Making Snowmen

A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture of a man often built in regions with sufficient snowfall and is a common winter tradition. In many places, typical snowmen consist of three large snowballs of different sizes with some additional accoutrements for facial and other features. Due to the sculptability of snow, there is also a wide variety of other styles. Common accessories include branches for arms and a rudimentary smiley face, with a carrot used for a nose. Clothing, such as a hat or scarf, may be included. The low cost and common availability of materials mean snowmen are usually abandoned once completed.

Alex Fox

Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations are any of several types of ornamentation used at Christmastide and the greater holiday season. The traditional colors of Christmas are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red. Gold and silver are also very common, as are other metallic colours. Typical images on Christmas decorations include Baby Jesus, Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the star of Bethlehem.

In many countries, such as Sweden, people start to set up their Advent and Christmas decorations on the first day of Advent. Liturgically, this is done in some parishes through a Hanging of the Greens ceremony. In the Western Christian world, the two traditional days when Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night and if they are not taken down on that day, Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations. Taking down Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night, as well as leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas, is historically considered to be inauspicious.

Alex Fox

Driver 308’s Commonwealth Games Adventure-Day 7

Day 7 July 10^th  2022

Today was an R&R day so a bit of a lie in. Time to reflect on the various hotels we’ve stayed in so far.

Date	Town	Hotel	Comments
July 1st & 2nd	Exeter	Sandy Park Marriot	Very nice, best breakfast of all, sharing with Trevor
July 3rd	Plymouth	Future In	Nice, good evening meal sharing with Trevor, no Mamite
July 4th	Swindon	Alexandra House Conference Centre	Own room 177, the last one on the ground floor, evening meal very poor.
July 5th	Cookham	Moor Hall CIM	Own Room, good food.
July 6th	Guildford	Holiday inn Woking	Sharing with Trevor, got into bed at 00:30 and up again at 05:15am, nuff said.
July 7th	Maidstone	Bridgewood Manor, Chatham	Own room, nice hotel.
July 8th	Norwich	Dunstan Hall	Probably the best hotel, but no Marmite
July 9th	Northampton	Westone Manor	Own room, tired fittings, sliding bathroom door. Very off layout
July 10th	Grantham	Travelodge/Olde Barnes	Travelodge was fine, ate at the Olde Barnes, good evening meal with Apple Crumble dessert!
July 11th	Barnsley	Best Western Wakefield	Confined to room due to Covid.

The hotels we’ve been staying have been quite varied, but all OK really. But there are oddities with every hotel……….

In Exeter my room was 227 so on the second floor which was below the reception on the third floor, that was always confusing when using the lift or stairs! It had stunning views from the 8^th floor bar and terrace though.

The hotel in Plymouth was very good, nothing odd about it at all.

However the next hotel in Swindon was something else entirely. It wasn’t actually in Swindon at all, nearer to  Marlborough in open countryside. Mid afternoon it suffered a complete power failure and they thought the hotel would have to be closed which would have been a major problem finding rooms for the 80 relay crew at very short notice. Luckily the power was restored around 7pm and they were they able to provide hot food. I could not get the hang of the layout at all it was totally baffling. I had room 177 on the ground floor which was the very last room on a corridor that made a square. So the room at the end, mine, was actually very close to the point where the first room was, but there was no linking corridor. To get from reception, restaurant or bar I had to walk the whole length of the corridor past the other 176 rooms!

The next hotel would have been the  Holiday Inn in Guildford, but there was a shortage of rooms so Trevor and myself were sent to a Holiday Inn in Woking a 20 minute drive away. It was gone 23:30 when we arrived, we parked  the minibus outside under the reception canopy as it was too high to go in the underground parking! When we got in our room it had one bed, so we had to wait while the housekeeper produced a second bed. However by  00:30 we able to  get to bed. We were up at 05:30 to get back to Guildford for breakfast at 06:30.

As the Relay progressed the crew numbers increased such that there was often an overspill hotel. I was offered a choice by the Accommodation Manager – share a room with Trevor in the main hotel or have my own room in the overspill hotel. As a driver with access to a vehicle being in the overspill was no hardship and it meant both Trevor and I got our own rooms. Trevor was a very nice chap to share with, but neither of us got a good nights sleep when sharing.

The Bridgewood Manor Hotel was very nice as was the main hotel the Holiday Inn at Tonbridge.

The next nights hotel was Dunston Hall near Norwich this is very impressive. Very nice buildings beautiful setting too and very nice choice of evening meal in the outdoor marquee.

