The show moves on..

All the film trucks were packing up this morning after nearly a week of filming.


Queens Lane

Queens Lane/New College Lane - metres and metres of lighting cables....
After the Art Directors left - modern day street lamps removed, dingy potholed tarmac and double yellow lines covered with sharp gravel (I think they must shoot round those power lines running up the building).
I cropped out the masses of dayglo security staff.
Radcliffe Square

Well done girls on all the awards!

lv G

A good sport

Hurrah! Amy won the infant school 'Good sportsmanship' cup...just big enough to fill with a celebration yoghurt.

"Thithster, thithster, did you ever see such a shiny beautiful thing in your lythe?" (to misquote Winthrop in 'The Music Man' collecting his cornet from the Wells Fargo wagon...)

She was beaming (as we all were) but a little perplexed about all the attention!

Beth won prizes for academic work and Jess won a hatful of stuff too, for academics and sports. Our wonderful girls all brought home super end-of-year 'reports', with our eldest getting straight A's in her 11 subjects, which is very reassuring - especially as she will be starting her final IGCSE exam year in September, just as she turns a rather difficult-to-believe 16 years old!

Meanwhile I'm thinking of retraining as I just heard on the radio there is a shortage of butlers to the super rich in the USA and you can expect a starting salary of $75000 which is a tad better than what I get working with runny nosed kids trying to chase them for homework they never wanted to do anyway! Anyone out there need a butler? I reckon with a name like Merrow-Smith and a posh southern thoroughly British accent, I'd be worth $100000 at buttle-ing (be careful how you say that! We don't want to be misconstrued). Would it compromise my socialist values, though, that's the question? Hey, what about home tutor and butler? Now there's an idea......

The floods

Dad we can still go out for lunch tomorrow!!!
I had planned to drive over to Kings Sutton with Edmund, to pick Mum and Dad up and bring them back to sunny Wales for the weekend, but after seeing pictures on 'The News' of people sitting on the roofs of their cars surrounded by swirling flood water Mum doesn't fancy the journey, Dad suggested that we meet for lunch in North Leach(sic) near Cheltenham, but I couldn't face 4hrs there and 4hrs back just for lunch so I'm off to Kings Sutton in the hope that they will change their minds and come back with me, not much chance though, so Steve you will have to remodel the bathroom around them.
Today I wish there were two of me as Kate has just come back from a 4 day trip to Cardiff, before that I was away for a week cooking in a field in Wiltshire and the week before Thomas was visiting France and Belguim for the first world war trenches so we haven't all been under the same roof for two nights in a row for weeks.

Towel Rail coming

Hiyah Dad .. expect a delivery tomorrow or Friday when your brand new chrome curved ladder style towel rail comes. Have a look on ebay for the item number 220123709040 Mum!
Bargain price woohoo!

If you go out can you leave a note to say leave it in the shed?
You may get a phone call from the courier if he/she gets lost! LOL

update

We have just received Casino Royale from Love Film and we look forward to watching it. Another DVD which came with it is called CLICK and concerns a man with a remote control which fast forwards life, and does all the other things that a remote could do. I often wish I could fast forward or repeat a portion of life which I want to see again. I have also had the idea of inventing such a remote, but like all my other 'inventions', someone else got there first.
I spend many hours listening to my iPod (which I love) Thanks Mum for a super birthday pressie and to Steve for the new Sony ear plugs, which stay in my ears, thanks to the little hangers, and do not fall out.
We paid a second visit to the Dashwood last week where we met our friends Birdie and David Powell. The meal was lovely and we sat talking until 4pm!! about old times and, of course, CHINNOR past and present.
Yesterday was a cheapo meal, as Mum had to visit the dental cleaner upper. A fish and chip meal with beer and white wine for the lady. Quite a change, in one of those large Weatherspoon pubs in Banbury High Street.
Thank you to our lovely super plasterer who got down to skimming the wall in the bathroom, ready to receive our 'ladder' wall radiator, as part of our bathroom improvements. Mum cannot stand the "ladies' tiles and I had the job of removing one or two. We have ordered a walk-in complete shower unit , as we cannot get out of the bath, nor in fact, get in to one, and we need an easier shower than having to clamber over the edge of the bath with its accompanying risks. Thanks to Steve for all his work and encouragement and to the promise of financial assistance from Julian, we will have a very posh bathroom. We are gradually improving our little house to a standard which we have always thought about. The weather has beeen too dreadful to get excited about our garden, but the roses we inherited from the previous owner are wonderful. T rouble is, we cannot always stand long enough to keep the back lawn cut. Alex next door, trims our front lawn every week or two. We have such lovely neighbours.
Cathy has invited us down to LLan-bref, after her adventure in outside catering in the rain, but the recent floods worry Mum, not a little. We hope July has more to offer!!
We hope Nic is enjoying a break in Bali and Pete and family will soon be visiting Chinnor (and us we hope). We continue to enjoy the beautiful paintings we see on Julian's Postcards. What a talented lot we have. Thank you all for making us so proud. We often hear Les musiciens de Louvre on our Classic FM, but it is usualy after we have heard the music that we are told who is playing! Love to you all from a very grateful Mum and Dad

Royle Family Dad

Barbara: What d'ya have for your tea Dave?
Dave: Corn beef hash.
Barbara: Oh! did y'Mam make gravy?
Dave: No, she couldn't be arsed.

