WrAnTz

Araluen – An Afternoon Stroll

Monday and it’s time to clear out of the Perth suburbs and get some fresh air. Where better to go than Araluen Botanical Park.

We have visited a few times before but never tire of returning. There is always something to see and during the week, in term time, so tranquil. There were only a few cars in the car park and once we were in the park everyone was so spread out it was as if we had the place to ourselves.

Araluen – Botanical Park

Araluen – Botanical Park – Grove of the Unforgotten

Araluen – Botanical Park

Araluen – Botanical Park – Grove of the Unforgotten

Araluen – Botanical Park

Part way round the park we popped into Chalet Healy Cafe, where they prepared lunch, a very nice Seafood Basket for each of us. Each basket comprising fish, prawns, scallops, and fish bites with chips and salad. Very tasty.

On any visit to Araluen, you never know what you will see, as you follow the many meandering paths. On this occasion we were treated to a close up view of a bird of prey, too quick to be captured in a photo. A large, almost black, lizard that darted under the steps to the cafe. Around the pool there were several families of ducks, Terrapins and large gold fish.

Winter Fuel Allowance

WINTER FUEL ALLOWANCE

About this time of the year, “older taxpayers” will again be receiving
another ‘Winter Fuel’ payment.

This is indeed a very exciting programme and I’ll explain it by using
a Q & A format:
Q.What is a ‘Winter Fuel’ payment?
A.It is money the government will send to taxpayers.

Q.Where will the government get this money?
A.From taxpayers.

Q.So, the government is giving me back my own money?
A.Only a smidgen of it.

Q.What is the purpose of this payment?
A.The plan is for you to use the money to purchase gas and electricity…or perhaps high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China ?
A.Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the UK economy by
spending your ‘Winter Fuel’ cheque wisely:
*If you spend the money at ASDA or Tesco, the money will go to China ,
Taiwan or Sri Lanka.

*If you spend it on petrol your money will go to the Arabs

*If you purchase a computer it will go to India , Taiwan or China

*If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras
and Guatemala .

*If you buy an efficient car it will go to Japan or Korea .

*If you purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan .

*If you pay off your credit cards or buy shares, it will go to
management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.

Instead, keep the money in the UK by:

1). Spending it at car boot sales. 2).Going to night clubs. 3). Spending it on prostitutes.

4). Buying beer or whiskey. 5). Getting yourself a tattoo. 6). Visiting a bookie.

(These are the only UK businesses still operating in the U.K. )
Conclusion: Be patriotic! Go to a night club with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a car boot sale and drink beer day and night !

No need to thank me…I’m just glad I could be of help.

Hinton Ampner House

Earlier this year we took a day trip, out into the countryside, with our heavily pregnant granddaughter. We ended in the grounds of the National Trust house, Hinton Ampner.

From the National Trust website ….

This elegant country manor and tranquil garden sit so harmoniously within the landscape that one cannot exist without the other.
The house was lovingly rebuilt by its last owner, Ralph Dutton, after a catastrophic fire in 1960. Enjoy the beautifully proportioned rooms which house his exquisite collection of ceramics and art, each window offering undisturbed views to the tranquil countryside beyond.
Beautifully manicured lawns lead the eye down avenues of sculptured topiary, past borders full of the heady scent of roses, to breathtaking views across the South Downs.
National Trust

We enjoyed walking the grounds and hopefully the following images will give you a flavour of this beautiful property.

Sadly due to my granddaughter not feeling very well we had to cut short our visit. We, therefore, were not able to see the inside of the house.

The good news is that this place is only a short drive away, so we will be back.

Giants

Earlier this year I took a bit of a trip down memory lane and somehow ended up in the Sussex village of Brede. Now Brede is just a couple of miles up the road from my home in Westfield, another Sussex village. My mates and I used to take off on our bikes, with our fishing rods, and spend the day along the banks of the Brede River. What we never knew was, that less than half a mile away, as the crow flies, there were giants !!!

Of course, these aren’t the mythological giants of legend. These giants are of the steam variety. As pre-teenage kids we were totally unaware of the wonders that were working so hard just a short distance away.

The “giants” were two Tangye engines with their associated pumps which were installed in 1904, and a third manufactured by Worthington Simpson , added in 1940. All three units operated until the end of steam in 1964.

The water, pumped by these giants, was drawn from large wells penetrating the rock (Ashdown Sandstone aquifer) beneath the River Brede. It was purified and then pumped into service reservoirs on The Ridge above Hastings for distribution by gravity via the pipe networks serving Hastings.

