Racing things...

So yesterday, after spending an awfully long time watching the rain Formula one, Thomas came over clutching a number of objects (his latest fad is to try and hold at least three things at once, preferably more, while he is walking around), the first was put on the table in front of me and Thomas announced "Racing Car!" to which I replied "Yes Thomas, that's right! Racing Car! Have we been watching racing cars on the television"? He Formula-One-car-noised it rapidly over the table a few times and then turned to the little model horse he was clutching under his arm. "Racing Horse!" he said, putting it carefully down - "Yes" I said "You can have *race* horses..." (correcting him slightly) and he clip-clop-noised it quickly across the table stopping next to the little racing car...last but not least, down went the final object...(and after thinking carefully for a moment) "Racing Cow?" he proposed..."Urm" (I said, pausing to think for a moment myself) "no...no not usually" I was forced to admit..."Okay" said Thomas, and pushed it onto the floor... ;)

A *three* "WTF?" weekend...

Woke up to glorious sunshine on Saturday morning, had a quick haircut, did something extremely secret for the wedding (which took about an hour) then whizzed over to Gatwick, stopping when we spotted this incredible VW Beetle Trike to go and shake hands with the owner-



- into Hobbycraft, where I had not one but TWO "*WTF*?" moments -

- the first when I saw this £9.99 Batik Tjanting, turns out it's something to do with putting wax onto fabric, and the second when I saw this -

- which I think I can safely leave without comment, from there we went on to do the Tesco shopping in Hookwood -

- spotting a couple of funny(-ish) T-Shirts, then being asked nicely by security what I was doing waving around my camera (I told them I was Press) -


- nipped over to Capel to pick up the car (door lock had frozen on the drivers side so it needed car-hospital) back to watch the boxing (Amir Khan), woke up this morning with a nasty sore throat (and a grumpy Flyingpops who I had kept awake snoring), zoomed over to Tandridge to hear the bans of marriage being read out, passing this little bit of sweet irony, a Horse carrier being slowed to a crawl by horses, heh... -

- popped over to see my folks, and noticed that Dad had a large number of "dog" themed "Get Well Soon" cards, he is going a bit stir-crazy now, feeling better but duty bound to sit still and having now read the entire internet twice (promised him some more fresh links tomorrow) -

- went and did some more secret wedding stuff, then popped into Priory Farm just in time for another "WTF?" moment -

- Yes, Onion goggles (for goodness sake)...and I just know someone will buy these (and stand there in the kitchen looking like an idiot, even at £16.00)... ;)

Just cooking dinner now...*firmly* sans goggles...

Horse Riding in the sea, Kalamaki, Corfu

Ah, now one of the real highlights of the break, horse riding over the hills at Kalamaki beach (and actually riding the horses into that crystal clear ocean, like something out of a movie!)...we decided to compare prices between the First Choice offerings and the local agent (pictured above), it's really easy to find, just leave the Blue Bay resort by the gate just at the side of the pool bar, turn left, walk about 100 yards and it's just to the left of the little supermarket (it of the inflatables), be warned though, it's only open for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening (but it's so near the resort it's not like you will have wasted much time if you find it closed)...anyway, suffice it to say, the trips were all *considerably* cheaper from the independent place by the beach, so if you are going to be making any trips out, this is definitely the place to come-

At the pre-arranged time, Flyingpops and I walked down to the travel agent and sat waiting to be picked up (it's quite normal, by the way, for any form of scheduled transport you are expecting in Corfu to be anything up to twenty minutes late) but we were more than a little suprised when a guy turned up in a tiny, battered white hatchback (forget a coach, we weren't even afforded a taxi for this trip!) and waved to us from the window yelling "Horses!", at which Flyingpops gave me a Spock-type look and muttered "You *have* to be joking"...

