John - Archived Entries for 2020 / 3

Try to pretend you don't want one of these tweed caps.

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:: Solar Panel Again
Solar Panel and Fairy House
Hampstead Heath
Tonic
Biscuits
Birthday
Garden Centre
Friday
Axe Sabrage
Flowers
Tuesday
Monday
Biolite Stove
The Ridgeway: Goring to Wantage
GevCham, Rob and Mark, and Goring
World Book Day and Jeremy's Art Exhibition
Pizza and ESW
Kodomo no Hi
Monday
Hampstead Heath
Leap Day
Friday
Garden and Primrose Hill
New Secateurs
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday
Corrie and Jarrod's Wedding

Solar Panel Again: [Friday 20th March 2020]
More time out in the garden trying out my solar panel.
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Solar Panel and Fairy House: [Thursday 19th March 2020]
My Biolite solar panel arrived today. n Also made a "fairy house" out in the garden with Erika.
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Hampstead Heath: [Wednesday 18th March 2020]
Chie and I went for a lunchtime stroll to Hampstead Heath.
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Tonic: [Tuesday 17th March 2020]
Tonic water with frozen blueberries.
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Biscuits: [Monday 16th March 2020]
Another layer of biscuits demonstrating the dubious sense of humour of my friends.
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Birthday: [Sunday 15th March 2020]
Birthday outing, which turned out to be one final hurrah in terms of restaurants and pubs for the foreseeable future - lunch at Oliveto followed by some time at the Pineapple in the afternoon.
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Garden Centre: [Saturday 14th March 2020]
Went to the garden centre to get a new pot and some potting compost to repot the rosebush. Stopped off at the Pineapple on the way back for an al fresco pint.
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Friday: [Friday 13th March]
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Axe Sabrage: [Thursday 12th March 2020]
Tried out sabrage with my new axe. It seemed to work pretty well.
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Flowers: [Wednesday 11th March 2020]
Was cheered up by seeing the periwinkle flowering in the front garden, which prompted a survey of all the various blooms front and back.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 10th March]
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Monday: [Monday 9th March]
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Biolite Stove: [Sunday 8th March 2020]
Spent some of the early evening out in the garden with my Biolite stove. I'd got some proper firewood and wanted to try it out.
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The Ridgeway: Goring to Wantage: [Saturday 7th March 2020]
Had an early start this morning, having stayed overnight in Goring, so I could do the next section of the Ridgeway: from Goring to Wantage.

I'd quite liked my cosy room, up in the roof of the Miller of Mansfield, although I often find it a bit difficult sleeping in a different bed for the first night - just adjusting to the different sounds of the room etc. So I didn't get a perfect night's sleep, but it was good enough. Breakfast wasn't officially served until 8am but I was keen to get going as early as possible, so I went down a bit before that and just helped myself to the cold buffet stuff. Thus I was on the way by 8am.

Like many stretches of the Ridgeway, today's walk generally didn't deliver the most scintillating scenery. The countryside surrounding much of the Ridgeway is generally agricultural in nature, and despite the elevation of much of the route (frequently over 200m) the landscape either side often feels a bit, well, flat.

Still, I did enjoy two bits of the walk in particular today:

First, near the start of the walk, the long country lane leading out of Streatley which the Ridgeway follows, and then the track beyond there. Once I had got onto the track I think I walked for about 2 or 3 miles before I saw another human. That was a wonderful feeling of solitude and as I write this now, several weeks later, I realise how precious that was.

Second, towards the end of the walk, I passed Scutchamer Knob, and paused there for a while to take it in. I enjoyed this spot both because it was one of the first signs of ancient man I'd passed on the Ridgeway so far (beyond Wantage there will be many more of course!) and also because I remembered having been there once before, on a short walk with Dad over 20 years ago. This was a very evocative spot today, and I stood atop it despite the wind, eating the stem ginger biscuit I'd been given on the train yesterday, and felt something or other which I couldn't really put my finger on.

Read more on John Goes for a Walk.
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GevCham, Rob and Mark, and Goring: [Friday 6th March 2020]
Received a case of GevCham in the morning. Got the train to Reading in the evening to go aRob and meet up with Rob and Mark while Mark was in the UK. After that I headed on to Goring to check in to the Miller of Mansfield where I'd be staying tonight ahead of my walk along the Ridgeway tomorrow.
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World Book Day and Jeremy's Art Exhibition: [Thursday 5th March 2020]
Erika got dressed up for World Book Day as Hermione Granger, and in the evening I attended Jeremy's art exhibition.
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Pizza and ESW: [Wednesday 4th March 2020]
Pizza and ESW for dinner.
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Kodomo no Hi: [Tuesday 3rd March 2020]
Kodomo no hi (children's day) in Japan. Chie made Japanese food for dinner - chirashi sushi and lotus chips. Also I had a go at Japanese flower arranging. Sort of.
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Monday: [Monday 2nd March]
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Hampstead Heath: [Sunday 1st March 2020]
Breakfast at Bear and Wolf followed by a Sunday morning stroll across Hampstead Heath. Also did a bit of kite flying.
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Leap Day: [Saturday 29th February 2020]
Oddly didn't take any photos today. I'm writing this a few weeks later and if I recall correctly the weather looked pretty bad so I didn't go out for a walk (although in hindsight I wished I'd just gone anyway). Chie and Erika were off at Erika's Japanese school in the morning as usual, and looking at my Google Maps timeline it looks like I stayed in for most of the morning, then headed down to Earth, the health food shop in Kentish Town, to do some shopping just before lunchtime. Later on in the early evening I popped out to Theatre of Wine, and I think I bought some Austrian wine, although I forget what it was exactly, as I'd planned to make goulash for dinner, and thought something evoking the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be appropriate.
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Friday: [Friday 28th February 2020]
Spent more time in the garden again and had another play with my Biolite stove.
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Garden and Primrose Hill: [Thursday 27th February 2020]
Checked on the garden again in the daytime, then in the evening out to a pub in Primrose Hill with the usual suspects.
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New Secateurs: [Wednesday 26th February 2020]
Got some new secateurs today. Oh and a new trowel.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 25th February]
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Monday: [Monday 24th February]
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Sunday: [Sunday 23rd February 2020]
It seems I spent as much of it as possible out of the garden. Did some pruning and managed to break my secateurs.
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Corrie and Jarrod's Wedding: [Saturday 22nd February 2020]
Ceremony at Wandsworth Town Hall followed by drinks and nibbles at Lore of the Land in the centre of London.
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