Who is the tall dark stranger there?

Long time - no post but since our return from Sri Lanka much of our time has been spent at Selsey doing absolutely nothing.

Why can't the weather be like this more often in the UK!

I have managed a bit of time to build and launch this site for The Fox:

www.thefoxfarnborough.co.uk

Thanks to the Welsh Bard for his contribution:

At The Fox

You can rock it, you can roll it,
You can bop it, you can stroll it at The Fox,
When the locals start arriving
They’ll be drinking, they’ll be jiving at The Fox…
It’ll do your head, that’s what I said, at The Fox!

Let’s go to The Fox, oh baby. Let’s go to The Fox

In a sea of dodgy places
It’s a regular oasis, at the Fox,
Where the bitter is a treasure,
And it’s always made to measure at The Fox…
It’ll do your head, that’s what I said, at The Fox!

Let’s go to The Fox, oh baby. Let’s go to The Fox!

The music’s stereophonic,
And the conversation chronic at The Fox,
If your home is Farnboroughonic
You will always find a tonic at The Fox…
It’ll do your head, that’s what I said, at The Fox!

Let’s go to The Fox, oh baby. Let’s go to The Fox!

The locals are so chummy
And the bar staff are so yummy,  at The Fox,
Disco Daves the smoothest
and the music is the coolest at The Fox,
It’ll do your head, that’s what I said, at The Fox!

Let’s go to The Fox, oh baby. Let's go to The Fox!
Let’s go to The Fox!
Come on, lets go to The Fox!               Evans & Baltzer 2014

We made a bit of an effort with the caravan flower display this year but keeping them all watered in this heat is a full time job!

This week saw the passing of one of the all time greats of TV and film, James Garner.

Born James Scott Baumgarner on April 7th, 1928 he graced our screens for nearly 60 years starring in over 50 films, including the remake of Move Over Darling (with Doris Day), The Great Escape, Murphy's Romance (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Grand Prix and Space Cowboys.

But, like many of my generation, I will remember him for his portrayal of professional gambler Bret Maverick in the comedy Western series Maverick from 1957 to 1960 and, of course, as private investigator Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files from 1974 to 1980.

Produced by the same team as Maverick, The Rockford Files was devised as a remake of Maverick, but this time featuring Jim Rockford as a modern-day private detective recycling many of the original Maverick plots. The role won Garner an Emmy in 1977.

He served 14 months as an infantryman in the Korean War, was wounded twice and won two Purple Hearts.

In 2005 he received the Screen Actor’s Guild’s highest honour, a Lifetime Achievement Award.

His amiable, lovable, roguish exterior hid a complex personality that even his most ardent fans wouldn’t have recognised, that of a man who suffered years of pain and a childhood of abuse, loneliness and deprivation.

RIP James Garner:





Also this week this story was reported by the Daily Telegraph:

"A pine tree planted in Los Angeles to commemorate the late-Beatles star George Harrison has died – after being consumed by beetles.

Planted as a sapling in 2004 near the Griffith Observatory, the tree stood 10-feet high but died recently as a result of an insect infestation.The Griffith Park and its observatory are popular tourist spots in LA, but the trees there have been plagued recently by ladybug and bark beetles, both of which can cause extensive damage.

LA councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents the area, told the LA Times that the tree would be replanted. The paper said Harrison, who had a well-developed sense of humour, "likely would have been amused by the irony".

The George Harrison Tree was chosen as an appropriate memorial for the Beatle, who died of lung cancer in LA in 2001 at the age of 58, because of his love of plants, gardening and nature".

Gone but not forgotten:



This year is the 50th display season for the RAF Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows who never cease to impress me despite having seen their display so many times over Farnborough over the years.

At least we are still the best in the world at some things!



Tune in to BBC2 at 9pm on Sunday and enjoy "The Red Arrows: Inside the Bubble".

I came across this video the other day after hearing "Father and Son" on a TV program. I'd forgotten how good Cat Stevens was (and still is):



Hey Ho!