Of course, there is more here than just the “giant” steam engines. There are many other steam pumps and engines. Some were originally from this site. Others have been donated from further afield. The folks that work here are all volunteers and they work very hard to maintain a working display of this old technology.

Also on this site there are artifacts from more recent years, from the time of the cold war. There is nuclear bunker, one of three built by Southern Water as an emergency control centre to become operational in the event of nuclear war. It was never completed and work on the bunker appears to have stopped in 1992.

Following our visit to Brede Water Works we headed up to Brede village for a bite to eat and not before long we were sat in the beer garden at the rear of the Red Lion pub.

The Red Lion is a family run 15th Century pub serving an interesting range of freshly cooked dishes. The menu features locally caught fish from Hastings & Rye, meat from Hastings, locally sourced & homegrown fruit & vegetables and wild mushrooms foraged in Brede High Woods.

Here I had one of the best seafood platters, ever. With some of the home made “Brede Bread” on the side.

Just round the corner from the Red Lion is St. Georges church.

St. Georges has quite a history. Here is just a short piece that I have quoted from their own website.

In about 1017, soon after his marriage to Emma of Normandy, King Canute granted a land called ‘Rammesleah’ to the Abbey at Fecamp in Normandy. Construction of the present church in around 1180 was probably funded by the Abbott of Fecamp. Until 1413 Brede remained under the domination of the Abbey and the parish was served by its Benedictine monks until ‘alien’ (foreign) priories were dissolved buring the reign of King Henry VIII.
The name of the village is first found in a charter of c1030 and comes from Olde English ‘bredu’ meaning breadth’ referring to the wide river to the south.
The River Brede later took it’s name from the village.
The Church is dedicated to St. George, probably a soldier martyred in Palestine in the early 4th century. Besides also being Patron Saint of England he is remembered above all for the legend of ‘St. George and the Dragon’. There is a window dedicated to him at the west end of the north aisle and a statue near the altar in the church. Very little of the earlier Norman building remains and the structure of the Church developed over a period of some 400 years from the 12th century onwards.
From the exterior, much of what one sees is 15th century Perpendicular architecture. The walls were built of local sandstone and ironstone. High on a buttress near the porch is a brass sundial dated 1826.

Let All The Kids Go Green

My sister posted this on Facebook. Not sure of its origins but it’s to good not to share.

After our daughter of fifteen years of age was moved to tears by the speech of Greta Thunberg at the UN the other day, she became angry with our generation “who had been doing nothing for thirty years.”

So, we decided to help her prevent what the girl on TV announced of “massive eradication and the disappearance of entire ecosystems.”

We are now committed to give our daughter a future again, by doing our part to help cool the planet four degrees.

From now on she will go to school on a bicycle, because driving her by car costs fuel, and fuel puts emissions into the atmosphere. Of course it will be winter soon and then she will want to go by bus, but only as long as it is a diesel bus.

Somehow, that does not seem to be conducive to ‘helping the Climate’.

Of course, she is now asking for an electric bicycle, but we have shown her the devastation caused to the areas of the planet as a result of mining for the extraction of Lithium and other minerals used to make batteries for electric bicycles, so she will be pedaling, or walking. Which will not harm her, or the planet. We used to cycle and walk to school too.

Since the girl on TV demanded “we need to get rid of our dependency on fossil fuels” and our daughter agreed with her, we have disconnected the heat vent in her room. The temperature is now dropping to twelve degrees in the evening, and will drop below freezing in the winter, we have promised to buy her an extra sweater, hat, tights, gloves and a blanket.

For the same reason we have decided that from now on she only takes a cold shower. She will wash her clothes by hand, with a wooden washboard, because the washing machine is simply a power consumer and since the dryer uses natural gas, she will hang her clothes on the clothes line to dry.

Speaking of clothes, the ones that she currently has are all synthetic, so made from petroleum. Therefore on Monday, we will bring all her designer clothing to the secondhand shop.

We have found an eco store where the only clothing they sell is made from undyed and unbleached linen, wool and jute.

It shouldn’t matter that it looks good on her, or that she is going to be laughed at, dressing in colorless, bland clothes and without a wireless bra, but that is the price she has to pay for the benefit of The Climate.

Cotton is out of the question, as it comes from distant lands and pesticides are used for it. Very bad for the environment.

We just saw on her Instagram that she’s pretty angry with us. This was not our intention.

