Random thoughts and photos of my journey through life…
I have been having a nice day out and about enjoying the sun (I ordered it especially).
There were a few food challenges along the way but I managed not to succumb to the lure of naughty cakes 
Out & About, originally uploaded by KirscheTortschen.
16 Comments CherryPie on Aug 16th 2010
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
6 Comments CherryPie on Aug 15th 2010
This room is so large and elaborate that photographs don’t do it justice. The theme on the frieze depicts a forest with the court of Diana, amid attendant deer, lions, elephants, camels and other animals along with scenes of country life and deer and boar hunting.
The court of Diana, the virgin goddess and huntress, is probably a deliberate allusion to Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.
To either side of the window recess, and rather more skilfully modelled than the rest of the frieze, are allegorical figures of Venus chastising Cupid, and Summer, based on Flemish engravings by Crispin van der Passe from designs by Martin de Vos. The hunting scenes elsewhere in the frieze are based on engravings by Philip Galle after Johannes Stradanus. *
Bess would have sat under a canopy like this although this one actually made in the early seventeenth century and pre-dates her. It was placed here by the bachelor Duke in the nineteenth century.
*From the National Trust guidebook.
12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 15th 2010
It has definitely been one of those days. This morning my printer wasn’t working, the light was on but nothing was happening! I fiddled around with the leads and ran some tests but it was staying offline. On closer inspection I realised that after my last minute visitors had vacated the room the other day, I had plugged the cable back into the wrong socket!!
Once that was sorted I was able to print out my two T-Mobile accounts to take into the T-Mobile shop so that I could change them to more suitable options. I thought this would be easier than trying to sort it out over the phone. Unfortunately after waiting for about 10 minutes because all the staff were busy I got Mr Disinterested. In answer to my first query he told me that I would need to phone customer services (they usually do that for you in the shop). My second query involved changing a pay as you go phone to a sim only contract. I was told I couldn’t keep my phone number unless I transferred it to a different network and back, which sounded absolutely ludicrous to me. I did query his remarks but he remained unhelpful.
I returned home and phoned customer services which wasn’t easy either. On my first attempt I ended up in one of those automated call loops so I hung up and started again. Eventually I got through and although I had to speak to two different departments, everyone was extremely helpfull and explained all the options to me. I am still however awaiting the sim update that was supposed to arrive within a few minutes…
Then on top of that just before the evening meal one of Mum’s friends phoned in a bit of a flap because Mum’s phone had been engaged all day. So I had to go and investigate much to Mum’s surprise. The phone was obviously having one of it’s quirky moments.
Now I am relaxing with a glass of wine and before you ask, yes it is allowed
14 Comments CherryPie on Aug 14th 2010
14 Comments CherryPie on Aug 13th 2010
I like the fact that some National Trust properties are now allowing indoor photography. It was a bit of a challenge to get a decent indoor photograph at Hardwick because the rooms were rather dark, so I only took a few photographs.
I Particularly liked the muniment room because I have not seen one before. From about 1603 this is the room where the title deeds and other documents (muniments) of the Hardwick estate would be housed. The draws that they were housed in were probably installed in the mid-17th century.
10 Comments CherryPie on Aug 13th 2010
This week I lost 1.5lb which I am happy with. I also got my 5% and 10% milestones calculated to give me some interim steps to aim towards. I like to stay to the meetings for extra tips to keep me motivated. Today was focusing on then skills to support lasting weight loss:
I think I have got most of those covered to some extent although there is still room for improvement in one or two areas.
I suppose you are all wondering how I got on with eating out last night. There weren’t any very healthy choices, so I went for the chicken option. The chicken was stuffed full of goats cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and wrapped in Parma ham. It was accompanied by summer vegetables and something that was called a bacon floody! This turned out to be a potato and bacon rosti. It was all very nice and far to big a portion for me which was a good thing because it meant that I was too full to even contemplate a dessert, all of which looked very calorific. Hopefully it won’t add the 1.5lb back on next week…
Whilst sitting waiting for the food to arrive I remembered that there used to be a little saying on the gate as you entered the car park. It seems to have disappeared over the years but it used to say:
This gate hangs well
and hinders none,
refresh and pay
and carry on
18 Comments CherryPie on Aug 12th 2010