The Curse of the Blue Armband

We are but four days into our latest adventure in Sri Lanka with three and half all inclusive days still remaining and already the waistbands are being tested to their limits. Even the newly purchased elastic waisted trousers are feeling the strain.

The Hotel is set in a 22 acre site surrounded on three sides by a mangrove lagoon/lake and on the fourth side by the beach and sea. Once a year the road along the front is dug up to join the lagoon/lake to the sea allowing flood water from the monsoons to run out to sea and access to the hotel is by boat.

The accommodation is in bungalows set out around the banks of the lake.

The wild life (birds, water monitors, chipmunks etc) is amazing, and yesterday we saw a sea eagle hovering overhead.

More to follow .....................

Don't waste water - wash in Watneys!

Since my last entry, over two months ago, I don't seem to have had a minutes free time.

In February we visited Cyprus for three weeks and on our return the Prospect plot more resembled a paddy field than an allotment.

But after much hard work, either side of a weeks break in Corfu, it is now back on course and, dare I say, a little ahead of the game!

More and more of my friends have turned to "growing their own" so I thought, by way of a change and to give the Welsh Bard more material, to include some up to date gardening tips and recipes  to my forthcoming blogs.

Here are two tips for your tomatoes.

Tomato Tip 1

It would appear that aspirin is not only good for headaches and lowering blood pressure in humans.

According to James Wong, the ethnobotanist and BBC television presenter of Grow Your Own Drugs fame, spraying a very dilute aspirin solution on your tomato and strawberry plants can increase their growth and tolerance to pests & diseases, double the sweetness of their fruits and raise their Vitamin C content by 50%. Apparently, how this works is that the salicylic acid found in aspirin is the ingredient that helps the tomato plants ward off different diseases.

Simply dissolve a quarter of an un-coated 300g aspirin in a one litre of water and spray your plants once a month. Also soaking sweet corn seeds in the same solution prior to sowing will have the similar effect.

Tomato Tip 2

Another tip for growing sweeter tomatoes is to  sprinkle a small amount baking soda on the soil around your tomato plants being careful not to get the soda on the plant itself. The theory is that the baking soda absorbs into the soil and lowers the acidity levels.

So not only will you have to remember to take your own medication you will now have to ensure your plants have theirs!

One major problem with growing your own, especially on an open allotment, is that  having battled against every pest and disease known to man, including in my case the dreaded foxes and their cubs, fruit and vegetables have a habit of all maturing at once and you finish up with gluts of particular produce throughout the season. Remember last years cougette saga!

So I am always looking out for different ways to cook and preserve the fruits of my labours.

Currently it is Rhubarb Glut time.

So here is an interesting (but as yet untried) recipe for Spicy Rhubarb Chutney which apparently is spectacular with pork:

Spicy Rhubarb Chutney - Makes 6 x ½ pints 

2½ lbs. rhubarb, trimmed and sliced thin (about 8 cups)

1¼ cup brown sugar 
¾ cup honey 
1 cup apple cider vinegar 
½ cup chopped onion 
1 cup raisins, chopped (a food processor works great) 
1½ Tb. grated fresh ginger (or 2 tsp. dry) 
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground allspice 

1 tsp. sea salt 
1 to 1½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1. Combine all the ingredients in a 6 or 8-quart stainless steel pot. Stir well and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer (a very gentle boil) and cook, uncovered, until thick, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, and more towards the end as the chutney is thickening.
2. While the mixture cooks, prepare six 1/2-pint jars (or three pints) and keep hot until needed..
3. When the chutney is cooked, ladle into 1 jar at a time, leaving 1/4-inch headspace, wiping the rim with a damp cloth, and attaching the lid. Fill and close remaining jars.
4. Refrigerate any jars and use within 3 to 4 weeks. 

March heralded the first get together of the year in Oxford and the intrepid "OAP Trio" took in three new pubs (as well as two regulars) in their quest to conquer the Oxford Heritage Beer trail.

 ONLY 14 to go! Which equates to nearly a year and a half!

