Hole in Two

This made me laugh. Pictured here coming out of a mosque recently is Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank! I struggle to keep my own sock drawer stocked with ones that match, but holes (in both!) are a definite no-no.

Hobbes Enjoys First Snows

Compared with the rest of the country, Stratford only got a little snow this week, but it provided a silver lining to the colourless countryside. Hobbes certainly enjoyed the fresh snow, pictured here in Shakespeare's gardens at dawn.

End of Construction Week Two...

During the last two weeks, our builders have worked without fail through driving rain, snow and hard frosts. We've seen huge progress; concrete foundations, external brickwork, insulation and internal blockwork has gone up/in. Building inspectors have come and gone satisfied, so I guess we're on track.

The size of the gap that the flolding, sliding doors will fill can now be seen. No wonder the carpenter sucked in all his teeth when we first described what we wanted!

Worst Atlantic Storm Hits UK in 17 Years... Perfect Timing

We couldn't hope for the global warming induced, positively balmy, winter to continue for our builders, but I think the snap to winter could have ushered in with a little more grace than this; worst atlantic storm system in 17 years hits UK. You've got to see the comic timing in that!

Up North

We visited Bradford in Yorkshire yesterday to finalize our folding, sliding doors for the extension. Bradford isn't the most likely destination for a saturday, especially considering it's nearly 200 miles away in "the grim North", but we had a great day. B spent the day with grandparents in Stoke; Yorkshire in winter apparently didn't float his boat.

Bradford was once a very prosporous and thriving city. It's got a fascinating history, not that I remembered much from our history lessons on the Industrial Revolution, but it was interesting to read about it again in this Wikipedia entry. Unfortunately, there wasn't much evidence of the once flourishing and vibrant city today -- but there were obvious signs of regeneration and we certainly enjoyed a couple of them in the afternoon.

We parked near City Hall (gothic looking building pictured here) and spent a very relaxing hour with a coffee in one of the best Waterstone book stores I have every seen. It occupies an old church in the center of town -- at last, a place to worship the true value of books!

We then took a short walk to the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. What a gem! The updated '70's building houses three digital cinema screens and six floors of TV studios, photography exhibitions and a load of fun animation activities for kids - for free! At the moment, there is a splendid exhibition of photographer John Davies' work on landscapes in Britain.

When we read that one of the cinema theatres within the museum had been rated as "one of the best in world", we took advantage of our childless, rainy afternoon marooned up North to watch a 3pm film -- for any parents, what a cheeky treat an afternoon movie is! We saw "Black Book", a Dutch film about the resistance movement in the second world war. It was a little 'flim noir' for K's liking, but I loved it and would thoroughly recommend it (more of a movie for the boys than girls, though). And yes, it was the best movie theatre I've ever been in.

"Can We Build It, Yes We Can!"

After nearly a year of acquiring half a tree worth of architects designs, planning permissions, quotes, estimates, charts and samples, the builders have arrived to extend our house in Stratford upon Avon. In the immortal words of B's hero, Bob the Builder; "Can we build it......".... let's see!

On day one, four very hard-working men from our builder, Sibbasbridge, cleared the existing deck and dug the footings 1.3M deep. In the process, they uncovered the remains of what appears to be a 13th century wall that may have been the boundary to Holy Trinity Church, which is approximately 150 yards away. Holy Trinity Church is usually referred to as "William Shakespeare's church" - he is buried here, along with his family. I suppose our extension will be built on pretty solid foundations! I'm going to see if I can find out more about the layout of the church from the 11th century onwards to discover how our land was once connected to the church.

It's time....

It's about time I stepped into the blogosphere and experienced for myself what I've been talking to so many others about for so long. In the year ahead, it already looks like there will be quite a bit going on, so I'll do my best to share what happens, when it happens, here. If it's worth the effort doing it or reading it, only time (and your comments!) will tell.

Thanks for the photo, Tom. Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 2003.