Happy Halloween

Once more work has taken me away from home for a few days this week which means I miss Halloween. Lily has been getting excited about pumpkins and spiders and witches. Over the weekend we carved the first of the two pumpkins with a big spider, last night I finished off with a smiling faced one as well (though it looks a little like a cat now!) And we lit them together and had them outside for Lily to watch during tea.

Hurricane fly past

Its usually Spitfires that get all the press, but the Hurricane was just as important during the Battle of Britain. I spotted this example on a pole outside Duxford as I was driving home from darkest Norfolk

Bottling it!

A couple of weeks ago, Kim went foraging for Sloes to make some gin and vodka. The only thing stopping her from starting was the lack of vessel to store it in once made. A quick trip to Lakeland at lunchtime today and we have four bottles ready to be filled

Crafty afternoon

Its been a daddy and daughter weekend. Kim was out most of saturday, so Lily and I spent the day together playing and seeing my parents. Kim was out again this afternoon so we decided to stay in and do some crafts leading up to Halloween. Lacking any white paint we opted for some chalk rubbed into Lilys feet and then drew round and shaded a bit to make a couple of spooky ghosts. We also managed a black paint handprint spider as well!

Bond, James Bond

For the first time in four years, Kim and I went to the cinema together. A combination of Lily and lack of time meant the last thing we saw as a couple was Quantum of Solace in Leicester Square in 2008! With a new Bond film out and a Lilysitter arranged it was a date. The film was amazing and Kim managed to stay awake to the end at just before 11pm. The photo is cheating a bit as it was taken a couple of weeks ago in the foyer of a cinema in Leeds.

Proper F1

On the way home today we took half an hour out to wander round the Donington Formula One collection. Its the biggest collection of F1 cars in the world and theres some amazing machines inside. Everything for Williams and Mclarens from the last decade to 50 year old cars. The Lotus 49 is a design classic. Engine out the back, British Racing Green with Lotus yellow stripes and not much else.

Mud, mud glorious mud

Mud, cold and H&S signage everywhere. It must be another building site to work on!

Back street muscle

Coming out of London today I diverted down through Chelsea and passed a couple of classic car showrooms hidden away down a side street. Parked in the cobble lane behind one of them was this gleaming Mach1 Mustang waiting to be displayed inside.

Fog bound Russian

On route back from a job today I diverted across to Popham airfield, the fog was low and dense and I didn't expect to see anything flying let alone parked up. There was nothing of real interest until I spotted a wing poking out behind the trees adjacent to the second strip. It was a big biplane. Turns out its a Russian Antonov AN-2, built in the 1940s as a transport plane. Something a bit different.

Rubbery!

I needed some seals for an install at work. A search online found a couple of places that could help, but it was difficult to see exactly what they were selling. A trip to Hills Rubber was in order. This shop is old school, really old school. They've been in business in Reading since the 1880s and stock all sorts of seals, sheets and gaskets, of course they had just what I needed and some good advice thrown in for free. An old poster on the wall shows the stock was some what different decades ago!

Brunch date

We had a breakfast date but owing to slightly poor service it became brunch! Lily dress up all autumnally with a funky hat at a cheeky angle. Then wolfed down sausage, bacon, hashbrown, beans and an egg!

Are you being served?

We had a playdate today. With his better half away, our friend Malcolm teamed up with us to play tag softplay at Kids'n'Action. The girls ran all over the place sliding down slides, kicking balls and shopping for almost three hours.

Old Royal Naval College

Originally built as a hospital in the 1690s, the college is now the site of Greenwich University and the location for several films as well. Belle, a period drama was being filmed while we were there. Using the backdrop of the Christopher Wren designed buildings that show similarities to St Pauls Cathedral.

Paying to get into Wales

£12.10, thats how much the Welsh want to get into the country over the bridge. At least it wasn't raining at that point!

Traction Avant

One of the first front wheel drive cars. This Citroen was parked up in a village garage on our route back from Birmingham. This one is from the end of the production run in the 1950s as it has the vast boot sticking out the back.

