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Up at sparrow's fart yesterday morning to go to Basingstoke Civic Day. It's become a tradition that my mother and I bring CDs for Peter to play on the journey when he drives us, so I brought Friends Reunited Hits of 1976 - not as popular as past choices :( Snarled up in traffic most of the way - thankfully Peter had built in enough time to allow for that, hence the early start.
Jackie, their town hall caterer, did us proud with a magnificent breakfast spread. There were plenty of yummy mini bagels, garlic butter, mini pains chocolat, croissants, various types of rolls, fruit galore (including STRAWBERRIES! - thank goodness for this year's record long summer), luxury cream for our coffee, and - oh joy - loads of bacon. When Pat, the County Council Vice-Chairman, arrived, after the introductory kiss and hello I said "How are you?" and she replied "All the better for seeing you." We then headed straight for the hot food trays to indulge our shared love of bacon butties.
We started the day with a presentation about a previously run-down quarter of Basingstoke that's now a proud and thriving community thanks to an ongoing regeneration project, then we were herded onto the bus to drive through said community en route to a wine tasting.
On arrival at the wine warehouse we got a glass of champagne each, then after the tasting (where we were taught to 'swirl, sniff and slurp' wine) we had a guided tour of the warehouse, with rows on rows of bottles of wine mostly being kept for private customers. There were a lot of bottles of 1985 Portuguese port all in bond - the guide told us with pride how the previous owner of the wine company used to come round every day to see that all those bottles were 'guardsman straight'. A bit later we saw some much older wine, whisky and brandy, including some brandy from 1878! The guide finished by telling us about their speciality, King's Ginger Liqueur. He told us the story of how it was designed for King Edward VII as something he could drink to counteract the chill he felt when out driving, but also that wouldn't smell on his breath when he went home to Queen Alexandra.
We got to taste a tiny plastic glassful in the shop at the end of the tour. I loved it, and went back for seconds, knocking back the whole little glass - much to the astonishment of Warwick the Basingstoke Deputy Mayor; he and others had stopped at one wee mouthful. Lots of the ladies in our party bought a bottle, but my mother, having tried it, decided it wasn't to her taste. All she bought was a bottle of port for Gran's Xmas present! Although it was pay day, I couldn't justify laying out £15 on a bottle of King's Ginger :(
Next stop was Basingstoke College of Technology for lunch. I had 'hors d'oeuvres variés' for starter; mostly vegetables and rice, but in the middle was half a hard boiled egg. I ate the yolk straight out, then left the white sitting there while I finished everything else. Next to me was Margaret from Rushmoor, who about two-thirds of the way through said to me "You're avoiding your egg in the middle." I explained that I'd had the yolk and that I'm egg white intolerant. She told me about a relative of hers who eats egg whites and leaves the yolks, "but I think that's just out of personal preference". But as Margaret herself is gluten-intolerant, and for that very reason was at that moment not having any starter at all, she knew where I was coming from so she left it then.
Main course was delicious pork and perfectly done veg, then we had a choice from the sweet trolley - I went for superb chocolate mousse - and, to finish, one of the students gave us a demonstration. We watched as he made Grand Marnier and Cointreau pancakes, then we were all served the fruits of his labours.
After lunch we visited the Automotive Department. In a musical technology class we met a young lass with ambitions to become a record producer, then we saw the car mechanics department (the lecturer guiding us said "This is probably the first time you'll ever see a clean garage") and we finished in Beauty, where we were all offered the choice of an arm massage or having our nails painted. The young lady who did my arm massage told me she was in her third year at the college now; she only looked about 18 so I assumed she'd come straight there from school. I was therefore a bit surprised when I asked her if she'd be going to the Basingstoke fireworks on Sunday and she said yes, she'd take her daughter. You wouldn't take a little baby to a firework show, so I said "You've got a daughter? I thought you were 18!" Her friend at the next table said "You wish!" to her. She was actually a mature student. She did a pretty good job of my arm massage; she found a knot in my left hand.
As we walked back to the bus, Maria said loudly "Can we go to Festival Place?" (the town's huge shopping mall) but she was told firmly that we were going to the Milestones Living History Museum. On the way there, we passed the bowling alley - those of us who'd been there last week did a little reminiscing, and Richard said "Are we having a rematch?"
