I have had such a nice week. Mostly I’ve been hermiting in my living room with some books (getting into David Foster Wallace and M.R. James, amongst other things) and learning to use the Wii Fit that Santa brought. But I have broken out from time to time – to friends on Christmas Eve after the Carols by Candlelight, and had people over a couple of times. It was a bit weird getting up alone in the house on Christmas Day and having no one to open my stocking with, but after that, it was all good. Well, apart from when I forgot that scones needed self raising flour, not plain. Ooops. Fortunately they were inessential. Did church, then went for a walk along the Pier and East Sands – it was chilly and a little misty, but otherwise fine. Then home to open the rest of the presents, and cook the duck. G. and Daniel came over to help eat the duck and piles of roastie potatoes, watch new Doctor Who and Wallace and Gromit, and play some Mario Kart. Much fun all round.
Tag: photos
Have a fabulous and blessed Christmas wherever you happen to be.
A friend of mine reminded me that it is the anniversary of the Penlee lifeboat disaster today. On 19 December 1981 the Union Star developed an engine fault off the Wolf Rock, the fuel supply became contaminated by sea water and the weather continued to worsen, driving the ship onto the rocks near Penlee Point. The Penlee Lifeboat the Solomon Browne was launched, manned by eight volunteers, and attempted to rescue the eight passengers and crew of tthe Union Star. The weather was so bad that the Royal Navy Sea King helicopter was unable to airlift the crew from the ship, but the Solomon Browne made repeated attempts to pull alongside.
The Solomon Browne’s last message was: “We’ve got four men off, hang on, we have got four at the moment. There’s two left on board…”, at which point the radio went dead and her lights disappeared. Lifeboats from Sennen Cove and St Marys on the Isles of Scilly attempted a search and rescue for survivors, but none were found.
The crew of Solomon Browne were: William Trevelyan Richards (Coxswain), James Madron (2nd Coxswain.), Nigel Brockman, John Blewett, Kevin Smith, Barrie Torrie, Charles Greenhaugh and Gary Wallis. Nigel Brockman’s son, Neil, still serves on the Penlee lifeboat. He volunteered for the 1981 ‘shout’ but was sent back by Richards who did not want two members of the same family out in such conditions. Tonight, as every year, the world famous Christmas illuminations of Mousehole will be turned off at 8pm for an hour as an act of remembrance.
Featuring the songs: Golfing in the Snow, Raisin Sunday Cava, Playing on the 18th, Dutch Masters Come to Town, and, The Empty Band Stand.
It had snowed again last night, so before heading to church I went down to the Old Course and West Sands. A little bit of my brain had completely forgotten that it was Raisin Sunday and that some people do breakfast parties. I was a little surprised, therefore, to find several groups of undergrads on the beach in various amusing* outfits playing golf. It seems that the fashionable idea is to play some beach golf whilst swigging cava** out of the bottle at 9 o’clock in the morning. The snow appears to have been simply an added bonus. This group of kids was more sensibly dressed than some, and they very kindly posed for some photos.
Apart from the undergraduates, the beach was absolutely beautiful, especiallywhen viewed from a distance. With the way the light was – sunlight coming out over the town, but snow clouds still out over the beach, there was a fabulous blue light reflecting off the snow along the beach. It looked a bit like one of those Dutch paintings of the canals and streets in winter, with little black silhoutted figures going about their business – or their pleasure.
*Though of course they may have been wearing them in an unironic manner, this is St Andrews after all.
**It may have been real champagne, of course, this is St Andrews after all.
Please tell me that this is not the new England shirt. I adore the sight of Paul Sackey scoring tries, but I’m not sure that I adore that shirt. Please tell me that it’s just a change strip because the Pacific Islanders were in white. Please. It looks like an Arsenal shirt. Ugh.
In other news, Spain is lots of nice things. Among other stuff, the hot chocolate is amazing, clearly, and the food is all kinds of good things. I have been taking lots’n'lots of pictures, as ever, but I forgot my camera cable, and so ye cannae see any of them till I get home on Wednesday. Or as my father said, “So the world can expect a deluge of Madrid photos then, can it?” Well, just my world. I very much doubt refugees in the DRC will be paying attention.
Joe and G. and I broke out of St Andrews on Saturday morning for Dundee, where I found new socks and pyjamas (yay for over-large winter jammies), and the slippers I’ve been meaning to buy for about 12 months, and bought pretty much every kind of noodle the chinese supermarket
had to offer as well as the most humungeous bag of five-spice powder. I also ‘accidentally fell’ into Schuh to eye up winter boots, and ended up buying a pair. I have huge problems buying boots, because I have calves, and so I need lace-ups, which can be harder to find. I had a nice pair from Fat Face, except they wore down ridiculously quickly and gave me blisters if I did much more than wear them too and from the office. These beauties are lovely lovely Rocket Dog, and hopefully will not wear down, for they are snuggly and warm and comfortable and I love them.
Today was one of those perfect St Andrews days – crisp, clear, bright sun, wind blowing the in the waves. And the Dunhill Links tournament is in town.
The Dunhill is a pro-am tournament with a rather large crock of gold at the end. A pro is teamed with an amateur (lots of financiers and celebrities), and off they go – one round at each of Carnoustie, Kingsbarn
s and St Andrews’ Old Course. Every year the new first years get all excited about the famous people in town, and every year we roll our eyes like jaded old lags – and then make excuses about not wasting the sunshine and go to see Luke Wilson.
The Media (of some variety, I’m not sure what, but there was a video camera and a reporter with a Louis Vuitton bag, which suggests St Andrews, Golf or Celebrity to me, but maybe I’m biggoted about people with Louis Vuitton handbags) also came out to see Luke Wilson, interviewing him as he practiced his putting, and whilst he waited to tee off. They were less enthusiastic about interviewing Dougray Scott, which either means they were scared by his wonderously daft white hat, or that being the villain in MI-2 didn’t do such good things for his career as he might have hoped. They were also unexcited by Sir Bobby Charlton (well, he’s always around) and former Vice President Dan Quayle, who seems to have fled the all the palaver going on back in his homeland to play a few rounds of golf. I suppose that’s unfair. It’s not like he’s personally responsible for anything going on now. Apart from presumably voting Republican. I predict more hoo-hah tomorrow when Samuel L Jackson takes to the course.
I wholeheartedly recommend Bulgaria as a holiday destination. I wouldn’t recommend driving in Bulgaria quite so much, unless you have nerves of steel and enjoy driving on long windy pot-holed mountain passes where drivers (including articulated lorries) overtake at will, despite imminent hairpin bends. Those hills in the background of that shot, in fact. On one day trip, from Gabrovo to Plovdiv, we passed an overturned lorry on the way up and over the Shipka pass – fortunately (ha!) it just seemed to have overturned under the force of gravity rather than actually smashing into anything. Our return trip over the pass was made more interesting by and “automobile catastrophe” (pronounce it like it’s French, please), which meant that, in the dark, we had to go up and over the longer, windier, worse laid, older pass next door. So buses, they’re the way forward, especially since they’re often coaches, and you can shut your eyes and pretend that cars aren’t driving straight for you. Anyway, apart from the driving. Gorgeous scenery, stunning weather – pretty much 30-34 degrees everyday we were there – fabulous people. Plus, we got to stay at a place with a pool with a view.
It is possible to play sudoku with pictures. It just uses flickr tags to pull out the pictures, and you can set it to whatever you want.
So, for your procrastination – here is sudoku with my Japan photos…
