Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 August 2009

Online and Cornwall

In the last few months I have discovered Twitter, although I am not totally convinced of the purpose of it I have found it a lot of fun, and a good way of keeping up and communicating with some of the comedians I enjoy so much, such as Richard Herring, Sarah Millican and Mark Watson, and also broadcasters such as Andrew Collins, Geoff Lloyd and Simon Mayo. Some of them have even replied to my comments, I certainly don't expect any replies, but it is lovely that these busy people find a moment to throw a comment back at me! Add me if you like, NeilDenham1978

I have been enjoying the Naked Scientist podcasts the last few months, if you have even a passing interest in science then this podcast from Cambridge is well worth a listen. It is professional, never patronises, but also never leave complicated terms unexplained. This week they even answered a question from me! http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=24758

I have also realised that I have not posted since we went away to Cornwall way back in March! We had a lovely time and the weather was mostly good! It really is a great time to go away, it is totally quiet down there. Here are just a few pictures.

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Sunday, 15 March 2009

Norman Lockyer Observatory

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Now that I am 31 I need to do grown up things, so instead of a Saturday night at Rococo's (joke!)we decided to visit the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth. He was the man who discovered Helium (He missed a trick, I would have called it Lockyerium if I had been him!), and also looked at many stars through telescopes. Can you tell my research is a bit shaky?

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You can find out more at http://www.normanlockyer.org/ and it is well worth the fiver entry on an open night to see the 2 dinky little domes and historic telescopes.

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Last night was specifically to look at Saturn, and we all got to look through the big telescope at it. Amazingly it did not just look like a blob, but you could actually see the rings sticking out each side.

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There is also a Planetarium show which is very impressive, I was particularly impressed with the 60's technology that projected it!

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Also in the last few weeks it has been my birthday, and we had a fun gathering at the flat, poker and the Wii were played, and I drank plenty of my new favourite drink, Westons Perry!

I have also won 2 out of the last 3 games of poker at the City Gate, so things are looking up!

Just a week now until our week in Cornwall, I will be very happy to have a week away from work and relax properly!

Sunday, 22 February 2009

10 Things

There has been a lot of work this month, but it has not all been work. Here are 10 other things I have done this month so far.

1. Played poker at the City Gate. I toyed with the idea of giving poker a break as I had not played well since the new year. Last week though I came third (out of about 12) so that has boosted my confidence. Although 3rd is still a wasted fiver it is a lot closer to the elusive tenner and the even more elusive first prize than my previous 3 performances of being last out!

2. Pub quiz at Newton St Cyres. Now that Dennis lives out that way we have been going to the pub quiz each month at the Crown and Sceptre. It is a really friendly, traditional pub. The first Tuesday of each month is Curry and Quiz night. The Curry costs about £6, the quiz about a pound, and drinks bring the total cost up to about a tenner. Both times we have been our team has won a bottle of wine. I will try and get out there with my camera and do a Pub Guide on the place.

3. Met up with ex-SPCK employees. Great to see them all again, and pretty much all the staff (apart from one) came along. Great to see everyone is doing well and planning fun trips and getting new jobs and just generally getting on with life. We referred to the situation with the shops maybe once or twice, but mostly we were just catching up with each other, which was great!

4. Played Mario Kart and unlocked the Mirror Cup. To any non-players this means nothing, but was an exciting event in my life!

5. Went to see the film Milk. It was great to see the story of Harvey Milk told in such a high profile way, and the story is a very important and interesting one, but I could not help feel it rather brushed over some of the interesting themes of the way he approached his politics and a documentary would have told the story in a clearer way (in fact there was a documentary out last year which I must seek out). Still a worthwhile watch though.

6. Watched the original Frost/Nixon Watergate interviews on DVD. After watching the film we were interested to see what they were really like when broadcast, and Dave lent us a DVD of them he bought at the stage show a few years ago. Seeing Frost back then made me realise how great Sheens portrayal of him was, and some of the extras on the DVD confirmed that many of the incidents in the film actually happened.

7. Went out to The Orange Elephant farm shop to get some nice food in the shop and some coffee in the cafe. The newly built shop is really good, but I hope it never becomes as big as Darts Farm which is a bit posh and a bit soulless!

8. Decided I do actually really like the sitcom Not Going Out, and despite thinking it is formulaic and often stupid I still end up laughing loads the whole way through.

9. Booked a holiday cottage in Cornwall. In March we will get getting away for a week in a village near Looe. The plan is to get away from computers and work and Exeter and just slow down and relax. We hope to go to the Eden project at some point too.

10. Took some photos of Exeter today. Needed a bit of air and a wander so took my camera out and wondered about taking random photos.

The first two are peering through the window at the newly restored Mint Priory, I was quite astonished when I looked in, as last time it was an empty shell!

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I wont caption these, but see if you know where they are!

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