Arts

One & Other

Imagine spending an hour watching Trafalgar Square go by from the best possible viewpoint.

I'm applicant #36. Will you apply?

Personal

Icosahedron

Here's something I've not done in a long while: make a model Platonic solid.

I suspect we were pretty much the only family for which mathematical model making was a regular weekend activity. I vaguely remember the dodecahedron being my favourite thirty years ago - probably because it sounded like a dinosaur.

Throughout the intervening years I've had no reason to make myself an icosahedron, but today - while playing around with some 3D computer graphics - I finally found the need. (The icosahedron is a good approximation of a sphere, especially if you further subdivide the faces. And when creating software models there's nothing like having the real thing in your hand to help.)

It was harder than I though - presumably because my fingers were somewhat more slender back then. I think I'll hang on to this one; I don't much fancy trying to repeat the trick in another thirty years' time.

Personal

Conforming

Oh, the shame of it. For two years we'd held off but eventually there was no alternative. Today I'm waiting on delivery of Ikea shelving.

I know, I know. Impersonal Scandinavian furniture. Just about anything else would have been better, but in the end there was only so long we could keep justifying most of our books in boxes.

Next time you visit, please judge us for our selves, not our shelves.

Website

Catch-up

Less-than-perfect weather has kept us off walking this weekend. It's a shame; I'd hoped to make a significant dent in the North Downs Way.

It's not been wasted time though. Should this blog still have any regular readers they'll be delighted to know that we've finally caught up with the backlog of unedited posts from last year. So while you're polishing off what remains of your Easter Egg, why not read about:

• Coast walks starting at Cardiff, Severn Beach, Clifton, Portishead

• Our holiday in Scotland in last May: a wheel, a coastwalk, a the mountain, a pilgrimage and a community

• Finishing The Ridgeway National Trail, with walks starting at Sparsholt Firs, Middlehill Down, Goring, Mongewell, Watlington, Kingston Blount, Princes Risborough and Wendover

There are a few other posts I've not mentioned; the keen might want to explore the 2008 archives.

Hopefully normal (pre-2007) service will now be resumed.

Comment

Further multiplex misery

We've seen four films now at our local multiplex. Of those only one was presented well.

Of the remaining three, the Quantum of Solace soundtrack was quarter to half a second out of sync with the pictures; when we went to see Slumdog Millionaire they started showing The Young Victoria instead; Changeling was blurry throughout and began with the wrong aperture/lens in use.

On the two most recent occasions I had to go out of the auditorium to draw staff attention to their mistake.

After talking with three members of staff at the end of Changeling, two Guest tickets were offered to us with an excuse-laden apology. (We'll be back to use them; will Odeon's success rate finally edge towards 50%?)

I had a similar experience in 2004. The root cause appears to be the cinema's goal: to make money rather than to present art, so they cut corners wherever possible and run with a minimum number of staff.

So much for being Fanatical About Film.

Comment

Faith in politics

Last week I emailed my MP to ask two simple questions:

1. Do you take a second home allowance?
2. Do you publish full details of your claimed expenses?

I wasn't in the slightest surprised - but immensely disappointed - when I received the reply this morning. (Of course it came through the post, not email. And on high quality paper stock. No cutting back on expense there.)

The reply asserted that "we need a transparent solution" to the current debate, but failed to answer either of my two questions. I must simply be unaware of what the word "transparent" means.

Film

Changeling

Here's something rather wonderful: a film which lives up to the promise of its trailer but whose trailer gives nothing away.

Changeling may not have won any of the three Academy Awards it was nominated for (personally I think Angelina Jolie would have been a very worthy Best Actress), but I'd definitely recommend seeing it.

(Sometime soon I'll explain what the Guest tickets in the photograph are about.)

Sculpture

The Giant's Chair

We saw it from afar last Autumn. Today we got to touch the Giant's Chair of Natsworthy.

I was a little off with the grid reference last time; it's at TQ 723801. If you've got strong arms you'll probably be able to climb up the front right leg; I lost my toe hold and ended up with arms rubbed raw so didn't quite make it. Maybe take some rope.

