Tall Places and views (or what I did on my holiday part 5)

The CN Tower is visible from practically everywhere in downtown Toronto, given that it is pretty tall. (although sneaky perspective lets it hide, just when you need it to help you navigate).

It also has a revolving restaurant at the top, and a viewing platform, and a section with glass flooring, all of which combined to make it absolutely irresistible!

We decided to book for the revolving restaurant because i you can look at amazing views while being plied with delicious food and cocktails, why wouldn't you? (assuming, of course, that you like tall places)


We had window seats (not everyone did - there is an inner set of tables which are further from the wndows, but also higher up, so I guess people sitting there still get good views) 

So we sat back, ordered cocktails and food and enjoyed the view as it slowly rolled past the windows.

view  looking towards AGO and ROM

I'm glad that we went later in the week, after we had already explored quite a bit of downtown Toronto on foot, as we could pick out where we'd been (you can see the blue facade of the Art Gallery of Ontario, in the centre of the photo above) There was even a little mist in the far distance, marking Niagara.

The restaurant takes about 75 minutes to make a full revolution, so over the course of an unhurried meal we got to go all the way round, and then a little more! 

Afterwards, we went up to the 'skypod' which is another 33 stories above the restaurant, and lets you look straight down the tower.

(If you look very closely, above you can see little orange spots (at about '1 o'clock' ) which are the people doing the 'edge walk', outside, above the restaurant)

We could also look down on the roundhouse, which we visited the first evening. 

Then back down to the  observation deck, where there is a small section of glass floor.

It looks down over the roof of the aquarium, and is fun, but I was a teeny bit disappointed as I was expecting it to go all the way round the tower, and it doesn't!

It does, however, have a mirrored ceiling, so you can look up at yourself looking down. Or something.

hen there was time to go back down to the observation deck again, and visit the  observation deck,to look out at the sunset.

 Although I am not sure what they have against Spider-man....

I really enjoyed the whole experience.

Muchelney Abbey and Church: A Grand Day Out

My parents were visiting for a couple of days after Easter, so when it came a nice day, we decided to go out, and to visit Muchelney Abbey and Church.

Mulcheney was one of the villages which suffered particularly badly in the flooding in 2012 and 2014, so I became used to seeing it on the news, but I have not ever had reason to visit. However, having recently joined English Heritage, we looked around to see what sites there were locally we might be able to visit, and decided on Muchelney.

Muchelney Abbey and Abbot's House

Muchelney Abbey was originally an Anglo-Saxon Abbey, (There is, apparently, a record of a grant of land by Cynewulf, in 762,  then later (in the 10th C) it was re-founded as  a Benedictine Abbey, before being dissolved under Henry VIII in 1538. It was never as powerful or well known as Glastonbury, but was pretty wealthy, and was responsible for draining much of the surrounding moors for farmland.

The majority of the buildings, including the Abbey church, were demolished after the abbey was dissolved, and a lot of the stone reused for building elsewhere. However, the Abbot's House (built in the late 15th / early 16th Century) survived, as did a small portion of the cloisters and parts of the kitchens, and a separate 'reredorter' (the monk's lavatories) also survives.

The Abbot's 'Great Chamber' 

 I enjoyed seeing the Abbot's House. There is a set of 3 or 4 rooms; the 'Great Chamber', where important guests would have been entertained, and which has a wonderful carved mantelpiece, with two slightly improbable looking lions above it. 

The wooden settles are 19th C. but incorporate some medieval panelling.

Lion (from the carving above the fireplace in the Abbot's Great Chamber

There are also some smaller rooms, including one which still has traces of the original wall paintings, and a very nice barrel vaulted ceiling.

Painted room

After visiting the internal rooms we also wandered around the ruins a little, then visited the Parish Church, next door to the Abbey.

From the outside, the church seems fairly ordinary, however, inside, it is a different story! 

When the Abbey was dissolved, some of the medieval tiles from the Abbey church were removed and re-used in the parish church, where they remain. And were decked with coloured light from the sunlight shining though the stained glass windows, when we visited.

Even more spectacular is the ceiling of the nave, in the church.

It is painted with wonderful, Jacobean angels and cherubim.

The ceiling was apparently painted in the early 17thC and is very unusual, both simply by having survived the Puritans, and based on the style - some of the angels are very feminine, which is unusual, and several are bare-breasted, it is believed that this is intended to symbolise  innocence and purity.

