tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61380079107193901802024-03-17T15:48:36.638+00:00 Autolycus ...a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles ...Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.comBlogger867125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-3205117275891165352024-03-15T06:30:00.001+00:002024-03-15T15:53:24.717+00:00Steam trains - up a mountain and along a valley My trainspotting days are long gone, but they were in the age of steam, and something remains of the appeal of the steam engine which quiet, efficient electric trains just don't seem to have. Our group had a strong contingent of serious anoraks, who knew a great deal about all that sort of thing and enthusiastically took up the option to explore as much as possible of the Harz networkAutolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-33969868279535101142024-03-14T14:03:00.002+00:002024-03-15T15:07:03.224+00:00More holiday snaps - QuedlinburgAs if Wernigerode weren't picturesque enough, our itinerary took us to Quedlinburg, an ancient town seemingly undisturbed (at least in its historic centre) by the ups and downs of much of Germany's history.Half-timbered houses lining narrow winding streets (all remarkably uncluttered by modern street furniture and signage) and ornate doorways - we didn't get to see the castle, but it's easy to Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-52552148647889207982024-03-04T10:23:00.001+00:002024-03-04T11:30:32.478+00:00More holiday snaps - Wernigerode After our brief stop to ride the Schwebebahn, the trains took us to our base for the week, in Wernigerod: in the heart of the Harz, so to speak.It's picturesque and traditional-looking, with plenty of half-timbered houses and flowers (it even has a floral clock, just as one used to see in the posher British seaside holiday resorts).Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's outside the library, at Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-31772540864227442572024-03-02T11:18:00.000+00:002024-03-02T11:18:00.233+00:00Floating in the airLast year wasn't all lethargy. I'd been playing with ideas of training it deeper into Germany than I have so far, tempted by a new night sleeper service from Brussels all the way round to Prague, stopping en route at, among others, Bad Schandau in the "Saxon Switzerland". As a student in 1969, unexpectedly given grant to travel, I planned to stay there as part of a trip around the then East Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-56115249908658091322024-02-22T15:03:00.000+00:002024-02-22T15:03:03.762+00:00Spring keeps on springingAs ever, the naturalised bulbs in St Anne's churchyard, in Limehouse, put out a brave display.Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-1393497006684583122024-02-14T06:00:00.004+00:002024-02-14T06:00:00.127+00:00Speaking of small victoriesJust recently, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I found a commercial I saw just the once decades ago, but which really stuck in the memory. It turns out that it dates from 1989, and it's been judged worthy enough for the British Film Institute to archive it.And today's the day for it:Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-56197044273023069162024-02-12T18:31:00.002+00:002024-02-12T18:31:10.830+00:00Small victories Over lethargy, lassitude and can't-be-botheredness, that is. A couple of cupboard doors coming off their hinges (and built into a corner where each makes the other only approachable at an awkward angle), and a collection of old pillows and other things to take to the recycling centre: classic "round tuit" jobs louring in the background of whatever else has been on my mind. For months,Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-65388617475155124072024-02-02T12:20:00.003+00:002024-02-02T12:20:24.014+00:00ComebackMost of the developments round here have plenty of hardy shrubs along the street frontage. One was getting particularly overgrown, and had a radical, even brutal haircut in the autumn (on the principle, no doubt, that managing plants means sometimes being cruel to be kind). Most of them are rather dull, but this one has bounced back with one of the earliest spring flowers (already!):Meanwhile, a Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-84177354252120500232024-01-05T13:41:00.002+00:002024-01-05T13:41:46.018+00:00No thank youFortunately, I can't think of any bargain I particularly want or need. Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-75431051575811790982023-12-18T15:47:00.000+00:002023-12-18T15:47:53.494+00:00Stocking up?If you should happen to need six litres of vodka to get the party started..Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-87625955632903259392023-12-17T12:53:00.000+00:002023-12-17T12:53:39.312+00:00Not so enthusiastic Random street art pops up just about anywhereAutolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-58291429578716257142023-12-15T14:13:00.004+00:002023-12-15T14:13:49.294+00:00Now, there's enthusiasm... Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-88586099526186185642023-11-05T12:13:00.000+00:002023-11-05T12:13:11.101+00:00Talk about "We interrupt your viewing.." It being a dank and rainy evening for Guy Fawkes night, cocooning with the curtains drawn, and the TV on - as it happens, a documentary all about those barrels of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords, and all the rest. The distant whooshes and booms of fireworks some brave souls were letting off despite the weather seemed a good long way away. Until some came very loud and seemingly veryAutolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-24744476502778003412023-08-07T09:31:00.001+01:002023-08-07T09:31:52.308+01:00On sale now! New arrivals at the paper shop (yum yum - or maybe not):Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-18719342235357687882023-06-19T11:30:00.002+01:002023-06-19T11:30:18.001+01:00And so to GlasgowShaking off my lethargy when faced with deciding on and organising some sort of trip away, and bearing in mind the nagging awareness of how little of my own country I've visited, I plumped for a few days in Glasgow.The sometimes rather gloomy-looking grandeur of the architecture of its commercial and industrial heyday is lightened outside the Gallery of Modern Art by the (decidedly unofficial, inAutolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-64823124958233099742023-06-10T11:42:00.001+01:002023-06-10T11:43:42.747+01:00Revelation of the yearIt helps to feed window-boxes occasionally.
Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-83900498104045338842023-06-01T14:53:00.001+01:002023-06-01T14:57:01.045+01:00Ahem. Two years later...... how some people keep up the inspiration I don't know. As it happens, I did get back to Paris last year, but found the whole experience oddly flat. That might have something to do with spending half a morning of a weekend trip trekking out into a commuter town to a museum only to find it closed (my fault for misreading the website). Still, I suppose it countsAutolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-35065523505224234602021-07-14T06:00:00.001+01:002021-07-14T06:00:00.170+01:00How time flies. It's that time of year again. I wonder how long it will be before I see Paris again.
Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-86164383560279720292021-07-07T14:53:00.006+01:002021-07-07T14:53:56.210+01:00En route to an appointment at the Palace (all right, a visit to the new exhibition at the Queen's Gallery), one doesn't expect this sort of wildlife in Green Park:Further on, there was a large herd:and they appeared to be heading towards the Palace:
The head of the herd was calling, far far away, so Nellie and her chums plodded on:
It turns out that this is Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-85085257435759326752021-03-03T13:53:00.000+00:002021-03-03T13:53:20.589+00:00Cloud-capp'd towersAppropriate weather for a walk to the dentist's, perhaps.It was only a routine check-up, and the dentist pronounced all well: indeed, he said I had a young man's gums.The poor soul must be missing them. Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-74232995882442749012021-02-22T16:25:00.001+00:002021-02-22T17:24:13.477+00:00Jolly jaunts far afield still being off the agenda for the foreseeable, it's a nice change* to have something different in the area to look at - in this case, Canary Wharf's set of winter light installations:
*It's the first time I've been out after dark in I can't remember how long.Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-43980812335639020152021-02-19T12:08:00.002+00:002021-02-19T12:08:39.715+00:00Not every impulse purchase at the supermarket is fattening. Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-2067375670331562842021-02-18T07:00:00.015+00:002021-02-18T07:00:00.513+00:00A tale of two cities: WInchester (3)Passing through the quieter side-streets, in what is evidently the purlieu of Winchester School, where not even a post box seems to have changed much since Victorian times, one comes eventually to a path that runs through lush watermeadows:
Soon another venerable church comes into view, the church of an equally venerable institution.Its grand official title is the Hospital of St Cross and Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-78798250876303010282021-02-17T07:00:00.031+00:002021-02-17T07:00:01.556+00:00A tale of two cities: Winchester (2)I once knew someone who swore blind they'd heard a tourist, outside Winchester Cathedral, say to his spouse "OK, honey, I'll do the outside and you do the inside".
And a grand inside it is, as you might imagine of something so old and historically significant (there's a stunning exhibition on the Cathedral's Anglo-Saxon history and its associated manuscripts).
You might think this striking Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138007910719390180.post-27648621207095314322021-02-16T07:00:00.006+00:002021-02-16T07:00:03.461+00:00A tale of two cities: Winchester (1)Like Ely, Winchester has a cathedral and a famous school, but is rather grander, being a royal capital in Anglo-Saxon times (and Charles II had grand ideas in that direction as well, till he came up against financial reality), and a garrison town with many military connections. It once had a great castle, of course, of which only the Great Hall remains. Used for various functions over the years, Autolycushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com0