Anyway, he was a nice chap, and we quickly warmed to him, largely thanks to his English being excellent, and the fact that his smile was infectious, the place itself was actually nearer the resort even than Kassiopi, so within ten minutes flat we found ourselves in a narrow wooded valley, leaving any sign of apartments behind, and then pulling into a beautiful, ancient olive grove-



- fitted out with the appropriate headgear -

- allocated to horses (it *could* be my imagination but I thought mine looked back at me with a bit of a "put out" sort of face at having to carry quite so much weight) -

- and we were then given a crash course in horse-steering (I've been riding before, but many, many years ago and as part of a stable (so the horses just kind of automatically followed the one in front without you having too much say in the matter), this was different)...it was really interesting to have an animal just do exactly what you wanted and just when you wanted it, we were the only two people on this particular trip, well, us and our guide -

- a really friendly Brit ex-pat who had married a local, explained that one had to "be firm" with the horses (as they understood very well when someone didn't know what they were doing and would take liberties), but also make sure that we kept a safe distance between each other (so they didn't feel under pressure), we set a leasurely pace, climbing to the top of one of the local peaks, our guide pointing out local flora and fauna and when we had spectacular views, he pointed out the landmarks, then we made our way down to the beach, just as the sun was starting to set, and we urged our horses into the ocean, where we sat, listening to the gentle sound of the waves hitting the shore and watched the sun creep behind the mountains -

Perfect...

New Forest - Not seen that many horses...

...since the Grand National! One of the (although certainly not unique) more unusual things about the New Forest is the sheer number of large animals that seem to be oblivious to the fact that there are cars hurtling by, they just ignore roads completely, seemingly treating them as a kind of "area of suprisingly little grass" (or some such horse-thought)...at least 3 of the traffic jams encountered today could be attributed to either equine -

- or bovine -

- related causes...!

The first stop of the day was to the visitors centre and museum (museum saved for a rainy day) which is located in the natural "traffic jam" of Lyndhurst. There are actually *permanent* signs on the roads leading to this (otherwise charming) little town announcing "long delays", and it seems that there is a good reason for this - if you look at this place on a map you will see that, thanks to the limited number of roads in the locale, Lyndhurst falls at a bit of a crossroads making it a perpetual bottleneck...
Good for the resident shop owners, though, as once you get in, you are kind of stuck...(they must do alright too, because the local garages were only selling Ferrari and Maserati cars)...!

Here is a shot down the high street -

- In the visitors centre I obligingly coughed up two quid for a nice large blow-up map of the area in the cunningly placed "entrance shop" only to find a free one 30 seconds later in the "information centre" at the back...doh!

Then a quick visit (before the parking ticket ran out) to both of the two camping shops in town for some essentials (like a tent pole replacement to fix the broken one before the festival season starts for the year) plus a few other "outdoor" things that seemed to have been mislaid in the move, and (accidentally on purpose) skipping the enormous queue all the round way the one way system by shooting up the wrong lane, it was time for lunch...

The venue was the "Green Dragon" in the *tiny* village of Brook. A charming (thatched-cottage-style) place that has had a license to serve intoxicating beverages for over 200 years! -


- I went for one of the specials, an absolutely melt in the mouth shoulder of lamb which slightly unfortunately arrived sat in a rather unexciting mint jus. It was accompanied by one of the worst, overcooked selections of veg I have ever had the unpleasant opportunity to poke with a fork, and the roast spuds were nothing better than average, a *bit* on the crunchy side, but *no* way near fluffy inside (I only ate two of them) -

- oh and also (and this is funny because I predicted this exact eventuality about 5 minutes before it happend), Flyingpops' Brie Baguette turned up with bacon all over it, so that was sent back to the kitchen. It flew back in *just* about the amount of time it *might* have taken to make a new one (well, *almost* anyway)... ;)

From here we moved on to inspect the interestingly moniker'ed (is that a word?) "Sandy Balls" campsite (God only knows what made them pick that name) for the site of a possible later-in-the-year break (which I really wish we were taking now!). Take a look with me down the "high street" onsite, it's actually more like a little village than a campsite! -

- Let me leave you in no doubt that this place is certainly facility rich - there is a pub, an italian resturant, a SPAR supermarket (bit overpriced) at least one swimming pool (but there might be one indoor and one outdoor, we didn't check specifically, but the aerial photo seemed to hint at it)...plus cycle hire, and obviously loads of organised kids entertainment...