It is stunning, and such an unusual thing to find in an English church (and because this is the Parish Church, and not part of the Abbey, it isn't mentioned in the English Heritage information about the Abbey)

It was fascinating.

We were not able to visit the Priest's House, originally built for the priest of the Parish Church in 1308 and almost unchanged since the early 17th C; it is now owned by the National Trust but is only open 2 days a week, and this wasn't one of them. It looks very pretty from the outside, though! 

It was a grand day out!

(complete photoset on Flickr )

Tall Places

No trip to Paris would be quite complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We were originally only going to look at it from the bottom:

We had not pre-booked tickets, as they were sold out by the time we looked, but once we got there, my dad decided that we wanted to go up.

So, we queued for tickets, and then for the lifts, and then we went Up a Very Tall Thing.  Which is always fun. (Well, it is for me. I like Very Tall Things).  There were views, letting us play 'spot the famous landmark', plus you get to peer down at people below.  Did I mention that I like going up very tall things?       Having gone right to the very top, we then came down to the lower levels, including walking on the new glass floors at level 1 (which wasn't an option last time I visited) It gave more opportunities to look down at all the people still queuing, down below!                                                         

Then back down, just in time to eat crepes and avoid being rained on. Which I think counts as a win all round!

Nick Harkaway at Mr B's

I have blogged before about Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, one of Bath's 2 lovely independent bookshops. They have lovely events, with writers and conversation and food, and on Wednesday, the writer in question was Nick Harkaway, author of 'The Gone-Away World', 'Angelmaker' and, now 'Tigerman'.

The evening didn't start too well for me, as I had forgotten that They were closing the road in Dunkerton, so I had to go the long way round, and then I got held up because there had been an accident (not, I think, too serious - the police were there, and a 1st response car, but all the people seemed to be standing around and talking to each other).  

All of which meant that I got to Bath late, and had to scratch plaintively at the door of the shop like a delayed cat, to be let in. And then try to sneak in to a gathering where the only available seat was in the 2nd row which you absolutely can't do without people looking at you.

Anyway, once the embarrassment factor of causing a disturbance had settled I was able to start listening to Nick, who was reading an extract (about the English, and T.S.Eliot, among other things) from 'Tigerman'.  Which was very, very funny. 

And then there was conversation. The evening was nominally themed around Father's Day, but as often happens at Mr B's, due to the conversational nature of the evening,discussions around the theme were only a minor part of the evening!

Nick talked about various things which led into the book, including his own experience of a close encounter with the Esso tiger, and of learning to shoot while in Thailand.

There was also some discussion about his experience of fatherhood, and in particular the protectiveness which comes with that, and about other notable fathers in literature.

As always with a Mr Bs event, there was a break in the proceedings for food and mingling - on this occasion, the food part of that included a lemon drizzle cake with blueberries in, which was such stuff as gastronomic dreams are made on...

And there were some interesting (mostly travel related) conversations over food, too.

Finally, Nick signed copies of his books for us. It was a thoroughly enjoyable night, and I am looking forward to reading Tigerman, now I have my very own shiny copy!

In Which There is Much Music, and Love, and Friends Old and New

Over a year ago, I went to the amazing Gig and Art Show which was one of the rewards for Amanda Palmer's Kickstarter. And through a newsish friend I met on twitter and at that gig, I got an invitation to one of the Kickstarter House Parties, which took place on Saturday.

Mary Wollstonecroft

And Oh, it was fun. It was held at Newington Green Unitarian church, which is a very long established Unitarian (formerly Dissenters) church, dating back to the early 18thC. Mary Wollstonecraft was a member of the congregation there, and there is a graffiti portrait of her outside. It was also the first religious establishment n Britain to refuse to carry out any weddings, until gay people have equal marriage rights with those who are straight. So, all in all, a good and welcoming venue!

I was a little later arriving than I'd planned, due to First Great Western's inability to stick to their own timetable, but fortunately the party started a couple of hours before Amanda was due to arrive.

Amanda (and friend)

I wasn't quite sure, at first, whether I'd found the right place, but when I went into the building and the first person I saw was an incredibly elegant woman in an evening gown, FreakAngels tattoo and bottle of champagne in one hand, I knew I must be in the right place.

I only knew 7 or 8 of the 40 people at the party, (well, that's all I knew when I arrived. Later . . more than that!) While we were waiting for Amanda to arrive we did all the things you do at parties, chatted, drank, ate, founded a new religion...

The religion will be rolling out worldwide as soon as we can think of a really good acronym and a reliable source of communion absinthe. I think. I was enjoying myself too much to remember the details.