Rewalk

Seaton → Lyme Regis

Distance: 7.86 miles
Ascent: 394 metres
Duration: 3 hours 13 minutes

The ghostly undercliff
« Sidmouth | West Bay »

With another day of blazing sun promised we decided to do a rewalk that would be mostly sheltered today: the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve. When we set out from Seaton though, it was clear that the sun wouldn't be putting in an appearance, with dense mist swirling in.

(It turns out this is the ideal weather to be walking the undercliffs: ghostly, mysterious, unnerving.)

At the west end of the reserve a sign warns walkers that it'll take them four hours to reach Lyme. This is pessimistic, but it still took us two and a half hours from that point including stopping for breaks.

As we crossed the county boundary I realised the symmetry in the week's walks. We started the week at the western end of the south Devon coast and finished it here at the eastern end. I've just two south Devon coastwalks to go now but they depend on seasonal ferries which aren't operating at the moment. I hope we'll find time to return this summer.

Originally walked on 23 April 2002.

Gig

Marnie and Me

After the walk: supper. And where better than in our new favourite pub, the Anchor Inn at Cockwood? Jez and I ate here on our walk from Teignmouth to Starcross back in 2001, so yesterday when repeating that walk with Emma I knew it would be worth popping in. (The mussels-with-anything menu is unique!)

Tonight a local duo were playing live, so it was the only candidate location to finish the day.

Marnie and Me are a fun duo led by Marnie and accompanied by Katie Marie. They were enjoyable to listen to, but...

Well here's the thing: Katie had much better stage presence than Marnie. She seemed more relaxed, more engaged with the crowd and appeared to be an all-round better musician. Marnie took lead vocals on all numbers, so it wasn't possible to be sure but I reckon that I'd rather have seen Katie lead with Marnie doing the odd backing vocal. I'm tempted to buy one of her CDs just to see. I'll not bother with Marnie's.

Having said that, how wonderful to see live music again. Tonight was probably the highlight of this short holiday.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Salcombe → Torcross

Distance: 12.7 miles
Ascent: 633 metres
Duration: 4 hours 35 minutes

The last day of summer
« Bigbury-on-Sea | Kingswear »

Packing for this week in Devon was easy: fleeces, waterproofs, woolly hats. I've mixed feelings about the fact that we got this all wrong. It's been great to be out in glorious weather, but today's walk without sun hats or sun block has resulted in pink necks and pink arms, and meant we ran out of water with two miles still to walk. The cynics would call today the first and last day of summer.

We parked the car at the end of the walk, then took two buses to the start. Salcombe's a pleasant small town and on the ferry across the harbour to East Portlemouth it reminded us very strongly of Fowey.

The walk itself can be split into three sections: the first heading south from the ferry landing stage to Prawle Point (the most southerly in Devon) was a typical rollercoaster: up and over one headland after another. Our guide book feigned ignorance as to the derivation of the name of one headland - "Pig's Nose" - but looking back at it from the east its profile was unmistakably evocative.

The second section of the walk - east from Prawle Point to Start Point - came as welcome relief. Once we'd dropped down from Prawle Point the going was level and easy almost all the way. Start Point itself had been visible from Prawle Point, but as we passed Sleadon Rocks, the first glimpse of the lighthouse was breathtaking. We were able to see the lighthouse from where we'd parked in Torcross so it was a signal that the walk was nearly over.

We didn't actually walk the cul-de-sac down to the light, choosing instead to strike on north for the final leg. (After all by this point we'd run out of water.)

And this is the leg I've been looking forwards to for a long time now. Back in 2005 the second episode of the first series of the BBC's Coast programme told the story of Hallsands, a village washed away supposedly as a result of thoughtless dredging practices. There's little to see here now, even from the viewing platform erected for the tourists. Sadly this is one place best viewed from the television.

In the new Hallsands village - as well as its neighbour Beesands - those cottages which are not already holiday homes appear to be in the process of conversion. Our hopes of finding a small shop or pub for refreshment were dashed when we realised that these villages are dying a different death to old Hallsands.