From now on, at 7 p.m. we will turn off the WiFi and we will only switch it on again the next day after dinner for two hours. In this way we will save on electricity, so she is not bothered by electro-stress and will be totally isolated from the outside world. This way, she can concentrate solely on her homework. At eleven o’clock in the evening we will pull the breaker to shut the power off to her room, so she knows that dark is really dark. That will save a lot of CO2.

She will no longer be participating in winter sports to ski lodges and resorts, nor will she be going on anymore vacations with us, because our vacation destinations are practically inaccessible by bicycle.

Since our daughter fully agrees with the girl on TV that the CO2 emissions and footprints of her great-grandparents are to blame for ‘killing our planet’, what all this simply means, is that she also has to live like her great-grandparents and they never had a holiday, a car or even a bicycle.

We haven’t talked about the carbon footprint of food yet.

Zero CO2 footprint means no meat, no fish and no poultry, but also no meat substitutes that are based on soy (after all, that grows in farmers fields, that use machinery to harvest the beans, trucks to transport to the processing plants, where more energy is used, then trucked to the packaging/canning plants, and trucked once again to the stores) and also no imported food, because that has a negative ecological effect. And absolutely no chocolate from Africa, no coffee from South America and no tea from Asia.

Only homegrown potatoes, vegetables and fruit that have been grown in local cold soil, because greenhouses run on boilers, piped in CO2 and artificial light. Apparently, these things are also bad for The Climate. We will teach her how to grow her own food.

Bread is still possible, but butter, milk, cheese and yogurt, cottage cheese and cream come from cows and they emit CO2. No more margarine and no oils will be used for the frying pan, because that fat is palm oil from plantations in Borneo where rain forests first grew.

No ice cream in the summer. No soft drinks and no energy drinks, as the bubbles are CO2. She wanted to lose some pounds, well, this will help her achieve that goal too.

We will also ban all plastic, because it comes from chemical factories. Everything made of steel and aluminum must also be removed. Have you ever seen the amount of energy a blast furnace consumes or an aluminum smelter? Uber bad for the climate!

We will replace her 9600 coil, memory foam pillow top mattress, with a jute bag filled with straw,with a horse hair pillow.

And finally, she will no longer be using makeup, soap, shampoo, cream, lotion, conditioner, toothpaste and medication. Her sanitary napkins will be replaced with pads made of linen, that she can wash by hand, with her wooden washboard, just like her female ancestors did before climate change made her angry at us for destroying her future.

In this way we will help her to do her part to prevent mass extinction, water levels rising and the disappearance of entire ecosystems.

If she truly believes she wants to walk the talk of the girl on TV, she will gladly accept and happily embrace her new way of life.

Nerves

A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. After the mass he asked the Monsignor how he had done and what he could do about his nerves. The Monsignor replied, “Just in case I start getting nervous at the pulpit, I always have a glass of vodka next to the water bottle. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip.”

So the next Sunday he took the Monsignor’s advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he started to get nervous and took a drink. He then proceeded to talk up a storm. Upon returning to his chamber after mass, he found the following note on his door:

1. Sip the Vodka, don’t gulp.

2. There are 10 commandments, not 12.

3. There are 12 disciples, not 10.

4. Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.

5. Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not bet his ass.

6. We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J.C.

7. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Daddy, Junior, and the Spook.

8. David slew Goliath, he did not kick the shit out of him.

9. When David was hit by a rock and knocked off his donkey, don’t say he was stoned off his ass.

10. We do not refer to the cross as the Big T!

11. When Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper he said, “Take this and eat it, for it is my body”, he did not say, “Eat me.”

12. The Virgin Mary is not referred to as the, “Mary with the Cherry”.

13. The recommended grace before a meal is not: “Rub-A-dub-dub, thanks for the grub, yeah God”. and finally…

14. Next Sunday there will be a taffy-pulling contest at St. Peter’s, not a peter-pulling contest at St. Taffy’s.

Cheshire Wandering (3) Quarry Bank

After the girls had, two days ago, overdosed on retail therapy, and I had walked my pins to stumps exploring the River Weaver, it was time to absorb some more Cheshire history. And so off we set, into previously uncharted territory. Our destination, Quarry Bank Mill.

Quarry Bank Mill (also known as Styal Mill) in Styal, Cheshire, is apparently, one of the best preserved textile mills of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, it is now a museum of the cotton industry. The mill was established by Samuel Greg and was notable for the innovative approach to labour relations. This was largely as a result of the work of Greg’s wife, Hannah Lightbody.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarry_Bank_Mill

On entry to the mill you are guided through the wool/cotton making process, entering on the ground floor. The various informational boards lead you, initially, up to the top floor. This is probably a good thing as by the end of the tour, on weary legs, you exit at ground level, not far from the cafe. Thankfully there is a lift to get you to the top.