The Grooms await their Bride

There was music, too, even before Amanda arrived. Clara (our hostess) and several other guests had brought instruments and talents.

When Amanda arrived, she spent a little time mingling, then we all drifted through to the church. And around that point, it was decided to hold a ninja wedding, for three of the house party guests, Thomas, Meta and Aurelien.

With help from flower-girls, ring bearer, holders-up-of -the chuppah, photographers  and such, all  recruited from the guests.

Presenting the rings

(In case you are wondering, the chuppah was an (approximately) 70 year old, one-eyed fox fur stole named Nick (after Nick Fury).)

While the vows were being written, the rest of us sang some hymns (All Things Bright and Beautiful, and 'We Will Rock You', but not Bohemian Rhapsody,)

Amanda in the Pulpit

The Bride was radiant, and the vows were beautiful, and there was much love and laughter. I felt it was a privilege to be there.

Amanda and Meta duetted with 'What a Wonderful World', then, like all the best wedding, there was more partying.

We were treated to a fairy tale, and then Amanda played and talked to us, about love, and music, and her visit to Palestine, and then sang to us,  including 'Coin Operated Boy', 'Map of Tasmania' 'Vegemite', and a candlelit rendition of 'Hallelujah'.

And more mingling, and conversation, and hugs. And people sitting on other people's shoulders (well, if we're honest, mostly people sitting on Random Dave's shoulders) That one may have involved more absinthe, in at least one case.

Me'n'Amanda

 And, well, FUN.

The party ended all too soon,although even the clearing up stage, being in such good company, was more fun than the average party. (admittedly, the average party does not involve mugs of champagne)

I know that some of the other guests went on, later, to the White Mischief Hallowe'en Ball. I would have loved to go, but one must (occasionally) accept one's limitations, and I've sadly never really mastered the art of going without sleep, so I ended the evening asleep in a rather dull hotel, rather than partying with beautiful zombies and vampires.

And feeling very grateful that I had the opportunity to go to such a great party. Thanks again to Amanda, for coming to play to and with us, and to Clara who organised it all, and trusted us all to come, and pay our share.

 I think (and hope) that Amanda enjoyed it too.

(My full photoset is here ) Another nice thing which happened at the part was that Hijo told me that there is an article in this week's New Statesman magazine about amanda's relationship with her fans, which includes a photo from the London Kickstarter show.. which was a nice way of reminding me of where this whole party started..)

More Fun - With Museums and Romans and Squid

After lunching at the Savoy*, I decided to go to see London's Roman Amphitheatre, which is underneath the Guildhall in the City. As an added bonus, they are currently having a  exhibition of |Victorian Inspired modern Art - Victoriana.

The museum is in a newer part of the building - and when they were putting in the foundations, back in the 80s, they discovered the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre (as one does). And so they kept it there, in the basement, and built the rest of the new gallery over the top.

I have to admit that, as Roman Amphitheatres go, it's not hugely impressive, as the pieces which are left are only about 12 inches tall, (although there are some wooden drains, which is quite impressive) but i love the idea of it being there, under the Guildhall. and they have made an effort with the presentation, with lots of wireframe impressions of what the structure would likely have been like, to give you a sense of scale.

The Victoriana exhibition was a completely different kettle of fish. Sadly they would not allow photographs, so I can't show you - but there were pieces by Grayson Perry and Jake and Donos Chapman, there was a wedding cake made entirely from hair, a modified Victorian engraving of a woman with tentacles instead of legs) and  my favourite piece, one by Tessa Farmer, which features her trademark skeletal fairies, riding bees and butterflies, and armed with hedgehog spines, attacking a Victorian marble statue. It was beautifully disturbing.

Contrast: New and Old

Then there was the portrait of the lady with a squid instead of a face, a wonderful set of Alphabet prints and some original art from Alan Moore's 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

Great stuff.
The following morning I decided to go back into the City, to visit the Museum of London, and in particular their exhibition of the Cheapside Hoard.

Before going to the museum I wandered around a little, enjoying the contrast of modern and not-so-modern London. And just near to the Museum I found a little garden called Postman's Park, which is the site of "G.F.Watts' Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice".

Apparently, Watts was a successful Victorian artist, who painted portraits of many of the great and the good (or at least the successful) and came to believe that ordinary people who behaved in heroic ways should also be remembered, and set up the memorial to do so. The memorials are all tiled plaques - the earliest ones designed by de Morgan, the later ones by Royal Doulton - and although the project stopped after Watts' wife dies in the 1930s, there is one much more recent memorial, to a gentleman who died in 2007, saving a child from drowning.  Despite the sometimes florid wording of some of the plaques, it's a moving place. I had it almost to myself.

