Ice Ice Baby

Spent the afternoon at Canary Wharf where they had their annual Ice Sculpture Festival. It was somewhat disappointing since there was little going on other than thousands of people milling around and getting in your way.  I think however that most of the sculpting had gone on earlier in the day, and the sculptures that were on display were pretty impressive, despite occasionally dripping!

It was also possible to have a go at ice sculpting yourself, but most of their slots were already booked, all the way up to the finish at 6pm.  A friend of ours was quite excited about the prospect of a snow pit, but this too turned out to be a disappointment since it was only about 4 m square and full of kids! Never mind, if the prediction that there will be snow by the end of the month comes true, then we'll have plenty of the real stuff to play with.

In other news we're getting into full swing with the wedding invitations; Paper has been bought, and the text has been through its first draft.  The most stressful bit to come will be all the legal paperwork, with its myriad certificates, forms and licences.  It will be worth it, but I just find the whole thing daunting.  I guess that means that when the big day finally comes I'll know that the worst is already behind and won't be at all nervous!

It's been a long while since I've done much writing and in order to get some inspiration I've put some different types of information into an excel file with a number randomiser to come up with some interesting suggestions for characters of stories that may well suggest the stories themselves.  I hope to write some in the near future, which I will then post up here (perhaps with the original conditions to see where it came from -what do you think?).  It was an idea I read somewhere but no idea where.  If I find it, I'll let you know.

New Foods

I am trying to make a little effort to make new foods this year.  After last weeks very successful attempt at profiteroles (wish I had had a working camera at the time to take a photo!) I wanted to have a go at dumplings this week.
I started off with a very simple chicken stew made from chicken thighs, onion, garlic, mushrooms, stock and a huge pile of herbs.  After frying off it went in the oven with plenty of water, then I made the dumplings with a very basic ratio of 2:1 flour to butter, with a dash of water to bind, before putting these on top of the stew for about half an hour.
Here is the result:

I found them very tasty, although my fiancee didn't quite get the idea of balls of pastry in the middle of a stew.  By the way, she made the roast potatoes, not me.  Despite not being a native, she's taken to roasties like a lass to Yorkshire.

In other news we now have a date for the wedding...I'm starting to get nervous now...

Inglorious Filmmaking

I’m glad that I didn’t go to see Inglorious Basterds at the cinema; it’s not that it’s a bad film; it’s just not a very good film.  It does have its humorous moments, homage’s to spaghetti westerns, with a Leone style soundtrack but set in rural France, and it also has moments of great tension.

Sadly, the tense moments only appear around the character of Hans Landa, who is a character whom you actually believe in, and you believe could do anything. 

Shoshanna is also an interesting character with whom, because of all our knowledge about the persecution of Jews, you can understand her motives.  But once again the obvious romance between her and her black projectionist are not explained.  You can’t help wonder whether the only reason why they have been put together is because they were both persecuted due to their race.

As for the violence, it is truly over the top, and seems to be wielded by Tarantino like a child with a gun.  It is dealt with far too a comedic way, both detracting and distracting from the story.  In much the same way the continuous switches between German, French and English (with the relevant subtitles appearing and then disappearing when it switches again).  Am I the only one who finds it impossible to switch from concentrating on listening to reading and back again, without losing something in-between?

All in all it is an ok film, but the story is much too much of a child’s fantasy for it to be truly absorbing and only great after several beers and there’s no Die Hard to watch.  5.5 out of 10.

Usually Right

There was once a girl usually right
Who would get so very uptight
When some disbelieved her
And were ever so eager
To prove that she actually might

Beach Wedding

Planning a wedding
Is like getting stuck in quicksand
Not so much of a sinking feeling
More for every forward step
A dozen more ideas pull you in
I guess this means that
There's a beach wedding for us all

Plans and Banquets

Moving forward with wedding plans today, although a backward step with having the engagement ring resized.  My fiancee won't have it for at least four weeks now and she's disappointed.  Even after just a week she's gotten used to having it on her, albeit wrong, finger since it kept sliding off the right one.
However been checking out paper for possible use in invitations and various other leaflets required.  I think it has only just dawned on us both how many little things there are to organising a wedding; we do have some ideas for gifts though.
Visited the Banqueting House, the last remaining part of the original Whitehall Palace, and dating back to the early 1600's.  The best way to describe it is sugary, like an over-iced cupcake, with it's Reubens ceiling, columns and balcony.  Also the throne and canopy looked like it hadn't been dusted since Charles II became King.  You can actually hire the place for functions, but after careful consideration is probably slightly out of our price range...donations anyone?
Finally have our 2012 calendars too...a His 'n' Hers with columns for us both...anyone would think we were already married!

London Loop - Purfleet to Upminster Bridge

Back in January 2009 I started walking the LOOP, the circular route of about 140 miles that runs around the whole of London.  I started in Erith and got as far as Berrylands in June; and that was as far as I got.  It was just after then that I met my now fiancee and she literally stopped me in my tracks!

However a new year has started and we have decided to complete the LOOP together, going in the opposite direction, and yesterday walked the route from Purfleet to Upminster Bridge.

It started with a stroll along the Thames estuary to our left, with RSPB marshland and birdwatchers to our right.  It was a sunny day but there was still somehow a sense of desolation to the area, probably down to the lack of anything growing other than grass, thistles and the odd bush or tree.

Nearby to Purfleet was the remaining Magazine, the last of five, that used to sit here full of gunpowder received from Waltham, standing ready for use in wars gone by.  Nothing now but a long brick house, it seems a sense of waste for something that could be turned into a community hall or craft hut. 

Continuing on, with Erith on the opposite bank, we first passed a huge landfill site and waste management centre, before coming across jetties and factories.  Beyond Coldharbour Point, and just before the Tilda Rice factory, were a group of concrete barges slowly dying and sinking into the mud.

These were originally towed across the channel and used in the D-Day landings before subsequently becoming part of the estuary flood defences.  Now they simply sit, retired and unused, apart from a possible resting point for birds.

Across more grassland from here, running alongside drainage ditches, as far as Rainham where a new footbridge was being built.  Rainham village itself was an attractive looking place, with tudor style pubs and a complete late-Norman church.

After Rainham we came into to Ingrebourne hill, and as part of a slight diversion climbed to the top where a kind of pyramid gave fantastic views to the surrounding area.  Heading back down we followed the path towards Hornchurch Country Park with paths through trees and grassland, with several cycleways, a lake and the River Ingrebourne.

The river stayed a constant companion from here on in to Upminster, next to small grassed areas perfect for local dog walkers and children, as well as an outdoor gym.  There was plenty going on at Hornchurch FC, while the surrounding houses still covered in Christmas lights were quiet, before finally, unfit and exhausted, we made it to Upminster Bridge station just in time for sunset.