Interestingly, the place was *absolutely* packed out, even this early in the season and to be quite honest, I felt a bit put off by that, as *quite* what it is going to be like later in the year when the weather improves, I just don't know -

- Oh and I'm not exactly jumping up and down at the thought of volutarily pitching the tent on a spot of land absolutely *covered* in stones either (ouch!), each of the pitches seems to be deliberately made up of shingle! Now, I don't know about you, but I normally have at least a half-hearted go at getting *rid* of all the stones from where I am planning to pitch my tent, *not* trying to find the greatest concentration possible before settling down! Very strange for a bunch of so called "professionals" in the field of camping... -

- All in all though, it did look like a reasonably nice place perhaps for a weekend away (if not ideal for a full blown camping holiday)...

That done, some "interesting" little roads took us to where the day finished off - in Burley (a *total* tourist trap) where this mother and foal has decided to hang out in the car park for some odd reason (actually, it might have been all the hay that *somehow* ended up there (wonder if they shoo away the not-so-photogenic ones each morning? Ok, sorry, getting a bit cynical there!)) -

- and there was one other fringe benefit of the stop over (*slurp*) -

- only really a tiny shop, no tour, or demonstrations or anything like that (apart from the "on request" bottling demonstration, of course)....so not really a patch on the Cornish Cyder Farm experience...but hey, the "Cyder" they put out from there tastes rather like it belongs in the toilet (*before* human-digestive-processing) and this New Forest stuff is rather nice actually...so "Cheers"...and now I am off to bed...nite... ;)

On my way home today...

...and I guess not many commuters can claim this, I decided to make friends with one of the horses I pass on the way home (and I have to confess, this is only because I saw a posse of young kids doing the same a few hundred yards away to horse number 2), to be completely honest, I have a healthy respect for the kind of damage a large quadruped can do to the human frame, and I guess *one* of the possibly predictable graveyard markers for me may be "Better Safe than Sorry"...but throwing caution to the wind I strode up to the poor animal and brandishing my fist, rather as I would to a Hagrid-sized-dog (a french horse did once attempt to consume my entire hand, but that is another story), I let it take my scent...it regarded me for a moment or two, somewhat nervously, with it's huge eyes, and then, without another moments hesitation, nestled firmly into my shoulder, flicking it's head a few times in appreciation as I ticked it's ears and stroked the profusion of loose hair from it's mane...glancing back, the tiny horse was watching me all the way across the field as I was walking away... :)

Update - I took flyingpops over to meet the horse a little while later, but it was clear that there was no way she was going to get anywhere near the animal, this, I think, spooked the poor creature a little bit because it wasn't *quite* as friendly this time...oh well...

Still running behind...!

On Saturday I went out for a little exploration of the local area, I have only really cycled round before (at some speed) and moving on foot gives you more time to appreciate the scenery you are passing, here are a few shots I took as I was wandering, first off, some of the "Horse circles" I was talking about -



- quite honestly, if you didn't know these had been made by a tethered horse over the course of a couple of days you could jump to all sorts of conclusions about their origins!

Next up, a very sad sign hastily painted onto a bit of wood outside Redhill football ground reads "Nothing left to steal - thankyou!". Now, I have been in mens changing rooms, and I can't begin to imagine what anyone would have wanted with the contents...Actually, thinking about it, the club probably has a bar, which would likely contain some more understandable targets for theft...

Just a little way back from the main road, after wandering for a while through a little woodland, I found this pond, there is definitely something to be said for sub-pushbike speeds...I'd never even seen the path before then! ;)

One of several old milestones I passed on my walk (marking out the distance between Westminter and Brighton), not that I was going to walk as far as either of those destinations...I think it would have taken about a week!

I stopped for lunch at a pub in Earlswood (part of the travelodge range), which consisted of a pint and a cheese and pickle sandwich, served with coleslaw and chips (not worthy of a photograph I am afraid), but I was starving hungry so it had to do... ;)

On the subject of horses...

...there is a new arrival on my regular walk home from work across "muddy field" (I'm sure it has a real name, but "muddy field" is what it should be called), this is one of two horses that have appeared in the last week, obviously deciding to enjoy their historical right to be grazed on common land. I don't know what it thought of me brandishing the camera, but that look it gave me was definitely one of deep suspicion...perhaps it thought I was after a quicker mode of getting myself back to the house? It needn't have feared though, I think my feet would have dragged on the ground had I tried... ;) Because they are tethered to a point, both the animals are making small "horse circles" where they have cleared all the vegetation within their reach...I cannot help but think that this will not help the situation with the mud...