 The Welsh Bard celebrated our half way point by putting fingers to keyboard:

It’s Oxford, and the lads are on the sauce:
They find the rain’s not only on the Plain,
And, as they hurry damply for the train,
They dive for cover in the old White Horse.

And there, beneath a photograph of Morse,
They vow to see the dreaming spires again,
(But hopefully in sunshine, not in rain!)
For yet unconquered pubs they’ll set a course…

Around the Cape, they’ll travel by the Moon,
Investigating boozers near and far;
What better way to spend an afternoon
Than academic fieldwork, bar to bar.

I’d like to think researches such as these
Will be rewarded, maybe by degrees!

Earlier this month, as a way of a change, we met again to sample the delights of the pubs of Chichester and came across this reminder of how bad beer was in the 60's and 70's.

 On Wednesday we're off to Cyprus again and as I look out of the caravan window at Selsey's finest wind and rain, knowing that the temperatures in Pafos are already in the mid 70's and rising, I can't wait to get there.

In case you were wondering about the title of this entry, I encountered it above the sink of my room in The Castle Hotel in Tredegar during the water shortage of 1976 so before I leave you here's another reminder of the UK's first keg beer and what it used to do to the unfortunates who drank it! :

Hey Ho!

Where have all the sit-coms gone?

Not to mention all the dramas and plays.

What has happened to TV in this country? There are 8 prime TV channels, if you include BBC3, BBC4 and ITV2, not to mention countless free-view and satellite channels to choose from but night after night it's a struggle to find anything worth watching!

No wonder more and more people are retreating to channels like ITV3, ITV4 and Drama to watch reruns of reruns of reruns.

Looking back to when there was only two channels and there never seemed to be a lack of programs worth watching then.
 

The highlight of last Monday night's viewing was seeing if I could answer more than 3 questions on University Challenge! What does that say about UK TV? (or possibly of more relevance, my intelligence level).

The BBC don't help themselves! This week a well produced and watchable police drama set in the mid 1950's entitled WPC56, a cross between Heartbeat and The Bill, has been running every day at 2.15pm. How many people can watch that? Why not show at prime time?

Current viewing box technology allows you to watch and/or record up to three programs simultaneously. Why? You are lucky to find one!

Last night was a prime example - saved only by an excellent final episode of the vastly underrated Benidorm. The script writers for this should receive a BAFTA and the brilliant Madge an Oscar.



But, with the probable exception of a re-run of the Christmas Special, it won't be on again until next year.

We used to have a tradition in this country for producing brilliant sit-coms.

The list is impressive:

The Army Game
Till Death Us Do Part
On the Buses
Dad's Army    
The Liver Birds
Please, Sir!
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
The Rag Trade
Steptoe and Son
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
The Likely Lads
Love Thy Neighbour
Only Fools and Horses    
Blackadder    
Vicar of Dibley    
Fawlty Towers    
Yes Minister    
Porridge    
Rising Damp
Open All Hours    
Hi-De-Hi
The Good Life    
One Foot in the Grave    
Father Ted
'Allo 'Allo!
Last of the Summer Wine
Men Behaving Badly
Absolutely Fabulous
The Royle Family
Are You Being Served?
The Young Ones

It goes on and on, but where are they now? With the odd exception like Mrs. Brown's Boys, nowhere in sight.

Are there no good comedy writers out there or are they more interested in writing and performing their own material?  

With the BBC, still trying to recover from the Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall scandals, and in financial chaos, all they can concentrate on is saving money by making cuts. They have already succeeded in "de-localising" local radio to the extent that it is no longer worth tuning in to and now seem set on the demise of TV.

Very little money is made available for any new productions but surely it can't be that expensive. It's not rocket science - start with a successful formula, say Hi-de-Hi, bring it into the 20th century, assemble a small but top class cast and writing team and bingo - what have you got - Benidorm! It's crude and not very subtle but it makes you laugh.

Thank heavens for Radio 4,enjoy it before they ruin that too!