Westone Manor in Northampton was another one that was an absolute maze, first hotel I’ve ever stayed in (and I stayed in a lot hotels abroad when I was working) where room 413 was on the ground floor in a totally different part to the rooms in the 100 range. There is a video of the route from my room to the breakfast room.

The Olde Barnes and Travel Lodge at Grantham were very straightforward in comparison.

You may be wondering why the availability of Marmite features in the comments. I like Marmite so much that I carried a 500g jar with me in case the hotel does not have Marmite for my toast at breakfast.  A 500g jar would be sufficient of a month.

Having to move hotel every day means you have to be very organised with the unpacking and packing, keeping your crew bag tidy, only taking out what you need immediately and keeping everything else packed. A set routine is important as is having a system for checking nothing is left behind; phone chargers, USB leads and sponge bags being the most common things to go missing.

Jumping forward to when we stayed at the Village Hotel in Dudley my room ,506, was on the second floor (uh?) and this was definitely the weirdest layout. The route from reception to room 506 was as follows:

1. Lift to floor 1.

2. Walk the length of floor 1 to another lift.

3. Lift to floor 2 for rooms 501 to 509, this is a totally different floor 2 to that reached by the lift from reception.

As a driver on R&R I was asked to drive one of the luggage Luton Vans to the next hotel, The Olde Barnes at Grantham. I arrived in time to have a burger and chips in the bar before helping to unload.

It was whilst helping to unload that I first wondered why I seemed to be finding the unloading hard work. I put it down to the heat and getting old! I was actually in the Travelodge 2 miles down the road, so drove down in a Range Rover with my luggage and had a 20 min soak in a cool bath – felt much better. Returned to the Olde Barne for the evening meal by which time Ally had returned after her day with John driving the shuttlebus as I was on R&R. After the meal I was able to drive the shuttlebus down to the Travelodge.

Driver 308’s Commonwealth Games Adventure-Day 6

Day 6 July 9^th  2022

Today we went to the sea-side, leaving our hotel, Dunstan Hall, just after 8am, for Great Yarmouth. A reasonably quick journey due east on the A47 and we parked up beside the Venetian Waterway. After dark this looks quite magical with illuminated boats cruising along the waterways, by day its still an interesting place though. Our BBs were waiting for us in the Furzedown Hotel. One of our BBs, Rachel was a Team England Shot Putter, whilst another Melissa, who had an untreatable brain tumour, had raised a lot of money for Cancer Research. On the Relay we met a lot of amazing Baton Bearers, all had been nominated for a variety of reasons; their volunteering, fund raising, overcoming illness or injury, inspiring and supporting others in sport. In many cases their activities had been performed throughout their life, over more than 50 years in some cases.

After dropping our BBs on the Promenade we left Gt Yarmouth at 10:15 for  quite a long drive to the West Suffolk Sports Centre in Bury St Edmunds, arriving at mid-day. Here we were able to join the rest of the crew for a sandwic lunch. Everyday there was a planned lunch stop, where possible we tried to be at the lunch stop as it meant we didn’t have to buy our own lunch, This was the first time our schedule allowed us to be at a lunch stop. We were responsible for picking up BBs once they had completed their segment, at the Cathedral we picked up a lady who had been involved with netball for over 50 years both as a player and a coach. After returning her to the Sports Centre our activities for the day were finished. We now had to find our way to Westone Manor Hotel in Northampton where we would be spending the night.

Now might be a suitable time to mention laundry. As we were going to be on the road for 25 days, in different hotels every night, with only a few changes of clothes there had to be a way of getting out dirty clothes washed. We were given a large black cotton ‘sack’ with our number on and a smaller white mesh zip bag also with our number on.

The male mesh bags had blue zips and the female mesh bags had pink zips. You might be wondering why……

All our clothes had to be marked with our crew number which was fine for coats, trousers and shirts but not practical for small items like underwear, socks and hankies. The mesh bag was for the un marked ‘smalls’ and they would be washed in the mesh bag. Larger items. Shirts, trousers etc would be placed in the black cotton bag and they would be tipped out washed and then returned to the correct bag using the crew number written on the clothing. The first laundry day most of the large items were in the black bags and all the mesh bags were correct. Despite being correctly numbered my trousers and a shirt were missing and I had to sort through all the unclaimed washing to find them.

As a result of chaos with the first washing day the managers asked anyone going home or past their home to drop washing off or do it there if they could.

