Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the month “March, 2012”

11 Mar 2012

The Muppet Movie is fantastic


When it was suggested that taking 11 yr old and 10 yr old friend to the cinema to see the Muppet movie, this was not high on my excitement index for the weekend. However what a great movie. Fun all the way through, some great lines and the odd decent song too. Absolutely loved it. Other than that a mixed weekend. Brentford v Sheff Utd was a real dissapointment. Big crowd, well for Brentford it was, 7500, lots of noisy away fans and the game started well for Bees. But two bad defensive errors gave the game away and Bees comfortably lost 2-0 to a decent though not scintillating team. This now ends the season for Bees. even with their best efforts relegation would be impossible as would a play off position. The weather over the weekend however has been fantastic which is fortunate as the gas bill arrived that was less than fantastic. A bill for a 4 bedroomed house where we used half the amount of gas as in the preceeding 12 months, yet our bill was doubled……….

Dusk Arrives over Tooting

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09 Mar 2012

Mushrooms and Motorway Service Stations


This seems to have been a week for driving up and down the M1. Not something to recommend frankly. The service stations are appalling and expensive beyond belief. They ask for diesel around 10-12 p per litre more than mere mortal garages. For my car that takes around 60 litres when almost empty, thats a differential of around £7 /tank. When allied to the appalling range of substances they sell masquerading as “food”, and the equally extortionate prices, they are a place of last resort. 

One of my trips was up north to Wentbridge near Pontefract. Dr Hiram Wildgust was giving the monthly lecture to the local nature wildlife group on Funghi in Brockadale. Brockadale is a local nature reserve there where one can apparently freely wander. The local pub there The Bluebell Inn hosted the talk and kindly gave the group free use of a large upstairs room. Dinner before was excellent and good value. Chicken with Wensleydale was a good dinner. The talk was fascinating. One final thing I learned was that one can do painting on the Ipad using an App. The example below was done by a well known artist Ann Wildgust. 

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03 Mar 2012

Yoevil 2 Brentford 1


There are always defining moments in the season and today was one of those. Brentford are no better than they were last season at this time, and arguably worse. At that stage the crowd and team were solidly behind Nicky Forster. Today made me realise what a waste of time and money it is currently to watch Brentford. The perspective around this is that I used to go to all away games and often to work my work around where they were playing. Now I do not plan any more driving away games this  season. Why? Well a consistent facet of Brentford this season has been that they have been beaten by every team with a greater work ethic, even when that team is technically inferior. Exampled by today. Yoevil are no Brazil but will probably survive relegation this season and seem to function well as a small club with crowds around 4000. Brentford took the lead early in the first half with a deflected free kick from Sam Saunders, Yoevil came out fast from the traps in the second half, scored a wonderful goal and then got the winner with a scrappy own goal 5 minutes from time. Unlucky? Maybe? got what they deserved ? Probably.

Team selection was wrong. Donaldson should not be playing. He has had a miserable season and looks out of sorts. McGinn did some running but his quality was very poor today. The midfield lacked the bite that maybe Bean might have given. Tactics were awful , hoof the ball and then hoof it again. Tactics never changed even when Yoevil clearly changed theirs. Uwe Rosler needs to depart. He is not and will not be the answer. Sure, it can wait till end of season but he seems unable to put together a consistent team, motivate them to play out of their skin and seems to have fallen out with players who could have played a part today. No sign of Bean or Weston. Why? Crowds are poor at Griffin Park for a reason. Results are awful and  home peformances mostly dire.

I cannot help but think that Martin Allen would do a better job.

So in summary a waste of 4 hrs 30 mins driving, about 260 miles, costing £35 plus £19 to get in plus £3 programme plus 10£ food. Total waste = £67 and a day of my life. But I have decided that Uwe Rosler must depart Brentford.

Sam Saunders free kick on its way in

Standing and Watching

weather extremes before the game

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02 Mar 2012


Kim's Travels :)'s avatarseniorbushe

So yesterday this big fish made my day!!!  A beautiful manta ray came along the wall dropoff, and happilly swam really close to me and my divers. What a special sight!! Majestic, beautiful creatures. They really do ‘fly’ along in the water, with small waves of their massive wings. Stunning!!

The day before had been an exhausting one. It started at 6am, and I was not home until 9.30pm. This was as I guided my first night dive. Pretty scary stuff, 8 divers, have to lead, find fish, keep an eye on everyone, and find your way back to the boat in pitch black!! It was beautiful though. At one point in the dive I stopped to do a bio-luminescent part. You kneel on the sand, turn all your lights off and wave your arms like a mad man. This creates tiny sparks of marine plankton who when moved emit a…

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02 Mar 2012

The Pigs of Preston Tower and Chathill


Northumberland is a fine county and places emerge that are wondrous and enchanting. One such place is a small hamlet about 3 miles inland from Seahouses called Chathill, not so far from the A1. Here there is a small manor house that has a tower built in its grounds. The tower hosts amongst other things a huge bell and a prison cell. Entry is on a trust basis and costs maybe £2 placed into a wooden box. The tower is well worth entering and up on the third floor one finds that you are on the roof and above the bell. Be warned, the bell is loud and midday when 12 chimes emanate it is an experience for sure. The views over the countryside are splendid.

As you can see below photography can be great here. The views over the fields can be like a Turner painting , the weathervane became an inspirational slide for one of the talks I give on Atomoxetine for ADHD and the flying Cello photograph should not be here as has nothing to do with Preston Tower, but my current favourite slide.

The grounds also host some nice walks through the forest and one can take a number of routes. a decent 2 hour walk can be had. On the last occasion there were some odd noises coming from a field that turned out to be piglets in very playful mood that follow you as you walk along the path. Most occasions we have been there we were the only souls so it cannot be described as busy. This place is a real find. Visit and enjoy.

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