John - Archived Entries for 2020 / 1

Dr John Hawkins

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Recent Entries:: East Meon Berrygarden 2013
Bingo and Ski Helmets
East Meon and the Moon and Venus Again
Daws Hill and the Moon and Venus
Garden Check
Lazy Sunday
Ridgeway: Wendover to Princes Risborough and Burns Night
Cash in the Pocket
Cider and Cakes
Indoor Picnic
Tuesday
Monday
The Ridgeway: Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover
Blackfriars to Bermondsey
Garden and Fire
Garden Check
Office
This Isn't Bacon Etc
Harrow Inn Pictures
Fridge, Laksamania, Bulbs
Highgate Cemetery and Hampstead Heath
Laksadaisical
Chateau Musar White
Lunch at the Pineapple
Evening Walk
Monday
Gomshall Mill
Wassail
Friday
Winter Wonderland
New Year's Day

East Meon Berrygarden 2013: [Friday 31st January 2020]
Tried one of the East Meon Berrygarden wines this evening. A bit of a false start I think.
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Bingo and Ski Helmets: [Thursday 30th January 2020]
A couple of pictures of Erika's school bingo night, and later on Chie trying on her new ski helmet.
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East Meon and the Moon and Venus Again: [Wednesday 29th January 2020]
A case of East Meon Berrygarden English sparkling arrived today. In the evening more unsuccessful attempts to take photos of the night sky as the moon and Venus were visible, including in my desperation to get away from the light pollution and obstacles a night time stroll across Hampstead Heath, which was a bit scary if I'm honest.
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Daws Hill and the Moon and Venus: [Tuesday 28th January 2020]
Tried the Daws Hill English sparkling wine which I'd picked up in Princes Risborough. Also attempted unsuccessfully to take pictures of the moon while Venus was quite visible nearby.
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Garden Check: [Monday 27th January 2020]
Another check on the state of the garden.
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Lazy Sunday: [Sunday 26th January 2020]
I think we stayed in most of the day. Erika and I built her a little house from cushions in the lounge.
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Ridgeway: Wendover to Princes Risborough and Burns Night: [Saturday 25th January 2020]
I had originally planned to try and complete a longer section of the Ridgeway today, from Wendover to Watlington (or at least Lewknor, where there are some public transport options) but wasn't really feeling it with the slightly glum weather and cut short at Princes Risborough.

Read more on John Goes For a Walk.

Back at home in the evening we had a mini Burns Night, just the three of us.
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Cash in the Pocket: [Friday 24th January 2020]
Put on a jacket I hadn't worn for a while, found some cash stuffed in the pocket.
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Cider and Cakes: [Thursday 23rd January 2020]
Was in the mood for cider so I went to the Southampton Arms to buy a flagon of cider to take home. Erika decorated some cakes for the school cake sale.
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Indoor Picnic: [Wednesday 22nd January 2020]
Ordred Indian food for dinner (and Chie made Japanese food for Erika) which we ate sitting on the picnic blanket on the floor of the lounge.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 21st January 2020]
Couple of random pictures.
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Monday: [Monday 20th January]
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The Ridgeway: Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover: [Sunday 19th January 2020]
Embarked on a new walking project today - The Ridgeway - starting at Ivinghoe Beacon and hoping to walk all 87 miles over the coming few weeks to arrive at Avebury in time for the Spring Equinox.

Read more on John Goes For a Walk.
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Blackfriars to Bermondsey: [Saturday 18th January 2020]
Being a bit too time constrained to do a proper countryside walk today, I instead decided to go for an urban stroll in the morning, along the Thames from Blackfriars to Bermondsey. In the afternoon went to visit my old boss to see his new house.
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Garden and Fire: [Friday 17th January 2020]
Clocked off work a bit early as it was a Friday and spent some time in the garden. Tried out the Biolite stove again.
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Garden Check: [Thursday 16th January 2020]
Another check on the garden at lunchtime.
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Office: [Wednesday 15th January 2020]
Went to the office today. In the evening attempted some astrophotography.
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This Isn't Bacon Etc: [Tuesday 14th January 2020]
Tried some new mock meats today.
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Harrow Inn Pictures: [Monday 13th January 2020]
Rediscovered my Harrow Inn pictures today, and thought about putting them up on the wall, but didn't.
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Fridge, Laksamania, Bulbs: [Sunday 12th January 2020]
Yet another unsuccessful attempt to buy a fridge, took Chie and Erika to try Laksamania (not so successful second time round) and went to the garden centre to buy more bulbs.
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Highgate Cemetery and Hampstead Heath: [Saturday 11th January 2020]
I went for an urban walk this morning while Erika was at her Japanese school - took in Highgate Cemetery and Hampstead Heath.
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Laksadaisical: [Friday 10th January 2020]
Night out with the usual suspects, involving laksa.
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Chateau Musar White: [Thursday 9th January 2020]
Had Lebanese food for dinner and tried Chateau Musar's white wine for the first time.
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Lunch at the Pineapple: [Wednesday 8th January 2020]
Went with Chie for lunch at the Pineapple.
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Evening Walk: [Tuesday 7th January 2020]
Went out for an evening walk to get some exercise.
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Monday: [Monday 6th January]
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Gomshall Mill: [Sunday 5th January 2020]
Went down to Gomshall for lunch at the Gomshall Mill with Adrian, Liz and the kids.
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Wassail: [Saturday 4th January 2020]
I'd been pleased to discover that wassailing was not something purely confined to the West Midlands and West Country, and that a few of the morris sides in the home counties organised an event, particularly in Sussex where there was also something of a cider industry. I think ideally I would have liked to go back to the wonderful Leominster Morris wassail in Herefordshire again this year, which I had attended two years ago. It had felt incredibly atavistic, and had in a way been the catalyst for my new found desure to spend more time in the countryside over the past couple of years, in part manifested through a lot of country walks.