Milestones was great. There were lots of reconstructed buildings from Hampshire as they had been in their day, ranging from Victorian times to the 1950s. A couple of the staff re-enacted the 1888 opening of Winchester's Cheese Hill station, complete with a farmer protesting against railways - "Stick to good old horses and carts!" They called Sue and Tony forward to 'cut the ribbon' together. Warwick showed me an alleyway leading to a back view of a 1930s house, complete with an outside loo - in which sat a dummy of a man reading a newspaper! Maria and Pam had hysterics at that. There was also a pub, with bottles of beer and wine behind the bar. It was unoccupied and the door was locked - "Sorry, it's Victorian opening hours," Tony said to me, "they close between two and six."
We finished with tea and cakes in the cafe, and Tony presented each mayor and chairman with a bottle of wine from the merchant we'd visited this morning. Bogged down in more traffic on the way home; I nodded off for half the journey.
Peter agreed to drop me at Asda, where I needed to visit the hole in the wall, stock up with razors and buy an Old Hooky - my mother gave me some money and asked me to pick up a few groceries. On the way out I glanced at a copy of The News. Devastating news - Hawks' cup tie with Millwall is to be played at Fratton Park on the MONDAY. It wasn't the moving the match to Portsmouth I minded, it was the moving it to Monday evening - when I'll be at night school ;(((
There is no possibility of me missing college to go to the game. I'm deadly serious about this course and I really need to go to every class. I will simply have to tune in to the commentary on Radio Solent during class coffee break and on the walk home after.
Nadgers. Bloody stupid Hampshire Police. What was wrong with 12 noon on SUNDAY, which wouldn't allow the Millwall fans to drink before the game??
Passed the evening watching Barcelona v Chelsea in a bit of a radge, although in truth the £20 or so I'm going to save by missing the Millwall game is doing me a favour...
To Fareham after work today to buy an overdue new pair of shoes. Shoefayre didn't have much in the way of size 12s, but fortunately the first pair the lady offered me to try on - natty brown ones - were a good comfortable fit, and only £12. Next stop Argos, to buy an aerial for my portable TV that would allow the Freeview box I got for my birthday six months ago to work. I picked up a 'One For All' one for £29.99 - didn't have to queue more than a few minutes either - then went to get the bus home.
Just spent an interesting evening setting up my channels. Had trouble getting a decent reception with the aerial sat on top of the telly - I had to turn it around and move it to different positions depending what channel I wanted - until I noticed that reception improved while I was lifting the aerial up to move it, only to break up again when I put the aerial down again. That gave me a brainwave. Seeing an old cocoa tin standing on the floor, I put that on top of the TV then put the aerial on the cocoa tin. Problem solved :)
Jackie, their town hall caterer, did us proud with a magnificent breakfast spread. There were plenty of yummy mini bagels, garlic butter, mini pains chocolat, croissants, various types of rolls, fruit galore (including STRAWBERRIES! - thank goodness for this year's record long summer), luxury cream for our coffee, and - oh joy - loads of bacon. When Pat, the County Council Vice-Chairman, arrived, after the introductory kiss and hello I said "How are you?" and she replied "All the better for seeing you." We then headed straight for the hot food trays to indulge our shared love of bacon butties.
We started the day with a presentation about a previously run-down quarter of Basingstoke that's now a proud and thriving community thanks to an ongoing regeneration project, then we were herded onto the bus to drive through said community en route to a wine tasting.
On arrival at the wine warehouse we got a glass of champagne each, then after the tasting (where we were taught to 'swirl, sniff and slurp' wine) we had a guided tour of the warehouse, with rows on rows of bottles of wine mostly being kept for private customers. There were a lot of bottles of 1985 Portuguese port all in bond - the guide told us with pride how the previous owner of the wine company used to come round every day to see that all those bottles were 'guardsman straight'. A bit later we saw some much older wine, whisky and brandy, including some brandy from 1878! The guide finished by telling us about their speciality, King's Ginger Liqueur. He told us the story of how it was designed for King Edward VII as something he could drink to counteract the chill he felt when out driving, but also that wouldn't smell on his breath when he went home to Queen Alexandra.
We got to taste a tiny plastic glassful in the shop at the end of the tour. I loved it, and went back for seconds, knocking back the whole little glass - much to the astonishment of Warwick the Basingstoke Deputy Mayor; he and others had stopped at one wee mouthful. Lots of the ladies in our party bought a bottle, but my mother, having tried it, decided it wasn't to her taste. All she bought was a bottle of port for Gran's Xmas present! Although it was pay day, I couldn't justify laying out £15 on a bottle of King's Ginger :(
Next stop was Basingstoke College of Technology for lunch. I had 'hors d'oeuvres variés' for starter; mostly vegetables and rice, but in the middle was half a hard boiled egg. I ate the yolk straight out, then left the white sitting there while I finished everything else. Next to me was Margaret from Rushmoor, who about two-thirds of the way through said to me "You're avoiding your egg in the middle." I explained that I'd had the yolk and that I'm egg white intolerant. She told me about a relative of hers who eats egg whites and leaves the yolks, "but I think that's just out of personal preference". But as Margaret herself is gluten-intolerant, and for that very reason was at that moment not having any starter at all, she knew where I was coming from so she left it then.