Dentists Chair

Lancashire Overpick Loom – Quarry Bank

Weaving Machine – Quarry Bank

Caterpillar Barrow

As one explores there are plenty of information boards which enable you to understand the environmental and the social changes that were happening at the time. Lots of examples of the typical “contracts of employment” and apprentice indentures. The mill employed men, women and children. Men, then as now, were typically paid more than women doing the same jobs. Nothing changes.

Perhaps, one of the most significant events of the time was Peterloo …..

The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had resulted in periods of famine and chronic unemployment, exacerbated by the introduction of the first of the Corn Laws. By the beginning of 1819, the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the relative lack of suffrage in Northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political radicalism. In response, the Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, organised a demonstration to be addressed by the well-known radical orator Henry Hunt.

Shortly after the meeting began, local magistrates called on the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry to arrest Hunt and several others on the hustings with him. The Yeomanry charged into the crowd, knocking down a woman and killing a child, and finally apprehending Hunt. The 15th Hussars were then summoned by the magistrate, Mr Hulton, to disperse the crowd. They charged with sabres drawn, and in the ensuing confusion, 18 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre

Continue reading “Cheshire Wandering (3) Quarry Bank”

Cheshire Wandering (2) Acton Bridge and Dutton Locks

After the epic tour of Tatton Park, the girls decided that they needed some retail therapy. As this is definitely not my thing, I dropped them off at the Cheshire Oaks retail park and took off to explore a little.

My original plan was to visit the canal and quayside at Preston Brook. Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be anywhere for me to park, legally. So, I had to wander a little further afield.

Which is how I found myself visiting Acton Bridge.

Acton Bridge

The Acton Swing Bridge spans the River Weaver in the village of Acton Bridge in north Cheshire, England. First operated in 1933, it carries the A49 trunk road.

Turntable, Acton Swing Bridge, Cheshire

Acton Swing Bridge, Cheshire

Rana @ Acton Bridge, Cheshire

Acton Swing Bridge, Cheshire

River Weaver, Acton Bridge, Cheshire

Rana @ Acton Bridge, Cheshire

Acton Swing Bridge, Cheshire

From the Acton Swing Bridge I decided to walk along the river to Dutton Locks, a distance of about 1.3 miles. According to Google it would take approximately 25 minutes. Of course that doesn’t allow for someone carrying a camera and prone to many stops to capture that essential shot. Or to listen to the birds singing. And there were a lot of birds singing.

River Weaver, Cheshire

After a very enjoyable stroll I reached the area of the locks.

Dutton Locks

A pair of locks, dating from around 1874. Built for the Weaver Navigation Co. The locks are large enough to take sea going ships and have semaphore signals to control entry.

Close to the locks is a sunken boat, the ‘Chica’. Apparently, in its prime, it used to be a hotel boat.

View of Horse Bridge and Railway Viaduct from Dutton Locks

Dutton Locks, Cheshire

Derelict Vessel “Chica”, Dutton Locks

Semaphore Signals, Dutton Locks

View of Horse Bridge and Railway Viaduct from Dutton Locks

Bridge near Dutton Locks

Spillway near Dutton Locks

Bridge near Dutton Locks

Dutton Locks Cottages

Dutton Locks

Spillway near Dutton Locks

After a pleasant chat with a representative of the Canal and River Trust it was time to head back to my car and go to pick up the girls. As I hadn’t taken any water with me I was gagging for a drink. So I picked them up and we headed home for, in my opinion, a well earned cup of tea.

Cheshire Wandering (1) Tatton Park

Last week my wife and I took a trip up to the Wirral, to visit the outlaws. My wifes sister, our niece and her daughter. As we always do on such visits, we like to do the touristy thing and go on days out, to visit some stately pile, gardens or perhaps country views.

On this occasion, our first trip out, was to Tatton Park.

Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion – Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house – Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of some 2,000 acres.

On our arrival we came across these vehicles. Apparently there was to be a fair in the park over the weekend. These were just some of the support trucks for the various fairground rides.

1951 Scammell
1976 Scammell & 1960 Scammell

These are the heavy haulers that I used to see on the roads when I was a kid.

There is a lot of ground to cover at Tatton Park. Before exploring we popped into The Stables for a bite to eat. The weather, being kind, allowed us to eat al fresco. Although that was a dubious honour as we were kept under constant observation by the resident Jackdaws.