Hollywood visits Oxford again. Philip Pullman of 'His Dark Materials' fame , the first book of his trilogy is being made into a movie with Nicole Kidman & Daniel '007' Craig. 'The Golden Compass
' (published as Northern Lights) was mostly filmed earlier in the year but the film crew are back in Oxford this week. The film which is written by Tom Stoppard is due out in December & Radcliffe Square has been full of film trucks and people on walkie talkies. There is a huge crane which has hoisted two huge floodlights above Brasenose College with another three on the roof of Brasenose, they were pointing towards the top of Racliffe Camera. The lights were so powerful I could feel the heat of them on the side of my face from the other side of the square. There was a sign saying they were going to be there for next few days for night shoots. No sign of Daniel though.

NB I'm reading 'Enduring Love' by Ian McEwan and its brillant (recommended for anyone holiday reading). It opens by describing a balloon accident over Pishill & Christmas Common. I've been catching up with my reading as I've been invigilating exams this week. Pete, not sure what is worse organising the setting of the exam papers, typing the exam papers, invilating the exams or sorting out all the marking...oh yeah least I don't have to mark them.

Oh yeah and "COME ON TIM!" (Wimbledon)

lv G

Wir haben alle, die nach Österreich gewesen werden

Click Here for Mr.Cool

relaxing

julian relaxed and took a day off painting a day for the first time in months. we checked out stone sinks in apt and stood in lavender fields in the luberon and lunched on a terrace in bonnieux and chose our granite top and then, returning in the early evening, he built the fireplace base and made home made pasta (he couldn't quite bear to do nothing!). meanwhile manon is still in love with the new car..

The Cake

The Cake
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

John-Boy has joined me on the saga mailings set! and is cutting the cake Mandy made which was all lovely and moist! When asked why it was't iced it was because she couldn't be r'sed... lol (which if you've seen Early Doors is even funnier!) erm.. (or was it the Royle Family?)

Father's Day

Father's Day
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Daddy's Day
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Everyone's had sufficient at Hotel Splendide! at Hertford Street.. Charcoal Barbequed boned Leg of Lamb with garlic and rosemary sausages, with Bulgerwheat and potato salad, followed by 2 episodes of Fawlty Towers!

Exams underway...

The exams are underway now so I have little to do until the marking comes in. Tonight was almost an evening off!

We managed a nice light dinner of chicken and banana crêpes with mango chutney and lemon juice before popping up to our new arts centre in La Nucia to see an exhibition of Joan Miró lithographs called 'Homenatge a Joan Prats'. Very interesting, but with a lot more black in than I'm used to seeing in the examples of Miró's work shown in the text books. There is also an exhibition of local artists' work but we ran out of time. What a super place they have built. There were dance classes and art classes going on and piano and singing and all sorts.

Before going home we popped into the new library and found some books on Sorolla. What an amazing talent he was. One book showed superb photographs of him and his models as he was painting them.

I like this one that hangs in the Prado. It's called 'There are those that say fishing is expensive," which is an interesting title. I'm looking forward to getting up to Madrid once we start our holiday. It could turn into quite an educational trip!

Oh, well...

It works, but I'm having a few glitches. There is a huge space on the page - from whence it comes I don't know. Also, on my last post with photos it was hard to reorder the sequence and get the text in the right place. Perhaps I'll get it right next time. Anyway, forward advice or just accept the errors! Enjoy the photos and the music....until next time...Pete.

Point and shoot...

Sorry if I appear to have been away but there have been exam preparations to do...and for the next three days the girls have got to tackle whatever I can throw at them!

As for the views, it's just a case of point and shoot around here, it's that pretty. The weather has been a bit iffy by Spanish standards since January but now I think the heat begins.

Does anyone use blogmusik? This is a test blog for me...called Friends in Low Places by a country singer called Garth Brooks. It made me laugh, anyway!

Lovely to see you blogging again, Pete

You have some beautiful views in your vicinity, Pete, and I love the cherry picture - tres artistique! Pity we cannot swap houses and still see you all. Your loving Dad

The Times are now...

We haven't seen a hard copy of the Times but the on-line version is very uplifting - yes indeed. Congratulations on further deserved recognition, big brother. If you keep carving success out of this tough old piece of world it'll really start to look as appertising as one of those pears of yours (which personally I would have chosen to show in the paper! ). Good to see you get time to paint and to lay floors...or is that extending the truth a little too far? I hope you are paying Steve in sufficient Côtes de Rhone Village because the Rioja is very good at the moment. When Steve feels up to some Spanish lessons, tell him to give us a call! There's plenty of advice needed down this end...

Walking near Tarbena

We enjoyed a nice walk yesterday near to Tarbena where we were able to look into the Pas Tancat, the closed pass. Unfortunately it finished before we were ready to have lunch so we set off to Castell de Castells and had lunch on top of the castle....but not before gleaning a couple of cherries from orchards on the terraces!
I must say your house looks in a lot better state of repair than this old Moorish outpost Julian/Ruth, but the views from the ramparts are nonetheless quite impressive. Jan saw a little snake (the Montpelliers are out in force at the moment) and I scared a few goats out of their lunchtime snooze in the castle keep. Our friend Dave who came with us looks convincing as a small person in this photo!

The Times Article

There is a little piece in the The Times this morning about yours truly which happens to mention Peter Mayle, Cezanne, and Lucien Freud!! Dad/Steve anybody maybe you could get a hard copy or two for me? It's in one of the supplements... Girolles for breakfast!!

It's here!

manon is quite confused. I think she'd got used to the grey one, but we are very happy to announce the arrival of our terra cotta floor! It looks better in the streaming provencal light but right now there isn't any!

coucou... coucou

I shot this video using a camera phone last week at J's as the mountain top was obscurred by cloud and was strangely a less intimidating presence. The low cloud had the effect of amplifying the birdsong and I was trying to zone in to the cuckoo!