Bedford River Festival

Purported to be the next largest festival after Notting Hill Carnival.



Thousands of people, rides, foodie places, crafts, crystal ball readers, sign-up-here for army/uni/archery/dancing/rambling (yeah I've got THAT badge!)/sports etc...

Mostly underwhelmed.


To keep my mind occupied and not get drawn into a queue of people waiting to hit something with a hammer/kick a football into an impossibly small hole/ring bells, I ate a sausage with onions, a bag of hot cinnamon roasted nuts and counted dogs. 105.





That's a lot o' pups.

Far more interesting was my walk with Monty this morning when I came across a load of bees swarming in and out of a tree. When I looked (slightly more) closely, I could see a honeycomb in there! Real life science and nature going on. Now THAT'S interesting.

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Splat!

Dropped my entire dinner on the floor this evening, breaking a plate into the bargain. Yes, I scraped it back onto the two bits of plate and ate it. I wasn't going to let that Thai green Curry go to waste.
The canine Hoover went into position and the plate went into the bin thereby reducing both the cleaning and washing up!
True there were some crunchy bits that tasted Thai but which I couldn't say with absolute conviction weren't splinters of ceramic...
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'Haute cuisine for brain foodies'

Here are probably my top 6 most used apps after the usual text/phone/email/music/camera options;




The most notable exception would be Kindle which is open
most days.
I like the following for travel;




Of course I particularly like the tube map app so you can check your route without looking like a tourist!
Other honourable mentions go to;




Ideal for sport nerds and pretenders alike. I fall into the latter group as I want to know the scores but will never have any interest in how much the mid-fielders are worth, where they were bought from...oh I'm bored already.
Another favourite is;




Not only is Ted a fantastic brother-in-law but a great source of haute cuisine for brain foodies. Search for 5 min inspirational talks, 10 min funnies or half hour talks on science, culture, technology or any other discipline that takes your fancy.
SO. What are your favourite apps and why?
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Out walking the hound, enjoying some other local wildlife.








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Smoothie as

1 x thick slice fresh pineapple
1/2 punnet blueberries
1/2 small tin mandarins
1 banana
1 slice melon
Generous sprinkle of cinnamon





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The folks

Time for a bit of shameless bragging about my parents. Essentially they rock and I pity the rest of you for not having folks as cool as mine.
If I think I'm being cutting edge (though this is usually only a bi-annual event), my Dad starts a conversation with; 'So tell me what you know about so-and-so who was the first person to be involved in your field of interest'. Well yes, let me just order that clearly seminal work on a key player I've never even heard of before... OR 'I've just been reading about the response to Postmodernism's idea that (insert further long words here)' Well yes, uncanny, me too. Sort of. Not.




I love to be kept on my toes like this. I also love being taken out for brunch and we managed to squeeze in a Full English after a trip round the farmer's market; my parents asking how a stall holder was getting on reading a 'significant book' given out the previous month and me getting told off for putting my hand in a sack of coffee beans! 'Sorry about that, she's just back from Africa'!!!




It was called Safari -what was I supposed to do??
Found this old but functional radio in the garage and couldn't help but snap it. Another cool little detail from their house; accidentally retro!




Had an exciting speaking engagement arranged for me - children's talk at chapel :) So much more potential than just speaking to adults!
Had a flashback to eating with Arabs each time we sat down for a meal; 'Eat! Eat! You've hardly had anything! اوكلي! ماكلتي خير




Enjoyed the rest of my time reading Müller, sleeping and trying to chase blackbirds out of the soft fruit cages!!




So yeah, in true playground idiom, my folks are cooler than your folks!!




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Sunning & Indolence.

A week after leaving Africa-ca-ca-ca (Shooting Stars allusion), I had a week's holiday in Puerto de Mogan, Gran Canaria. 'Twas a place of much sunning and indolence.





I stayed in a fab little hostel up a steep winding alley way of white painted houses, pots of colourful plants and whistling birds in outdoor cages.




HOSTEL VOLVER ^

I was most struck by the incredibly clear water and number and variety of tropical fish that could be seen just standing on the port side. The beach was man-made so fairly tame but they served the purpose (see post title)




Enjoyed making friends with the staff and other lodgers in the hostel. Went to a fabulous local water park one day with flumes steep enough to give you nose bleeds. Yeah man! Also watched the Euro matches that didn't involve penalty shoot-outs!


Came home and booked my next trip away. Watch this space!

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Baking

Saw mini carrot cake cupcakes in M&S and thought I could do just as good a job at home. Did.


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