It's beginning to look a lot like............

Well, it is that time of the year again. I thought that I would compose a brief missive, given that I have been extrordinarily lax of late.
I have to admit that I have not been caught out by the sudden arrival of this forthcoming festival. This is because the warning signs have been there since the end of September. Only the most obtuse could have missed them. Crackers and mince pies have been on the supermarket shelves for some weeks. I don't have a huge issue with this as I am rather partial to a mince pie, in fact any food with the word "pie" in the name is ok by me. Christmas "music" has been played at me in shops since the end of October and harrassed looking parents have been searching for that must have merry festive death ray gun for their little darlings.. Decorations have appeared before the last firework was let off for Bonfire Week. Digressing just a little, that must be the only time that the public can detonate expolosives in their back gardens without fear of terrorism charges. Finally, to remove any possible doubt, our local NCP (thieving bastards) car park has bedecked the barriers with tinsel and put up signs exhorting me to have a "magical festive season". Who do they think I am, a wizard?

Is it me, or does this all start a little too early?

So here it is, merry (Christmas/Saturnalia/Winter Solstice.........................)*

*Delete as applicable or insert preferred name of festival here.

Personally, I will be celebrating Hogswatch.

We Were There

As soon as it was confirmed that the Olympics would come to London, we decided that we wanted to go and be a part of it. After all, opportunities like this don't come round very often. We weren't successful in our bid, so we thought we'd go for Paralympic tickets.   So, on Sunday morning at the first parp of the farting sparrow, we headed off to catch the train to Stratford. As an exercise in organisation, it was excellent. There were people on the station to make sure you found the right train. Arriving at Stratford, there were numerous signs and helpers to guide us from the station to the Olympic Park. Getting in was painless. security was thorough and efficient. To the soldier who had to frisk me because my belt set the alarm off, I would like to say, "Thanks mate, and I like your sense of humour".

We had really good seats in the stadium (which is amazing and not as big as it looks on the telly), about a dozen rows from the track side. We saw a variety of track and field events in our morning session. I won't list them - you can Google the session should you wish to. I have to say that the level of competition was far higher than I had expected. In particular the T11/12 sprinters, who are so visually impaired that they had guide runners, were so fast. Here are a selection from the 400 pictures that I took:

We were seated quite early. 

The events for the morning session 

No empty seats

 

Stef Reid winning silver in the long jump

Tracey Hinton and her guide runner starting the 200m semi final

 

Men's 100m round 1

Men's 1500m

Men's 400m

 

Women's 100m start

Men's 100m start

Women's 5000m

Edith Wolf - Gold Medal Women's 5000m

Aled Davies - Gold Medal Men's Discus

Looking back, I'm a bit ashamed to say that these wouldn't have been my first choice. How wrong was I?

Quick query

Anyone know what this is?

The Bears go over the mountain (by car)

The Bears have been on holibobs. 1644 miles, 2 weeks and several quids later, we are back from a grand tour of Scotland and Northumberland. The Smaller Bear has been documenting our travels so a full account will, no doubt, appear on her blog in due course. For now, I'm just going to chuck a few pictures on here for general perusal. You may note a common theme developing.

This is an LMS Black 5 crossing Glenfinnan viaduct. Harry Potter fans will recognise it as the viaduct crossed by the  Hogwarts Express. The locomotive in the film was called "Hogwarts Castle". However, it was actually a Hall class locomotive that was repainted and renamed for the film. "Olton Hall" to be precise. Too nerdy? Ok, I'll stop now.

This is Oban harbour. I thought this picture might look good on a chocolate box.

This is Castle Stalker. It is also known as Castle Aaarghh in the film, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

We visited Auld Reekie and saw Mr Wallace. I believe that the tourist did not survive the encounter.

We had a tour of the Dalwhinnie distillery earlier in the week and then we embarked on the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh culminating in whisky tasting. We then had some whisky cocktails. The Smaller Bear got a little bladdered (as can be seen).

This is Roslin chapel, as seen in "The Da Vinci Code".

One for the Antiquarian Horologist

Alnwick Castle aka Hogwarts

You can't go on holiday and not buy presents. These are all for us.

Well, we watched it...

We recorded the Jubilee concert so that we could skip through the boring bits. I have to say that the fast forward button didn't get as much use as I anticipated. As live events go, this one was pretty slick.
One or two of the artists, sadly, don't have the voices that they used that have and Sir Elton appears to have turned into a pub singer. Overall, we thought it was quite spiffing. Madness were brilliant, as was Sir Tom. The techies did a marvelous job- the projection onto the palace was impressive. Number One Son (who does that sort of thing for a living) may well say it was quite ordinary, but it impressed me.
Although I don't claim to be a royalist, I have to admit to enjoying the whole thing. They just need to change that godawful dirge that is the national anthem.

To the edge and back

Upon this day, the good Lady Bruin de Minuitive and I didst venture forth to yon very edge of the known world. Thereupon didst we meet with many fine scribes from the far-flung corners of our fair land.
Our hosts, Z and The Sage didst provide many fine victuals and much quaffing and scoffing did ensue.
'Twas exceeding fine to have discourse with such scribes that 'ere were known only to us by their manuscripts. Verily, 'twas equally fine to renew acquaintance with acquaintances that we were acquainted with.
Many wondrous things were seen. Yon memory of witnessing  the arcane art of chick tickling will go with  me to my grave.

'Twas a brilliant day!

Bears go the pictures

 We haven't been to the cinema for ages. In fact, I can't remember what we saw last time we went. It wasn't a silent movie, before anyone suggests it.
Both of us are Johnny Depp fans, albeit for different reasons. So. on Sunday afternoon we decided to go and see Dark Shadows at the great Cineworld multiplex in downtown Ippy.
I now remember why we hadn't been for a while. What a rip-off. The film was fun, but the cinematic experience left a fair bit to be desired. The air conditioning wasn't working. We were half an hour into the film before one of the trolls who masquerade as staff remembered to turn the lights off. We got charged evening rates even though it was before 5 pm (sadly, I didn't catch on to this until we were home).
All-in-all, my advice would be to buy the DVD. Even if you throw it away after watching it once, you'll still be better off once you take parking and exorbitant entrance fees into account.
Oh, and you won't have to sit in a warm fug of armpit and fart stench with the rustles and grunts from your fellow viewers  that do nothing to enhance the film soundtrack.

Developments at Bearston le Wold

Some more works have been carried out on the Bearston le Wold branch line. In no particular order, here they are: 

 The class 108 DMU now has some passengers waiting on the station.

 The parish church of St Damien in the background as the 10:43 for Upper Bearston rumbles past.

 Class 3M waits for orders in the background whilst the class 04 shunter takes on diesel at the refuelling point

 Class 24 "Ratty" trundles past the cow pasture

A row of cottages has now appeared on Station Lane. Garden detail is courtesy of the Smaller Bear. On the left are the latest additions to the livestock at Grumps Farm 

The local bus service struggles up the hill past the grazing sheep.

No animals were harmed in the making of this report (although there was some gold standard swearing from the Larger Bear at some of the more fiddly jobs). Apologies, the pictures are not as sharp as I would have liked.