London: an ageless city

The course of the Thames has, inevitably, changed a little over the centuries as it meanders through London but essentially, it’s remained a constant. And given to fanciful musings, as I looked out over London from the top of St Paul’s, I couldn’t help but think how much the landscape has changed since Christopher Wren  built his amazing church.  The mean streets, timber buildings and open sewers have been replaced with imposing buildings made from Portland stone and latterly, steel and glass.  There are flood defences.  But the enduring soul, the vibrancy of the city, like the Thames, remains unchanged

The Pavement

York is an ancient city with lingering echoes of very different times, when life was shorter and more brutal than today. As I’m still enough of an infrequent visitor to York, whenever I visit, I try to discover something new. I don’t always succeed as often, my time is limited but on Thursday a little celebration was in order as I found a plaque related to “The Pavement, created as early as 1378.  Even though I’d passed the wall where it’s situated many times, and geocaching has allegedly honed my observational skills, I’d never spotted it before. I was delighted!

Farewells

Miss Glis, Alex  and Bill are off to Whistler tomorrow for a skiing holiday.  Although they are excited, there’s a degree of sadness and trepidation as they are taking Fiona’s ashes with them to leave in a beautiful place on the mountain. Fiona’s close friend Steph is in charge as she wasn’t able to attend Fiona’s funeral and Bill and Alex recognise that this is her opportunity to say goodbye. Whistler is a special, magical place for many and especially so for Fiona, Bill and Alex; The snow will always sparkle that little bit brighter as Fiona’s spirit lives on

Golden Gallery

How can it be almost 35 years since Mr Glis and I climbed the 528 steps to the top of the Golden Gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral? Luckily, Nerea “summited” with a friend of ours during a visit to London when I was in a meeting so she wasn’t disadvantaged! I’ve wanted to return but gallery opening times, work commitments and other sights to see during weekends in the South meant that hasn’t been possible.  Until yesterday!! I found the time to race up the steps again and was rewarded with stunning view over the city, despite the damp weather

The Blood-letting!

Remind me to make sure that it’s the nurse who takes blood from me next time.  Quite why the Doctor wanted me to have a blood test for a peeling toe is anyone’s guess, especially when I don’t have an iron deficiency, but I suppose I should be thankful for his thoroughness.  Anyway, a life time of blood tests have never resulted in anything like the bruise currently adorning my left arm! Not only is it VERY purple, it’s also very sore! Ordinarily, the Practice Nurse usually achieves the blood-letting uneventfully, so draw your own conclusions about the Doctor’s proficiency!

Valentine's Day - Bah Humbug

 You will be unsurprised to know that Mr Glis and I don’t “do” St Valentine’s Day.  In the dim and distant past, we may have exchanged a card but that was an awfully long time ago.  And it’s not because I lack romantic notions; it’s just that I don’t believe February 14th is the time for them.  Like so many other festivals, Valentine’s Day has been overtaken by modern commercialism, and that is Not A Good Thing.  Now, it’s all about tasteless, grand gestures with the concept of a simple, affectionate love-token sent to your special person, consigned to history.  

England's Oldest Surviving Geocache

When we were in Chesham at the weekend, we took the opportunity to visit England’s oldest geocache. There was a delightful irony in visiting a cache called “A view from Coombe Hill” when visibility was down to 50 yards but despite that, the pleasure of discovering such an old cache wasn’t diminished. Placed in January 2001, it has become a place of caching pilgrimage, visited over 1000 times, with many of those visits in more recent years as the cache has aged and geocaching challenges that involve finding and logging elderly caches have been introduced. I’m glad we found it!

Poverty

I read a heart-breaking article on poverty today.  The author wasn’t a “sensationalised for reality TV benefits scrounger”.  Her family life had simply spiralled into desperate poverty through life-changing illness. I absolutely refuse to subscribe to the “be poor but happy” mantra that our corpulent politicians espouse. Poverty is tough and in the 21st century, it’s unacceptable that anyone, particularly children, are hungry and cold. Wearing charity shop clothing and eating homemade soup created from a handful of lentils and damaged vegetables loses any middle class pretentions when they’re the only options to ensure a family are clothed and fed

Snow in the South

Although we'd enjoyed a snowy walk up Skiddaw last weekend, we didn't expect to be walking in icy conditions on our visit to Coombe Hill in Buckinghamshire, yesterday. We were trialling the route directions for a circular walk that Richard has devised for inclusion in a walking book celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Chiltern Society later this year. We set off from Little Hampden and before long were above the snow line! By the time we reached the high point at Coombe Hill Monument, the mist was down and conditions underfoot were treacherous. Luckily, they improved along the  Ridgeway!