Derelict train

I've driven passed the signs for Middleton Steam Railway many times. Today I finally had a bit of time to pull in and see what was there. Not a huge amount as the place was closed. Only this large and rusty engine was on show. A bit of searching once home though has revealed its the site of the oldest continuously working railway having begun as a coal haulage service in 1758

These boots were made for walking

Lily has a fascination with the shoe rack in the lobby at home. Each day she'll grab several pairs of Kims shoes off the rack and totter around the lounge. Today she stomped in my work boots!

I'm a lumberjack!

Well sort of. A couple of weeks ago we decided to hack down our buddleia bush, you're supposed to trim them back each year to almost nothing otherwise they get all woody. With a pile of branches on the patio it was either a trip to the tip or keep loading the composter for eternity or option C. Kim borrowed her dads chipper and for half an hour I was happily shredding things and sprinkling it over the flowerbeds as mulch.

The names Bond, Bond Minicar

Its getting towards the end of the car show season. Thatcham has been a favourite for a few years now so we headed down once more. One of my cars of the day is barely a car. Its a 1950s Bond Minicar, a 197cc bike engined three wheeler. It was brilliant from its little chugging two stroke lump to the way it bounced off the field.

Out with the old and in with the new

Well it didn't take me long. A cracking deal came up at Jessops in town. A shiny (matt black) Canon 550D with a second battery and Extreme Pro memory card as well as the kit and a zoom lens for £550. I couldn't turn it down. Its going to get a proper roads test tomorrow at the car show we're off to.

Sad day in the world of photography

For a few weeks now, my trusty Canon 400D that I got as a 30th birthday present has been throwing up an error message. "Err99" is a vague message covering all sorts of potential problems. Mine seem to centre around the built in flash and using lenses at full zoom. The shutter is the most likely source of the problem as it was rated for 40-50000 operations and mine has gone past 100000 now. It looks like I shall be camera shopping soon

Bridging the gap

Built in 1906, the Newport transporter bridge in South Wales is one of only eight working examples in the world. The two towers hold cables that suspend a section of roadway that glides across the 200m gap during the spring and summer months. At a £1 a go I will be back to try it out one day.

Men at work

This unhappy chappy was keeping watch over us as we worked in a big data centre. He never smiled once!

Heavy lift

On our travels today we chanced upon an industrial museum. Pride of place outside was this huge Ruston Bucyrus steam shovel. Weighing in at 84 tons and able to shift 18 tons at a time, it was a beast.

Those Magnificent Women In their Flying Machines

After missing out on Lily time most of yesterday because of motorsport, I wanted to make up for it today. We had an early morning walk to the shop and then into the playground. The little kiddies one has loads for Lily to get her teeth into and her trousers soaked (autumn dew) including this old plane. She was happy to pilot the machine before bailing out down the slide at the back!

Racing Sevens

A real last minute trip out today. My brother managed to blag some free tickets to the Caterham Finals at Rockingham. The track isn't the greatest being a vast slightly soulless oval track with an infield. Viewing is limited to a couple of corners up close or the overview from the grandstands, but it was sunny and it was an unexpected motorsport hit.

Low flying

Working near Heathrow today, all you could hear was the sound of planes landing. On the drive home we diverted up the A30 and watched a few come in, skimming the rooftops and the road before touching down.

Working with dummies

I spent most of the day driving up to Leeds and back today. The remainder was spent in the company of this lot in an art studio aligning a link.

Up, up and away

On route back from a call to Bungay in Norfolk we stopped in at the local aviation museum. I had a look round in February when we were last up here so headed straight for the old VW powered Snowtrac out the back, following a chat with the volunteer on duty even got to clamber inside and look around. The museum also has a connection with Ken Wallis, he designed the gyrocopter that was used in the Bond film You Only Live Twice.

I Spy with my little eye

At bedtime we read some stories to Lily, she tends to pick some books out and we settling in. Tonight she nabbed a book she got for her birthday off the desk in the study. I Spy - Classic Cars. Whilst flicking through we spied the 1960s Amphicar which, by studying the photo and seeing a car and water, Lily named "boatcar"!

Bad timing

The local council have no idea about planning it would seem. The school holidays when the roads are clear and the weather not too bad, is the ideal time to carry out road repairs. So they chose the beginning of October and the rush hour on a wet monday to start tearing up the tarmac and redirecting traffic. The result was a an hour long journey home. 10 minutes to do the first few miles, 50 minutes to do the last mile!