With four BBC TV channels to chose from and so few programs worth watching the solution to their financial problems seems simple to me. Cherry pick the best of BBC2, 3 and 4 and merge with the news and current affairs of BBC1 and re-market as one channel, BBC TV.  Next, clear out three quarters of the massively top heavy management structure and encourage the creative people to come up with the goods. Then perhaps we can start enjoying TV again. 

Thank goodness for ITV and Benidorm!

If you haven't seen the Christmas Special and you've got 50 minutes to spare:

 

BACK IN THE U.S., BACK IN THE U.S., BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.

Well,  back in the UK actually, but it feels more like Siberia. 

After most of December in Cyprus, a brief return for Christmas and New Year, followed by January in Tenerife we have returned home to the torrential rain and wind of the UK.

And we are NOT liking it!

Whilst in Cyprus Janice celebrated her birthday but before we left we had a pre-birthday outing with the girls:

 

 

The birthday celebrations in Cyprus were much more sedentary:

We had never been to The Canary Islands before but we had a great time in Tenerife. We were staying in an area called Golf del Sur, surprisingly enough surrounded by lush green golf courses running right up to the edge of the cliffs.

Our apartment/hotel overlooked San Miguel Marina and the view from our large balcony was "The B's Knees"! 
 

and we were able to enjoy the sunrise and the sunset everyday:

Ex colleague John Garner and his wife Andea were staying up the road so we had three enjoyable days in their company:

Everywhere was surprisingly inexpensive particularly the beer, as low as 95 cents a pint in some places. 

 

We discovered a proper family run Irish Bar, Aries, a few minutes walk around cliffs which served excellent food and had a "Happy Hour" from 9.00am until 6.00pm! Estrella Special is €1 a pint and Cava is €1.50 a glass. Happy indeed!

 
They had Leapy Lee, of Little Arrows fame, living just up the road and he performed there every Tuesday night:
 


In order to stay"Happy" I always find it advisable to follow the "Happy Hours" and fortunately there was a bar next to the hotel with a 6pm to 8pm happy window. We arrived one evening to find much arguing and shouting. The shop owner next door, an excitable Argentinian lady, had started building a wall between the premises, something that she was not allowed to do. Then it started to get messy! The gardia turned up and attempted to cool down the situation. Eventually, with the block wall still half built, everybody drifted away.That night the waiter from the restaurant on the other side of the shop kicked the blocks down and bricked up the door to the shop!

All in all it was a brilliant three weeks - here are some more of the highlights: 

There were only two major problems - I put on a stone in weight and we definitely weren't ready to come home:

I'll leave you with this:

 

Hey Ho!

Big Foul at Little Spurs

Fleet Spurs is a local football club formed in 1948 in homage to the Tottenham Hotspur by a group of young footballers playing friendly matches in the Fleet and Aldershot area.

They were admitted into the Aldershot and District League in 1951. They currently play in the Wessex League Division 1.


As well as a senior team and reserve side Fleet Spurs run more than 20 boys and girls teams.


My son-in-law, many of my friends and our grandson Ryan, pictured here proudly wearing his club jacket, play or have played for Fleet Spurs.

They are a true community grass roots club encouraging youngsters to play the game from the age of 5 years and upwards and many of the first team players have graduated through from the youth set up.

They have an excellent ground and facilites at Kennels Lane in Southwood with one full side pitch and 7 junior, 5-a-side and training pitches.



The club badge has always featured a cockerel on a ball, the same as the North London side, the rising stars of English football at the time of Fleet Spurs formation.

And that my friends is where the trouble begins.

Europa League giants Tottenham Rotspurs , who only registered their logo in 2006, have called in top lawers in order to bully Fleet Spurs into changing their badge and signage or risk being sued for copyright infringement:

http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/sport/football/news/fleet-spurs-fc-plea-premier-6327857
The club will now hold a competition among their supporters to find a new logo.

My entry also includes changing the name of the club!

What a load of old cockerel!  Lighten up Rotspurs.

Heres Boris doing what comes naturally to him:



NICE ONE CYRIL!