Buchan Country Park

Buchan Country Park
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

When we were househunting about a year and half ago, we actually looked at a house right on the edge of this country park, and yet it has taken us until now to actually get around to visiting it! It's right on the road between Horsham and Crawley, so we pass it pretty much every weekend! It's definitely worth a visit if you fancy a nice walk, and this time of year is perfect for that I think.

Dorking fire (17/09/08)

Dorking fire (17/09/08)
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We left work a bit early today due to the view out of the window! There were helicopters circling all around, and sirens coming from the town centre.. I'm not sure what it was in Dorking that had caught alight, but it looked like something quite large.. hopefully it wasn't the Dorking cockerel! It didn't smell like it..

Synchronised swimming

Wakehurst Place
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We went to Wakehurst today, and spied these ducks doing a spot of sychronised swimming! Not sure if ducks will be allowed to compete in 2012, but I didn't want to break it to them.. they looked like they were having fun!

Chocolate chip & raisin flapjacks

Chocolate chip & raisin flapjacks
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I decided to make flapjacks the other day, and I think they turned out rather well, so I thought I'd share the recipe!

Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 15 mins

Ingredients:

150g butter
150g demerara sugar
150g golden syrup
300g porridge oats
1 handful of raisins
1 handful of chocolate chips

Method:

1. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Add the oats, raisins and choc chips and mix well.
2. Transfer the oat mixture to the prepared cake tin and spread to about 2cm thick. Smooth the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 15 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges, but still slightly soft in the middle. Let cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares.

Sushi Art =)

Mustard plant

Mustard plant
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

If you have ever wondered what a grown up mustard seed looks like.. here one is! We planted a whole load of the seedlings in our herb garden a few months ago, and now they are huge flowering mustard plants! I wouldn't recommend eating the leaves though.. they are all hairy and not very appetising! After I spent ages assuring James that they were edible, we both tried a leaf, and both ended up spitting them out! I think maybe it's best eaten like cress when it's only a few days old so it doesn't actually prickle your mouth!

First baby frog

First baby frog
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Hooray! I spotted our first baby frog emerging from the pond today!

Coincidence.. I think not!

The Sun (25/06/08)
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

The aliens are coming, and they're starting to disarm us.. it starts with the lawnmover blades, next it'll be the forks .. hehe..

It's quite funny actually, the video footage on The Sun's website actually quite reminded me of those khoom fay things we saw in Godstone. It's a shame there were no photos of the one that chased a helicopter in Cardiff though.. that one sounds much more exciting!

Lawnmover crime

Today, I was more than slightly bothered to find that my lawnmover no longer managed to cut the grass. It started up fine, so there was no problem with the power, but it just didn't sound quite right.. somehow quieter.. and when moving it across the grass, it just sort of flattened it, as if it didn't have any blades at all! On closer inspection of the underside, I couldn't believe my eyes.. the blades WERE missing.. all that was left was just the ring which used to hold them. What?! I just don't get it.. I haven't removed the lawnmover blades, James hasn't removed the lawnmover blades, I seriously doubt any of our guests have felt the need to remove them.. so where have they gone in the space of time between the last time I cut the grass at the beginning of May and now? What makes it even stanger is that I checked with Stuart that it was supposed to have plastic blades, and that I wasn't just being stupid, and he told me that not only was it supposed to have plastic blades, there was also a spare set in the lawnmover box in the shed. Was being the operative word. Two pairs of missing lawnmover blades now. I can only think that someone, for some unknown reason, has got into our garden and nicked our blades! Why? I do not know.

By the way.. Happy Summer!

Petunia 'cherry ripple'
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

It's quite funny, I was going to take a nice summery picture in the garden to mark the first day of Summer, but it's actually so grim looking outside, I thought I'd just use one I took in May instead.. typical English weather! Ah well, this will not stop the barbeques.. bring out the umbrellas!

Ooh the new Star Trek film teaser trailer is out!

Check it out here! It looks good! Apparently they've now rescheduled the release date from 25/12/08 to May 2009 to increase the potential box office takings, but I'm not so sure.. I don't think Winter releases did Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter much harm!

Yoda Amigurimi

Yoda Amigurimi
Originally uploaded by *elena

I just couldn't let this pass without being blogged.. I think this is the coolest piece of crochet work in the whole world.. I want one!!

avoid contact with brain

avoid contact with brain
Originally uploaded by Avid Maxfan

I love some of the things you find in hospitals. When James was in St George's this last time, I was reading the label on the back of the Hibiscrub soap stuff that they gave him for his bed bath, and noticed this lovely little reminder.. (if you zoom in on this picture I found on flickr, you can just about see it: 'avoid contact with brain'!) Eek!

The Caterham Mirror -a bit slow off the mark!