The museum visit was interesting - the Hoard itself was discovered by workmen in 1912, and is believed to have been buried in the late 17th Century - it consists of hundreds of uncut jewels and pieces of jewellery from the 16th and 17th Cs, and may have been the stock in trade of a local goldsmith. There are some amazing pieces - long, intricate gold and enamel necklaces, carved jewels, a tiny pocket watch set in a single emerald, numerous brooches and pins - there was high security and one could not take photographs, but the museum has some here.


I also made a whistle-stop tour of the rest of the museum, which has exhibits ranging from the remains of prehistoric beasts, to remnants of Roman Londinium, Viking artefacts, through to medieval pilgrim badges, medieval tiles still stained with soot from the Great Fire of London, right through to  some of the costumes from the Olympic opening ceremony.

Oh, and the Lord Mayor's Coach.

And a Dalek.

I would have liked to stay longer, but I had a party to get to.Which is pretty good, as reasons to leave go!


(*Please note the oh-so-casual name drop)

Manchester, Museums and Macbeth: Part 1

I have just returned from a very enjoyable weekend in Manchester, visiting my brother and his girlfriend. They'd contacted me a little while ago to invite me, and to suggest that I come up this weekend which is the final weekend of the Manchester International Festival, and we could, they suggested, go to see the outdoor screening of a live broadcast of Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston's 'Macbeth'. (the live performances are in a small, deconsecrated church, and cost £65 a ticket, and sold out very fast, so that was never an option!)

It was also an opportunity for me to see R & J, and to see their new home.

I had a very hot and sticky drive up on Friday evening, but was greeted with mojitos, which is the proper way to deal with such trips!

Cotton Mill machines

On Saturday, after a leisurely and tasty breakfast, we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, which I haven't visited for about 6 or 7 years. They have some interesting exhibits about the cotton industry (which of course was one of the big industries in Manchester)

(replica of0 'Baby', the world's 1st stored-program computer, built in 1948

They also have exhibits relating to the history of computing, Manchester University having been at the forefront of early computing, and flight - the first closed-cockpit plane was built in Manchester.

However, the area where we spent the most time was the engine sheds - and (unlike on my previous visits) they had their replica of Stephenson's 'Planet' running.

The original engine was built in 1830, and was the first locomotive to be built in large numbers, rather than as a prototype- this replica was built by enthusiasts in the 1990s.

We decided that it would a shame to turn down the opportunity of a train-ride ( although I think we may have been the only passengers not accompanied by at least one small child!)

As the museum is housed in a disused station/ station yard, the tracks 'Planet' runs on run parallel to the lines still in use, running to and through Deansgate station, so you can wave at the trains as they pass!

A lot of the other steam-engines (most of them industrial, rather than locomotive engines) were also running, so the shed was full of the lovely smell of steam-engines, and rather warm.

So, logically, our next step was to find some of the best ice-cream on the planet, from the wonderfully named Ginger's Comfort Emporium ice-cream van, which was located in Albert Square, heart of the Manchester International Festival. I have to say, her 'Chorlton Crack' (salted caramel and peanut butter) was delicious, as was the coconut and lime, and i regret living so far from Manchester, which will severely limit my opportunity to sample more flavours!

Later in the day, after a very late lunch/early super, we visited another part of the Festival, a piece called 'This Variation', by Turner Prize nominee Tino Sehgal, at the Mayfield Depot.

The depot is a now-derelict railway depot, and the empty space we walked through to get to the Sehgal exhibit was actually quite striking.

'This Variation' however, was .... odd. And not a little disturbing. You walk into pitch darkness, surrounded by sounds - songs without discernible words, the thump of ?bare feet, people you can't see brush past you, and it's all rather strange and disturbing.

We did not stay long.

And so to Macbeth, which I think I'll give a post of it's own.

The Ocean at The End of the Lane

This weekend is simply stuffed with good things.

Those of you who've known me for a while know I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman's, so I've been very excited about his new novel, The Ocean at the End of The Lane, which officially comes out on Tuesday. I was even more excited when I learned that the first of Neil's events was to be in Bath, and that several of my friends would be coming to see him, so I'd get to spend time with friends as well as hearing Neil speak, and getting a new Gaiman novel. What could be better?