Our route from Bury St Edmonds took us on the A428 to Bedford, A421 J13 of the M1, as I lived very close to J14 I was able to call in at home at exchange dirty clothes for clean. Ally was also able to go to Boots at Kingston and buy essential supplies for herself and her female colleagues.

As I drove up Brickhill Street past Japonica Lane the shuttle bus was caught on video.

Back to the Laundry. The next laundry day was an absolute disaster. The contents of the black bags were washed and correctly returned to the black bags. If only they had done that with the mesh bags! The mesh bags were opened, emptied out and washed together. Because nothing in the mesh bags was numbered it was impossible to return items to the correct bag. Two large boxes came back from the laundry; one contained the contents of the female mesh bags and the other the contents of the male mesh bags. That night there were 60 people rummaging through the boxes of underwear trying to find their items.

I can only say I had no trouble whatsoever identifying what had been in my mesh bag! Two weeks later at the end of the relay there was still a lot of unclaimed pants, socks, kinckers and bras!

We arrived at Westone Manor in time for the evening meal which we ate outside in the rather splendid garden terrace. I had a room to myself tonight and that was nice as tomorrow was an R&R day so I could have lie in.

Marshall Amplification

Marshall Amplification is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, a record label and, having acquired Natal Drums, drums and bongos. It was founded by drum shop owner and drummer Jim Marshall, and is now based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Marshall's guitar amplifiers are among the most recognised in the world. Their signature sound, characterized by sizzling distortion and "crunch," was conceived by Marshall after guitarists, such as Pete Townshend, visited Marshall's drum shop complaining that the guitar amplifiers then on the market didn't have the right sound or enough volume. After gaining a lot of publicity, Marshall guitar amplifiers and loudspeaker cabinets were sought by guitarists for this new sound and increased volume. Many of the current and reissue Marshall guitar amplifiers continue to use valves, as is common in this market sector. Marshall also manufactures less expensive solid-state, hybrid (vacuum tube and solid state) and modelling amplifiers.

https://marshall.com/

Alex Fox

Fun Day at Camphill Milton Keynes

Everyone needs a little unstructured fun in their day, and a Fun Day is perfect for having time dedicated to exactly that. It gives everybody the chance to unwind, relax, and get a little silly, released from the confines of orderly work routines to remember what life is supposed to be all about. 

In today’s high-speed world, with its constant pressure to go farther, get more done, be more productive, and climb in our careers, having a little fun often goes by the wayside. The stress of this lifestyle has been shown to have a constant and growing negative effect on the overall health of people. A Fun Day is a reminder to break the stressful line of day to day living, and to go out and have some Fun! 

Alex Fox

Driver 308’s Commonwealth Games Adventure-Day 5

Day 5 July 8^th  2022

This was Alison’s R&R day so I was working with Sarah again. Sarah had recently left  West Midlands after being a police officer for 19 years. She had two grown up sons and a teenage daughter. We got on very well and made a good team. The first location we had to be at today was the Lee Valley Aquatic centre which is a man made white water rafting and canoeing facility at Waltham Cross in Essex. One of our BBs was Olympic Canoeist Mallory Franklin.

Here is Sarah briefing Mallory on the left and Lyn who was to carry the baton in a raft, Lyn is wearing a life jacket under her baton bearer shirt. Lyn, who had swam the English channel many times had to change into a wet suit and take a water survival test when she arrived at Lee Valley. She had no idea that she would have to hold the Baton while riding the white water in a raft! She hadn’t even got a swim suit to wear!

Here is Lyn ready for the raft going down the white water run, she is wearing a yellow helmet.

At Lee Valley they had a very cool thing for getting canoes up to the top of the white water run, a sort of conveyor belt.

When we left Lee Valley to travel to  Wardown Park, Luton we had a police motor cycle escort. The short video shows some of the many highlights of this 45 minute journey out of Waltham Abbey, along the A10, M25 and M1. Much of the journey on the M1 was on the hard shoulder as the motorway was almost at a standstill due to sheer volume of traffic. Mid afternoon on a Friday is never good time to be travelling north on the M1 towards Luton.

The video of  full 50 minute journey is also available but at over 2gb is too large to be embedded in a blog.

As we had no BBs requiring a ride back to their collection point, which was exactly where we were at the big celebration in Wardown Park we were free to make our way to tonights hotel, Dunston Hall near Norwich. This was quite a journey and we had to refuel at Barton Mills. This did not go quite to plan as there was a problem with the fuel card. It was eventually sorted out with a 30 minute phone call and the use of a manual auth, paper voucher and Zip-Zap machine.

Dunstan Hall when we arrived looked stunning.