Main course was delicious pork and perfectly done veg, then we had a choice from the sweet trolley - I went for superb chocolate mousse - and, to finish, one of the students gave us a demonstration. We watched as he made Grand Marnier and Cointreau pancakes, then we were all served the fruits of his labours.
After lunch we visited the Automotive Department. In a musical technology class we met a young lass with ambitions to become a record producer, then we saw the car mechanics department (the lecturer guiding us said "This is probably the first time you'll ever see a clean garage") and we finished in Beauty, where we were all offered the choice of an arm massage or having our nails painted. The young lady who did my arm massage told me she was in her third year at the college now; she only looked about 18 so I assumed she'd come straight there from school. I was therefore a bit surprised when I asked her if she'd be going to the Basingstoke fireworks on Sunday and she said yes, she'd take her daughter. You wouldn't take a little baby to a firework show, so I said "You've got a daughter? I thought you were 18!" Her friend at the next table said "You wish!" to her. She was actually a mature student. She did a pretty good job of my arm massage; she found a knot in my left hand.
As we walked back to the bus, Maria said loudly "Can we go to Festival Place?" (the town's huge shopping mall) but she was told firmly that we were going to the Milestones Living History Museum. On the way there, we passed the bowling alley - those of us who'd been there last week did a little reminiscing, and Richard said "Are we having a rematch?"
Milestones was great. There were lots of reconstructed buildings from Hampshire as they had been in their day, ranging from Victorian times to the 1950s. A couple of the staff re-enacted the 1888 opening of Winchester's Cheese Hill station, complete with a farmer protesting against railways - "Stick to good old horses and carts!" They called Sue and Tony forward to 'cut the ribbon' together. Warwick showed me an alleyway leading to a back view of a 1930s house, complete with an outside loo - in which sat a dummy of a man reading a newspaper! Maria and Pam had hysterics at that. There was also a pub, with bottles of beer and wine behind the bar. It was unoccupied and the door was locked - "Sorry, it's Victorian opening hours," Tony said to me, "they close between two and six."
We finished with tea and cakes in the cafe, and Tony presented each mayor and chairman with a bottle of wine from the merchant we'd visited this morning. Bogged down in more traffic on the way home; I nodded off for half the journey.
Peter agreed to drop me at Asda, where I needed to visit the hole in the wall, stock up with razors and buy an Old Hooky - my mother gave me some money and asked me to pick up a few groceries. On the way out I glanced at a copy of The News. Devastating news - Hawks' cup tie with Millwall is to be played at Fratton Park on the MONDAY. It wasn't the moving the match to Portsmouth I minded, it was the moving it to Monday evening - when I'll be at night school ;(((
There is no possibility of me missing college to go to the game. I'm deadly serious about this course and I really need to go to every class. I will simply have to tune in to the commentary on Radio Solent during class coffee break and on the walk home after.
Nadgers. Bloody stupid Hampshire Police. What was wrong with 12 noon on SUNDAY, which wouldn't allow the Millwall fans to drink before the game??
Passed the evening watching Barcelona v Chelsea in a bit of a radge, although in truth the £20 or so I'm going to save by missing the Millwall game is doing me a favour...
To Fareham after work today to buy an overdue new pair of shoes. Shoefayre didn't have much in the way of size 12s, but fortunately the first pair the lady offered me to try on - natty brown ones - were a good comfortable fit, and only £12. Next stop Argos, to buy an aerial for my portable TV that would allow the Freeview box I got for my birthday six months ago to work. I picked up a 'One For All' one for £29.99 - didn't have to queue more than a few minutes either - then went to get the bus home.
Just spent an interesting evening setting up my channels. Had trouble getting a decent reception with the aerial sat on top of the telly - I had to turn it around and move it to different positions depending what channel I wanted - until I noticed that reception improved while I was lifting the aerial up to move it, only to break up again when I put the aerial down again. That gave me a brainwave. Seeing an old cocoa tin standing on the floor, I put that on top of the TV then put the aerial on the cocoa tin. Problem solved :)
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