However, the Leominster Morris always holds their wassail on Twelfth Night, the 6th of January, regardless of which day of the week that falls on. That would have been a Monday this year, and would probably have required taking at least a half day off work either side to get there and back. So it seemed eminently more sensible to go to the Chanctonbury Morris wassail in Sussex, not far from Haywards Heath, today, it being a Saturday evening.

The event was scheduled to start at 6pm, but I aimed to get there slightly earlier so I could visit the cider bar/shop at the location where the wassail was being held beforehand. The bar had apparently only opened in the last year, and although I was delighted to discover a bar solely dedicated to cider (such a rare commodity!) I did slightly worry how it would work out as a business proposition - it's a surprisingly remote spot, and there's pretty much no way to get there other than by car. I had got a taxi from Haywards Heath, which admittedly is pretty well served for taxis, but I wondered how many other people might do the same.

Anyway, at least this evening there was a fairly impressive turnout, which suggests people can manage it! Quite possibly around a hundred people were there...?

As billed, with impressive punctuality, the proceedings did indeed start around 6pm, and the gentleman I assumed to be the squire of the Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men gave an address to the assembled crowd. The attendees then collected flaming torches and processed along the track from the main cluster of farm buildings to the orchard. There had also been a torch lit procession in Herefordshire two years ago, and this really does add an edge of drama to an event like this, and gives it a really primal and magical feel. Particularly given that once we got away from the farm buildings there were no other light sources in the immediate vicinity. I hope the pictures convey some sense of the atmosphere at this point.

I decided not to take a torch in hand myself, partly because I got the sense they were in short supply and partly because I wanted to keep my hands free to take pictures (and drink cider!).

When we arrived at the orchard we formed a large circle and the ceremony began. There were verses read, songs sung, later on dances danced, but the most fun part was the part where all present were invited to make loud noises to wake up the apple trees. I had brought with me a slightly ridiculous slide whistle to contribute (see this video for the cacophony).

Then we eventually processed back to the farm buildings and The Cider Tap for wassail cakes, more cider, and more morris dancing. I joined in with one of the dances a bit later on, and it was a wonderful reminder of when I'd been an occasional dancer in the Penallt Morris Men, with Dad, in the late 1980s.

The plan after the wassail at Wobblegate was for the festivities to continue at the Royal Oak in Wineham. I had originally thought I might do a night time walk to get there, but ultimately the thought of a couple of miles stumbling through dark countryside after a couple of pints of cider didn't entirely appeal, so I asked around and managed to get a lift.

Although I love the Royal Oak, I had been just before Christmas, and somehow once I got there this evening I wasn't really in the mood. The morris dancers seemed to want to (quite reasonably) have a quiet time of it after their exertions at the wassail. I had heard there was going to be music there from 8pm, but by about 8:30 nothing had as yet started, and I decided instead maybe I should just head home. I did still have the uncertainty of whether or not I'd be able to get a taxi from the Royal Oak back to Wineham - as it turned out when I called them it was fine, but maybe it would have been a different story had I stayed until 10pm. So as it turned out I was back in London around 10pm, and back home by 10:30.

See also this Google Photos album, which contains the same pictures as linked to above, in addition to a few videos.
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Friday: [Friday 3rd January 2020]
Another quiet day at home. Opened a half bottle of Nyetimber in the evening.
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Winter Wonderland: [Thursday 2nd January 2020]
Took Erika to Winter Wonderland for the afternoon, then later on dinner at Oliveto.
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New Year's Day: [Wednesday 1st January 2020]
Had a quiet day at home and ate some Japanese food. Erika didn't get out of her pyjamas all day!
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