The Caterham Mirror -a bit slow off the mark!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Oh dear, I can't believe it took the Caterham Mirror this long to work out that those fire lanterns weren't UFOs! It would only have taken a quick google to find out! ;-S

Khoom Fay over Godstone green

Khoom Fay over Godstone green
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Driving back home through Godstone this evening, we were quite bemused and slightly concerned to be greeted by a giant, red, fire filled lantern, floating (unattended) about double-house-height above the green.. when we stopped off to fill up with petrol at the garage, we noticed a whole line of the things hovering over the village! We grabbed a photo as we headed towards Oxted and saw yet more of them rising up from one of the fields! After a little investigation, it seems they are Khoom Fay, Thai fire lanterns.. used as an alternative to fireworks for special occasions. They did look very pretty, but I am very glad that the wind was blowing them away from our house!

20/07/07 Flooding in Dorking

It kept raining and raining in Dorking on Friday! I took a peek out of the window of the office, and started to wonder if I should be building an ark..

Fire on the prairie! (well, Station Road West actually)

It turned out that the fire engines in Croydon were not the last we were to see yesterday. At about half past 10, we decided to grab a spot of supper at the Oxted Inn, little did we know that they stop serving at 10. What an outrage, lol. We were just walking down to the bank on Station Road West, past the clothes shop 'Personality', when James noticed smoke rising off one of the shoes in the window! They had placed the said item right on top of one of those large high wattage spotlights that always get left on after closing time. It had obviously been just too much for the shoe to handle, and it looked to us as though the thing was ready to catch properly alight. We were a little hesitant about phoning up 999 at first, as it wasn't as if it was a huge blaze or anything.. James kept saying.. "well, it's not actually an emergency", lol. But sure enough, in about 5 minutes, up turned two whole fire engines, and about 15 firemen! We wondered if they were going to have to bash the door down or something so get in, but it seems they have a special high-tech bit of kit for this very purpose! A pole. Through the letter box it went.. and there started a kind of fishing game. It look them about 20 minutes to hook the pole under the shoe, and knock it to safety. It was quite interesting to watch! One thing I did find surprising though, was that they didn't have an emergency contact number for the owner of the shop. I would have thought it might be a good idea for the emergency services to have access to that kind of information, especially if this kind of thing happens quite often! But as it was, they were looking around all of the neighbouring shop fronts for out of hours contact numbers -not ideal really!

Ants and storms..

Sorry I haven't written here for a while, I have been pretty busy with one thing or another..

I couldn't quite let yesterday pass without comment though. It seems to me that the weather is getting very strange. Yesterday we decided to go over to Croydon to choose me my free phone upgrade from the O2 shop, and no sooner had we stepped out of East Croydon station, we were in the midst of a plague of what looked like flying ants, but a bit larger. They were everywhere! People were power walking down the street, waving their arms, and squinting in a vain attempt to keep these beasties out of their eyes and clothes.. people running into shops for cover.. I've actually never seen so many of the things, or so large. We darted into a shop as soon as we could, and already we were covered in the things, and had to brush them off our clothes.

This swarm literally filled the whole of George Street which runs from the station down into the town centre, and North End, the main shopping street. I'm not sure if it stretched any further, as we didn't venture that far, strangely.

Anyway, we finally made it to the O2 shop, and just as I had selected the phone I wanted.. the flash downpour started. Bear in mind that we had just left home wearing summer tshirts and sunglasses. It was a warm Summer's day. And then ~crack~, thunder right above us, and a simultaneous flash of lightening.. and again, sounding like it hit something just down the high street this time. Then the heavy rain came.. and the high street was suddenly deserted, save for the groups of people huddled at the shop entrances, looking out in dismay. Within about a minute the whole street was awash, and then, about as quickly, the storm was gone and the blue sky returned.. along with two fire engines. It seems that the lightening did in fact hit something down the high street, somewhere in between the Whitgift Centre and Centrale, but we couldn't make out what.

What I find wierd about these storms that we keep getting, is that the seem to come with no warning. It's just like.. wham! You're in the middle of a thunder storm, in the space of time it takes to walk from one shop to another. I don't know how they move in so quickly. I'd be interested to see a satellite image of one of these things..

As we walked back to the station, I wondered where all of the flying ants had gone.. and then I looked to the ground, and I saw. What a stupid time to take your nuptial swarming flight. They won't be doing that again!

My Little Trojan Pony

My Little Trojan Pony
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog.

Wow this pony took a long time, I don't even want to think about how long ago I started this one! Anyway, it is now complete.. My Little Trojan Pony.. (ooh check out the magnetic foot btw.. lol.. I don't know why they give them all one magnetic foot!)

Ferry to Calais

Ferry to Calais
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog.

We took an evening ferry to Calais on Easter Sunday, and began our drive south. Before we set off, James popped into Halfords to check the list of things that you are supposed to have in your car when you're driving in France -warning triangle, reflective jacket, spare headlight bulbs.. although we bought everything, we didn't actually realise the significance of the last one until the sun went down, and we were travelling along a toll road in the dark. No cats eyes. In addition to this, there were no street lights! At one point James turned off the headlights to see what it would be like if the bulb went.. scary is the answer! Pitch black complete darkness! It's funny, you would have thought there would be no shortage of that sort of thing on roads that you have to pay to travel on, but hey, I am not complaining.. we had the whole road to ourselves almost all the way to Reims, and there was not a single pot-hole in the road!