More Phlegm

As I've let Lynn down so very badly by being a bit tardy with my posts, this is just for her.
Don't eat them all at once and if you do make it to Norwich, I still have some of these left.

So, I've been with the Phlegms again. (yeah)!!!
This is part of the new border controls at the Channel Tunnel.
If you give it some food you can go through.
This gull was one of the extras in "The Birds". It's sad how they are now reduced to scratching out a living by menacing tourists with their "Hooded" look.

This is where I play when I'm over in Belgium, complete with a pretend series 1 Elise.
This is just a load of old panels we used for testing, which were then screwed together on a few blocks of wood and painted in "Gay hairdresser purple".

Here we are in jolly Mechelen again.
This is for Dive. See how the Belgian town planners seamlessly blend the new architecture with the old?

I like bridges, so here is a bridge.

Obviously I work very hard when I'm there but there are benefits.
Belgian beer and chilli nuts at the end of a long day.

I have been going to Belgium for over 10 years now with work and when we go out in the evenings the restaurant food is very good where ever we go. This, however, was probably the best place I've been for the setting as well as the food.
It's Het Pomphuis (The Pump House) alongside the river at the docks in Antwerp.
The building has an eclectic style with art nouveau features and beautiful tall Romanesque windows set in red brick edged with block stonework.
The inside, as you can see, is the old pumping gear used to drain the nearby dry dock to maintain the ships which used to trade from Antwerp.

I had a superb seat just to the left of the three chairs to the top right of the picture.
It was right on the edge and ideal for vertigo sufferers.
The food was excellent so if anyone is ever in Antwerp, go there.

On my travels.

I will be away from Blogland next week so play nicely together and don't run indoors.

It's Curry Club tonight, Twickenham for the EDF Cup Final between Leicester Tigers and The Ospreys on Saturday, ( I'll wave Lynn), and off to the land of the Phlegms again on Monday.

I will try to get some photos etc and try to put the fun back into Belgium.
(I be glum).

Lynns Mystery

Lynn posted a picture of some strange growths in a tree and wondered what they were.

This is a shot I took a few weeks ago as I travelled to Pouancé in France.

Seems they are taking over the world.
Maybe they are alien nests!
Maybe thats where Twiglets come from.
(that would explain the crappy taste).

Happy Easter

Just a few pictures taken this morning as I came home.

The date today is March 23rd

Easter Sunday

Oh well, the garden won't get done today.

Happy Easter to you all from festive Norfolk.

Wheeeee !!!

I have been in a blog vacuum for a while but as Dive said he was going to show some scary views, I thought I would mention the view from the plane I was in this week.
I have been over to France with work Monday to Wednesday for the last couple of weeks and this Monday we trundled to Stansted with joy in our hearts safe in the knowledge that our flight would be cancelled due to the storms etc.
So as we flew across the channel in our "not so cancelled" 737, the pilot informed us that the crosswinds at Dinard airport were "on the limits for this aircraft but we will attempt to land anyway".

Thanks matie.


As we came out of the clouds it started to get a bit bumpy, but I have been on lots of bumpy flights and this wasn't so bad.
Then it got more bumpy and, as we approached the runway, we went up diddly up up, and down diddly down down, and then sideways for a bit, then the right hand wing flipped up about 10 degrees and we went sideways and down again. By this time we were about 50 feet off the runway and having fun when the pilot must have thought "fuck this for a game of soldiers" and put on full throttle and we went up diddly up up at a rate of knots.
When we got to about 20,000 feet the tannoy calmly announced " you may have noticed that we had to abort that landing as I deemed it a little dangerous" No shit Sherlock!!

We then flew on to Brest where the gale force winds were blowing directly down the runway rather than across it.
The pilot got us in first time, although it was bloody rough. The end of the much shorter runway at Brest was very close when we finally slowed enough to turn back to the terminal. (that's not a good word for an airport building).
As we filed off the plane, the pilot stood at the cockpit door with a smile on his face. I said "That was interesting" and his reply was a silent intake of breath and raised eyebrows as if to say "thank fuck I got that down in one piece".

He earned every penny of his wage on Monday, thanks Captain.

New Years Eve

I know it's late but there you go.

These are some of the usual suspects for New Years Eve.
I knew I should have grown a beard and tash instead of trying to stick one on.

Take the above and add lots of these below and similar libation, shake well and release into Bungay for a bloody good night out.
Tequilla slammers with lemon is not the norm but this is Norfolk and the pub didn't have any limes!

This, as I am reliably informed, is Venom. The evil incarnation of Spiderman.
It's actually the drunk incarnation of Eddie.
(He said they were his muscles but we were not so sure)

This is "mutual leaning", a clever manoeuvre to make sure we don't all fall in a heap.

The bloke on the left of the picture below is the senior lecturer in engineering at a local college.
He usually only wears those things on a weekend.

We always have a good laugh and everyone else seems to respond to a bunch of idiots in fancy dress, no matter which pub we go to.
There were fewer people out this year than in past years which was a shame but maybe the smoking ban has something to do with that.
Roll on next year.

Up the river

This years Christmas river trip was a subdued affair as most of the usual suspects were absent for one reason or another.
We carried on regardless and it became five drunks in a boat.

Just around the first bend in the river is a nice view of Beccles church. This is quite unusual as the tower has been built separately from the church and only has clocks on three sides. The side facing the river doesn't have a clock as the land was considered unusable for anything other than growing marshes and damp things so why put a clock on it.

I though I would join Dive on the wobbly water pics crusade.
The sun was just over the yard arm but looked remarkably low in the sky considering it was only 12:30.

This is what Norfolk looks like.

This is just for Vic.
I saw this and thought of you.

We tried to get some comment from these two but as they were mute swans they just did some contemporary mime and then fucked off.
They did make some more wobbly water.

This is the final destination, The Wherry at Geldeston.
Log fires, good beer and a dartboard, just what we needed.

It was a good trip and we didn't need to break any ice on the river which has happened in the past. We always make the trip whatever the elements throw at us.
Roll on next year.