Peapods

ivy

Supersonic Festival 2009

We just got back from Supersonic Festival 2009. We love going to this festival! It is held in the Custard Factory which is an arts and media centre in a former custard factory in Birmingham. We only ever go for the Sunday even though it runs all weekend, maybe next year we will think about going for the whole thing. Our Sunday only strategy is mainly to keep our costs down and it means we aren't too exhausted come the headliner on the Sunday. The main reason we like this festival is the music, it is our kind of thing, however I also really appreciate the general atmosphere of friendliness - even the security guards were reasonably friendly. I also think that the dark clothes + beards + tattoos type people who attend this festival are nicer to be around than a lot of festival crowds.

good morning covered market

My new bike was in the bike shop for the free checkup that came with it so I had to get the bus to work. I am not a fan of the bus but an advantage is that I got to take a shortcut through the covered market. I love going through the covered market. I used to work there in the big jewelery store when I was on holiday from University, and after that I worked very nearby so I used to go there everyday for my lunch. I miss not being quite as close so it was good to get some time in there. It was before 8am so most of the shops were shut and the butchers, fishmongers, and fruitiers were just setting up.

Ps. I was having an idle look about for information and I discovered it was opened in 1774! Wow.

glitter streets

My friend had her last Masters exam of the year so me and some other friends went to cheer her coming out of the Oxford University Exam Halls. Tradition is to throw things such over the students, flour and food are now banned but glitter seems to be allowed. It makes the surrounding streets very sparkly.

picnic by the river

 

The dessert. We also had some brie and baguette, some filo and feta parcels, and cloudy lemonade. Simple but tasty.

buttercup season

More flowers! :) When I was at the meadow today I was remembering when it was like this - wow that snow was so thick. I hadn't been there for quite a few weeks but when I got a tip off from a friend that it was buttercup season I had to go and check it out even though it was quite overcast.

sweetpeas

These were growing in the hedge of a cottage in the village that had the fair. I didn't know that sweetpeas could be that far along this early in the summer. Mine are only a couple of feet high at the moment and haven't flowered yet. So pretty.

village fair

At the weekend it was the annual village fair at which my friend (and former housemate) used to run a skittle alley. I say 'used to' as the skittle alley got crushed by a falling barn since last year. Here is last year's post. It threatened to rain the whole time but we were lucky. I had lunch of a piece of fruit cake, these country ladies make the BEST cakes :)

Some of the activities on offer were:

- egg throwing (two people throwing an egg back and forth at increasingly large distances until it breaks)

- ferret roulette (they put a ferret in a box and you have to guess which hole it will come out of)

- yard of ale competition (who can drink a yard of ale the quickest)

- Punch and Judy show

- pony rides

- raffle

- Morris dancing

- watching the blacksmith making horse shoes

- tea and cake tent

- local Old Father Thames ale and Pimm's

- dog show

- archery

- pet the goats

and many more.

Being in prime retired-rock-star territory, as most of Oxfordshire and Berkshire seems to be, there were raffle donations from Simply Red and Pink Floyd. However the actual pop stars that I saw in residence were these chickens which had apparently been in a Kasabian video the week before.

heart

Seen in the street.

bits of the weekend

It is a long weekend here so it still isn't over yet but these are a few pictures I have taken so far:

1. An Oric Atmos at my friend's mother's house
2. The petrol station
3. View from my deck chair
4. More planning of the next trip to Japan
5. Tulips at my dad's house
6. Lights on the drive home
7. Some Japanese magazines that my dad brought for us back from Japan

Not pictured are burgers and drinks with friends on Saturday night, spending hours and hours getting quotes for a new kitchen (all too costly for us so far), our grocery delivery arrival, my complete clean out and tidy of the freezer and kitchen cabinets and my wardrobe, planting out spring onions and more French beans, us both hoovering and dusting the house, a couple of hours working on finishing building a website, trying to mow the lawn, yummy lemon pasta, and I am sure a whole bunch of other things :)