Animals At War

My family are self-confessed animal lovers, developing deep emotional relationships with our pets over the years. Consequently, we’ve been unsurprised on hearing of numerous tales of animal heroism in many situations. We’ve also read and watched the film of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, being moved, as intended, by the story of love and loyalty. The film prompted me to visit the “Animals in War” memorial situated at the Eastern edge of Hyde Park, today.  It’s a striking monument depicting the roles animal played, through bronze sculptures, relief images and inscriptions on the stone wall. Inevitably, it was an emotional visit!

London Calling

I’ve been back to London this week and as always, I made the time to have a wander round, although as I arrived after dark yesterday, I limited myself to a short excursion from the hotel. Today, however, en-route to my destination, I was able to stride across Hyde Park, down Constitution Hill and across St James’ Park, passing Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey along the way.  I arrived at my meeting feeling satisfied that I’d seen sufficient historic locations for the day.  That was just as well, as I spent the rest of the day in a windowless room!

Birthday bonus

We had a lovely 21st birthday celebration with Nerea yesterday.  She enjoyed a “team building” paintball experience with her college cronies (displaying some horrific bruises to prove it had been great fun) before coming home with Alex to a birthday meal with melted camembert, fizz and cake.  She was thrilled with all her cards and gifts and still has the excitement of her Canadian skiing holiday with Bill and Alex to come. However we’re concerned by her apparent plan to maximise the birthday bonus opportunity to avoid unpleasant tasks by pleading that it’s her 21st birthday week, month and year!

Red Velvet cake

A power cut earlier in the day meant I ended up baking the layers of Nerea’s red velvet birthday cake while trying to watch Silent Witness last night. I’m not entirely convinced that the grunge colour is sufficiently virulent but I followed the recipe and used what seemed to be an awfully large quantity of colouring just to achieve the shade it is! And because of the lateness of the baking hour, I had to leave the frosting until today. But despite its colour, I’m looking forward to tonight’s tasting session once it’s iced! Now where are the chopped nuts?

Red Velvet Cake

Cake ingredients

150g butter, softened
300g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, separated
250g plain flour
25g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
2 level tbsp good quality cocoa powder
250ml buttermilk
Red food colouring (use 2 tbsp liquid colour or 1/2 tsp thick red food paste)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Frosting

2 large egg whites
250g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

1.Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Butter and flour the sides of 2, 9 inch/23cmcake tins and line the bases with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the egg yolks, one b y one, beating well after each addition.
3. Place the flour, cornflour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a sieve resting on a plate. Measure the buttermilk with the food colouring and mix together. It should be very red, so add more if you need to.
4. Sift one-third of the dry ingredients into the butter and eggs mixture until just combined, then pour in one-third of the buttermilk mixture and mix until just combined. Continue, combining a third at a time, until both are incorporated.
5. Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large, spotlessly clean bowl until stiffish peaks form. Add one-quarter to the batter and mix. Add the remaining egg whites in three stages, folding them in gently with a large metal spoon until just incorporated, leaving as much air in the egg whites as possible.
6. In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda until it bubbles up, then gently fold this into the batter. Quickly pour the batter into the two prepared tins and smooth the tops. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cakes feel slightly springy on top.
7. Leave in the tins for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes from the tins, running a table knife or a palette knife slowly around them to loosen them, and invert them onto a wire rack to cool.
To make the white frosting, 

1. Place the egg whites, sugar, golden syrup, salt, cream of tartar and water in a stainless steel or heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. (The base of the bowl should not touch the water.) 

2. Bring the water to a steady simmer. With a hand-held electric beater or a balloon whisk (to build up your muscles!), whisk the mixture until you have shiny, satiny soft peaks. Remove the bowl from the simmering water and continue to whisk for a further 2 minutes – it will get a bit stiffer. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
3. Immediately ice the middle, top and sides of the cake with a palette knife, fluffing the frosting up to form little peaks all over the cake. You need to work fast to ice the cake, as the icing sets very quickly. Leave for at least 30 minutes to allow a thin crust to form outside a creamy interior.

Happy 21st Birthday

Can Nerea really be 21 today?  It’s hard to believe that so many years have passed since our tiny, perfect, baby was placed in my arms during the early hours of a snowy, February morning? Inevitably, milestone birthdays prompt a period of reflection and looking back over the past two decades, it seems that we’ve achieved so much together as a family, with Nerea maturing into a beautiful person. She’s a well-rounded, articulate and loving young woman who stands poised, ready to take the next step forward into the rest of her life with confidence. And for that, we’re grateful

Snowy Skiddaw

We had a superb walk up Skiddaw yesterday.  Along with Robin and Cathryn, we set off from Mirehouse, climbing steeply  through Dodd Wood, reaching snow towards the top of the track. The climb up to Carlside was bathed in sunshine and although the wind was our constant companion, the sun reflecting off the snow provided unexpected warmth.  At Carlside, we said a temporary farewell to R and C who decided to forego the summit. Breaking out one set of crampons (and another bag with computer leads!), we made our way up through the snow to the summit and stunning views!