Jackdaw, Tatton Park
Jackdaw, Tatton Park
Jackdaw, Tatton Park

These guys were not shy. It wasn’t quite like a scene from Hitchcocks “The Birds” but they certainly had plans for us, or rather our food. It wasn’t long before one of our observers made a high speed run and stole a chip from our plate whilst we were still eating. I noticed that they were selective too. They had no interest in the salad stuff left on an adjacent table. They did inspect it, but then went back to trying to intimidate us into leaving our sausage and chips.

Suitably fuelled up we headed out into the grounds, looking for the Japanese and Italian gardens. En-route we passed through this tranquil lawned area.

Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Tatton Park

Still en-route, the signs lead us down to the Golden Brook Pits area. Tranquil waters surrounded by Rhodedendrons and Azaleas.

Tatton Park
Golden Brook Pits, Tatton Park
Golden Brook Pits, Tatton Park
Golden Brook Pits, Tatton Park
Golden Brook Pits, Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Golden Brook Pits, Tatton Park

Eventually we did reach the Japanese Garden, very peaceful and beautiful…

Japanese Garden, Tatton Park
Japanese Garden, Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Japanese Garden, Tatton Park
Japanese Garden, Tatton Park
Japanese Garden, Tatton Park

Strolling round the grounds is very relaxing and ones senses are overwhelmed with the sights, scents and the sounds of bird song that greet you round every turn.

Leech Pool, Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Tatton Park
Melchette Mere, Tatton Park

But there is more to Tatton than just the great outdoors. Heading back up to the mansion we wander into the Orangery, Fernery and the Victorian Glasshouses. Here there are actually Oranges, Lemons, various varieties of Grapes and Strawberries ready for picking.

The Fernery, Tatton Park
Glasshouse, Tatton Park
The Orangery, Tatton Park
The Orangery, Tatton Park

From these fabulous structures we headed over to the Italian Gardens. To be honest we found them to be a little disappointing. Maybe it was the wrong season or, maybe, the scale seemed out of keeping with the rest of the grounds.

Melchette Mere, Tatton Park
The Mansion viewed across the Italian Garden, Tatton Park
The Mansion viewed across the Italian Garden, Tatton Park
Italian Garden, Tatton Park
The Mansion, Tatton Park
The Mansion, Tatton Park

As is typical of our wanderings, we were too late to enter the mansion. This ensures that we will have to return to complete our tour. If you are ever in the vicinity I would recommend that you spare the time to visit. Having said that, we spent nearly five hours here and still failed to see it all.

To finish off our visit, we had a cream tea in the Gardeners Cottage Tea Rooms.

Lovely !!!

Sculpture Park Pleasure

Last Saturday we spent a fabulous few hours, with friends, exploring this sculpture park at Churt in Surrey.

The park comprises some 650 modern and contemporary sculptures displayed throughout ten acres of arboretum and water gardens. To do it justice you really need to have 360 degree vision as you explore the various trails. Not only that, but you also have to remember to look up into the trees as the owners of the park have done a marvelous job, secreting many of the exhibits above ones head or within the shrubs and bushes.

The following photos reflect just a subset of the exhibits on view. Where possible, I have added the name of the piece and that of its creator.

Stork in a Top Hat

PIN BALL WIZZ

Ferryman

The Twins

Cork Eagle

MODULUS TTS

Jazz Man

Ewe-nicycle

Rutting Stags

Hornbill

Pre-Hysteric

Doctor Foster

THE 4 HORSES OF APOCALYPSE

Rutting Stags

Driftwood Peacock

Polar Bear

Aida

Pair of Goats

GENERATION

Wheels

Sharing Secrets

ARION

THE 4 HORSES OF APOCALYPSE

SKATERS

Flying Dream

DICENTRA BLEEDING HEART

Conversation

Double Eye

Dave

Narcissus

Silverback Gorilla

Global

Jonah

Icarus II

3 papillons (Butterfly Trio)

by Ruth Moiliet

Weasel

Passion Flower

Boris, Polar Bear

BI-POLAR EXPRESS II

Final Throes of Dragon Tableaux (Horseshoe Dragon)

Florescense

As you can see there is a huge variety of styles. Many of the sculptures are totally surreal and many are just beautiful. All provoke thought and some, even with the aid of the guide book, are just plain confusing. Sometimes you need to look behind an exhibit to understand what is going on. They are not always what they seem ….

The following is my own particular favourite …… beautiful.

Paraiso (Paradise) by Rafael Miranda San Juan — Paraiso (Paradise)

Throughout the park there was a recurring humorous theme …… these guys kept popping up, putting a smile on our faces even when theirs were looking a little manic.