Ancient Britain

Sunday was one of the few pleasant days off of the summer weather-wise (did I really say summer?) and having just received my annual membership of English Heritage (courtesy of Tesco Clubcard) we took a trip to Avebury.

(all pictures my own - click for larger versions)

I remember visiting Stonehenge a long time ago feeling nothing bt disappointment. The stones looked a quarter of the size I imagined and right next to a very busy road and visitors were kept well away from them.

Avebury on the other hand is certainly worth a visit. Here you can actually walk amongst - and touch - the standing stones that are much much older than even Stonehenge. Although not as complete - thanks to local fielders and farmers in bygone days not realising the story behind there neighbourhood collection of standing stones - but enough has been restored to give you a feel for the place. The sheer size and scale of the site is awesome, not to mention the "feeling" of history. Mrs Wurzel - who understands these things - when touching the stones could also get a "feeling" for something more "mystic".


From Avebury itself and it's ring of standing stones we followed more stones forming an avenue (originally about a mile or so long although less than half remain) to the Sanctuary. From here we walked to the West Kennet Long Barrow, an amazing place that is well over 5000 years old but you can actually go inside. Some meditation sounds - made by real people visiting, not tourist trap audio loop through speakers- coming from somewhere in the darkness of the burial chambers added to the mystical quality.

From there, roughly half an hours walk back to Avebury, passing the mysterious and unexpectedly huge Silbury Hill rounded of a very pleasant day, which despite the plethora of information available probably left us asking more questions about the origins of the whole area than were answered. Which is just how I like my history.

Fashionably Old

Last night - if I didn't know it already - I finally realised that I'm getting old.

My 16 year old daughter had won a place in a catwalk show. 3 dozen young ladies had to be whittled down to just 12, with those 12 acting as models for a fashion show to take place next month. She paraded in front of an audience of around 300 people, first in casual wear, then swimwear. She was then selected for the final round, this time wearing evening wear and being interviewed by "celebrity" (I use that word advisedly) compère (I use that word advisedly too) Mike Osman, she didn't seem at all nervous. In fact quite the opposite she seemed quite the confident young lady. And if my daughter is already a young lady that must make me an old man !

Unfortunately she didn't get through into the final 12. Like any totally biased Dad I thought the judges had it wrong, although to be fair they were picking 12 girls to model clothes and it would appear that they went for the biggest variety of shapes and sizes t show off the clothing.

My daughters boyfriend had also entered. Only 4 men were required but he WAS one of the successful ones. NOT the best way to curry favour with your girlfriend I'd have thought.

The evening - unknown to me until I got there - was a charity fund raising evening for Sophie's Appeal. Sophie had died from wilms disease, something my stepson (before I knew him) had battled through and thankfully beaten when very young, losing a kidney in the process. Sophie's parents set up the charity in her memory, to raise funds to support the social, emotional and educational welfare of sick children and their families or carers whilst being treated either in hospital or the community. So all in all an enjoyable evening for a very worthwhile cause. Even if I did go home feeling a lot older than when I got there.

I'm European for 3 Days

I always consider myself English before British.

And NEVER European (despite what our wonderful leaders want us to think)

Except for this weekend. Golf's bi-ennial Ryder Cup is here again, one of the few occasions when watching golf gets exciting. So for the next 3 days I'll be cheering on Europe in our battle against the "good ole U S of A".

My prediction - USA 12 Europe 16

Go Europe !

Footnote: Why do American spectators habitually shout "Get in the hole" at the ball? 30,000 odd baying Southampton fans have never been able to affect the ability of their strikers to hit the back of the net, why does one man think he can influence the movement of an inanimate object with the power of his voice alone?

In The Words Of Gary Glitter ............

........... "Did you miss me, Yeah, while I was away ?"


Ok not the best example in the world to use for a comeback was it . But one has to keep ones legion of fans happy ( I say legion, I strongly suspect that "Stephen" and "Turtle" are one and the same) so after a gap of a few months I decided it's time to rekindle Wurzel's World.

