an ominous red glow. Eek! I hastily filled it from the tap to cool it, but the bottom started dripping anyway. It stank,…

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Van repairs

A friend held a yard sale today. Since she lives only about half an hour away, I went. I arrived just after another friend called Isa. She was a bit worried about her van, because it started to overheat just before she arrived, and she was waiting for it to cool before she checked the radiator. So we both bought stuff. Then Isa poured water into her radiator and immediately…

May 29, 2016
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