I spent part of Friday morning baking flapjacks, with honey and blackberries and seeds (of which more later) and ventured into Bath around 4p.m. in order to meet up with Nathalie, who came all the way from Rome for the event. Given that the doors to the Forum were due to open at 7.15 for Neil's event, I was a  little (but only a little) surprised to see that there were already 5 or 6 people queueing...

Nathalie and I walked up to Toppings to pick up her ticket, and met Cheryl there. We were in the queue by about 5.30, together with more friends - Anabel and Ian, Brain, Holly, and various of *their* partners and friends, so we were able to take it in turns to take breaks from the queueing to get food!

All the queueing paid off and we were all able to get seats fairly near the front at the Forum (its a re-purposed cinema. It seats 1,600 people, and I believe that Toppings sold around 1,100 tickets, so the stalls were completely full, and the last 350-400 people to arrive would have had to sit up in the balcony.

Unfortunately toppings didn't do allocated seating (which is what the Bath Literature Festival normally does for the events they have in the Forum), so there was no choice but to queue. It was worth it, though!

Neil was interviewed by a Telegraph journalist whose name I didn't catch, and there was also a Q&A session at the end.

Neil started with a short reading from the book; it was a very funny passage, right up to the point the corpse was discovered. Then he spoke a little about where it came from (the story, not the corpse) - it started as a short story for Amanda, It became a novella, then a novel.

The protagonist is a child who is sort-of-but-not-really-Neil-as-a-boy, and the landscape the book is set in is the landscape of Neil's childhood, although it is not an autobiography. It is, Neil says, Lies. But they are lies which tell us truths.

Neil talked about the Hempstock's farm, explaining that when he was a child, he heard about one of the local farms having been mentioned  Domesday Book, and, at that time, didn't think about people living there in huts, but assumed that the red-brick farmhouse had been there for a thousand years..

And that by the time he came to write the book, the idea that the farm, and the family, had been there forever was entirely at home in his head.

Neil signing

I love the fact that whenever I see Neil speak I learn new things - this time it was more about the Infancy Gospels - the (now apocryphal) gospels which cover the childhood of Jesus, and his habit of killing people who annoyed him. (sometimes they were just struck blind, but mostly they died). Neil was talking about myths and stories and religion..

Also about how people who write Horror are the moth cheerful, happy people around (and that Joe Hill may in fact be a clone)

We learned that the American Gods production is working its way up the echelons of HBO, and may very soon get to the level of the people who can say "yes" or "no" to the production going ahead; that there is nothing at all that Neil can talk about, regarding any possible Good Omens film at the moment.

Neil unsurprisingly confirmed that he would be happy to see a female Doctor Who ("given that I'm the person who made it canon that Time Lords can change sex..."

He was asked about his favourite myths - which he said changes, but he always comes back to the Norse gods, because they're doomed, and about writers who have influenced him - Alan Moore (by showing that you can do the things people tell you can't do) Jonathan Carroll, Gene Wolfe, and Diana Wynne Jones (which last did not surprise me, but did make my heart happy, as I think everyone should know about Diana Wynne Jones, and read her books)

After the Q&A came the signing. We were lucky to be near the front of the queue, so got to meet Neil and get our books signed early on.  And I gave Neil some of the flapjacks I baked in the morning (I trust you have not forgotten the flapjacks, O best beloveds) because I worry about him keeling over from loss of sustenance.

And some of the party may have got hugs and kisses, because that's how these things go, sometimes.

Then while we waited for the rest of the party I took the big box of cookies which I brought with me to share with the queue, and, well, shared them with the queue. Or at least parts of it.

The Signing queue (which also extended out into the lobby)

I didn't bring 1,100 cookies, because that would be impractical. But I met lots of nice people, briefly, including an old school friend I have not seen for almost 20 years, and I got lots of thanks and one marriage proposal, which I think is a pretty good return on a box of cookies. Even if it is a big box.

We left the hall at about 11p.m, and went for drinks and conversation in the Raven pub.

When we went past the Forum on the way back to the car at midnight, it was clear from the stream of people coming out of the building that Neil was still signing inside.

I gather that he didn't finish until 1.30 a.m. (having arrived some time around 7, after a day of interviews and editing, and having pre-signed 1,000 books before the event started...

And just before I fell asleep, I checked twitter and saw this tweet ->
Which made me happy.

It was a wonderful evening. Although I do now need to reorganise my bookshelves, as my Neil Gaiman shelf is full!

And Neil of course went on to do it all all over again the next day, in Cambridge.