No excuses for the gap in posting except for, well, I just don't seem to have had the time. So a quick update. Since I stopped posting in April I've

• Been a bit busy at work (sometimes, just a bit, now and again)
  
• Had my Sten night (joint stag and hen night)
• Got married (best day EVER)
  
• honeymooned in Spain
• came home
  
• still enjoying being married
• spent ages opening presents sorting "thank yous", photos etc.
• still enjoying being married
• tried to revive cricket career after 2 years injured - bowling ok, batting shite, now throws like a girl.
  
• still enjoying being married
• lots of days out to random places
• still enjoying being married
• Holiday in Cornwall it rained.
• still enjoying being married
• tried to get excited about start of new footie season
  
• still enjoying being married
• Same old Saints - already bored with new football season
• still enjoying being married
• regained position as reigning champions at Nick's Quiz Nights (with more than a bit of help from Mich )
• still enjoying being married.

As for the rest of the world, it's gone into meteorological and financial melt down. Whilst I take no responsibility for the weather rumour has it that financial traders the world over have been distracted whilst searching for my non-existent latest posts and taken their eye of the ball investment wise - sorry about that everyone.

I'll try to make sure I post again before Xmas.

Hello tell all your friends I'm back,
I'm back as a matter of fact,
as a matter of factI'm back.
G Glitter

Greetings from Goonhilly

A quick posting from Future World at
Goonhilly in Cornwall, using reputedly, the world's fastest internet connection.

Crunch Time

As I write, Saints have dropped into the relegation zone. Assuming all the teams above us lose we still need a minimum of 2 points with just 2 games to play.

The first on Monday night against a team who (realistically) needs just a point in front of their own fans to gain promotion back to the Premier League. Even worse it's live on tv, for some reason we take great delight in embarrassing ourselves in front of worldwide audiences. The final game at hone to know that beating us could (depending on other results) earn them a place in the coveted Play-Offs. So those points look a long way off.

As a fan is it being disloyal to admit it? - we are well and truly f*%#ed. Not least because on the day we dropped into the bottom 3 my shareholder invite to attend the hastily called EGM dropped on my doormat. Years of internal wrangling at board level have destroyed the very heart of the club.

Maybe it's karma, maybe the club is simply getting exactly what it deserves.

The only saving grace is that traditionally we have been able to pull a top performance out of the bag when it's least expected

Ah well 1 week to go and we'll know for sure.

Green Fingers

Thanks to a suddenly unaccountable spirit of self-sufficiency I have decided that I am going to grow our own vegetables from now on. Well, slight exaggeration, but last week I succumbed to an impulse purchase of a BBC Gardening magazine, lured by the packet of free seeds on the cover.

Just a week ago I filled 5 little flowerpots with compost and planted our summer rations. In two pots went seeds of "Oriental Mixed Salad Leaves". The other 3 contain either "Anaheim Chilli Pepper", "Sweet Green Basil" or "Gartenperle Tomato". I say "either" because I immediately spotted my first major error, I had forgotten to mark which pot contained which seeds after I'd buried the little blighters. However, undeterred by this initial setback, I covered them in cling film, placed them on the kitchen window sill , lightly watered them and - well basically forgot all about them.

Today just one week on, I remembered them again. I am pleased (and shocked) to report good progress. Both pots containing the spicy salad leaves are displaying astonishing growth, multiple shoots, all topped by two or more leaves, already about 3 inches high. I guess by Sunday it might be time for them to venture out into the big wide world.

As for the "unidentified" 3 progress is mixed. One (I think the tomato) has already produced 4 shoots about an inch high, with slender leaves. One of the others has several green tips just broken through the surface whilst the 3rd has yet to show any sign that I even put anything into the pot.

It's a bit early to say if anything edible is going to result from any of the 5 pots, but at the moment I'm looking forward to a healthy, "planted and picked by my own fair hand", salad-y diet this summer.

My next project - rip out the lawn and plant myself a small field of barley and hops.